The Hairmaster - MK II

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epizootics
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The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:17 am

It has been a while since I posted anything here. Part of that is due to my moving away from making guitars and concentrating on making pickups - I am now a legit business & getting my website together :)

BUT. A few years ago, I promised a certain band that I would build them a guitar, as a thank you gift for making such a beautiful ruckus. This was before covid wreaked havoc with live music and all international tours came to a halt, so the project got shelved. Now that things are bit less s**t, they happen to be playing in my city in September and it seemed like good timing, so I got back in touch with the two guitarists in the band...

They told me they liked my yellow Hairmaster and said they'd love a Floyd Rose on theirs too. This made me really glad. If can can participate in bringing back the FR into alternative music, I will go to my grave a happy Frenchman.

So, here we go. This was the Hairmaster mk I :

Image

It still is my main gigging guitar, but it has a couple of issues I wanted to fix. First, my ditching the locking nut in favor of locking tuners kinda worked, but not completely. I still have to tune up a few times a gig, even though it still holds tuning better than my guitars equipped with offset trems. So the locking nut's back in. Those two are heavy trem users and I'm sure they'll like complete stability.
The other thing was treble access. The last five or six frets are accessible, but require a bit of a dramatic left hand lifting to be played. I brought the neck forward some in my blueprints, and removed material from the neck / body joint area.

Also, mine is hard ash and weighs quite a bit. I went with cherry this time. The neck will still be rowan. Still debating fingerboard material. And I'll give them standard dot fret markers instead of my fancy top & side inlays since those aren't as readable as their dot counterparts.

Got the parts in yesterday. Here's where we're at for now:

Image

More soon :)

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by solfege » Fri Aug 12, 2022 2:39 pm

I'm excited for this. I love your guitar builds and will miss them if you stop completely.

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by DeathJag » Fri Aug 12, 2022 3:59 pm

What's hairy about it? Cool design!

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by antisymmetric » Fri Aug 12, 2022 5:45 pm

8) :) Subscribed. Been missing your builds.
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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:33 pm

Thank you guys. I don't think I will ever totally stop making guitars - I still like building them very much - but until I have access to a proper workshop with a spraying booth, it will remain too stressful a way to make a living. I have had a few nightmarish orders where things went wrong and took ages to fix, mostly during the finishing process, and my hourly wage went down to under 4€ an hour. One of the unfortunate consequences of our ever-degrading climate is that my city has become very windy over the last couple of years, and I can never take spraying the yard for granted. Building for myself or for friends is still very much OK though, with less time constraints and more room for fuck-ups.
Pickups are quicker to make, and more suitable to my current living situation. You can also ship them without fear of their being destroyed in the process. They are lots of fun in their own way - R&D can go pretty wild and I worked on a bunch of designs in a JM format.


Talking of which, and going back to the build, this one will feature two alnico-rod mini-buckers. The use of alnico pole pieces allows you to wind the coils pretty hot without losing definition. One of the two guitarists tends to favor the neck pickup, and the other the bridge position. The selector will feature their names in the according position. Super-cheesy, but, hey, the Floyd Rose unit raises the cheese bar pretty high in itself :o
DeathJag wrote:
Fri Aug 12, 2022 3:59 pm
What's hairy about it? Cool design!
Why, the Floyd Rose of course ;D

Image

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by DeathJag » Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:14 pm

Haha copy that!

My house is like a snow globe except instead of snow it's cat hair. There is zero chance I could ever paint anything in there, and outside here is filled with pollen and dust and airborne mold.

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:11 pm

Slow progress...I have been out and about in August, and my trusty Elu router had me scared for a bit (what I assumed was a shot bearing turned out to be the cooling fan being dislodged from the motor shaft; I'll have to take it apart but apparently that's a common problem with the OF 97 / Dewalt DW 621.)


