White GR-1SF Build

[WeirdBits]

Looks like it will be an awesome build, I'm eager to see it come together. Another alternative for your 6-pos rotary tone would be to use resistor-cap combos allowing for partial and full settings for 2-3 caps, rather than 5 different caps 'full on'. Something like:

1. Clean
2. 0.01uF cap (or even smaller) linked to ground
3. Resistor bridged to 4 (parital tone)
4. 0.022uF cap linked to ground
5. Resistor bridged to 6 (partial tone)
6. 0.047uF cap linked to ground

Resistors would probably be in the 1K-20K range, tweak as needed. Just an idea. I guess it will depend on your ears and how warm/dark the hollow body sounds with your pups, but I have a feeling going as high as 0.1uF with your caps may make it too muddy.

[Scott J.]

Hey PK,

Looks like we're sharing the many of the same ideas on what this model should look like (as they say in the classic's "great minds think alike"!) ... but your wiring plans - wow! (and I thought my wiring ideas were getting ambitious! ).

Really looking forward to seeing yours come together too ... for me it was definitely a toss up between a solid gloss white and the Gr*tsch Orange (Orange won out but I did decide to restrain myself from putting the big branding-iron "G" on it ... but only just! ) ... but a gloss white always looks so very cool, especially on these "big ol' gals".

After reading the comments and seeing the pics on your "wonky tuners", I got suspicious and did a detailed inspection of my headstock with a vernier calliper and unfortunately mine are out of alignment too! ...
- along the length of the head the spacing between the holes is up to 3mm out alignment when compared with their partner hole on the opposite side of the head
- width wise its up to 5mm difference in spacing between the edge of the hole and the edge of the head (the 3 "low string" holes are all closer to the edge of the head than the "high string" holes).

... bugger! ... still, a cut and glue of some plugs and re-drill will solve the problem ... and with some smart positioning and a bit of luck, each tuner's post-support/washer/seat (on the face side of the head) should cover over the plugs so they're not visible

Adam - you might want to point out to the factory that its probably a good idea to get their drilling jig set up square and its holes evenly spaced

[kells80aus]

Yeah thanks guys really needed to find out the machine holes on all three high strings are actually about 2-3 mm closer to the bridge.
Basically All the machine heads are 40mm apart give or take half a mm. but the RHS ones are drilled closer to the bridge.
If it was just one that was out, I'd have a go at plugging and re-drilling, but all three may be a bridge too far.

WierdBits. the inital plan for the rotay is based on a setup I found some where or another, going through .47 -.23 -.01 -.006 -.003
and clean. Yes the .006 and .003 were muddy on the Youtube clip that went with the info I found.
I am interested in your idea, but wouldn't the resistor pul the vol down a little?

Yeah Scot, we are thinking along the same lines. But with the White I plan to add some pearl to it so it has a a little bit more than just gloss. I expect the pearl to give it some depth as well. This plan is based on what AJ did with the pearl on his LP build. that thing has a gloss that looks so deep you could dive in and swim around in it. It's like a deep deep pool of crystal clear water.

On the issue of the tuner alignment I also used the vernier, as well as my little 150mm rule.
With the plugging and drilling my concern is that the plugs may be visible from the top. I suppose(thinking out loud) a thin Veneer over the top would take care of that. The rear of the headstock the should not be an issue as the tuners should be big enough to hide those few mm.

we could always post em to Dingo and get him to fix em.

Guess I'll make up a templete and align it by measurement. then Plug the Fings up.

Cheers PK

[Scott J.]

Bit of bugger having to plug and re-drill ... but I reckon worth it in the end!

Adding to Pearl to the white - a stroke of genius ... that'll do more than just give it depth, it will make it so cool it'll be HOT!

... and if you're painting it and you do the headstock too (a la white falcon, silver falcon), then it wont matter about the plugs, there'll be no chance of seeing them.

[WeirdBits]

The resistors would just act like a fixed tone pot, controlling how much of the signal is allowed to pass through the caps. Sort of like having your tone pot set on 2 or 3 in a normal tone circuit, if you get what I mean.

[wokkaboy]

makes sense Weirdy.

[kells80aus]

Ok Wierdy, I'll definitely have a look at this idea. Just have to visualise it, and draw myself a little diag to set it right in my mind.

Cheers PK

[WeirdBits]

Using the resistors was just an idea, so it's not so 'all or nothing'. If you'd prefer to just use caps only, I'd probably start smaller in cap values so it only takes off the very top end at first. Maybe something like 0.0047uF, 0.0068uF, 0.01uF, 0.022uF, 0.047uF. Or, add 0.033uF, 0.068uF and 0.1uF into that range, test them, then pick the five values that best suit the sounds you want.

[kells80aus]

Wierdy, the idea of using resistors to alter the tone doesn't bother me as much as getting too much mud out of the caps.
as I am not planning a Pot to blend it back. So I may need to think about this a bit more

http://www.diyguitarmods.com/custom-varitone-wiring.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxizsEX0ygs

PK

[Scott J.]

Hey PK, seeing as we're both in process of creating our "dream" Gr***ch's, I though you (as well as anyone else who loves "that great Gr***ch sound") might like to have a look at something I literally stumbled across on the interweb yesterday ...

... one of the nicest scratch builds I've seen to date ... he's German, he loves the "old" big-G 6120's, but he just could never afford their price tag

... so he built one!

http://www.schmerzfrei-mucke.de/hobbythek.html

... and did such a f*****g amazing job of it, you'd be very hard pressed to tell the difference between it and the genuine article!