The Noisy Cricket - Mustang/Tele in 25.5"

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Well the attachment didn't do too well w/ the whole perpendicular thing for the remaining string through and ferrule holes but at least they weren't so screwed as to be non-functional, just not all that pretty.  Might be an excuse to try one of these:
http://www.delisleguitar.com/shop/de-lisle-string-ferrule-block-brass/
The additional mass towards the end of the guitar would probably be a positive for overall balance as well.  It's not diving, but the combo of the feather weight body and kinda heavy tuners makes it seem like it wants to rest completely parallel to the ground.  I've held off on drilling my strap button holes until I decide if I want to give a ferrule block a try.

Got it strung up and did the bridge cut in the pickguard on Friday night and set it up pretty well and finished up making the neck pickup hole fit the claw on Saturday.  Intonation seems very good and aside from maybe needing a bit of a fret dress above the 16th fret it's playing great.  Has a really nice bouncy/snappy kind of feel to it and it really pops acoustically.

The press attachment was very useful for expanding the bridge pickup cavity yesterday.  I got most of the material removal done with a couple of Forstner bits and shaped and cleaned it up somewhat w/ the Dremel and a sanding wheel:

It took some time, but was actually kinda fun.

In between working on assembly and setup I finally got started on some finish samples Saturday and Sunday (which unfortunately I neglected to take any pictures of), and I think I've got a couple options for the tint that I'll be happy with.  Surprisingly I seem to be having the best results brushing on the dye rather than rubbing or spraying it on.  It seems like it really, really needs to be super flooded w/ the dye to get close to the saturation that I'm looking for.  Currently I think I'll be using a couple passes of a 1 oz alcohol, 42 drops of green, 13 drops of lemon yellow, 7 drops of black Transtint solution on the raw wood followed by 2 or 3 coats of shellac sanding sealer for the base staining.  I wound up picking up a rattle can of Behlen Starcast Amber toner and I'm toying w/ the idea of incorporating a couple coats of this stuff over the shellac before the Stringed instrument lacquer topcoats.  Gonna spray a sample like this tonight and see what I think.

I went ahead and got started on the wiring last night and am hoping to have it all done tonight:


Here's where I left it last night:

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Got the 3rd coat of shellac on the samples last night, gonna sand and hit a couple of them w/ a couple coats of the toner tonight:


Also went ahead and drilled for the strap buttons w/ the rear button on center line and it's actually feeling really nice balance-wise :hello2:

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Hit up the samples w/ the toner and a few coats of clear last night:

2 coats of toner on the bottom/left hand samples, 1 on the top one.  It's not going to do what I was shooting for w/o darkening up the stain but damn it's got a pretty cool organic, mantis/cricket/lizard type of look IMO.  Kinda torn whether to move forward w/ this look or start another batch of samples chasing the original BRG type color.

 

[vetteman]

Sid,  You're doing a super clean job of wiring that guitar, even though I'm a bit lost as to what all the switching combo's will do.  On the staining issue I think the best idea is to keep searching for that true dark BRG color, the samples have some funky looking light/yellowish streaks that look weird.  Now your case only needs covered in tan Connolly leather and padded with Wilton wool carpet (tan of course) for that classic Brit sports car theme

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Thanks man! 

I was initially sort of horrified when I first sprayed the toner, but I kind of like the weird yellow and brown, it actually does a fair bit of chameleon action between the three based on the angle of the light.  Just seemed like it might be a moment of accidental perfection given the theme of the guitar.  I probably will wind up taking the weekend to do another batch of samples w/ just the stain, the shellac, and the clear going straight for the classy BRG and maybe another w/ a darker stain w/ no yellow, shellac, a single light coat of toner, and clear to split the difference before I get started.

I got the wiring all sorted this evening and haven't had the chance to play it through usual stuff yet but so far I'm really liking the range of sounds it's got.  Trebles a plenty on tap in any combo of pups, but seems really well modulated by the volume, tone, and anti-strangle cap when you want it to be.  The phase switch seems like it gives great funk tones clean as well as clanky, trashy sounds w/ some dirt.  The blower switch is a new one for me but seems like it could be a pretty useful option assuming I get used to using it.  I'm thinking I'll like the Gatton bridge pup a good bit better in this guitar than where it was previously living and I'm really grooving on the Jag pup so far as well.

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Long time no update.... I kinda got side tracked when I got the idea that this guitar needed me to pony up for a great local painter to do what I could most closely describe as a uranium candy flake finish on the body and the decision to scrap the ferrules and go for one of those machined brass blocks from de Lisle guitars.  After finding out the probable lead time was 3-4 months w/ a month or 2 of work time on the flake finish I finally decided to go ahead w/ my dye + lacquer idea.

Unfortunately I wound up having a little router mishap making space for the block, but it's almost entirely covered up by the lip of the block so didn't bother me enough to fix...  The result are very nice, seems to smooth out the cutting high just a bit and give it a little punch.  It seems to resonate through the body a bit more too.  I think I'll borrow the set of brass Callaham saddles from my Baja when I reassemble it after the finish is done.

