Gadget VW
- Thread starter richship
- Start date
Made some more progress yesterday. I wanted to add an upper bout switch, so I bought a switch cover to measure for fit. I made templates with a hole saw for the inner cavity and the recess for the cover.
I used a forstener bit on the drill to remove most of the material. I then used the template to rout the inner cavity. I used a 1/2" template bit from Sears that removes about an inch at a time. It needed another pass to go deeper using the existing hole as the template. For the recess, I used a shorter 1/2" template bit from Stew Mac so it would be able to follow the template and only take off 1/8" or so.
Using my new $20 digital calipers (wow that is useful!) I found that the switch itself is 15/32". What a weird size. I had to go buy a drill bit for it. Then it was time to drill the wire channel. I used the long 1/4" drill bit at an angle toward the switch cavity, making sure to tape the bit to make sure I didn't go too far and using a piece of wood to make sure the top wasn't marred.
The NTune uses a pretty large connector, so I had to use a 5/8" long bit to widen the channel to fit it. Of course I forgot to tape it to show the depth so it went too far and chipped the wood near the switch cover a little. Not hard to fix during the finish, but annoying. Overall, I'm happy with how it came out.
I used a forstener bit on the drill to remove most of the material. I then used the template to rout the inner cavity. I used a 1/2" template bit from Sears that removes about an inch at a time. It needed another pass to go deeper using the existing hole as the template. For the recess, I used a shorter 1/2" template bit from Stew Mac so it would be able to follow the template and only take off 1/8" or so.
Using my new $20 digital calipers (wow that is useful!) I found that the switch itself is 15/32". What a weird size. I had to go buy a drill bit for it. Then it was time to drill the wire channel. I used the long 1/4" drill bit at an angle toward the switch cavity, making sure to tape the bit to make sure I didn't go too far and using a piece of wood to make sure the top wasn't marred.
The NTune uses a pretty large connector, so I had to use a 5/8" long bit to widen the channel to fit it. Of course I forgot to tape it to show the depth so it went too far and chipped the wood near the switch cover a little. Not hard to fix during the finish, but annoying. Overall, I'm happy with how it came out.
I got one more thing done yesterday. The Floyd rout needed to be modified to fit the Graphtech bridge.
I used the 3/8" Stew Mac template bit to deepen the corners behind the flange and to take about 3/32" from the treble side. You can see the templates I used for the last step used to provide some straight edges for this one. And now it fits!
I used the 3/8" Stew Mac template bit to deepen the corners behind the flange and to take about 3/32" from the treble side. You can see the templates I used for the last step used to provide some straight edges for this one. And now it fits!
DangerousR6
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That's coming out to be bad ass..... :headbang:
Took some time last night just laying out controls. Whoever had this body built didn't have anything drilled, not even side jacks. Good for me with all the stuff to fit.
I cut out some graph paper in the shape of the control cavity to try various things. The Fernandes Sustainer board takes up a lot of room. Everything else works around that. The board and it's switches will be in front of the bridge. I hope that will be handy to can flick them when I want (and hopefully not when I don't).
The four knobs will be in a Les Paul type configuration. The three Ghost switches will be in strategic places around the perimeter - Acoustic Quick Switch near the acoustic volume, MIDI switch near the MIDI volume, program switch below the sustainer switches. The Ghost boards are very small and can be stuck to the control cover. They should fit around the one pot that doesn't have a switch.
I need to make sure the output jack has a good place to go that doesn't hit anything. I'm not sure where it would normally go exactly, but I guess as long as it doesn't hit where a guitar stand would it is OK. Of course I only have the one type of stand to test with. Any standards for this?
I'm putting the 13-pin jack near the back. You have to take a lot of wood out to fit it and there will still be a good bit left there. Putting it in a thin walled area seems like it would make a weak spot just waiting to break.
I cut out some graph paper in the shape of the control cavity to try various things. The Fernandes Sustainer board takes up a lot of room. Everything else works around that. The board and it's switches will be in front of the bridge. I hope that will be handy to can flick them when I want (and hopefully not when I don't).
The four knobs will be in a Les Paul type configuration. The three Ghost switches will be in strategic places around the perimeter - Acoustic Quick Switch near the acoustic volume, MIDI switch near the MIDI volume, program switch below the sustainer switches. The Ghost boards are very small and can be stuck to the control cover. They should fit around the one pot that doesn't have a switch.
I need to make sure the output jack has a good place to go that doesn't hit anything. I'm not sure where it would normally go exactly, but I guess as long as it doesn't hit where a guitar stand would it is OK. Of course I only have the one type of stand to test with. Any standards for this?
I'm putting the 13-pin jack near the back. You have to take a lot of wood out to fit it and there will still be a good bit left there. Putting it in a thin walled area seems like it would make a weak spot just waiting to break.
Enough planning, time to fit the top controls.
I marked where the holes would go on both sides of the template fitted to the bottom of the control cavity. Used a center punch to mark two of the outside holes, drilled pilot holes, then put the template on top, anchored by a couple nails in the frist holes. Punched the rest of the holes, drilled pilot holes, then drilled for the controls. I think the layout works pretty well. I may have to thin out the cavity wall a bit to get things to fit a little better.
Wiring this together is going to be interesting. Next up are the two side jacks (1/4" and 13-pin).
I marked where the holes would go on both sides of the template fitted to the bottom of the control cavity. Used a center punch to mark two of the outside holes, drilled pilot holes, then put the template on top, anchored by a couple nails in the frist holes. Punched the rest of the holes, drilled pilot holes, then drilled for the controls. I think the layout works pretty well. I may have to thin out the cavity wall a bit to get things to fit a little better.
Wiring this together is going to be interesting. Next up are the two side jacks (1/4" and 13-pin).
DangerousR6
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That's cool....Even if you don't know what they all do, you can look cool flippin' switches for 20 min's.... :headbang1:
Disco Scottie
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I've always wanted a guitar that would double as a universal remote for my home theater. :guitarplayer2:
DangerousR6
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richship said:
:icon_biggrin:
Rickgrxbass
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Paul-less said:
Reminds me of an episode of Batman in which the villain (The Joker? doesn't seem devious enough, but maybe) jimmied open the Batmobile and changed around the labels to all the switches, which of course confounded Batman because he can't be bothered to know what his own car does. Never mind the issue of going through the trouble of breaking into the car and not just stealing it, but I suppose that wouldn't have made for good TV. (When we last saw our Caped Crusader, he was filing a report with Allstate... :dontknow
Back to the guitar, though, that's some cool techno-wizardry going on there, and that contour-matched neck makes me want to go after my collection with a rasp and an evil laugh
Death by Uberschall
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Mad props to the mad scientist!! :headbang1:
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