7/8 S-Style in Black Cherry / Wenge Warhead

[syscokid]

All of those connections are made on the diagram. Is that what you were looking for?

Yes, it is what I’m looking for. And thanks for more cool info. I can always copy from a diagram, but I’m trying to understand the whole process a bit better. Switching mechanisms like this 5-way super switch or those 3PDT foot switches have always been a big challenge for me. That also goes for understanding how to manipulate 4 or 5-conductor pickup wiring for more options. I really appreciate all the help I have received here…

 

[syscokid]

Tuners (or lack of): Yesterday made contact with WD Music. They started the shipping process right after I contacted them. I might receive the replacement tuners in five days.

Meanwhile, I began sanding the whole neck to a finer grit. Right now, it’s been sanded to 800 grit and the wood feels incredible. I might sand up to 2000.

I’m also going to address the fret ends too.

 

[supertruper1988]

Yes, it is what I’m looking for. And thanks for more cool info. I can always copy from a diagram, but I’m trying to understand the whole process a bit better. Switching mechanisms like this 5-way super switch or those 3PDT foot switches have always been a big challenge for me. That also goes for understanding how to manipulate 4 or 5-conductor pickup wiring for more options. I really appreciate all the help I have received here…

Awesome glad its helping. It took me a while to get my head around it but now I so all kinds of fun stuff. My favorite wiring is my HSH "kitchen sink" wiring which gets me Strat, Tele, and Humbucker tones with a 5 way and 3 switches.

 

[stratamania]

@syscokid here are a couple of good articles which can help you understand the superswitch.

Guitar Wiring Explored: Introducing the 5 Way Super Switch

In this edition of guitar wiring explored, we introduce the 5 way super switch and go over some examples of how it can be used.

www.seymourduncan.com

Guitar Wiring Explored: Introducing the 5 Way 4 Pole Super Switch

In this article, we introduce the 5 Way 4 Pole Super Switch and demonstrate how this versatile tool can be used to expand your tonal palette.

www.seymourduncan.com

At the end of part 2 it mentions the sky is the limit but whilst there is a huge amount of flexibility, there is a ceiling to what it can do.

Also, worth a read is the P-Rails articles. Understanding this also applies to any humbucker and series, parallel, splits.

The P-Rails Wiring Bible, Part 1: Covering The Basics

Follow this P-Rails wiring guide for an introduction to the functionality of the P-Rails pickups. Design and implement a wiring scheme that works for you.

www.seymourduncan.com

The P-Rails Wiring Bible, Part 2 - Seymour Duncan

The three most-used modes for the P-Rails pickup are series humbucker, P-90 mode and rail mode. If these are the only three modes we want to use, the wiring is quite simple.

www.seymourduncan.com

The Seymour Duncan P-Rails Wiring Bible, Part 3: Common Wirings

In the final installation of the Seymour Duncan P-Rails wiring guide, we cover some of the most common P-Rails wiring diagrams.

www.seymourduncan.com

Also worth noting with the superswitch having four poles and four commons is that the commons can be joined or kept separate and used as inputs or outputs dependent on what is trying to be achieved.

 

[syscokid]

I have L500s and can confirm this is the correct wiring.

The guitar on this build is equipped with a Wilde L500R for the neck position, and a Wilde L500L for the bridge. Do you, or anybody else here, have any experience with these pups operating as a single coil through a coil split versus hummer in parallel?

I’ve always preferred a parallel setup compared to a split coil setup when I tried the two different methods with humbuckers from Fralin and Seymour Duncan. Maybe the Wilde’s are different?

 

[stratamania]

The guitar on this build is equipped with a Wilde L500R for the neck position, and a Wilde L500L for the bridge. Do you, or anybody else here, have any experience with these pups operating as a single coil through a coil split versus hummer in parallel?

I’ve always preferred a parallel setup compared to a split coil setup when I tried the two different methods with humbuckers from Fralin and Seymour Duncan. Maybe the Wilde’s are different?

I have only ran the L500x as full humbuckers. I would suspect parallel may be more useful than split. But as with all things subjective, worth trying both ways.

 

[VanHeGen]

I implemented a spin-a-split in my build, and I prefer that to the other mods (paralell, serial, coil split/tap) available for a humbucker.. Bear in mind that I am not a pro, so stick to the suggestions that stratamania and other pro’s in this forum. But it is discussed in this thread in case you you are interested In that option, briefly described below.

Basically one coil of the bucker stays on full, and the other coil can be altered between nothing and full, where something between 50-80% sounds best in my ears. I have a dedicated tone control for this, but I guess it would be possible to set it once with a minipot (that I also use in that build), without the need for dedicating a (visible) tone control for it.