After a couple weeks worth of test strips in the control and pickup cavities I finally took the plunge, mixed a bigger batch of my best British Racing Green impression, and dyed it today:

Gonna let it dry overnight and go for 6 coats of Behlen's Stringed Instrument lacquer over the next couple days.  I've got a bit of an urge to try a bit of really light burst treatment w/ the Starcast Amber toner before the clear but I'm thinking I'll probably wind up leaving well enough alone and just go for the clear.  I feel a bit like a kid on Christmas Eve and am really excited to see how it looks w/ some lacquer on it  :laughing7:

I think it would look pretty amazing w/ a one piece rosewood neck, but I think the vintage nitro strat neck will wind up complimenting it pretty nicely as well. Gonna go ahead and try to get my decals finalized over the weekend too and get the neck finished up over the course of the next week or so.  I will probably scale the nuclear cricket bit badge up a bit and put it on the lower horn of the guard rather than the headstock.

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

I got 5 coats of the Stringed Instrument Lacquer on it today, the first couple mist coats about a half hour apart the other 3 ~ an hour a part:

I stopped by Rockler on the way home from the shop to grab some more of that stuff as I had underestimated how much the body would soak up. I had planned to grain fill/seal w/ shellac following the dye but I couldn't come up w/ a way to apply it that didn't wind up clouding up and pulling out the dye w/ my test samples. They had some of their gloss clear topcoat lacquer so I grabbed a can of that as well in case I decide I want to try to take it full glossy. I'll have another 2 coats on it tonight and plan lightly rough it up w/ some 400 grit tomorrow afternoon to take off a couple of contaminates. I'll probably do at least another couple coats of the Stringed Instrument and see how it's looking when it's dry to the touch again then decide if I want to use the topcoat or more Stringed Instrument or neither/both.

I'd love to hear any opinions on whether keep it thin skin satin type finish or go full on glossy if you've got one. It's almost a coin flip for me right now between the two.

 

[Axkoa]

Satin. I don't think gloss finishes suit a transparent type of finish like this.

 

[Cagey]

I agree. Without the grain fill, a gloss is gonna look poorly executed while a satin is going to look more natural.

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Cool, thanks for the input guys.

I got up to 10 coats last night, I'm liking it better the thicker the satin is getting.  I could probably just call it quits right now, but I think I'm gonna give it a once over w/ 600 grit tonight and shoot for another 2-4 coats of the satin over the course of the next couple days.

 

[T89Rex]

Watching this one closely. Looks great so far.

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Finished this guy up over the past week: Put the last of 12 coats of lacquer on the body on Tuesday night, finally got the headstock decal on w/o too much curling last night (although I wound up having to do ~8 coats over the top of it w/ a couple of sandings in between when one edge decided it wanted to lift up while my 3rd coat was drying) and reassembly, bone nut install, & setup today:

I wound up swapping over to the Joe Barden bridge plate and Callaham Enhanced Vintage brass saddles.  I haven't had a chance to play it through my normal stuff yet, but it was sounding surprisingly Hendrix-y in tone especially on the both and neck selections and I looove what I've taken to calling the "Kaboom!" setting (blower switch on w/ both pickups, out of phase, through a .003uF tropical fish cap.

There's still one narrow angle where the beginning edge of the decal is obvious but all in all I'm pretty happy w/ how the headstock turned out after hitting it up w/ a white scotchbrite pad and then 0000 steel wool.  I think I'm gonna need to look for some other waterslide stock for future decals as it took 6 different tries to get a decal on w/o 1/16" of the outside edges curled under even w/ just a light dusting of lacquer clear coat on the sheets.

If I were doing it over, I would probably either try to grain fill before the clear w/ the rattle can vinyl sealer I unfortunately hadn't seen until the day after I started spraying the lacquer :doh: or do a sanded back pass of darker dye in the open grain and go a bit lighter w/ the second pass of dye.  In the end, the finish job is far from perfect but I'm pretty happy w/ how it turned out regardless and love way it plays and sounds :icon_biggrin:

 

[Logrinn]

Veeeeery cool!  :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

 

[Axkoa]

That actually looks awesome. It's definitely not something that you see every day, and I bet it sounds amazing as well!  :yourock:

 

[rapfohl09]

This came together really nicely! Nice job!

 

[rgand]

That really looks good with the finish coats on it. :icon_thumright:

 

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Thanks guys! 

After a whole bunch of testing w/ different amps/pedals/etc. yesterday I'm liking the sounds coming out of it even more.  It's surprisingly versatile and pretty straightforward to operate.  Plenty of tele and strat spanky sounds in any position; great cutting twang w/ more mids on tap than I'd usually expect from a traditional tele bridge pickup; some great big, roundish neck sounds when dialing back on the volume and tone; and it gives me great indie offset sounds in the middle (sounds great for Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Archers of Loaf, etc. songs).  Things will be pretty crazy over the next couple of weeks but I'll try to get some clips this one if I get a chance. 

I'm really liking the feel of the ungrainfilled lacquer of the body too.

 

[Tweed]

this progress has encouraged me to start on my Musquire idea.