So what's on your workbench now.

[Uluwatu]

As I do not have an oscillating spindle sander, all my shaping was done on a belt sander and its drums.

Here I open up the pick up cut outs with a drill bit and then the little Dremel router.




This one is quite a bit larger for the humbucker, and I actually took out extra wood because I want this guitar to be light and to resonate.

I cleaned up the edges some more with the belt sander and sanding block, and then I ran all the edges over the router table.


This went reasonably well but I did goof up a little bit around the jack hole. There will be quite a bit of hand sanding in that area to make it look reasonable.


Also I actually opened up some small voids in the plywood and they will require filler.

 

[The_idiot]

Hi all,

First post in the building section, but been following for some time!

Quite a proud day here - after quite a lot of effort, mistakes and bad choices (as well as bad language), I’ve actually managed to make my first guitar - P Bass (1951 style). Appreciate it’s not a strat!

Body is 2 piece ash from a fencing supplier, neck is flamed and partly spalted rift sawn sycamore from a company called Treecycling here in the UK (got some really nice pieces for anyone based in the UK). Finished in rattle can nitro.

I know it’s quite controversial, and it was a bit of a test, but I went for a non-adjustable truss rod - 10x6mm steel square rod, with 6x6mm carbon fibre rod in a sandwich.

In future I’ll be going to spoke wheel truss rods. I spent months trying to get vintage rods to work, but I just don’t have the space/tooling/skill to make it work. I do all my work in the back garden with space being at a bit of a premium

It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s been a really good learning experience and I’m jolly chuffed to have finally finished something that I’m proud of!

Looks incredible.

 

[The_idiot]

Here’s some motivation for you!!

One can of nitro sanding sealer dried for 2 days then sanded flat to 600 gritView attachment 810321

1 can of nitro primer. Dried 24 hours and then just scuffed lightly with a 600 grit foam block. View attachment 810323

1 can of nitro shoreline gold, light coats to spread evenly. View attachment 810325View attachment 810327View attachment 810329

Only 4 coats of clear so far, 8 more to go at this point. View attachment 810331

Then wait for the clear to cure, probably a month. Got started and finished the redo of the loaded pickguard. View attachment 810333View attachment 810335

Oh and I know you like or looking into paint stands. This one is an Amazon bike stand. View attachment 810337

The project looks killer

 

[The_idiot]

Had to widen the neck pocket on the Dirty Hairy build. Oddly enough, it’s a fender body and still about an extra 1mm for hit just about any neck.
This homemade block worked perfectly.




Then decided to wire up a pickguard for an early ‘50’s strat: PV’59 pickups; .1uF cap. The rest is standard fare.

 

[DRugerH]

I picked up this funkly little strat-like guitar on Monday for $10. It's not a full sized guitar, but not a 3/4 either. Maybe a 7/8?

The wiring is all hacked up. Not sure what the pickups are, but wires are cut short on them as well. I have a bunch of spare parts, so I will be using mostly what I have on hand, and buying what I need, like POTS, switch and whatnot.






I already cleaned off the sticker, stripped everything off of it, installed a set of white pickups I had laying around. I need to widen the tuner holes for modern tuners, rewire it, replace or locate/make back covers, etc. It shouldn't be too much work. I also pieced together a better bridge. Basically, I cleaned this one up, and replaced the saddles.

Anyhow, I enjoy repairing musical instruments, acoustic and electric, and then I donate them to places that hand out instruments to kids who can't otherwise afford them, but want to learn. Some kid ought to be rather happy with this when it is complete.

Dan

 

[JJ119]

Good find @DRugerH
7/8 is great, comfortable, and completely full sounding.

Pickup and Pot change should put you in
Dinky territory.
You might like it enough to hold on to for a while!!
Headstock looks like a mix of early
Jackson, Kramer, and Ibanez.

 

[GrooVey]

I enjoy repairing musical instruments

Fun Stuff!

 

[Uluwatu]

So the scale on the remodeled Synsonics is 24”. 1/2” longer than the ‘65 Silvertone but 3/4”shorter than a typical Gibson.

1.5” less than a Strat, so ~94% scale?

A temporary tailpiece made from welding wire allows me to locate the Tune-O-Matic bridge.

There is no way to put in a stop bar. The wood block inside this guitar does not go far enough towards the tail. I need an arch top style tail piece or a short telecaster style.

