TD's MBM-1

[XP Rider]

That is a killer finish, front and back. Sure hope it will tolerate the work you have yet to do.

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks fender3x and XP Rider.

I have now assembled it together, strung it up, and rough tuned!

All went well, except for the strings not being grounded I will try scratching more paint off the edge of the stop bar and the post.

[Trevor Davies]

Took a few goes to get the strings grounded! I had not removed enough paint from the stop bar and the screw in post for the bushing.

Also adjusted the neck curvature, set the string heights, filed the nut slots, set the intonation.

[Trevor Davies]

Tested the electronics,
Volume and tone worked as expected,
Coil tap to coil split worked - subtle changes to the split as expected.
Varitone with a 50 k resistor to ground was not producing enough change, so I swapped to a 20 k resistor. I may even try a 10 K later!

A big relief that they all worked.

[Trevor Davies]

Final pictures:
The pickup is a Tonerider AC2B zebra.

[DarkMark]

Wicked! Only the sound demo to follow 😉

[fender3x]

Really impressive! Love the burst! Also cool to see the chickenheads. Hope it's as fun to play as it is to look at!

[DarkMark]

Yes, chicken heads are really quite practical, especially in dark lighting.

[fender3x]

My builds tend to look best in low lighting. Fits nicely with the OEM aesthetic, with just enough difference to be original ;-)

[Trevor Davies]

Thank you DarkMark and fender3x.

Yes, the chicken heads work with the MBM. I like the fact that they signify a different sound function!
It seems very nice to play. The action is quite low.

I may struggle a bit without having the fretboard inlay markers! So, at a later date that may need to change.

I have also added a set of Grover tuners.