Thanks to DIY Forum; Finished Guitar

[s1player]

Hello everyone - A few months ago - I asked several questions on this forum as I worked my way through a Dye project on a new guitar. The threads asking for advice are

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23680.msg346627#msg346627
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23612.msg345807#msg345807
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23733.msg347108#msg347108
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23641.msg346147#msg346147
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23700.msg346855#msg346855

I want to thank Bagman67, Cagey, DMRACO, Stubhead, Tonar8353, and stratamania for help. Also, thanks to anyone I may have forgotten. I very much appreciate all of the help.

I have attached a few pictures. I did all the dye - knobs, front, back, side, and the binding. Ric Nerby of NW Custom Guitars did the clear coats (and brought my amateur dye job up to an excellent shine), assembly and set up.

 

[stratamania]

Congratulations on the finished guitar and thanks for the acknowledgement.  :icon_thumright:

 

[bagman67]

You did a lovely job!  Thank you for the acknowledgment.  I have roughly the same cadre of generous contributors to thank for my successes as well (all errors being, of course, my own damn fault).


I'd be interested to see a photo or two taken in filtered daylight so we can get an idea how things look without the flash.


How does she play?


Bagman

 

[Cagey]

Nice Job! That looks great! You must be very pleased!

I'm with Bagman, though. Some better light would probably show it off.

 

[s1player]

You did a lovely job!  Thank you for the acknowledgment.  I have roughly the same cadre of generous contributors to thank for my successes as well (all errors being, of course, my own damn fault).


I'd be interested to see a photo or two taken in filtered daylight so we can get an idea how things look without the flash.


How does she play?


Bagman

The guitar plays incredibly well. The neck is a 1 1/8" inch thick (not a typo) musikraft neck with a 1.75" nut. Finally, a neck I don't ask myself "Do I need a thicker neck?" The neck is RW with Black Ebony FB - unfinished so the feel is smooth and incredible to play. EDIT: the neck is unfinished, but the headstock is clear finished. Basically, finished like a music man.

As for the sound, I am having a hard time understanding how I am getting what I am hearing. Eventhough it's P Rails and a Coil Tapped Quarter Pound - it has more strat and tele sounds than any strat style guitar I have owned or played. The single coils and tapped coils are on the order of 7.5k - sort of vintage-y output - so you would expect to get some quack and twang - and it does like crazy. But, even with the hotter P-90 coils and the untapped, higher output Quarter Pound, I still get quack and twang. I didn't think hotter output singles were supposed to do that - but they do on this guitar. Each PUP is individually switchable in all it's combinations - so I really like all the nuances and combos between the single rail coils all the way up to the series H buckers.

I am still playing and getting the nuances of the sounds - but it plays and sounds great.

 

[s1player]

Nice Job! That looks great! You must be very pleased!

I'm with Bagman, though. Some better light would probably show it off.

A bunch of rain lately - so wasn't able to take any pictures in better light. I am not great at photography anyway, but will see if I can get a better shot or 2 in better light.

Also, with almost any shot of this guitar - the clear reflects everything. The builder took some shots outside - and most of it was reflection from ambient light. So, I don't really know how to neutralize the reflections to get just the guitar and wood figure.

 

[s1player]

Here are a couple of additional pictures taken by the builder. Last picture really shows off the "Grain Popped, then Masked" Binding I was trying to achieve, and that I asked so many finish questions about on this forum. I really like this masked binding effect. Still some reflection off the clear coat, but as good as I have on hand:

 

[stratamania]

Those colours work well. What do the pots do ?

 

[s1player]

Those colours work well. What do the pots do ?

Hi Stratamania - the pot's in order from front to back are Volume, Tone, 5 way rotary, 3 way Rotary, 5 way rotary. Volume/tone are self explanatory.

The 2, 5 way rotary switches operate the 2 P-Rails. The 5 way rotary values (for both) are Off, Rail coil only, P-90 coil only, H-bucker Parallel, H-Bucker Series. So, each rotary switch allows access to all combinations of each P Rail individually.

The 3 way rotary operates the middle single coil. The middle single Coil is a Tapped SD Quarter Pound. So, the 3 way rotary values are "Off", "Tapped Coil", and "Full Coil".

Obviously, the controls are probably too complicated for a stage guitar. A person would probably need to find the combo's they like and switch it to a 5 way and maybe a switch or 2. But, this set up allows access to all combinations AND has the added bonus of looking good with 5 dyed burst knobs.

This guitar really comes up with surprising sounds. Even using the P90 Coils and the full Quarter Pound coil - it will still quack in the "2" and "4" position and twang in the Tele position. It of course will do that too with tapped middle and the rail coil, but I was surprised to get these sounds on high output settings.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks, thats a lot of combinations. It must have taken a bit of time to do the wiring.

And yes I'm not sure it would be an easy option on stage, but for studio or home enjoyment then that's a different story.

Cheers  :icon_thumright:

 

[s1player]

Thanks, thats a lot of combinations. It must have taken a bit of time to do the wiring.

And yes I'm not sure it would be an easy option on stage, but for studio or home enjoyment then that's a different story.

Cheers  :icon_thumright:

I came up with how I want the switch to work - the builder somehow manages to make my crazy ideas in to workable wiring and controls.

And, yes, at home it's fun to dial in a sound and just explore it a while.

 

[stratamania]

  :icon_thumright: