Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
- Tweedledee
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Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
It had been ages since I had owned a Mustang and then I bought a Squier Bullet HH Mustang about a year ago to mess around with. I didn't like how light and thin the body was (or how thin the neck was), but I found that with the forearm and tummy cuts everything seemed to sit in exactly the right place for me. Of course from there I started thinking about how I could put together a Mustang that would incorporate what I liked about the Bullet but fix the things I didn't like.
I've never liked the Mustang trem, but I love the JM/JG trem, so a version of a Bilindastang seemed like the right way to go. And I had a set of Railhammer Kyle Shutt pickups I got for relatively cheap on Reverb that needed a home. I didn't really know Shutt or The Sword, but I liked the specs and they sounded good in the demos I listened to. I ordered an ash body from Rosser plus an Allparts JGRO neck--the same neck I have on my charcoal gray Jaguar.
I opted for charcoal gray Duplicolor as I did on my Jag. Matching headstock, of course. Watco clear lacquer over the Duplicolor because, well, that's what they have at Home Depot. Painting is is essentially done, though I'll probably give it a few more coats of clear once it stops raining here in the Midwest. Then just waiting for it to cure fully before the wet sanding begins.
I wish I had known before ordering the Rosser body that Fender Mustang pickguards don't fit. I found that out when I ordered one with HH pickup routes. So I had to order one directly from him and, strangely, that one is "off" as well, but not as bad. It's going to require some careful reshaping, particularly around the neck, where it's off by about 1/8", but also around the control plate. Oh well. It was just annoying to order a custom pickguard intended to fit a body made by the same person only to have it be pretty far off. Plus it's somewhat crudely routed on the corners. Again, it will require some cleaning up on my part.
I put set some of the parts on the body today to get a sense of how it will look when finished. I'm excited to see how it all comes together.
Here's the raw body and neck:
Here's the body after grain filling. This almost made me go with an amber natural finish... almost.
And here's the body with the parts:
I've never liked the Mustang trem, but I love the JM/JG trem, so a version of a Bilindastang seemed like the right way to go. And I had a set of Railhammer Kyle Shutt pickups I got for relatively cheap on Reverb that needed a home. I didn't really know Shutt or The Sword, but I liked the specs and they sounded good in the demos I listened to. I ordered an ash body from Rosser plus an Allparts JGRO neck--the same neck I have on my charcoal gray Jaguar.
I opted for charcoal gray Duplicolor as I did on my Jag. Matching headstock, of course. Watco clear lacquer over the Duplicolor because, well, that's what they have at Home Depot. Painting is is essentially done, though I'll probably give it a few more coats of clear once it stops raining here in the Midwest. Then just waiting for it to cure fully before the wet sanding begins.
I wish I had known before ordering the Rosser body that Fender Mustang pickguards don't fit. I found that out when I ordered one with HH pickup routes. So I had to order one directly from him and, strangely, that one is "off" as well, but not as bad. It's going to require some careful reshaping, particularly around the neck, where it's off by about 1/8", but also around the control plate. Oh well. It was just annoying to order a custom pickguard intended to fit a body made by the same person only to have it be pretty far off. Plus it's somewhat crudely routed on the corners. Again, it will require some cleaning up on my part.
I put set some of the parts on the body today to get a sense of how it will look when finished. I'm excited to see how it all comes together.
Here's the raw body and neck:
Here's the body after grain filling. This almost made me go with an amber natural finish... almost.
And here's the body with the parts:
- Tweedledee
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
I still haven't figured out what to do with the wiring. Anyone have thoughts on the best alternative Mustang wiring? I was thinking of going with the "Mustang 5.0" wiring diagram I found, but I'm not sure. I do know that I'm going to use one switch for standard 3-way switching, so it's a question of what to do with the other switch. I'm no wiring wizard, so it's a matter of finding a diagram I can follow rather than figuring out what to do on my own.
- Embenny
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
You could use the second 3-way switch as a series/single coil/parallel switch or coil A/series/coil B switch for that humbucker. I've done the latter before, based on the diagram for the pawn shop mustang special.
Also: that's a gorgeous mustang.
Also: that's a gorgeous mustang.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.
- Shadoweclipse13
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
Beautiful guitar!! I second the idea of some kind of coil-splitting, especially with those railhammers.
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384
- terminalvertigo
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
sexy AF bud, looking good!
GoodDeals:Jaguar018-Skip-Scotty66-Noirengineer-Panoramic-Soundhack-Tribi9-Stereordinary-Dug-Ginnungagap-Loomer-Eupat-FenderBob-Franco-AWSchmit-PeterHerman-TweedleDee-Diceman-Prospect-Danocaster-Glimmertwin-Jetset-Staytuned-ukfuzz-Aen-Atomicmassunit-MT,etc
- Tweedledee
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
Thanks for the kind words. And using the second switch for splitting makes perfect sense! I love the Mustang Special and will have a look at that diagram.
- Scout
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
Beautiful color, can't wait to see the neck on.
