The Axe of Destiny...

[dingobass]

Hi all,

Here is my first scratch built axe. Normally I just build Basses but after my Strat kit and LP1 kit I decided to give it a go.

Thus, the Axe of Destiny was born in the Man Cave of Luthierie....

She has an Ash body with Spalted Maple top. I cheated on the neck and bought a ready made one from Stewmac.
Grover locking tuners, Floyd Rose and GFS pups from Guitarfetish.

The finish is a French Polish, there will be a video on how to do this posted soon.

Quote from dingobass on October 24, 2012, 18:13
Hi all,

Here is my first scratch built axe. Normally I just build Basses but after my Strat kit and LP1 kit I decided to give it a go.


Thus, the Axe of Destiny was born in the Man Cave of Luthierie....

The Man Cave... The Top Secret Bunker... This says that we are a little mad, and what's more- it helps.

Quote from dingobass on October 24, 2012, 18:13

She has an Ash body with Spalted Maple top. I cheated on the neck and bought a ready made one from Stewmac.
Grover locking tuners, Floyd Rose and GFS pups from Guitarfetish.

The finish is a French Polish, there will be a video on how to do this posted soon.

A very impressive piece, Mr Dingobass. For some reason, the shape stirs in me a vision of you on stage with the leather, furs and horns of EuroMetal- except it would have to be matt black!

Aust Luthier Supplies?

Oh, look what I can see. You may have just left yourself open to writing up a binding how-to...

Looking forwards to the French Polishing tute.

[dingobass]

Thanks dMac

Yes, there will be a binding tute in the near future, for those mad enought to give it a go!

ALS, are in Brisbane. I usually get small items from them such as shell dots and the occasional length of binding. They are a touch expensive when compared to Stewmac but they do have excellent service and get items out to you within a few days. Handy when you are in a hurry to get stuff.

http://luthierssupplies.com.au

Quote from dingobass on October 24, 2012, 22:00
Thanks dMac

Yes, there will be a binding tute in the near future, for those mad enought to give it a go!

Sorry, I wasn't making a lot of sense when I replied. I should have written-

"Did you get the cap from ALS?"

And now I will add-

"Why couldn't you read my mind? It made perfect sense to me!!"

(That's what happens when you put 29 items on eBay- your head spins trying to keep track of everything.)

[dingobass]

hi dMac

Hahahaha, sorry Mate, I should have read your mind!

Sorry, I wasn't making a lot of sense when I replied. I should have written-

"Did you get the cap from ALS?"

And now I will add-

"Why couldn't you read my mind? It made perfect sense to me!!"

(That's what happens when you put 29 items on eBay- your head spins trying to keep track of everything.)[/quote

The topwood is from Stewmac...

Question regarding capacitors. Do you use ceramics or Orange Drops or something else?

Cheers!

Quote from dingobass on October 25, 2012, 11:26
hi dMac

Question regarding capacitors. Do you use ceramics or Orange Drops or something else?

You'll be sorry you asked that, Dingo!!

First question- would you use an Eminence cable with a $50 guitar? There is a line of thought that it will make the $50 guitar sound better, but I say pigs ear, etc.

I generally use Orange Drops on tone controls with above-average pickups and greencaps on treble bleeds (222/.002 uF + 100k). That is what Junior will be wearing.

If it's not a top-end setup, I use good quality greencaps. I've tried them out myself on a couple of gig-only guitars with pretty good pickups. IMO in a noisy environment there's not a worthwhile difference. (Gig guitars? Would you take your $25K Custom Shop David Gilmour Black Strat to a gig? David Gilmour didn't even do it for years!)

Also I use greencaps to keep the costs down if it's appropriate, which also generally means non-high end pickups.

I also knock together pedals. Unless we're talking about very low values (in the low pF range) I avoid ceramics and use MKTs in the signal path. In the power path, it makes no difference. I might use a ceramic for power filtering or RF bleed off, but if it's between "IN" and "OUT" you can't go with noisy components.



This is a Tele control plate I did. Left to right is Tone, Volume (with treble bleed mod) and 4-way switch, set up for Bridge / Parallel / Neck / Series. Red and white are to the jack.

[dingobass]

Thanks for that dMac.

I have been wondering about ceramics for a while, I just got some orange drops on a whim and after reading what you have written I will be ripping those pesky little guys out and replacing them with the orange...

I have realised that there is so much to learn about wireing set ups and that I know far less than I would like, especially whith Guitars! :?

Any good reference books that you would reccomend?

Cheers

Quote from dingobass on October 25, 2012, 13:57
I have realised that there is so much to learn about wireing set ups and that I know far less than I would like, especially whith Guitars! :?

Any good reference books that you would reccomend?

Cheers

Sorry if this comes across wrong, but guitar wiring is pretty simple. Seymour Duncan's web site has a heap of wiring diagrams, and you can normally hack them around to meet your needs. Then it may just seem simpler after building a pedal!

As far as techniques go, I can run through some tricks when I do Junior.

As far as learning what bit does what, Craig Anderton is responsible for more musicians getting into the electronic side of things than anyone else. That includes things like onboard preamps, switching options and the like. Amazon has his library- they are a bit old so there's always a selection available. I'm not sure if he's still a columnist with Guitar Player.

There's a few more that are more pedal related, but if you want them, let me know!

[dingobass]

Thanks dMac

I will check out both of your suggestions.

[Gavin1393]

[quote"Did you get the cap from ALS?"

Cheers![/quote]

Dane and Sean from ALS are very down to earth guys and very helpful. They run an acoustic two week program showing how to build an acoustic. My love for guitar building stems from attending one of their courses. True that they are a bit expensive,