So outta the box, some issues with the factory...
Grand ideas, NOW I can always say "recommend a dry build first" because while I had ALL the parts, I realised Dum DUm Duuuuum. Missing pre-drilled post holes in the body for the bridge.
Action: Contacted PB and almost an immediate response. New body is on its way should have it in a few days. Adam rang me back and asked for some pics to be emailed for the factory to see. Boom, sorted.
Something else I noted immediately was that the neck does not sit snug all the way back in the pocket. After some quick forum advice (awesome forum by the way) I realised I have to sand the pocket. Now, Adam from PB wants the original body and neck back as a return, I won't be sanding anything for at least 2 more days.
COLOUR:
In the interim I have had a chance to investigate colour, Pick guards and decals.
I think I will either go a black wash or a black and red lava burst.
I watched a YouTube tutorial by a luthier in the States who used water-based craft paints and it looked quite good. That said, he also procured some long-setting, water colour compatible clear which I don't think we get in Australia. And water-based colours would be good, because I have an airbrush and could possibly apply the burst well.
Once I had decided on the dark colours this required ditching the tortoise shell pick guard and going for something more shiny. After some quick responses from the forum, (Thanks SonicMountain) I got an A3 sheet of mirror acrylic from ebay $28. This allows enough space for 2 attempts at creating a pick guard.
PROBLEM: acrylic is hard to cut without making a chip in the edge, I had a quote to laser-cut a pick guard from a local guy. $240AU, that was making a Vector file, making a few prototypes in MDF and then the final cut. The cut itself was $20. Everything else was experiment and tracing.
SOLUTION: It just so happened my Father in-law has a laser cutter...I know, don't ask.
Anyway, he told me if:
1. I scanned the underside of the guard, with a black piece of paper on top of it, I will get a really clear white image to cut. I scanned it and created a JPG and a BMP.
2.I imported these into InkSCAPE (often used for 3D print rendering) and then took physical measurements of the centre of the screw holes on the guard from numerous points across the guard for reference.
3.I then used the ruler function in InkScape to cross check the measurements I had made with my straight edge to the image in InkScape. InkScape works 1:1 ration export, so once I exported it to the LAser Cutting program, in this case "K40 Whisperer", it should be apples.
4. After I opened the image in InkScape and made the image 1:1, I traced every screw hole and every pickup hole and the guard edge and the slider-switch hole as accurately as possible, within about .03mm in the colour red, because that is the colour "K40 Whisperer" identifies as a cut vector not an engrave vector. (Now this just made me think I can engrave a design in the pick guard also that will come through the mirror, anyway I digress.)
5.Saved the file as a .SVG file and then imported it into K40 Whisperer to test it's load-in. BOOM, magic.
6.Emailed to Father in-law and he will cut some MDF as a prototype while I wait for my acrylic to arrive.
NEXT
So I decided the Jazz was for Cool Cats, so I found a little e-bay purchase for $5 who will make my decal custom in foil silver.
I used Adobe Illustrator to create a design from a stock Font and a stock image of a cat. Looks awesome, will look awesome on the Head stock. Titled the Casey-Kat.
So now I wait on the body and neck delivery, the decal delivery, the acrylic delivery and the MDF prototype outcome.
Who's scared?....Me!
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