ATL-1SW Build (First Timer)

[king casey]

Remove the insulation and trap the bare wire between the bridge and body ?

This is the usual method.

cheers, Mark.

[Fatboy]

Thanks for that, I now know that I am thinking along the right lines but might look
for a more 'elegant' solution.
Cheers, FB.

[Simon Barden]

I now solder a ground wire to a washer and trap that beneath a pickup mounting spring against the plate on a pickup height adjustment screw.

I'd still run the copper tape underneath the bridge, as the cavity tape needs to be grounded to work properly.

[Fatboy]

Simon, thank you, the washer sounds a good idea and I was mulling over about grounding the cavity tape.
My thoughts are to earth them all to one point to avoid earth loops.

The pillar drill at work did not have a big enough throat to accommodate the body so could not use that.
I spent an age measuring either side so that I could drill in from each side to hopefully meet in the middle.
The string ferrules I bought are an 'all in one' type so I carved a trough in the back rather than six individual holes.
Don't think I would fancy drilling six individual holes without very sharp bits and a pillar drill but
others more skilled than me may well have done it successfully.
Having done the ferrule thingy it is back to glossing the body.
Onwards and upwards !

[Simon Barden]

As you've found, you need a pillar drill with a very deep throat to do it easily. I've done it using a drill stand and adjusting it to drill through the hole in the base of it. Start from the top and use the bridge to mark the string hole positions. Then drill the two outer ones all the way through, and the 4 inner ones 3/4 of the way. Then flip the body over, use the two outer holes to position the bridge, mark the inner hole locations, drill about 1/2 way. Hopefully the holes line up (you may need to run a drill through a couple of times in reverse if there's a slight mismatch) and you've got a nice straight line of holes front and back.

[king casey]

EDIT: Doofus...wrong thread hehe.
cheers, Mark.

[Fatboy]

Been busy in the last week but have managed to spend some time on the geetar.
Firstly, thanks Simon for your through hole technique with a drill stand, wish that
had occurred to me before I started ! Hey ho, the trough is done now.
Almost finished the gloss coats but found that despite using the finishing oil as per
Crimson's videos it is taking an age to finally go off.
Most likely due to the ambient temperature, the tackiness is slowly going.
Took the opportunity to get the copper tape out and do the pup cavities.
Looks ready for a space launch now !
I have run some tape where the bridge sits and laid a few layers to hopefully
earth the bridge. Now need to solder and run some earth leads to a central point.

Question please - does anyone shield the back of the scratch plate and similarly
the large cavity where the controls go ?
That could be a bugger as the tape has a mind of its own.

Will be doing the neck next and hopefully final assembly/setup.

Another question - fiddling with the scratchplate today for these 'mockup' pics
- if I am not sure what I am going to do next I screw it all together haha -
I realised that it might be a bit tight when soldering everything.
I have some two pin connectors from my Quadcopter/Drone days and wondered if
using a few of these would help in the final assembly and possible disassembly.
The only two problems I could think of are loose connections and added noise.
Does anyone have any views on this ?

Pics below show the finish - not sure if I wanted a brown guitar when I started
the journey but I have grown to like it and the Journey even more so.
Cheers, FB.

[Fatboy]

More Pics of progress

[McCreed]

Moving along nicely Fatboy!

Question please - does anyone shield the back of the scratch plate and similarly
the large cavity where the controls go ?
That could be a bugger as the tape has a mind of its own.

Yes and yes. For the back of the pickguard, I would suggest running the tape from the area over the control cavity right up to the the area over the neck pickup cavity. This will complete the Faraday Cage concept you're try to achieve. (think of it as 3 copper boxes that are connected)

Just like with the pickup cavities, you want to extend a bit of tape from the side of the control cavity route to the body top so there is continuity from the cavities to the pickguard.

Doing the back of a pickguard is easier than fiddling inside pickup routes because it's all flat. Don't peel all the backing off at once. peel back enough so you can stick it to your starting point, then peel it off as you lay it down in one fluid operation. It helps using a credit card or similar as a "squeegee" to flatten the tape out as you go, IYKWIM.

As for the 2 pin connectors, I've never used them, but if they're small enough and insulated, they should be fine.
They shouldn't introduce any noise. Some pickup manufacturers are now selling "solderless" pickups that use a mechanical connection in lieu of soldered.

[Fatboy]

Well it is certainly busy around here with builds at the moment !
Lord knows when I will find time to read through them, perhaps when I have finished the Peelycaster.
Another week has gone by, have been doing more lacquer, must say I am impressed with the gloss
lacquer from a can after a couple of coats and rubdown between them.
The biggest pain is dust now...grrrr !
Have been wiring the pups and scratchplate. Put two pin connectors here and there to ease assembly
and disassembly. Checking everything has earth paths.
Rigged it all up temporarily and plugged in tapping the pups with a screwdriver.
All worked, not much noise but the pups were round the wrong way.
'Bugger' were my first thoughts then remembered the connectors - all sorted in seconds.

My biggest problem was the headstock transfer.
I made one up (well, loads actually) which I printed onto transparent inkjet decal paper.
The yellow/gold in the lettering just vanished.
Second attempt on white decal paper was a lot better.
I cut around the decal leaving a white border - not the look I wanted.
Then cut all round the black border of the decal, not very accurate, needed something better than a craft
knife to get clean curved edges.
In desperation I put the supplied Pitbull decal decal on - perfect !
Undeterred I put my decals on the rear of the headstock just to make me feel better.

The film from the inkjet decal paper seems thicker than the supplied Pitbull one.
That was printed on a laser printer (says so on the back) so is waterproof and did not have
lacquer on it which may be why I found it difficult to cut around the inkjet transfers.
Who knows, it's done now.....

Next jobs are to attach the neck and finalise the bridge position.
Then fit the scratchplate and setup the nut/neck etc.
Bought a set of Hosco electric geetar nut files which are the most expensive purchase so far.
£71 delivered from gluedtomusic.com in the UK.
I suppose I could get most of the cash back by selling them on ebay if I don't
think I will use them again.
I had thought of making a bass next which they won't be used on.
You would need pencils with sandpaper around them for that haha.

Going to lemon oil the fingerboard.

Pics of progress so far below.
Thanks for looking and a big THANK YOU to those who have helped me get this far.
Cheers, FB.