Image

That neck is a 24" scale, rowan / sorb tree shaft with an East Indian rosewood fretboard. Nothing super-exciting going on yet but there are fun bits coming up. The band want it finished in white, and I am thinking of adding a mist of silver sparkle to the surface, something you can only see from up close. There will be stainless steel work - control & neck plate, and another one covering up a weight relief route at the back where they can store picks, candy, house keys or whatuvya. Each one of those will be etched with abstract patterns.

Only 27 days left until delivery! Wish me luck.

DeathJag wrote:
Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:14 pm
Haha copy that!

My house is like a snow globe except instead of snow it's cat hair. There is zero chance I could ever paint anything in there, and outside here is filled with pollen and dust and airborne mold.
I hear ya on this. Cat hair makes up 30% of the atmosphere in my flat :)

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:53 am

Getting there...The body will hopefully be ready for its first coats of color tonight!

Image

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by antisymmetric » Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:10 am

Excellent! :)
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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:48 am

Oh man, that's looking great! I always love your builds :)
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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Sep 13, 2022 8:48 am

Looking great. I love the pickguard on these.
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epizootics
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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:12 pm

Cheers guys!
I managed to get the first coat of pain on before the rain. Big relief. The temperatures are going to go down to 18-20°C at the end of the week, but as long as I keep my coats thin and spray no more than once a day, I think I'll be fine...

Image

Image

I had somehow managed to completely forget how to go about routing for the Floyd Rose unit. The previous one was non-recessed, too, and the thicker body mean a slightly different geometry. This time, I took detailed notes on how to do it and I'll happily share them with anyone who wants to put a Gotoh GE1996t on their guitar, including the routing templates and general concepts. It's a popular tremolo but there doesn't seem to be much about its installation on the internet. The consensus is that a standard FR route *just about* works, ie. it's not perfect. Among other things, the lock screws at the back are longer on the Gotoh, which can be an issue with a recessed FR. The other thing is the bigger studs for the posts. I ended up ordering a few drill bits; they are 11.3mm in diameter, and an 11.3mm hole is really tight, tight enough to crack the wood between the stud and the clearance route for the block, but 11.4 is too loose. I ended up doing the same as I did for the first Hairmaster, ie. drilling at 11.3 and pushing the studs in with my arbor press BEFORE doing the route for the block. It worked out fine again, but I'd say an 11.35mm drill bit is the way to go.

The body ended up weighing an even 2kg / 4.41 lbs. It won't be a light guitar by any means, but it shouldn't be too heavy either. I expect the whole thing to come out at 3.6kg / a tad under 8 lbs.

Time to get going with the neck now :)

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by LVC » Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:59 pm

I'm always impressed by your builds, both in terms of quality and aesthetic value 8)

I've been meaning to ask, what brand of paint do you use?
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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by epizootics » Sun Sep 18, 2022 12:10 am

LVC wrote:
Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:59 pm
I'm always impressed by your builds, both in terms of quality and aesthetic value 8)

I've been meaning to ask, what brand of paint do you use?
As always, I use Molotow Premium rattle cans, although I am starting to think of trying to find alternatives to those. I've had my first few bad experiences with them this summer - they don't seem to perform too well in hot weather (30°C / 86°F or over). My technique might be to blame, though. I have also had a few bad cans lately, ever since they changed the packaging - I've had inconsistencies in flow and pressure, which I had never encountered before. But overall they are very cheap and easy to use.

The neck & body are safely tucked away in the attic - the body and matching headstock only needs one or two color coats before I move on to clear.

I found the time to make the logo plate. Etched stainless steel, still needs a bit of finessing but it should give y'all a clue as to what the band in question might be:

Image

(and, yeah, I've had to change my name from Minotaur to Minos Guitars, because of the German company that makes guitar straps under the same name)

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Re: The Hairmaster - MK II

Post by JSett » Sun Sep 18, 2022 2:14 am

epizootics wrote:
Sun Sep 18, 2022 12:10 am
I found the time to make the logo plate. Etched stainless steel, still needs a bit of finessing but it should give y'all a clue as to what the band in question might be:

Tropical Fuck Storm?
Last edited by JSett on Sun Sep 18, 2022 5:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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