ThePearDream's Project Thread

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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ThePearDream
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ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Thu Mar 28, 2019 8:17 pm

I decided to start posting my future projects into a single thread like some others do. I've already had more project threads than I ever intended and I want everything big and small in one spot.

I'll finish up the threads on my active projects, but any future ones will live here. First though, and just for my own purposes, I'll post the link to my previous projects.

Shell Pink Jazzcaster
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My Many Talman Projects
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Jagstang 2.0 Projects
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Dream Jazzmaster Build
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Custom all black Mercury (Performer)
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Yamaha SG2 Copy
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Artemis & Apollo initial builds
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Last edited by ThePearDream on Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:19 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Thu Mar 28, 2019 8:45 pm

First new project for this thread:

I've been wanting a Mustang for a while now. I've had a spare short scale neck waiting for a body for some time now. I've just been waiting for the right prospect. I've considered a VM mustang body, but would really rather have contours and didn't want to settle for one of their colors. I was also strongly considering building the body, but hadn't gotten around to getting a template.

Well, the perfect body showed up earlier in the week.

(Pics from eBay listing)
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I found this Fernandes Mustang copy from '79ish for $150.
Besides wanting a Mustang for a while, the comp blue Mustangs have always been my ideal model and I need a medium blue guitar in my collection.

The body arrived today, it is in good condition for it's age and my Squier VM Jaguar neck is a perfect for it. I printed out a US vintage spec pickguard template pdf from Terrapin. It was also a perfect fit. There was some rust under the trem, but I got the worst if it off with some mild cleaner and some light rubbing. The finish has slightly yellowed, but is still very much blue.

I need to decide which shade of pearloid to get now.

White (no), parchment, cream, or mint
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I also need pickups. Thinking Rose Evo.

I will likely buy a vintage Mustang vibrato.

Last thought for now. I'll take a look at the duplicolor options and see if any look close, otherwise I'll do a non-matching headstock.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by Steadyriot. » Fri Mar 29, 2019 1:46 am

I vote parchment!
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by AcrylicSuperman » Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:48 am

I vote white

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by smjenkins » Fri Mar 29, 2019 12:07 pm

+1 vote for parchment

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:18 pm

White is out. I'm generally a big fan of white pearloid, but it's a 40 year old body and I want the guard to have the appropriate discoloration.

I'm also a big parchment fan and the my gut says parchment.

The cream is a big no

It's really between parchment and mint. I would normally say no to mint, but I am open to it here. I just need to study some pics of 40 year old pearloid, or get input from owners of pearloid guards from the same time period.

I know the pearl on my 20+ year old Ibanez TC620 has a fair amount of yellowing, but then I was a smoker long ago.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by Embenny » Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:24 pm

I went for the mint pearl on my LPB MIJ Jag when I put in some Novak Guyatone goldfoils.

The "mintness" is extremely subtle. Here are two photos take in the same light on the same day from different angles with my iPhone, possibly white balanced differently. You'll notice it looks greenish in one and much brighter white in the other. In person, it really depends on the lighting. I was very glad to have chosen it, as the green tone suits a blue guitar very well but does not look overtly green the way solid mint pickguards do.

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I also own two original '60s Mustang pearl pickguards, and they more closely resemble the modern parchment than anything else. The cream is "too much", the mint is a little too green in direct comparison, but the parchment is a little on the bright side too.

I vote for mint.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by AcrylicSuperman » Fri Mar 29, 2019 4:35 pm

ThePearDream wrote:
Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:18 pm
White is out. I'm generally a big fan of white pearloid, but it's a 40 year old body and I want the guard to have the appropriate discoloration.
I get where you are coming from. I've never been a huge fan of parchment. Having said that, going for an aged look, I have to go with parchment on it. The other two just dont quite look right, in my opinion.

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:04 am

mbene085 wrote:
Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:24 pm
I went for the mint pearl on my LPB MIJ Jag when I put in some Novak Guyatone goldfoils.

The "mintness" is extremely subtle. Here are two photos take in the same light on the same day from different angles with my iPhone, possibly white balanced differently. You'll notice it looks greenish in one and much brighter white in the other. In person, it really depends on the lighting. I was very glad to have chosen it, as the green tone suits a blue guitar very well but does not look overtly green the way solid mint pickguards do.

Image

Image

I also own two original '60s Mustang pearl pickguards, and they more closely resemble the modern parchment than anything else. The cream is "too much", the mint is a little too green in direct comparison, but the parchment is a little on the bright side too.

I vote for mint.
Thanks for the solid input mbene. There's no denying that thing looks great.

