Les paul mahogany kit build.

[david bodycomb]

@Simon Barden
Hello Simon i managed to find those old pots i have yes there all 500k from an old squier strat but i only have 3 lol, il stick with the kit ones until i get another 4th and then il carve out the area as you suggested sir, i have a question if i may, can i connect a single coil up in place of a humbucker will it be alright in the circuit so as to have a single coil and a humbucker in the gibbo i politely wonder or do i need to do some circuitry black magic with a resistor etc for impedance variance would you know sir?
Here are some photos of the 3rd & 4th coats of Daphne Blue i have to say its come out prtetty good for my first effort i heated the cans up in a pot of warm water over the stove on lowest heat setting to make sure they were nice and warm but certainly not above 70c as acetone becomes volatile from memory above that temp, anyway it worked well in winter here in melb.
Heres some pics etc, next is the clear coat, there are a few very slight flaws but its my brothers guitar hes hassling me to finish it so he can play it lol i would have taken a bit more time myself but anyways.

[Dikkybee007]

NEVER heat a spray can while the water is on a heat source. If the water is too hot for your hand then it is too hot for the can.
If the water is too hot the can will more than likely explode from the can over pressurising than the contents catching alight.

[Trevor Davies]

Looking good david bodycomb.

Re the single coil and the humbucker - lots of kits have a mix of both. Having a look at the wiring diagrams they usually still use 500k volume and tone pots.

[Simon Barden]

What sort of single coil?

A humbucker sized P90 will be fine with 500k pots as that’s what’s recommended to use with a P90.

If you want a Strat-style single coil then apart from the mounting issue (you’ll need some kind of adapter plate), you’d be better off using a 250k pot for its volume and tone control and 500k for the humbucker volume and tone. The single coil will work with 500k pots but it will sound brighter than normal. So if you use a vintage Strat-style single coil in the neck position it could sound more like it’s in the bridge position. But a very overwound single coil can be quite dark-sounding and can benefit from a 500k pot.

If you’ve got a single coil and humbucker and a common 500k volume pot circuit (not your LP circuit with two volumes and two tones) then you can wire a 470k or 520k resistor between the single coil hot and ground outputs on the pickup side of the selector switch, which will give around 250k equivalent when in single coil and both pickups on mode and 500k in humbucker mode. This resistor is an easy item to add or remove, so you can try it without first, then add it in and if you prefer the original sound, remove it, or keep it in if you don’t. It will affect the pot taper slightly, but I doubt you’d notice. Note that you can’t make a 250k pot into a 500k pot, so the single volume pot needs to be 500k, not 250k.

[david bodycomb]

Yes thats right im careful would never use any kind of direct heat source but its winter here and so cold i had to warm them up somehow so 15 mins on lowest electric stove heat setting in a half pot of water did the job nicely, im glad you said that as folks need to know those cans are full of volatile chems like acetone so i believe etc, im no expert but know enough usually.
Cant imagine being burnt by a can of acetone explosion.
Thanks for your reply sir.
david

[Simon Barden]

And certainly what Dickybee said. You’ll probably see warnings on the can about not storing above 40°C. If you warm it, just fill a bowl with water from your taps that’s no more than body temperature, but ideally a bit less. The contents need to be brought to between 20°C and maybe 28°C. Too hot, and apart from the can explosion risk, too much solvent can evaporate between the can and the surface resulting in too dry a spray. If you are spraying outside below say 15°C then you really want to bring the body/neck inside first to get them to room temperature, then go outside and spray as soon as possible.

[david bodycomb]

I knew youd have the answer for me thats very kind of you sir thank you, i was thinking p-90 myself at the neck id have to get a 250k pot then, beauty!!
Thats great to know and easy to do too,
also have another question if its no trouble, this sounds highly unorthodox, however, i did it once to a guitar with a bolt on neck with the truss rod at the headstock end of course, i glued the neck on using super strenght 2 part boat glue and it improved the sustain of the guitar immensely lol, i know i know its against the rules but im having inclinations to try it with the tele im building, i know shimming becomes out of the question and its there forever too lol but hey isnt it that lovely sustain from the glued in neck what we love about gibson guitars?
It gave the single coiled jazzmaster the best sustain i ever heard from a cheap squier fender......very unique.
Youve never heard a fender sustain like the one i glued the neck on & bolted it up as well!!!
[Now you can tell me why its a dumb idea to do it again on the tele sir]

