Anyone familiar with Carson Electric Guitars?

[Zandit75]

Thanks guys, gives me some ideas to work with.
I have some old yoga/exercise mats that the wife no longer uses, while they are bright blue and red, I could easily hide them from view in the tight cavities.
Tonight I had Brass band practice, so I'll start shielding and wiring tomorrow night!

[Zandit75]

Time for an update.
I'm feeling like this guitar is telling me to quit. Nothing seems to be going right, and I've just been very frustrated with it.

I was able to hide the chipped paint with silver and black markers. It's not perfect, but if I keep trying to fix it, I'll make it worse, and just end up stripping the thing back and starting over, something I'm in no mood to do, and prefer throwing it in the bin.

The pickups been frustrating because of the size of the cavities. I got the cavities shielded, however the Copper tape from the green shed does not have the sticking power of DB's quality stuff. It's on there now, but there was a lot of cursing going on!
I tried some foam from a yoga mat, but that was too fiddly, and too thick. I ended up getting some superglue, and putting a little around the bottom of the spring I locked them in place. This was my first idea, and I can recommend it to anyone in that position again in the future.

The small height adjusting screws on the Humbucker just kept getting stripped, so I ended up ditching that pup, and using the second Humbucker that Waz sold me. This is an 11.5 versus the 12.1 I was originally going to put in, but it should still do the trick. I'm not a heavy player, so I guess this will be the softer Humbucker to use.
I will have the 9.7 split-able Hot Stack in the middle, and the 5.7 Magnum in the neck which should give be a good variety of sounds.

So, as it sits right now, the pickups are mounted, and the wires are run through the body. I've applied three coats of primer to the head stock, and tomorrow I'll hit it with a couple of coats of satin black. Then, once that is dry, I'll apply a decal, and some clear coats, then finish the neck in clear Dingotone neck stain.




In regards to the decal, has anyone used adhesive contact? In case there is a difference to what you Mainlanders call stuff, I'm referring to the stuff you often wrapped books in as a kid for school.
It would be curious to see if this is workable, or will it be too thick?

Next big job, will be tackling this nightmare of Weirdy's!!

[WeirdBits]

You'll be fine, just ask if you need any help.

[Zandit75]

You'll be fine, just ask if you need any help.

I already have in my other pickup thread.....

[WeirdBits]

See other thread

[wazkelly]

Hi buddy, I see you have had a dose of the frustrations and we all experience that from time to time.

With the finish line in sight most of the hard work is behind you and only some fiddly bits left to do. Acknowledge the wiring may appear daunting but if you take your time and follow weirdy's instructions it will all work out just fine.

Hang in there mate, I know you can do it.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, keep at it. Not far to go now.

If you are still having trouble with the copper tape, you could always get the thin CA glue, and run that around the cracks. That stuff has very little surface tension and will run everywhere - which is good for getting in cracks but also means that you need to be very careful with it as it does run everywhere. You can buy long needle-thin nozzles for it (though they're not always easy to track down), which makes it a bit more controllable.

Don't forget that once the shielding is finished, you can always paint over it, so if you don't want the copper showing in the single coil cavities, just paint them black.

[wazkelly]

Time for an update.
In regards to the decal, has anyone used adhesive contact? In case there is a difference to what you Mainlanders call stuff, I'm referring to the stuff you often wrapped books in as a kid for school. It would be curious to see if this is workable, or will it be too thick?

Hi Zandit, in theory it could work on it's own but not so sure how any finish would remain on top of it. Presume you would cover the whole face and trim at the right angled edges with a sharp blade? Tuning peg holes could be done by gently turning a drill by hand as the retaining washers will hide any rough edges.

[Simon Barden]

I'd imagine you would be thinking of cutting out letters or a logo from say black vinyl and sticking that on?

Generically called sticky-backed plastic in the UK, though it is more often called by the leading brand name of Fablon. It is quite thick compared to a standard decal and you will always have problems with the edges wanting to lift. As Waz said, you may have trouble getting a finish to stick, as it is a vinyl product and designed to be wipe-clean. You may also get some solvent interference issues with some clear finishes, as I'm not sure a water-based clear finish would stick at all.

[Simon Barden]

One solution is to get some drafting film (UK name), which is a hi-tech form of tracing paper. Normally has a matt/flat finish on one side so you can draw or trace your logo with a pencil, then using a sharp knife (a scalpel is ideal), you can cut out the shape/letters to make a stencil. You then get some light-tack spray adhesive, spray this on the back of the film, then stick the film on the headstock. Spray with a colour of your choice, remove the stencil and when dry, spray over with a clear lacquer for protection.

It is possible to leave the letters with a hollow centre (e.g. "O") intact before sticking the film on, then lightly cutting through the letter outlines and removing the main part of the letter, whilst leaving the centres intact as a mask.