I am going to make something custom from stainless steel.

 

[DRugerH]

7/8 is great, comfortable, and completely full sounding.

Pickup and Pot change should put you in
Dinky territory.
You might like it enough to hold on to for a while!!

Well, the guitar is done. I did play it a while, and it works well. However, I can't get used to the neck, so it will live its life again in someone else's hands.





It's a little mix-n-match, but it is a playable guitar, and sounds rather decent, even with the cheap First Act pickups I had laying around. I was going to test the pickups it came with, but they were rusty and corroded, so I just tossed them.

Dan

 

[JJ119]

Looks nice!!
Good job!!

I'm guessing it's a Jackson profile neck
12 - 14 radius maybe?? " Shredder " profile.??

 

[mapleglo]

Making a dolly for my new bass amp.

 

[Uluwatu]

I’ve cut up this stainless steel spatula just for one little bit…


I shaped this by eye, but I traced it and flipped it repeatedly, comparing the profile, to get it symmetrical enough.



OK, 5 screws might be overkill, but I didn’t want the tail to lift.



I played it without pickups and it sounds small, but it sounds OK for a cheap blues box.

Breakover angle is very low.




Wiring up a temporary test rig.



Wired and tested, but no control cover yet.
I couldn’t wait to hear it first.


I just jammed some paper in the hole to prevent a short.

I am pretty happy with the sound so far and those pick ups are really loud. They turned out to be a good match for the little 5 watt tube amp.

They came from two different guitars but they sound good wired together in parallel.

 

[GrooVey]

I didn’t want the tail to lift.

Nice job!

 

[Uluwatu]

Nice job!

Thank you. She is still very rough and I don’t think the breakover angle is sharp enough. Also the action is too high so I’m going to shim up the neck and raise the bridge slightly.

Anyhow after playing it I tuned it up and let it sit all night under pressure.

Considering I just bolted it together, it seems to have held tune ok.

I haven’t done any work to the fingerboard yet and so it’s going to get some attention to the neck.

All the plywood edges are going to get sanded and sealed with epoxy and then I’m going to paint the edge and stain the top and bottom + varnish.

This is a silly amount of work to put into such an inexpensive chunk of Chinese lumber, but the great joy of it all is that it does work, I’ve only spent $25 so far, and It’s the only one like it in the known universe.

 

[Uluwatu]

I did some more sanding on the body, but it needs more yet. I recessed the jack, and put some vintage strap buttons on.

I also shimmed the neck up, and the action is much improved. I didn’t need to raise the bridge, so a bit more shimming will be needed.

I didn’t find anything suitable for the control cover yet, so no electronics are working. I did set the intonation, and it was close enough. The worst string was only off 2.5 cents at the octave.

No pix if the WIP, but I set up a shot of my whole collection.

 

[Uluwatu]

I had some smoked lucite that was just big enough for the control cover.


No tone control. Strictly raw-doggin’ it.

 

[Bowmap]

I had some smoked lucite that was just big enough for the control cover.
View attachment 816137

No tone control. Strictly raw-doggin’ it.

I can't help thinking, 'In the spirit of Brian May.'

 

[Uluwatu]

Queen made a bundle! I didn’t really follow those guys…I had to Google…

I haven’t seen May’s instruments either. And he was knighted for his axe handling too? Oh my…

He wrote a survey of dust cloud movements? No wonder he left science. Talk about watching paint dry!

Not that music isn’t science. It is now more than ever before.

Thank God for jazz and blues because I don’t have a PHD in anything qualifying as music or physics. I was a professional computer bum for people who were manufacturing various things.

I survived IBM cards, punched tape, magnetic tape, platters, disks, floppys, micros, Zip drives, 20 generations of HDD, smart phones, and now SSDs.

I “dropped out” right before Teslas and AI. I was 61 years old. I’d had enough.

(Where’s my Snark?)

 

[Bowmap]

SSDs are not current. They had a serial connection. They went from 2.5 Inch replacements to the M.2 form factor but still interfaced through SATA. Current crops are NVMe which connect directly into the PCIe bus.

And NVMe probably they will be outdated by the time I post this.

I have built my 'last' set of computers this year. A recent event in my life has made me reconsider when I will retire. Sooner than later.

 

[Uluwatu]

SSDs are not current.

Me neither.
As I said, I dropped out of the biz.
In 2016.

I’m only interested in vintage music gear now.