- postchrist
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- Jan Deal
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
This will be a really cool guitar, it reminds me a bit of Copeland Guitars - http://copelandguitars.com/home
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www.seasstarry.bandcamp.com
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
That colourway looks so good, really interested by those pickups too. Nice work!
- jvin248
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
.
Get a pair of mini 3-way on/on/on switches to control each pickup individually. It's a standard circuit you can find a diagram easily for. Seymour Duncan sells humbucker trim rings with a switch built in. PRS guitars often include this type of pickup mini-toggle.
Wiring those mini switches gives you parallel/single/series for each pickup. You should choose 'north' for the single on the neck pickup and 'south' for the single coil on the bridge pickup. Parallel can give you Strat-like Quack for Funk. Single bobbin for nice cleans.
Use a standard Gibson-style toggle for the main pickup Neck/parallel/Bridge selector. ... Or use a 4-way Tele (the Marr Jaguar uses one too) to get Neck/Parallel/Bridge/Series for both pickups.
Combined with the two mini switches you can cover a massive tonal landscape and keep things fairly simple for wiring and remembering what you've got when on stage gigging.
.
Get a pair of mini 3-way on/on/on switches to control each pickup individually. It's a standard circuit you can find a diagram easily for. Seymour Duncan sells humbucker trim rings with a switch built in. PRS guitars often include this type of pickup mini-toggle.
Wiring those mini switches gives you parallel/single/series for each pickup. You should choose 'north' for the single on the neck pickup and 'south' for the single coil on the bridge pickup. Parallel can give you Strat-like Quack for Funk. Single bobbin for nice cleans.
Use a standard Gibson-style toggle for the main pickup Neck/parallel/Bridge selector. ... Or use a 4-way Tele (the Marr Jaguar uses one too) to get Neck/Parallel/Bridge/Series for both pickups.
Combined with the two mini switches you can cover a massive tonal landscape and keep things fairly simple for wiring and remembering what you've got when on stage gigging.
.
- algeriet
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
That thing looks great! What are those pickups?
Yeah, funny that the pickguard didn't fit. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that since he made the pickguard after he shipped the body he couldn't get it to align 100%? ♀️ But then I guess he'd have a template since I presume he's using a CNC for all his bodies? Anyways, weird.
I saw a guy on Facebook recently post his Swinger build and he said he got the body and pickguard from Rosser with no complaints.
I wish Rosser shipped outside of the US is all. Would love to put together a Swinger.
Yeah, funny that the pickguard didn't fit. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that since he made the pickguard after he shipped the body he couldn't get it to align 100%? ♀️ But then I guess he'd have a template since I presume he's using a CNC for all his bodies? Anyways, weird.
I saw a guy on Facebook recently post his Swinger build and he said he got the body and pickguard from Rosser with no complaints.
I wish Rosser shipped outside of the US is all. Would love to put together a Swinger.
- Tweedledee
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
Thanks! The pickups are the Kyle Shutt signature set from Railhammer:algeriet wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 7:48 amThat thing looks great! What are those pickups?
Yeah, funny that the pickguard didn't fit. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that since he made the pickguard after he shipped the body he couldn't get it to align 100%? ♀️ But then I guess he'd have a template since I presume he's using a CNC for all his bodies? Anyways, weird.
I saw a guy on Facebook recently post his Swinger build and he said he got the body and pickguard from Rosser with no complaints.
I wish Rosser shipped outside of the US is all. Would love to put together a Swinger.
https://railhammer.com/artists/
The Rosser body is two beautiful pieces of ash perfectly center matched. The raw wood looked so lovely that I felt a little bad painting it. One thing is that if you look around you'll find that everyone says his ash bodies tend to be really heavy because of the particular wood he uses, and that seems to be true. I figured I would be OK with the universal routes, JM/Jag trem route, and contours, plus the fact that a Mustang body is smaller already. It still came in at 4 lbs 12 oz, so definitely not a lightweight but it will be fine.
- Tweedledee
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
This might be a little much for me! I'm not that talented when it comes to wiring.jvin248 wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 5:03 am.
Get a pair of mini 3-way on/on/on switches to control each pickup individually. It's a standard circuit you can find a diagram easily for. Seymour Duncan sells humbucker trim rings with a switch built in. PRS guitars often include this type of pickup mini-toggle.
Wiring those mini switches gives you parallel/single/series for each pickup. You should choose 'north' for the single on the neck pickup and 'south' for the single coil on the bridge pickup. Parallel can give you Strat-like Quack for Funk. Single bobbin for nice cleans.
Use a standard Gibson-style toggle for the main pickup Neck/parallel/Bridge selector. ... Or use a 4-way Tele (the Marr Jaguar uses one too) to get Neck/Parallel/Bridge/Series for both pickups.
Combined with the two mini switches you can cover a massive tonal landscape and keep things fairly simple for wiring and remembering what you've got when on stage gigging.
.
- Tweedledee
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- Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:41 am
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Re: Charcoal Gray Bilindastang - Project Thread
I had never heard of Copeland Guitars, but there are some real beauties on that site!Jan Deal wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 1:43 amThis will be a really cool guitar, it reminds me a bit of Copeland Guitars - http://copelandguitars.com/home