After spending even more of my Friday evening than normal looking at pictures of vintage guitars, It seems that the parchment, cream, and mint all match up well to vintage examples. The heavily yellowed Mustangs, of course, have the creamier pickguards. The Mustangs with very light yellowing (like mine) tended to have guards closest to the parchment.

I found an additional image of Terrapin's materials, showing white, parchment, and cream, but not mint. Both the parchment and cream are more subtle here:
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And here was a good example of a vintage Mustang with similar (but stronger) body discoloration to mine:
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And, most importantly, tribi9's Fernandes:
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All of this leads me to the conclusion that my gut was right.

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I'm not buying the guard right away, so I have time to change my mind though...
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by marqueemoon » Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:07 am

Parchment seems like the way to go. I love a yellowed pearloid guard but it just looks weird if the color is perfectly even.

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:05 am

All of the parts I need are on hand or on order now, with the exception of the decal.

This Duplicolor Bahama Blue seems to be a close enough match to the body. I might throw a coat or two of aged clear on it to get it a little closer.
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I managed to find a good price on a vintage vibrato unit that has super light stamping on it. It's perfect for this - vintage quality without a visible Fender logo
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I have the control plate wired up now. Don't worry, I didn't drill a hole in a vintage plate, this is a Squier plate I already had. The mini switch is a phase switch for the bridge pu. The slide switches will be N/M/B and Series/Parallel.
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I need to pick a name (always the hardest part for me) and I can order my decal.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by BenG76 » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:35 pm

That Mustang should turn out good. I saw one from the 70's in a pawn shop a while back and I'm still kicking myself for not trying to get it. I did pick up a Peavey Patriot that day which I later doubled my money on. I definitely need to hit up that pawn shop again. Maybe I'll get lucky and it's still hanging there.

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:22 am

I'll be swapping pickups in my Talman TC-420 soon.

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It currently has a set of GFS Vintage Split HBs. I've found that I like these quite a bit for HBs, but I want these for use in another project. I considered getting a second set, but thought I'd try something new instead.

So, I bought a pair of D'Urbano Big Bird - HB sized firebird pickups:
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And a Schaller model M Megaswitch to get the following pickup selections:
1 bridge humbucker
2 bridge outer coil
3 both humbuckers parallel
4 neck outer coil
5 neck humbucker
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There's just two small issues to sort out.
  1. The covers were supposed to be chrome, but these look more like raw nickel. I will order two new chrome covers and swap them in.
  2. The switch has solder pads without through holes.
My soldering is a lot better than it used to be, but I don't feel too confident on getting that switch wired up without screwing it up. So, now I need to buy an EYB model E Megaswitch, which will allow the same combinations and which I know I can solder.



So, what's the plan for the GFS Vintage Split HBs?

Well, since I have a XII string neck to incorporate into a project - this is my plan for those pieces:

a Jazzmaster-Tele Deluxe XII
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The pickups get some pretty good chimey/glassy tones already. I'll replace the ceramic magnets with some A3 to make them a bit better. I'll grab an Affinity Jazzmaster and put Gotoh XII bridge saddles on. I'll use the stock pickguard and open up the corners of the pickup holes to fit the covered pickups. I'm working on removing the thick poly finish on the neck and will give it a nice truoil finish . Viola, a quick & cheap electric XII.
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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by smjenkins » Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:23 pm

I love the concept of the Jazzmaster Deluxe XII! So cool. And I'm really curious about the sound of those big bird pickups. Especially since folks around here seem to love the Firebird pickup sound.

When I saw your switch without holes I thought "I'd drill a small hole through each pad". If you cant' return it, I'd suggest giving that a shot.

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Re: ThePearDream's Project Thread

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Apr 24, 2019 5:28 pm

smjenkins wrote:
Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:23 pm
When I saw your switch without holes I thought "I'd drill a small hole through each pad". If you cant' return it, I'd suggest giving that a shot.
That occurred to me too. There is another circuit on the other side though. I'm not sure if the sides are connected or not. I decided to see if I can sell it at a few bucks loss.

I did get the covers switched over to polished chrome and wired up to the EYB switch. I followed StewMac's instructions and the positions are all reversed. I'll get it straightened out another day.

I opened up the GFS vintage split's to swap the ceramic magnets for A3 and found something very interesting.

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Both bobbins are for threaded poles, with each bobbin only having 3 poles installed. For some reason, I was expecting to see slugs in the non-threaded positions.

I'm not enough of a pickup expert to know if the poleless sections pick up much, but I'd expect the contribution to be pretty minimal.

So, what I have is a three pole coil, wired in series to another three pole coil. That sounds a lot like a Fender Electric XII pickup to me.
Doug
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