Official Luthiers Forum!

So, I'm making the LONG drive to work today,
thinking about STUFF,
and I got the idea that for my next electric build,
after I finish a couple of Weisseys on the bench is...
one single coil pickup at the fretboard,
no vol or tone controls.
Lap steel job.
Gonna be for me.
I always use a vol pedal,
and there's always a wah-wah there too, when I play.
Ever been done before?

I'm sure it's probably been done before. But if I were you, I'd still wire up a volume pot, even if you "always use a volume pedal". You might run into a situation where you don't have access to your volume pedal, or where the volume pedal goes on the blink. A volume knob is simple enough, and worth it. IMO.
By the way, I'd be intersted in seeing this guitar when you're done. I've contemplated a single pickup guitar several times, and will probably do it sooner or later. And for me the neck position is definately more vesatile than the bridge only position, whether we're talking humbucker or single coil. I just would never play a guitar with bridge pickup only. Never played one in any situation that I cared for at all. Just my personal preference. I know there are lots of players out there that love 'em, but they're just not for me. But stick that pickup in the neck position and it's a whole other story. Good luck.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks for the tips, Mike.
I figure if I don't like it, I can install all the other stuff later.
My fav electric git has 2 pickups, and 1 vol 1 tone,
and I usually keep the vol and tone on full,
and play with the fb pup almost exclusively.
I think it would look really cool, and uncluttered.
I plan on figured walnut top, redwood body,
and a koa neck if I can find some.
I wish I had more time!!!!
Aaaaackk!
I need to finish other gits!

This is my favorite set up as well, however I tend to run both pickups the majority of the time, and just the neck quite a lot as well. I seldom, if ever, use the bridge pickup alone. I also will roll off my tone slightly sometimes, depending on what I'm doing. But tone is something you could alter at the amp itself. I, however, like the volume control within easy reach. I run a volume pedal in my setup as well, but I still like to have that control close at hand.
Looking forward to this build.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I guess I wasn't kidding about building this thing.
Started it up this morning.
Decided to use redwood for the square neck.
Now I can relax and let glue dryfor a day or three.
I'm going with the shape of the fir job I made a while back.

The wood looks great! I like the pic of your earlier one. Gonna look sweet, IMHO.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

So, I unclamped everything, and it's going good.
I did a drawing, and I'm glad I did, because I'm changing some string action things.
Going a little higher.
Drawing a plan is essential.
Work it out on paper first. Watching, Skankstro?

I definately agree on drawing it out first. My first scratch build I just basically saw it in my head as I went along. It turned out ok, but I could have avoided a lot of head scratching and a lot of agravation if I had taken the time to draw it to scale first. And the guitar would've probably turned out much better than it did. I really believe we make mistakes so we can learn not to make them again. Not drawing it out was a BIG mistake. I learned my lesson. I'll never skip that step again. I really believe it's essential to building the best guitar you can. MHO.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Well, got some more stuff done. Using the router and jigs more than usuall.
I was going to put a spline in the neck pocket, but I will just glue it because it came out nice and tight.
How I cut my fret marker slots, which are ebony.
my wide belt sander.
Boy, that redwood is really soft,
and that walnut is really hard.

Nice work so far! Good fit to the neck as well. Looking great. Love the fretboard. And the Walnut.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I put in a little more time to make the splined neck joint.
Man, is that a tight fit!!!
All the wood except the fretboard was free.
Anyone hazzard a guess on what kind of wood it is?
I can't remember where I got it.

alan how thick is the spline and how much tolerance do you have?
I thought about something like this several years ago when I started a bass (never finished) for my brother and wanted a sure way to get everthing square to the world before assembly. I thought this kind of joint would assure that.

Mike

Alan, I have seen that fretboard wood before, but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. Sure is beautiful, though.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Turmite, I used my binding cutter to do that.
It came with 2 cutters, and a big bearing.
The bigger cutter cuts a strong 1/8" deep, and a 1/4" wide.
So the spline is a shy 1/4" (for glue),
by about 5/16".
I wanted to get the spline lower in the pocket,
but the big bearing and nut wouldn't allow it.
My neck is 1-1/8' thick,
so you would have to make the end of your neck thicker than the rest of the neck,
if you were building a bass.
Make sense?

Hi Alan,

It does make sense. I have a cnc machine with a special bit that I can do the spline in the neck pocket and the groove in the neck with, but will require multiple passes with the cnc. That was the reason for my question about tolerance. I know if I make it too tight, it will be a bear to get installed, but make it too loose and it might not be aligned like I want.

Seeing your project has given me the courage to go ahead and try this anyway!

Mike

I got lucky and dry fitted everything, and it all felt right.
When I glued it up, and slid the neck home, it was perfect!
Glue came out the end, and it didn't bind.
Guess I should have mic-ed the splines for the future.
Oh well.
I was also thinking about it today,
and I might be able to put the bearing on top of the cutter instead of below it to get it deeper next time.
I love building geetars!!

Oh heck,
I wanted this to be a simple build.
Now, I'm going to put 2 emg hummers in, coil splitable, with a vol and tone, and a 3 way switch.
Also, I got a nice piece of bloodwood from the local hardwood store, and milled up a bunch of bloodwood bindings.
Now I have to bind the top, fb, and headstock with that.
Things change.

Bent the bloodwood bindings.
What a bear bending for the peghead.
Bloodwood turns to rubber when wet and heated up.
This stuff has major runout too!
Bound fretboard.
Hope it doesn't look too garrish.

Congrats on surviving the bloodwood bending! You may very well be over the hump on this project. Keep it up, looks like it's really coming along well!

Well, a couple of things happened today.
I was making the tailpiece, which will be let into the top, below the bridge,
and as I was drilling it, the 3/16" bit, De Walt fast feed,
pulled the piece right out of the drill press vice,
and was spinning around like a saw blade.
I keep my hands clear all da time so I don't get hurt.
Went to regular bits, and it went well.
Then, when I was drilling from underneath where the little holes are,
with a 3/16" bit, for the string ball end to seat in,
it pulled the vice up, and drilled a big hole where I didn't want.
2 hours wasted.
Ha! I don't care.
I was lucky, and everyone should be careful of that drill press.
I should have used a counterstink.
I might change the design some,
not the shape, but slots closer to the bottom.

Ouch. I've had my drill press go kamikaze on me, too. Frightening situation. Congrats on keeping all your fingers, especially going up against a brass death wheel. Cool looking tailpiece though. I'm sure it'll be great when it's done. Reminds me of an Alembic tailpiece.

Not perfect, but good enough for me!
i love working with brass.

Nice! That came out great! Is there any way to use less intrusive screws to anchor it? The design is really sleek, and for me the screws get in the way of that. Is there enough room to countersink them?

Hey Gabby, those are stainless oval heads I had laying around.
I'll probably get some brass flat heads, but I thought I'd think about this look.
You are probaly right though.
They look worse in da pic too.
Thanks 4 the input!

Hey, I just did a search on Alembic tailpiece,
and came up wit dis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!