CasinoCaster Build, Take 2.......

[BigSteve22]

An introduction.

I started planning this build over a year ago. But what started in concept as a John Lennon tribute,

(Thread: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=29458.msg416402#msg416402

Morphed into something much more personal, a tribute to Mom.

(Thread: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=30006.msg422775#msg422775 )

It's funny how it's not until after someone's gone, that you are able think of all the things you wanted to say to them. But, when words are no longer available to be said, thoughts and memories of times spent together must become our way of communicating with those who have gone before us. Our conduct becomes our testament to their influence on our lives, and the works of our hands a tribute to their love.

And so, without further ado, allow me to introduce my CasinoCaster: "Amy".

As I mentioned, "Amy" was redesigned as a tribute to my Mom, who passed away last summer. But in my family, "Amy" is an important name all by itself. You see, Amy was not only my Mother's name, but her Mother's name as well, and both women played pivotal roles in getting me to where I am today. (Aside from the obvious, that is...) Grandma Amy bought me my first guitar, Christmas, 1963. My Mother then convinced my Father to shell out the ungodly sum of $5US, each week, for 1/2 hour lessons. We really couldn't afford it, but Mom was insistent, and Dad gave in, and thus started my 50+ year love affair with the guitar. Thanks Mom.....

If you're interested, here's links to the "Just out the box" threads:
Body:  http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=29555.msg417443#msg417443
Neck:  http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=30165.msg425044#msg425044
Original Build Thread:  http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=30537.msg430018#msg430018

 

[BigSteve22]

The Specs:

Body:
Mooncaster, Showcase # MP619
Flame Maple on Mahogany
Vintage Tint, Gloss
Rear Routed
2x Stacked P-90s
2x Tone, 2x Volume, 1x 3 Way Switch, No Side Jack
Strat Shaped, Angled Neck Pocket
Contoured Heel / Tummy Cut (Both Standard)

Neck:
Custom Built
24.75" Conversion Scale, Warmoth Tilt Back, 3x3
Standard Thin Profile
Black Ebony on Roasted Flame Maple, Unfinished
White Pearloid Trapezoid Inlays
Strat Heel, 4 Hole Mounting
10"-16" Compound Radius
22,  SS6230 Frets
1-11/16" White, Tusq XL, Nut
White Pearloid Trapezoid Inlays w/ White Side Dots
Gotoh Stepped, 13/32 x 11/32, Tuner Ream

Electronics:
MojoTone  '56 Quiet Coil P-90's
CTS, 500K, Audio Taper, Split Shaft Pots
.033uf Sprague Orange Drop Tone Caps
Switchcraft, Short Type, 3 Way, Selector Switch
Pure Tone Jack
22 AWG Shielded Push Back Wire

Hardware:
Gotoh 510 Wrap Around Bridge
Gotoh 510, 21:1, Tuners, X-Chrome Finish, Tortoise Buttons
Planet Waves Elliptical Strap Buttons, Chrome
Gibson Top Hat Knobs, Black
Standard Switch Tip, Black
"Modern" Les Paul Pickguard Bracket, Chrome

Extras:
Custom Headstock Decal, Buried Under Satin Lacquer
Custom Acrylic Pickguard, Tortoise on Cream, 45 degree Beveled Edge
Custom Engraved Titanium Neck Plate, w/ Black Frame
Custom Engraved "Amy" Truss Rod Cover
Custom "Twin Mountain" Label in Body Cavity
Stew Mac .5 Degree Shim in the Neck Pocket

 

[BigSteve22]

The Pickguard...

The pickguard was designed in Photoshop. It started as a .jpg of an actual Casino guard. Then, using the transform function, I stretched and morphed the image until it looked like it belonged on an offset guitar. Various iterations were then printed, cut out, and positioned on the body, to see which ones worked, and which didn't. Lastly, I used the body to lay out the pickup locations, cut them into the paper printouts, and then re-scanned them back into Photoshop for final polishing. This took several days, but I finally got the shape I was looking for.

Paper prototype positioned on body:

After many go arounds, this is the final design template sent out to fabricators:

(I'll gladly supply a full sized file to anyone interested in trying this approach.)

The guard was eventually sent to two different companies. First it went to "Scratch- It!" They did an admirable job, and delivered exactly what was promised. Unfortunately, (or fortunately as it turned out), the guard as made by them was too thin and flexible for my intended use. So I went in search of another fabricator, and ended up going with "Quick Guards". One of his specialties is making guards for arch tops. This guard is tortoise on cream, and is thicker, stiffer, and has a polished, beveled edge which shows the underlying color. I'm very happy with the end result.

Mike Quick custom fabricated guard:

 

[BigSteve22]

Pickguard Mounting...

