Verne Bunsen
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- Messages
- 2,472
Hello all!
So, I’d like to start out here by saying that this is not intended to be a “replica” of Neil Young’s trusty companion, Old Black. There won’t be any (intentional) relic’ing, nor any painted-on faux binding. I won’t be stripping the black finish off, refinishing it in gold, then painting black over it again. I’m not going to route the back out for the “mystery cover”. Some technical and aesthetic decisions will probably (definitely) be made differently. This guitar is to be a gift for my father, who passed his love and appreciation for the music of Neil Young on to me. While I do aim to pay respect to Neil and to Old Black with this project, upon completion it will be my dad’s guitar, not Neil’s. That's the idea anyway.
That said, onward!
Neil and Old Black: Weapons of Mass Creation!
The platform for this project is my 2011 Les Paul Traditional Pro.
Two points of background information here. Point 1: I've had this guitar for about 3 years, and have spent the last year or so debating selling it due to guitar overpopulation. Point 2: I travel a lot for work and, over the last year or so, my dad has come through to provide assistance to my wife in a number of pinches: heater that won't heat, Air Conditioner that won't cool, roof leaks, cars that won't start, all of the things that only happen when you're away. It occured to me that this guitar would be much better served as a "Thanks Dad!" than as a listing on Reverb.com. That's the genisis of this project.
The guitar is currently equipped with a pair of Lollar P90s, which I installed shortly after acquiring the guitar. They are bodacious. The neck P90 will be staying, although it will be getting a new hat.
The bridge pickup will be changed out, but no pictures yet as it is currently in the hands of our local metallurgical magician DangerousR6. He is working on some hardware for it. Among other things...
The guitar has these very convenient mounting plates for the pickups:
The new neck pickup cover is actually metal, so grounding it becomes a concern. I approached this like any self-respecting Tele guy: I stuck a piece of wire under the plate and screwed it back down...
With the pickup installed and the cover connected to the plate by the mounting screws, the meter tells me I have good continuity between the cover and other end of the ground wire. For now, that will do!
I think we're off to a good start...
I have yet to wire up a toggle switch as pretty as what Cagey turns out, but I'm working on it...
I had this switch surround made by Philadelphia Luthier Tools, and I am just thrilled about it...
More as it develops!
So, I’d like to start out here by saying that this is not intended to be a “replica” of Neil Young’s trusty companion, Old Black. There won’t be any (intentional) relic’ing, nor any painted-on faux binding. I won’t be stripping the black finish off, refinishing it in gold, then painting black over it again. I’m not going to route the back out for the “mystery cover”. Some technical and aesthetic decisions will probably (definitely) be made differently. This guitar is to be a gift for my father, who passed his love and appreciation for the music of Neil Young on to me. While I do aim to pay respect to Neil and to Old Black with this project, upon completion it will be my dad’s guitar, not Neil’s. That's the idea anyway.
That said, onward!
Neil and Old Black: Weapons of Mass Creation!
The platform for this project is my 2011 Les Paul Traditional Pro.
Two points of background information here. Point 1: I've had this guitar for about 3 years, and have spent the last year or so debating selling it due to guitar overpopulation. Point 2: I travel a lot for work and, over the last year or so, my dad has come through to provide assistance to my wife in a number of pinches: heater that won't heat, Air Conditioner that won't cool, roof leaks, cars that won't start, all of the things that only happen when you're away. It occured to me that this guitar would be much better served as a "Thanks Dad!" than as a listing on Reverb.com. That's the genisis of this project.
The guitar is currently equipped with a pair of Lollar P90s, which I installed shortly after acquiring the guitar. They are bodacious. The neck P90 will be staying, although it will be getting a new hat.
The bridge pickup will be changed out, but no pictures yet as it is currently in the hands of our local metallurgical magician DangerousR6. He is working on some hardware for it. Among other things...
The guitar has these very convenient mounting plates for the pickups:
The new neck pickup cover is actually metal, so grounding it becomes a concern. I approached this like any self-respecting Tele guy: I stuck a piece of wire under the plate and screwed it back down...
With the pickup installed and the cover connected to the plate by the mounting screws, the meter tells me I have good continuity between the cover and other end of the ground wire. For now, that will do!
I think we're off to a good start...
I have yet to wire up a toggle switch as pretty as what Cagey turns out, but I'm working on it...
I had this switch surround made by Philadelphia Luthier Tools, and I am just thrilled about it...
More as it develops!
ccasion14:
