Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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KeithJ
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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Sun Oct 23, 2016 6:32 am

noisepunk wrote:No, but I think you should just stuff a big ass magnet and/or steel rod in the spool, mount it as is, and call it a day
:D I literally laughed out loud at this!

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:03 pm

I had a little free time today, so I took that sheet of clear plastic and made a couple of pickup covers. They're pretty hard to photograph but here's a couple shots:

Image

The chrome humbucker cover in the background is for scale.

Image

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by PixMix » Sun Oct 23, 2016 5:35 pm

This is making me curious. I too like the body shape a lot, for the record. Keep up the great work.

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sun Oct 23, 2016 8:59 pm

KeithJ wrote:Image
Ooh. Vacuum-formed? I'm intrigued at this. I've been trying to figure a way to do some REALLY clear pickup covers and those look great.
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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KeithJ
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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Mon Oct 24, 2016 8:53 pm

PixMix wrote:This is making me curious. I too like the body shape a lot, for the record. Keep up the great work.
Sweet! Thanks PixMix, I hope to make you proud!
Shadoweclipse13 wrote: Ooh. Vacuum-formed? I'm intrigued at this. I've been trying to figure a way to do some REALLY clear pickup covers and those look great.
These weren't vacuum formed, but that's something I REALLY want to get into. This was much more primitive, I just made a set of molds from scrap wood that are a positive and negative. I made it a while ago and just about scrapped it because it doesn't actually come out humbucker sized, but i figured it might work well for this build :)

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by Texas Toast » Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:05 am

I am looking forward to seeing these..."visible" pick-ups.

So Keith, will they be transparent when they are finished?

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by noisepunk » Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:31 am

I have no personal experience with it, but a couple of classmates in plastics class I was in built a vac-form unit at home using a shop vac and regular home oven. I guess there's an instructable.

Vac-forming is fun. I recommend anyone who has access to the equipment to make use of it.
KeithJ wrote:
noisepunk wrote:No, but I think you should just stuff a big ass magnet and/or steel rod in the spool, mount it as is, and call it a day
I literally laughed out loud at this!
I was only mostly kidding- I mean, a danelectro pickup isn't much different.

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KeithJ
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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:39 pm

Texas Toast wrote:I am looking forward to seeing these..."visible" pick-ups.

So Keith, will they be transparent when they are finished?
Depending on how the guts look after they're made, I'd like to keep them clear. I love that they look like they might go terrorize Arnold Schwarzenegger in the jungle.
noisepunk wrote: Vac-forming is fun. I recommend anyone who has access to the equipment to make use of it
I've started making some frames and stuff for it, but I haven't got around to testing any of it yet.

Edit to say I found a 4 foot length of fret write from LMI that I bought a while ago for a different project. I'll be repurposing it for this one, which means I'm adding $6.14 to my running total. I also found a piece of 5 foot long cream binding that I'll probably use. That was $4.18. That puts me at $50.49 now. I'll be ordering a truss rod and fret board from StewMac soon, so I'll add that in when I get it. I also might rethink my pickup design slightly, but I'm still feeling pretty comfortable with my budget. Even after my StewMac order I should still be (barely) under $100.00!

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by Ben17e » Fri Oct 28, 2016 4:04 am

Looks similar to the Danelectro Mod 6 - cool!

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KeithJ
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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:26 am

Ben17e wrote:Looks similar to the Danelectro Mod 6 - cool!
I had to Google that one, but I like it! Thank you Ben :)

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Tue Nov 01, 2016 8:50 pm

Not an exciting update for right now, I had a super busy weekend and didn't get anything done on this guitar. But I did get the headstock cut and the neck close to profiled. I'll be thicknessing the headstock and routing for truss rod soon. After that, this build is going to be rather experimental and very much in "damn I hope this works" territory.

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by Texas Toast » Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:30 am

These projects were terrific test beds for us. I'm glad to hear you are trying out some new ideas too.
Who Dares Wins as the SAS say.
Actually, as soon as we got used to saying "If we aren't learning anything new we are doing it wrong" it was really fun to be in the work shop. I'm not going to say everything went with out a hitch but for the most part we have been successful.
Can't wait to see the clear pickups

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Wed Nov 02, 2016 6:30 am

Texas Toast wrote:These projects were terrific test beds for us. I'm glad to hear you are trying out some new ideas too.
Who Dares Wins as the SAS say.
Actually, as soon as we got used to saying "If we aren't learning anything new we are doing it wrong" it was really fun to be in the work shop. I'm not going to say everything went with out a hitch but for the most part we have been successful.
Can't wait to see the clear pickups
Well said Matt! When projects start going without a hitch, I will be both really excited and really disappointed.

Last night I was in the garage and found a piece of scrap plywood from a speaker cabinet I made I while ago. Naturally I thought "that looks like it'd be a better top for my router table than what I have now" so ripped apart my router table and set to work. I think I'll get that finished either this morning or when I get home tonight. Once that's done I'll get back to those pickups for ya!

Edit because I think posts with pictures are 1000% more interesting. Admit it. You just scroll through the humdrum looking for pictures. That's cool.

Here's a picture of the pickup cover mold I made. Like I said, it's pretty primitive. I heat the plastic with a heat gun and put it on the negative or "female" side, then press the "male" side down over it. It went pretty well, and was actually really easy. The plastic REALLY conforms to the inner male mold, so for future molds I'll spend more time getting that to proper dimensions.
Image

Here is a picture of the back of the headstock! I basically took the Supro style and tapered it in. In theory based, on my drawings, this design will give the strings a straight path over the nut to each tuner.
Image

And yes, I haven't done the sides of the neck yet, so it looks a little bumpy here. I'll get that straightened out as soon as my router table is back up and running! :)

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Fri Nov 04, 2016 9:31 pm

So the truss rod and fret board came today, that brings my total up to $97.25 now. I got the neck cleaned up and the pickup bobbins made. The bad news is that the counter on my pickup winder is totally dead. The good news is that I'm dumb enough and stubborn enough to try just counting in my head. I'll start winding tomorrow, and I'll get back to the body as well. It'll be a busy weekend but I'm looking forward to getting more progress done!

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Re: Keith's $400.00 Challenge Build!

Post by KeithJ » Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:50 pm

Got these suckers made. One is chucked up and ready for winding, which will happen tomorrow.
Image

The body is now properly flush-trimmed to the template:
Image

This stuff from StewMac
Image

And this handful of stuff from a local guitar shop:
Image

Brings my total up to 138.19. I think after this I only need 2 pots and a tone cap, and some paint. I've got tuners, a jack, strings, one pot and even strap buttons here. Booya.

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