The Mooncaster body may have a carved top, but it's not the same carve as on a Casino. This made mounting the guard sort of a challenge. First of all, the bracket must be small enough to fit in the available space, and then it must be precisely positioned to allow mounting without damaging the body. I ended up using a "Modern", Les Paul pickguard bracket, (available from WD Music), and it just barely fit.
https://www.wdmusic.com/modern-les-paul-style-pickguard-bracket-details.html

This shows the available space for mounting the bracket:

That's less than 1/4" between the surface of the body, (at the edge of the guard), and the bottom surface of the guard, when the guard is level.

The bracket screw which passes through the guard had to be positioned over the top opening of  the "f" hole:

Otherwise it would have hit the top. Not shown is a small rubber spacer between the guard and the body at the upper guard screw. This keeps the guard from deforming when the screw is tightened.

 

[BigSteve22]

Wiring...

I followed standard Les Paul P-90, "Vintage 50's" wiring, using shielded push back wire. Pickups are MojoTone, '56 Quiet Coil P-90's. The selector switch is a short, 3 way, by Switchcraft. Pots are CTS, 500K, split shaft, audio taper, with .033uf Orange Drop tone caps, and no treble bypass.

Jack is a redesigned Pure Tone, in a square steel plate. I had originally ordered this body without a side jack route, intending to mount the jack on top. The side hole was drilled using a 7/8" Fostner bit.

Wiring was built as a harness, minus the pups, and installed as a unit. Once mounted inside the body the pups were connected.

Under the hood, it looks like this:

The side jack:

And the schematic:

 

[BigSteve22]

Hardware...

I decided not to use a trapeze tailpiece as originally intended, I'll save that for another time. So I decided to use a Gotoh 510 wrap around bridge and 510 series tuners , both in their "X-Chrome" finish, because I wanted silvery, but not flashy. Flashy was not Mom's style. I also added tortoise tuner buttons to bring the coloring of the pickguard to that end of the guitar.

I'll talk more about the bridge in the build notes.

Knobs are traditional Gibson style Top Hat's, and the switch has a standard black tip:

Strap buttons, not shown, are my usual Planet Waves Elipticals.

 

[BigSteve22]

Aesthetics...

I didn't want to go with a lot of intricate engraving and such. As I said, not Mom's style. She didn't need a bunch of fancy stuff to make her happy. She enjoyed family and friends more than "things". So with that in mind, I tried to be a little more subdued this time around.

The Decal...

Mom loved roses, as did her Mother, so it seemed only fitting that a rose should form the basis for this guitar's headstock decal. The design is based on a piece of free artwork from kisspng.com ( https://www.kisspng.com/png-tattoo-rose-png-image-56964/ )

This was modified in Photoshop, and my  "Twin Mountain Custom Guitars" text was warped to fit discreetly into the design. Final design was sent to Rothco & Frost to make into decals.

Decal sheet as received:

Decal was applied to the headstock:

Buried in lacquer:

And the finished product:

("Amy" truss rod cover was ordered from a vender on eBay.)

The Neck Plate...

I carried the same rose design over onto the neck plate, adding it to my standard plate layout. The serial number is all Mom... Sent the design off to my favorite Texan, and received his usual exemplary  work product.

Neck Plate:

It's titanium to match the color of the rest of the hardware, and mounted in my usual black frame.

The Label...

I had thought about putting a label inside the body, but didn't think it would be noticeable or practical. Then, I saw how the label looked on aguyinaustintx's beautiful Koa Telecaster! Now, I had to do it. So I designed a label, again based on my standard Twin Mountain logo, and sent it off to Vistaprint. Installation was a little tricky as there's not a whole lot of room to maneuver in those "f" holes.

My label:

Hidden away and colored to blend in with the mahogany.

 

[BigSteve22]

Build Notes:

The body is drilled for the Gotoh 510 bridge, and it fit perfectly. It's a beautiful, very functional piece of hardware. What I didn't realize at first, is that the strings mount through the top of the bridge, and pass through the bottom before wrapping around. This meant that the bridge needed to sit much higher off the body than I had planned, in order for the strings to load without scratching the top. When I raised the bridge to allow the strings pass, the action was way too high, for me anyway.

Solution: A Stew Mac 0.5° shim in the neck joint. Even though the body came with an angled neck pocket, it still needed just a hair more to get low action with this bridge. With the shim, its fine.

------------------------------------------------------------

Wiring went smoothly. As I said, I built it on a harness board, and transferred it to the guitar as a nearly complete assembly. It would have been a real PITA to solder it in place. All wiring was done with shielded, single conductor, push back wire. I'm not really a fan of push back, but it worked out nicely. Everything grounded, pig tails on the shielding, lugs under the pots.

Imagine my surprise when I plugged in the first time and head a loud, high pitched buzz! Checked everything on the amp and pedal board, rechecked the wiring inside to make sure I didn't knock something loose when I transferred the harness, everything looked fine. WTF?

