Third build - Custom Single Cut

[Alexej]

I tried out to put some shim into the neckpocket. Have to find some thinner ones, for those are a bit too thick (1.5mm) But it gives a nice result by little effort. In my case something about 1mm could be fine I think. But of course have to test it.



Now I am also deciding which bridge to take. I like the one with the golden string riders, it corresponds the woodcolor. But the whole black one is finer and more elegant.

For it will be a string through, maybe the one with gold is better for the string angle, or does this not matter? I also question myself what is the right distance for the stringthrough holes after the bridge? Actually main thing is that it is not too short (cause of angle), but it could easyly be 3 to 5cm I suppose, is there something else to take into account?

[Simon Barden]

I’d just sand the shim down until it’s the right height.

What you have to consider with the bridge and string-through ferrules is that you don’t want the holes so close to the bridge that the strings don’t touch the back of the bridge. So put the bridge in roughly the right position and height, then run a ruler from the saddle backwards to the top so it just misses the back of the bridge. That’s the furthest forwards the holes want to be. I’d move them back about 1cm to allow for height adjustment if you decide to change the shim angle in the future. And not call bridges are the same width, so use the widest bridge and set the saddles as far forward as they’ll go. You can’t really have the holes too far back, many trapeze tailpieces are quite short and there’s a lot of string length between the tailpiece and the bridge.

[Alexej]

Some measurements to be done Thank you for the input. Did not know the name of those trapeze tailpieces. While googling I came upon the "hipshot baby grand", which is quiet expensive, but looks great, especially with one pickup guitars, I think. It definitely gives an interesting option, at least in a visual theme.

[Alexej]

Well, had a very productive week and just kept doing and making, throwing away all fears Partly it went out not as expected and some things still bother me. Main problem with the first ever time veneering (...the crooked curved top ). Next time I would try some vacuum for veneering a body, I think.



And the guitar was meant to be total black, but I just could not cover the oak burl. Thought about giving the veneer black, so the wood would still be darkly visible through the paint, but was afraid loosing too many details of wood. So it went out in two colors.Mat black that I already used on my Explorer and walrusoil for veneer, covered by satin clear coat.



For the electronics I used a pushpull with the seymour duncan blackwinter. Never had coilsplit before, so tried it out. But in 99% I will go for Humbucker only. Still was intersting to have some soldering experience again. Great tutorials on youtube by "Six String Supplies".



And It was very hard with the string through drilling and bridge adjustment, which also went out not perfect. I had some luck with grounding the bridge. Finally I drilled through the inputjack hole with a long 4mm drill and went just out at the bottom of the bridge hole



The trussrodcover and the strap buttons are left to be done later. Everything is working and it sounds good, I think. So for the moment I am happy with the result.

[Jetblack]

Im looking to get a similar effect with my JBA 4 Ive mixed up a couple of brews using 0000 grade steel wool and white vinegar but not getting the color I was after, apparently you have to use cleaning vinegar ?? and also depending on the timber, tannin enhancer, some timbers have more tannin than others. So not being happy with trying to color some sample timbers (ash) Im now going to try using Speedball Super Black India Ink, I can get some from the local arts supply.

[Jetblack]

That veneer lifting like that isnt good, I wouldnt sand it down it will leave a pocket hole, looks to be more lifting under the pickup hole, trying to get glue in there and holding the veneer to the surface till it dries, isnt going to be easy. Contact pitbull before you do anything they may send out a another body.

[Simon Barden]

That veneer lifting like that isnt good, I wouldnt sand it down it will leave a pocket hole, looks to be more lifting under the pickup hole, trying to get glue in there and holding the veneer to the surface till it dries, isnt going to be easy. Contact pitbull before you do anything they may send out a another body.

It was a custom order, so if Alexej asked for a new one, it could well have taken many months to arrive as it would basically be a new custom order. Slow at the best of times, it’s even longer now due to the ongoing post-Covid transport chain disruptions. Obviously it should never have left a) the factory and b) Pit Bull like it did.

But Alexiej showed a great ‘we can fix this’ spirit and tried his hand at veneering a top himself. It didn’t go quite right, but it’s now looking very good, if not perfect.

Single coil mode on a powerful humbucker can work quite well, but it’s quite a different sound to the humbucker sound and often works best on guitars with two pickups, as I much prefer the neck and mixed split coil sounds to the bridge slit coil sound. You could try modifying the wiring to give a parallel arrangement via the switch. It’s a thinner sound, but still fully humbucking.

Or you could try a PRS-style partial coil split, where the middle connection isn’t connected directly to ground, but through a resistor. This allows some of the second coil sound through, so you don’t get such a big contrast in sound. There is no one ‘correct’ value for the resistor, it’s down to taste. PRS typically use 1.1k in the neck and 2.2k for the bridge. Fralin recommend 7k. The bigger the resistance, the more the second coil adds to the sound. I’ve done it to one guitar on the bridge humbucker and it sounded good - less of a change from the humbucker sound.

You can always make that a fully variable coil split by wiring in a potentiometer instead of a fixed resistance. I’ve played a guitar with this feature and whilst it is versatile, I found all the useful adjustment was at one end of the pot’s travel (so mainly a humbucker sound until the resistance dropped right off). I think I’d ideally use a switched pot of much lower value, to bring in the pot for a definite split coil sound, but have a controllable amount of the second coil brought in, rather than have it fully variable.

But for simplicity and versatility, you could wire a 10k trim pot between the tap wires and ground through the switch, allowing you to pick the resistance setting you prefer for the split position.

[Alexej]

Well, I really was disappointed when the kit arrived first. But step by step you can work your way out of the disaster I am still glad having had this opportunity and hope that the custom shop will come back soon.

Thank you for the input and appreciation Simon. I have first to analyze the whole information, for I have no clue about the sound/electronics issues 🙂 Still it is interesting to get more variation within an only one Humbucker system for the future and know in detail how things affect each other.

For the moment I move on learning to play and enjoy the finish 🙂