-
Nick's IB7
So the shipment's arrived and China got a couple of things wrong:
- rosewood instead of maple board
- no reverse stock
- no frets installed (???)
No fault of Adam's, just a bit of a kicker. Luckily though, the kit looks mighty nice regardless and I'm definitely keen on building it. So whilst Adam is sorting out some fret installations, I've got a couple of preliminary questions.
I was going to do a trans purple finish, but because the maple board isn't happening now I won't get the contrast I wanted. Doing a quick browse of finishes I've come upon PRS' faded denim blue finish.
http://media.musicstorelive.com/cata..._1319023-6.jpg
I love it. I really really love it. My question is - how do we get that finish?
White wash/timbermate into quilt and then sand back and blue over the top?
Just wash blue because the maple is light enough?
Would love if some finish gurus (Jarrod etc) could chime in here.
Cheers for now.
-
Fretless IB7.... I approve! :)
Unfourtunatly not what you were after though....
You could still go with your first plan, dye the maple with black leather dye and BOOM!
-
So it's my 22nd birthday and as fate would have it I got shingles as a present (yay). So with nodes in my neck and jaw the size of golf balls and my face so swollen one of my eyes is forced closed it was to my surprise (and delight) that my baby arrived today.
Here's the neck DB lovingly fretted for me (thanks again mate)
http://i.imgur.com/1DGWhAC.jpg?1
Just a little bit of height on the nut (lol)
http://i.imgur.com/TzWIPa8.jpg?1
Money shot with one pass of a damp cloth on one side to show the grain. Luckily there aren't any nasty glue spots that I can see.
http://i.imgur.com/50KeTX6.jpg?1
So when 'm sanding this top - since it's so thin I want to sand as little as possible. Should I start around 320/400 or should I still go through 120 etc? It doesn't feel too rough so I'm hesitant about starting in the rougher grits. Anyone with past experience with these tops chiming in would be great.
It begins (again)
-
nice one Nicko, wondered who's neck was getting fretted by DB.
What are your plans for the stain ? If I put a coat of black down to pop the flames I don't sand the cap at all. First sanding is to remove the black coat. See if you can get an idea of the thickness of the cap looking in pup cavities but generally they are about half a mm thick so good move to start sanding on higher grits, not less than 240 I'd suggest
-
look like your pics didnt link Niko...
Hope you feel a lot better soon, and Happy Birthday
-
Happy Birthday Nick!
Hope you get better soon buddy..
I had a look at the body and thought WOW! Its a ripper.
Woks is right, dont go below 240, in fact I would start with 400 as it wont need a lot of sanding.
-
Get better soon Nicko, brilliant grain in that body!
Also Happy Birthday!
-
Cheers for the thoughts lads. I was going to start sanding today but I feel worse. Shingles are bloody painful! Hoping this at least improves on the next few days. Absolutely brutal.
Gives me time to research how I'm going to wire this thing/search for a suitable dye. Does anyone know of a blue similar to the guitar I posted in the first post? It's not quite aquamarine - definitely mixed.
-
hey Nicko, get well soon mate, sounds terrible !
Maybe DB can mix you a lighter version of bondi blue for the stain.
So looks like one 3 way switch and 1 volume config, maybe you can coil split the humbuckers with a double push pull volume pot
-
Yeah I was thinking about splitting the coils so I can tap them but I'm not sure it'll be worth doing on these cheap Chinese pups. I was thinking about drilling an extra hole through the body and installing a small spdt so I can have an individual control to split just the neck (I've done bridge splits before but I just never use it). Maybe I will just buy a push/pull pot
-
how big is the volume pot cavity Nicko ? It may only be small, enough for one pot ?
I forgot the stock pups won't have 4 wires to split so Weirdy can help you turn it into a splittable bucker.
Yeah I'd do that just split the neck pup if you don't split the bridge pup
-
Wow! that should come out fantastic. 7 strings and a hardtail. At least that top isn't spoiled but a gigantic Floyd Rose crater.