[david bodycomb]

It was warm to the touch but certainly not hot, just nice and warm, i slid the pot over so that only a small % was really over the heat, And it was just on, i was paranoid of over heating, kept and eye on it too.
I got away with it because im older and kind of know from being a house painter over the years but others no probably best they dont, there was no sun here the other option was in front of the air con i guess.
Good to know that over heating dry,s the paint and yes i did bring the guitar from inside the house where its curing in a seperate room sealed from the house to the spray booth i made outisde wore a proper painters mask as well.
I really enjoying this process its making me want to invest in more kits now and do mods and be inventive etc.
I kind of like that sort of thing, i used to find old valve radios on hard rubbish yrs ago disconnect the radio tuner section find the inputs and wire them up for guitar jack with speakers etc that kind of thing.
They worked nicely, i loved collecting vintage gear too anything valve hehe.
Its great speaking with you all here, thanks hey good learning experience im greatful.
david.

[Simon Barden]

I haven’t really noticed much difference in sustain between Fender and Gibson guitars. I did some rough testing on a few guitars a year or so ago and there was maybe 1 second difference on average. And you could probably attribute that to the greater string pull of the pole-piece magnets on Fenders. I briefly had a beaten-up ESP LP-style guitar with a bolt-on neck and that sustained for longer than my proper LP.

On bolt-ons, it’s normally people’s experience that you get better sustain if the neck is firmly seated against the end of the neck pocket. There are pressure waves travelling up and down the neck which transfer better to the body if they are touching. Otherwise you’re reliant on shear forces through the screws and bottom of the neck contact for that, which is less effective. Even a small gap can reduce the sustain.

With your guitar strung up and tuned, slackening off each neck screw until you hear a small ‘crack’ (normally no more than a turn) allows the strings to pull the neck tight against the end of the neck pocket. Once all four screws have been loosened, then tighten them up again.

If the neck was already touching, then you’ll hear no difference. But if there was a gap that’s now closed, there should be an improvement.

Gluing on the neck on Squier may have done a similar thing, as it will have filled in any gap between the end of the neck and the back of the neck pocket. I’d never recommend using a permanent glue for a neck pocket - Gibson either use regular Titebond for standard models, or hide glue on the custom shops, as you never know when you might need to remove it. But on a cheap guitar, it’s your choice.

A friend used epoxy in the poorly fitting neck pocket of a very cheap Tele copy, but wrapped the end of the neck with cling film before clamping it to the body, so that the epoxy made a tight fitting pocket once it set. The cling film pulled away from the glue and the neck then bolted on as usual. He ended up with a guitar that was just as good sounding as any of his Fenders.

There are many things that contribute to the natural sustain of a guitar including the the particular woods used to make it and as every piece of wood is different, I’m not just talking about choosing between maple, mahogany, ash etc. Some bits of wood simply don’t resonate the same way others do, and that can kill sustain regardless of the neck joint type.

A good bolt-on neck joint can be just as good as a glued-on neck joint, but it has the ability to be worse. A glued-on neck needs a tight-fitting pocket for glues like Titebond to work well. Too big a gap and you get a spongy glue layer that’s not good for transferring vibrations, so a hard glue like epoxy that will fill gaps might be a better choice if that’s the case. But it is a permanent solution and if the neck angle is out, there’s nothing you can do.

[david bodycomb]

@Simon Barden
I needed to hear that, il refrain from glueing it on now as maybe its overkill and just not necessary. The neck fits quite flush as it is i did some very slight fettling & tuning on the end curves with s/p but only minimal the tolerances seem pretty good to me anyway yeah your right its complicating something that functions fine as it is.

I have another question and i hope im not bothering you in any way sir,
Im about to lacquer in nitro clear now, do i clear lacquer over the binding on the body or leave it taped and sand the paint ridges after clearcoating the body?
You and Trevor & mrbee here have been a great help thank you to you both personally from me.
P.S. I love the Daphe blue with the cream scratchplate, covers and pickup holders its very very 1960,s cool!!
@Dickybee007 no il never heat cans that way again sounds too risky now, paranoias kicked in hahaha.