 

[rauchman]

OP......killer!!!! Really nice setup

 

[syscokid]

The new set of Kluson tuners arrived three days ago… “YAY!” The next day I began the installation process. As I went to install and press in the last tuner bushing, it simply dropped in the hole again… WTF!!! All the tuner holes measured at 10.3mm, including the last empty tuner hole. This is the correct Warmoth spec of 13/32, or 10.3mm. The questionable bushing measured 10.2mm! Kluson spec is 10.5mm. Contacted Kluson/WD Music again, and they will ship me four extra bushings which all measure at 10.5mm according to the customer service tech.

Realistically, the new parts should arrive the later part of next week. But I’ll be RV camping most of next week, so this build’s next update won’t happen until after I get home. Crazy, huh?

 

[syscokid]

So, last week I was out of town camping while the much needed and correct tuner bushing was delivered. WD Music sent me four bushings to pick from, ha ha! First bushing I picked, fit the way I expected it too. Thank you WD Music! Finally installed all tuners, neck, and strings. Spent a couple days dialing in the overall setup and I'm happy to say that this is a fun guitar to express yourself with a variety of useable tones. I know I might be in the Honeymoon phase, but these Wilde (Bill & Becky Lawrence) pickups are impressive.

A couple quick pics with the late afternoon sun:





More pics to follow in a day or so.

 

[VanHeGen]

Wow, looks killer! And I’ve heard only good things about those pickups, so I am sure it’s sounds great too!

 

[stultzies9]

Yeah, that's a stunningly beautiful guitar! And while I've never heard those pickups personally, I've never heard of anyone going wrong with a set of Lawrence pickups, so I think you knocked the whole build out of the park.

 

[syscokid]

Since I didn’t show pics of the headstock yet, here’s a couple quick and sloppy pics:




The shaft of the wenge neck was sanded to 800 grit. The headstock was sanded to 1000 grit. It feels insanely smooth. I think the face of the headstock needs a Warmoth “something”

 

[Rick]

nice

 

[supertruper1988]

That thing is gorgeous!

What knobs are those?

 

[syscokid]

What knobs are those?

KAISH 2pcs Aluminium Potentiometer Knobs 1/4" Universal Top Hat Knobs Bell Control Knob with Set Screw for Guitar/Bass/AMPS/Preamps Black with Polished Edge and Indicator
https://a.co/d/gP2QsvO

 

[syscokid]

The latest…

I keep wanting to take the final pics and call this build: “DONE!”. But it’s not. I’m struggling to get this neck set up to where I know it feels right. Rather than experiment with my confidence, I dropped off the guitar at a local shop to have them do some minor fret leveling at about three frets where there are some high spots. I also want the fret ends rounded and polished down. I also want the action at the nut lowered.

I originally contemplated full fret leveling, but the fret-leveling-dude kindly refuses to do a full fret level on frets made of stainless steel. I don’t blame him… Stainless steel is brutal on tools!

 

[stratamania]

I originally contemplated full fret leveling, but the fret-leveling-dude kindly refuses to do a full fret level on frets made of stainless steel. I don’t blame him… Stainless steel is brutal on tools!

Not that old saw. Yes, they can take some more work, but as long as you use good tools, there is no problem.

 

[ruscio]

Not that old saw. Yes, they can take some more work, but as long as you use good tools, there is no problem.

100% agree, especially for something as minor as leveling a new Warmoth neck. There's very little material likely to be removed, and the crowning and polishing isn't so bad. If you do it frequently enough, well worth the investment into some simple tools and practice. Nothing improves the playability of a guitar more than excellent fret work, which isn't that hard to learn to do yourself. Just my two cents.

 

[syscokid]

Yes, they can take some more work, but as long as you use good tools, there is no problem.

Not only do I agree with this, but even the fret-leveling-dude mentioned to the owner of the guitar shop, that he does not have the quality and type of tools to do full fretwork on stainless steel due to the amount of investment needed. But at least he’s willing to level a couple high spots and smooth the fret ends. There’s only a couple local guitar shops, and they both outsource the fret work to the same fret repairman. On the positive side, this fret repairman has a lot of experience and I can personally vouch that he does excellent work.

Nothing improves the playability of a guitar more than excellent fret work, which isn't that hard to learn to do yourself.

Yes, and yes! But I don’t want to learn by practicing on this particular neck. I want to get this done now, and I feel more comfortable and confident knowing that this neck will be handled by a pro.


A detail that I left out earlier is that I could not get the neck perfectly straight before installing the strings. Part of the reason is I initially did not fully understand how the Warmoth modern neck works with the dual truss rod and it’s side adjust mechanism. I do know now, though. I also might have been too impatient by not allowing enough time for the neck to settle in between adjustments.