FAX Artemis P1 Prototype "Half Pear" Finished Pg. 4

[HNB]

I got this off of ThePearDream. It is one of his new designs he is calling the "Artemis." I wasn't his ideal candidate, but I told him I would do my best to give it a good review and take good care of it.

This is how it came to me.

Artemis P1 / Case Study #5 / "Half Pear"

This body has extra contouring to make an angled neck heel that is of such marginal benefit, that I won't be doing it again for these designs. Two piece alder body, rough sanded to 120 grit, few dings NO FINISH. Black acrylic pickguard hand rubbed to a dull satin, featuring a watercolor style sticker of a halved pear. Custom aluminum control and pickup/bridge plates. CV50s Tele neck and bridge pickups, purchased years apart from each other. 4-way lever switch with black strat switch tip. Master Volume and Tone controls with barrel knobs. No shielding, still fairly quiet. Stainless steel pickguard and control plate screws. Squire CV Jag/Jazz bridge that would benefit from some Loctite. Unbranded vibrato with lock button. Vibrato arm with black tip. Some weird strap buttons I had in my parts box. Custom stainless steel neck plate. Starcaster by Fender neck with Arrow headstock that had some lifting frets, I re-pressed every fret and did a full level, crown and polish, stock tuners, stock nut, but I adjusted the slots and removed extra material, but didn't polish it since it's plastic. Maple shaft has a decent flame to it, rosewood board is pale brown. Neck plays well, narrow nut and medium C, satiny finish with a few dings. 11-48 strings. Weighs 7lb 12.5 oz.

20230107_174838 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230107_174859 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Things I notice about his work. The parts are precise. The pickguard and plates fit together very evenly. All lines are consistent. The gap around the bridge plate is the same size all the way around. The bridge thimble holes are centered in the plate. The pickguard follows the body shape perfectly. I appreciate the blade switch being parallel to the body edge. I also like the offset third lower screw hole on the control plate.

20230107_193638 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230107_193642 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230107_193647 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

All the holes for the pickguard, plates, and such are well placed and well supported with body wood. (None of that "hole too close to the edge" thing.)

20230107_194456 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230107_194459 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

The neck pocked rout is clean and both the stock neck and my new neck I am working on fit it well.

20230107_194558 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

I love that his tremolo rout has the corners done so I don't have to chisel them like with most Jazzy bodies I get.

20230107_194509 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

[HNB]

I did a pre audio demo that is uploading now. I will post that once it is done.

My plans for it are:

Send the body to MJT to finish in a olive drab finish. I feel that color reflects "Artemis" well.

Install Seymour Duncan Broadcaster pickups.

Install new pots, switch, and jack.

Install Classic Player tremolo. (I love the screw in arm.)

Install American Professional bridge.

Install refinished Peavey neck with FAX Artemis decal to make it proper.

Install Dunlop Strap Locks.

Shield the body with shielding paint.

[HNB]

The neck progress so far. The Peavey neck came in. I sanded off the screen print logo on the front and back and sanded up the back and such. Then I dyed it with amber Stewmac dye.

20230107_181403 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230107_194612 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

I don't know for certain what wood the fretboard is, but it is super streaky in a cool way.

20230107_194609 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

I plugged the mounting holes with maple dowels and used a chisel to level them flush.

20230107_181359 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

I think this neck will look killer with this body shape. As soon as I saw the pointy parts of the body, my mind said "This needs a Peavey headstock."

20230107_194550 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

[ThePearDream]

Ooh yeah! olive drab is going to be great. Definitely not enough olive drab guitars around. The grain on the neck is really cool too. Looking forward to seeing the HNB edition of Artemis.

[marqueemoon]

The Peavey headstock looks most excellent with that.

[HNB]

Thanks! I hope to do ThePearDream proud with this rendition.

[HNB]

Did some work yesterday. I mounted the new bridge pickup to the plate. I put in new pots, capacitor, and puretone input jack. It wasn't required, but I wanted solid shaft pots to put on some different knobs. I got the new neck pickup and three way switch mounted to the pickguard.

20230108_171922 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20230108_171930 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20230108_171908 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20230108_171902 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20230108_172003 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20230108_172011 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr


When mounting the new switch, I found that the lower hole for the mounting screw isn't countersunk so the screw head passes through the pickguard. I am going to try to fix this with either finishing washers or 3D printed plastic washers to help keep the screw from pulling through the pickguard.

20230108_172018 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr


I am putting clear over the Peavey neck. You can see the difference between just dying the neck and dying and staining. The Kitty one has stain on after the dye. It makes it darker and more orange. I use that process if it is going on an aged body to mimic the darkening of the clear and such.

2023-01-08_03-24-55 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

[ThePearDream]

When mounting the new switch, I found that the lower hole for the mounting screw isn't countersunk so the screw head passes through the pickguard. I am going to try to fix this with either finishing washers or 3D printed plastic washers to help keep the screw from pulling through the pickguard.

Sorry about that screw hole. I forget what happened there.
If it doesn't end up working for you, let me know and I'll send a new pickguard.

[HNB]

When mounting the new switch, I found that the lower hole for the mounting screw isn't countersunk so the screw head passes through the pickguard. I am going to try to fix this with either finishing washers or 3D printed plastic washers to help keep the screw from pulling through the pickguard.

Sorry about that screw hole. I forget what happened there.
If it doesn't end up working for you, let me know and I'll send a new pickguard.

No worries at all. I have a feeling one or both options will work. Part of the character with a prototype. Plus I wouldn't want to lose that pear decal.

I am sending the body off to MJT today to be finished in Olive Drab Green.

[LVC]

I am sending the body off to MJT today to be finished in Olive Drab Green.

I was hoping for one of your beautiful transparent finishes, but Olive Drab Green is probably the next best choice

[HNB]

I am sending the body off to MJT today to be finished in Olive Drab Green.

I was hoping for one of your beautiful transparent finishes, but Olive Drab Green is probably the next best choice

If it was ash and not alder, I would have probably dyed it green, but with alder the green doesn't show as well. Plus I have been wanting something olive drab. I would have sprayed it myself, but I didn't want overspray to get on my motorcycle. LOL

[HNB]

I picked up some black epoxy putty to fill the holes and redrill. Since the screws are pan head and don't need the bevel, I am going to fill them both. I can use the hole size from the back of the beveled one to know what size to make the new holes. I will do the upper hole first and use that to put the switch on to drill the other hole centered. Hopefully this epoxy stuff hardens ok and drills ok. I haven't done this before so I am in uncharted waters... LOL The internet said epoxy can fill holes so at least my thought process is based off of research.

Here are pictures. I filled the beveled one from the top because it is beveled. I did the other from the back to minimize sanding on the front. I put a piece of masking tape on the other side to keep the epoxy in the hole and put a board under it to press into in order to keep the epoxy from pressing through the other side. Once I scraped it mostly flush, I took the masking tape off carefully to let it dry and cure. I am going to give it more time than it needs to hope that it cures and attaches fully to the holes.

20230109_150949 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

20230109_150934 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

[Gordon]

It's mounted inside out, isn't it? (the countersunk holes)

[HNB]

Good catch. You are right.

[HNB]

Came up with a decal. I might mess with the pear a little to make it a half pear instead of a full one. Not sure yet. Also don't know if it will look right on the headstock yet. Tried to get the logo to match as best I could.

Artemis by Christopher Louck, on Flickr