Barracuda Begins

[Fat Pete]

Following on from the just out of the box thread, this now qualifies as a work in progress.

First major job, changing this:

Into this:

Not being capable of the 'just draw a line and attack it with a saw' approach, I had the ever helpful Tim at originalscratchplates.com make me an acrylic template which I just located with dowels into 2 tuner holes and cut it on a table router.

Also, as my DangerousDR6 plate completed it's US tour and landed safely here in the UK (thanks Cagey), it's face-off time with the LazrArt offering.

Actually the LazrArt one is quite nicely done but I think we all know which one wins.

More updates coming soon-ish.

 

[Logrinn]

Wow, very cool. Looking forward to seeing more. You always make excellent guitars.

 

[Timmsie95]

Nice! Reminds me of the headstock on my uncle's guitar.

 

[Fat Pete]

Wow, very cool. Looking forward to seeing more. You always make excellent guitars.

Nice! Reminds me of the headstock on my uncle's guitar.

Thanks both! I have no problem with it reminding you of that - looks pretty cool!

I'm making no claims of originality - there are lots of similar headstocks out there. This shape serves a (design) purpose that will become apparent as it proceeds.

 

[DangerousR6]

:hello2:
it made it.... :headbang:

 

[DangerousR6]

oohhhhh, barracuda...

 

[Timmsie95]

oohhhhh, barracuda...

Also, did you know that tennis balls are used in tennis?  :laughing7:
I had the same realization earlier.

 

[Glimmer]

Ok, since DangerousR6 brought up cars, I must say that I'm surprised at how many of these I'm seeing on the roads locally:

One fellow in the neighborhood has 3 of them in his driveway.

I remember them from "back in the day" (aHEM :glasses10, thought they were cool looking (like just about everything else with a "fastback"), but they seemed to disappear in the ’70s. Now, you can't swing a dead cat w/out hitting one of them (a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean).

 

[Fat Pete]

Headstock face now black(ish). Not perfect but not bad. Half of it will be covered up anyway.

 

[zebra]

Fat Pete - How did you go about blackening that headstock?

 

[Axkoa]

Fat Pete - How did you go about blackening that headstock?

Sharpie... :laughing7:

 

[Volitions Advocate]

When I died my Tele body from the GFS thread, I used just black furniture wood stain.  I didn't dilute it first and it was BLACK.  Took very little to turn my entire guitarbody into a black hole.

 

[Fat Pete]

Fat Pete - How did you go about blackening that headstock?

Inspired by Lushtone's gorgeous India ink Strat

 

[Fat Pete]

Stuff!

Cheapish Wilkinson bridge made into an expensive one. Not sure why they have to make the baseplate out of adamantium - damn thing took some drilling! Still, being able to bang out Ralph McTell numbers on this shredstick-looking thing appeals to my perverse nature (I'm so perverted). So hopefully it was worthwhile.

Humbucker size pickup is a Bare Knuckle Black Hawk. I've been looking for an excuse to get one of these for a while.

Strat size pickup is a DiMarzio Fast Track that I picked up cheap second-hand. It was seriously scuzzy so I scraped off the rust and what was left of the paint on the rails and replaced the cover (which was surprisingly easy to come by for the UK). The cover did have the bright white logo and I'm not too keen on branding - unless it's my own. Luckily I found an unbranded version just below the surface.

I know Bare Knuckle's Cobra would have matched better visually but I wanted to stick with humbuckers on this one.

Tuners are Hipshot Grip-Locks with D07 ('normal' Schaller-style) buttons.

Still have to get the scratchplate and headstock plate sorted, but I think all the other parts are now on hand.

Need to drill a new hole for the Graph Tech wires and, worse, I'll need to enlarge the jack hole (!) Really can't see why the 7/8" hole isn't a standard option on finished bodies - wish I'd asked them as there's no way the 4 connector Graph Tech socket is fitting in there. Bring out the rasps!

 

[Cagey]

Cheapish Wilkinson bridge made into an expensive one. Not sure why they have to make the baseplate out of adamantium - damn thing took some drilling!

I had a helluva time doing the same thing to a Wilkinson VS100.

Need to drill a new hole for the Graph Tech wires and, worse, I'll need to enlarge the jack hole (!) Really can't see why the 7/8" hole isn't a standard option on finished bodies - wish I'd asked them as there's no way the 4 connector Graph Tech socket is fitting in there. Bring out the rasps!

You'll be at it forever with a file/rasp. Get a dowel of the diameter of the existing hole, and fill it. Then, get a 7/8" Forstner bit to drill out a larger hole. Other than waiting for the glue to dry/cure on the dowel, it'll be a lot faster/easier.

 

[bagman67]

And cleaner.

 

[Fat Pete]

You'll be at it forever with a file/rasp. Get a dowel of the diameter of the existing hole, and fill it. Then, get a 7/8" Forstner bit to drill out a larger hole. Other than waiting for the glue to dry/cure on the dowel, it'll be a lot faster/easier.

Maybe in your world, but I'm not really set up for that kind of job. No problem at all with a rasp (I think I bought decent ones). I guess I am a 'just have it with a hand tool' kind of guy - sometimes.

Using a rasp also allowed me to make the hole bigger on the inside - where all the wiry things go.

And cleaner.

Yeah, I'll give you that one. But, does the untidy stuff all fit behind the jack plate? Yep. Job done.

 

[Cagey]

Can't argue with success  :laughing7:

 

[Fat Pete]

Can't argue with success  :laughing7:

ccasion14:

This isn't really progress but...

This is a pickup that at least looks like it means serious business. It has 4 blades so that's like twice as much tone... and probably quadruple mojo...

Right?

I need unguent.

 

[Axkoa]

To get a single coil tone out of that do you have to double coil tap it?