Second build from scratch

[Manisk]

Hi Manisk,
the guitar is looking great.

"I like it but id really love getting a fade from very light around the tailpiece and darker along the edges until it meets the mahogany back, and make it so you cant really see the gluejoint that well, i have a jar of mahogny colored stain and also a graphite-black one - how do you recommend i approach it? - or would you do it different? I really am making it up as i go so im interested in your opinion"

I did a stained black to jarrah burst on my FBM-1 and the TB-4 builds using FW stains. Both reasonably successful. I did the jarrah all over first, let it dry, then added the black and using a clean rag tried to blend it in. I had to do the black a couple of times and the blending took quite a while.

Looking on Youtube most videos blend the stained burst while both colours are still wet. I found this quite challenging on scrap wood.

I did a few experiments first. On scrap wood I also tried doing the black first, trying to feather the colour. Then sanded back to get a good transition. then added the jarrah.

I don't think there is any perfect way to do it. I settled on the first method as I thought it was easiest. Worst comes to worst it can always be sanded back if you are not happy with it.

Thanks yea i reckon a fade wouldnt give me too much hassle since i have whats needed, only missing knowledge X)

[Simon Barden]

You'd normally put the curve of the bottom of the pickup rings, rather than trying to create a flat area for them to sit on. use some double sided tape to stick some sandpaper to the top of the guitar next to the pickup rout location, and move the ring back and forth on that so the bottom takes on the exact curve of the top. It takes a while but it does a good job in the end.

Most pickup routs for humbuckers have deeper recesses at the end to accommodate the pickup legs and adjustment screws. Some humbuckers have very shallow legs and they aren't needed, but most are reasonably deep (some are very deep), so I'd check to see if you need to rout out a bit of the cavity base for them. Even if your current pickups fit, if you change them in the future, you may need the extra depth at the ends, so it might be best to do it now.

The typical Gibson humbucker rout is 5/8" deep (15.9mm), with 1" deep end pockets (25.4mm), which should accommodate the deepest pickup legs you are ever likely to get.

[Manisk]

You'd normally put the curve of the bottom of the pickup rings, rather than trying to create a flat area for them to sit on. use some double sided tape to stick some sandpaper to the top of the guitar next to the pickup rout location, and move the ring back and forth on that so the bottom takes on the exact curve of the top. It takes a while but it does a good job in the end.

Most pickup routs for humbuckers have deeper recesses at the end to accommodate the pickup legs and adjustment screws. Some humbuckers have very shallow legs and they aren't needed, but most are reasonably deep (some are very deep), so I'd check to see if you need to rout out a bit of the cavity base for them. Even if your current pickups fit, if you change them in the future, you may need the extra depth at the ends, so it might be best to do it now.

The typical Gibson humbucker rout is 5/8" deep (15.9mm), with 1" deep end pockets (25.4mm), which should accommodate the deepest pickup legs you are ever likely to get.

Cheers simon, thanks for the input, i did originally plan to form the pickup rings to fit the contour of the guitar but due to the heavy angle on the carved top i decided that flattening the mounting area was far less work in this case

Good deal on the pickup cavity, i will investigate the clearance in the pockets


Ill add some pictures of pickuprings in progress

[Manisk]

I have been playing with the idea of adding phase switches to my electronics, i have active pickups if that makes a difference

This is my kit


Do you reckon its worth giving a try?

[Simon Barden]

https://www.emgpickups.com/pi2.html

The EMG phase switch is active and expensive. For something you’ll rarely use, I personally wouldn’t bother. Because of the active nature of the pickups, I don’t believe you can install a simple passive switch or you’ll short out the battery or something similar.

[Simon Barden]

With a bit more thought, I don't think you'd actually short out the battery, but you'd end up connecting the hot of one pickup to the battery ground of another, so you'd very likely get silence with both pickups on and the polarity swapped. Which is why it has to be done with an electronic circuit that isolates the signals, allowing them to be reversed.

[Manisk]

Thanks mate, so really not worth the effort

[Simon Barden]

Unless you are in a Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac covers band, it probably isn't. It's nice to have the option if it's already there, but the number of times you can really use it is very limited. Because it's so thin sounding, it gets lost in a mix very easily, so you need a pretty sparse backing to let it be heard. It really needs to be played clean, as you get a very weak drive sound from it.

[Manisk]

Testfitting all the hardware before i go ahead and make the finishing touches!

The wiring

https://ibb.co/YXZqwdc
https://ibb.co/PwY32MZ

Body, neck and headstock
I ended up with a neck thickness of 25mm the entire lenght, i carved out a lot of curves in the body aswell as a stomach cutout and a strong relief where the neck meets the body, concerning frets i think i prefer as wide as possible so i barely filed the fret ends, i only rounded them off the slightest










NOTE this is UNFINISHED hence the blemishes

[Manisk]

Difficult to intonate any tips? i was thinking of just bending a flat piece of metal in two different angles to be able to turn the screw





Im quite happy with the zero-fret, how much easier it is to tune compared to my previous build!
I was also quite lucky getting quite a low string action without any string buzz really, might lower the action even more or should i wait for the neck to settle after tuning, in that case how long?



I also have this 5-way switch that i am curious to know if i can implement into the current schematics as an on/off for the battery and perhaps utilize the remaining 4 circuits in some way










Please go ahead and inform me with anything you think i could benefit from! thanks