-
If you're thinking of adding a mini toggle switch, a DPDT On/On/On could be set up to select which pup is split (Bridge/Both/Neck) and then use a Push/Pull volume pot to actually turn the selected split on/off.
-
Weirdy wiring guru to the rescue again ! sounds like a cool setup Weirdy !
-
I did a tute on splitting the PBG 'buckers, its really very easy :)
-
-
nice tute DB, I missed this one, I was a PBG newby when that was posted
-
Had to post this... knocked the nut out today to get a look at it and get DB some measurements (cheers mate)
The height of the nut..
http://i.imgur.com/k4fFzoF.jpg?1
10mm!
In addition to this the string slots were all 1mm wide and deep.
Certainly not wide enough to djent.. or play anything besides floss :D
-
gee a 10mm high nut would just about knock you in the head while playing. Thought it looked high in the pics.
Don't think it has to be that high unless you want a super high action.
Is there a rake angle on the neck Nicko ? Edit, I saw its got holes for a tune o matic bridge
-
Unfortunately not wokks. Not sure whether to add a shim to the neck heel or to create an angle in the pocket.
-
yeah ok was there any hardware provided with the kit Nicko ? Sure if there's no rake angle on the neck with a TOM bridge the action will be higher than mount everest !
Probably safest bet is a shim. You start sanding a rake angle and get it wrong will be hard to correct.
Doubt a 7 string flat bridge would cover the TOM post holes
-
Yeah I was thinking that too.
Definitely a TOM included
-
Best to wait until you get the boney goodness before worrying about the rake angle.
You never know, it may be ok but my gut feeling is some shimming will be required..
-
^Will do mate. My uncle has given me access to his workshop (carpenter/antique restorer) so this time around I'll have access to a ton of professional tools. Hooray!
Here's my proposed headstock design. Never liked the tooth coming out the top quadrant of the stock. Thoughts?
http://i.imgur.com/sdxIiEB.jpg?1
-
yeah headstock shape looks good Nicko and making it a bit narrower up the top
-
Nice tweaks to the shape, I like it. Recommend doing a final check with the last tuner in place before cutting to make sure it looks the way you want it to and that you won't be too close to the tuner body etc.
-
Just had a look then Weirdy and it's looking very good. The lines look a lot more aggressive like this I think. My aim is to make this a poor man's Ormsby/PRS
-
nice one Nicko, aggressive for a 7 string is a must !
-
headstock plans look good Niko!
-
So I was having a look at the body today and they've torn out a bit on the pickup routes.
I'd originally planned to make the pups direct mounted but with the tear outs I don't think it will look too flash.
My two options:
Tidy the routes so they are uniform
Build some pickup rings from natural wood/stain them. I think a natural wood look on top of the blue would look nice
-
home made rings sound like a great idea
-
-
looks good Nicko, so you applied Dingowax to the neck ?
-
Yeah mate. Want to keep it as close to the natural colour as possible but also quick. Was thinking about doing a clear coat on there but in the end wax won out because I want this neck fast. Don't want stickiness from the poly.
-
Digging the natural finish.
-
yeah ok good one. Be interested to hear how the Dingowax feels, presume you will need quite a few coats to protect it and re-apply every so often as it will eventually be wiped off with hand movements
-
Yeah mate. If it's not durable enough what i'll do is a couple of coats of TO and then wax it like a music man
@pabs cheers mate!
-
sounds like a plan Nicko.
Wouldn't think the wax alone will give much protection from wear and knocks
-
You're probably right Wokks. Will see what happens. Most of my builds are experimental :)
So on the headstock I did the angle on the top to get rid of the tooth but I'm not sure how to tackle the curve on the bottom part of it. Should I just draw a line and sand in or would there be a cleaner way? The pics on page 3 if you need to see it again
-
hey Nicko,
draw the line on the headstock and 40 grit paper wrapped around a round object will get rid of the waste pretty quickly, or attack with a medium rasp or file if you have one then sand smooth. Or you said you have access to a workshop would be a 5 min job with a drum sander !