Solution: Turn off the TV. Turns out there was no equipment problem, other than being 10' away from a 42" plasma TV. Never had it effect any of my other guitars equipped with noiseless pups. Seems the MojoTone '56 Quiet Coil P-90's are especially susceptible to the EMI put out by this TV. Maybe because of the construction, as MojoTone advertises: 

"...‘56 “Quiet Coil™” P-90 pickups are passive and only use the parts and materials found in original vintage ‘56 P-90 pickups. Vintage spec 42 gauge coil wire, lower Gauss Alnico magnets, adjustable polepieces, and vintage braided leads. No PC boards, batteries, stacked coils, or anything else associated with other hum-canceling pickups were used in our design. The result is simply the most pure and authentic P-90 tone possible...."

Don't know how they work, (maybe the same as the Bill Lawrence Micro Coils?), but they're dead quiet, as long as you're not sitting 10' away from a 42" plasma TV... Oh, and just bye-the-bye, my EHX HumDebugger did very little to reduce the hum from these pups when the TV was on. Conversely, the same pedal absolutely eliminates the hum from the SD P-Rails, (not noiseless pups),  in my Jazzmaster, when used in the same environment. Don't know why, but there it is.

 

[BigSteve22]

And, I almost forgot, I found a case that actually fits a Mooncaster build. It's a Musician's Friend MGMEG. I' tried to grab a pic from the web site, but it's a no-go. I'll post a picture soon.

 

[mayfly]

wow - lotta info to process!  And it's a nice guitar...

One question:  How did you get the label in there?
One comment:  The case looks like a private label SKB.  Is that your impression?

 

[rgand]

Wow! What a beautiful guitar. Congratulations on a fine build. Great story behind it, too.

I bookmarked that case. I'll see if the specs will work for my Telerauder. Thanks for the number.

edit: The Telerauder is too wide to fit. Oh, well...

 

[BigSteve22]

wow - lotta info to process!  And it's a nice guitar...

Thanks! Yeah, I was collecting pic references, and started putting narrative together with them, in Word. Before I knew what was happening, I had most of the posts done, and formatted, but not in the order I wanted them. This is the result of my re-ordering. I figured smaller posts would be easier to manage, and easier on the reader!

One question:  How did you get the label in there?

I used a pair of angled tweezers, and a probe with a right angle bend and about 1" of reach at the bent end. The label is self adhesive, and about 2" x 3". I was able to just barely slip it in with the tweezers, and maneuver it into position. Then I used the probe to press and flatten it against the body.

One comment:  The case looks like a private label SKB.  Is that your impression?

So, here a quick pic of the case with my guitar. (I'll get better pix later...)

Basically, yes. It's got the same corner, latch, and hinge protectors as an SKB, but they don't cover quite as much area. The materials seem comparable, but I can't say the exterior is the same thickness, although it is not by any means "flimsy". The embossed texturing of the surface is not as deep, and there are no convolutions in the exterior to provide added stiffness. I looks very similar to the one Godzooky75 used for his wonderful dimension pictures, which I used to find this case. Over all, I'd call it an "economy" version of an SKB, although at $100US, it still ain't cheap. And just a note, as Godzooky75 commented in his post, there is little room to spare for the angled headstock, but it's not touching the bottom of the case.

I also still have the Guitar Fetish case:

But that one is too heavy for daily, around-the-house use.

 

[BigSteve22]

Wow! What a beautiful guitar. Congratulations on a fine build. Great story behind it, too.

I bookmarked that case. I'll see if the specs will work for my Telerauder. Thanks for the number.

edit: The Telerauder is too wide to fit. Oh, well...

Thanks Rob! Too bad the case won't fit your Telerauder. I just kept looking for any case with  dimensions that came close until I eventually found one. Maybe try a short scale bass case?

 

[Fat Pete]

Just superb, Steve. Gorgeous guitar, a lovely tribute and it has a cool pickguard!

 

[bagman67]

Such a complete realization of your vision, even if it did evolve away from what you originally had in mind.  It's a touching tribute to your mother and grandmother.  And I agree with Fat Pete, that pickguard alone is a piece of art.  Great choices all the way through.

 

[BigSteve22]

Pete, Ian, thank you so much! I'm sure Mom would have loved this. Also glad that you both like the pickguard, it was a lot of work, and I'm especially happy with the way it turned out.

 

[rgand]

Wow! What a beautiful guitar. Congratulations on a fine build. Great story behind it, too.

I bookmarked that case. I'll see if the specs will work for my Telerauder. Thanks for the number.

edit: The Telerauder is too wide to fit. Oh, well...

Thanks Rob! Too bad the case won't fit your Telerauder. I just kept looking for any case with  dimensions that came close until I eventually found one. Maybe try a short scale bass case?

That's a good idea. I'll look into that.

 

[Rick]

That came out great

 

[Logrinn]

Steve ...
I don’t know what to say ...
What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
But still, I have to say this ...
I too find the guitar absolutely gorgeous. The work that went into all this is incredibly impressive.
And the story behind it all!
I became emotional reading it.
You should be very proud of what you have accomplished here.
I’m sure your mother and her mother are smiling fondly now.

 

[stratamania]

Excellent build Steve, and thanks for sharing... :icon_thumright: