What's on your workbench right now?

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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s_mcsleazy
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Thu May 13, 2021 9:50 am

Deed_Poll wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 7:41 am
Fun and games with my new 3D printer... :-/ ;)

Image

Incidentally, does anyone know where I might find a Jaguar mounting screw that's 5mm or so longer than standard?
you have my attention.
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Deed_Poll » Thu May 13, 2021 10:34 am

Tweedledee wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 9:47 am
Oh, this looks promising! Is that a mini humbucker of sorts under that beautiful cover?
Thanks Tweedledee and Sleazy for the interest!

I suppose you could technically call it a humbucker... It's more like a hybrid design that I hope will have some single coil tonality, but which I don't expect will sound exactly like a traditional single coil pickup. I'm actually not sure how it will sound! That's the fun of it :)

If I'm really lucky, I'd like it to sound something like a DeArmond / Dynasonic pickup. It was in that spirit that I chose to use 1/4" magnets, and relatively long ones.

If my coil math is right, it should be nearly completely noiseless as an antenna - but the coils are deliberately and very extremely asymmetrical in all the ways the signal cares about, so I'm hoping it won't suffer from the weird mid-scoop sound of a conventional "stacked" noiseless single.

My Jaywalker guitar model allows in and out of phase and series / parallel options for all three pickups, and this means that with certain settings like Neck + Middle - Bridge in series, you can actually triple the noise (I do a RW/RP bridge instead of middle). So these are an attempt at something Fender-adjacent tonally but which are low-noise and have their own voice.

Only time will tell!
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu May 13, 2021 10:47 am

That pickup sounds very interesting. I've always loved the sound of the old DeArmond pickups...
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by kifla » Thu May 13, 2021 12:16 pm

I hope this will be on my workbench soon.
Image
I REALLY dig the shape of that guitar... :)

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Skarrgus » Thu May 13, 2021 7:14 pm

Deed_Poll wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 10:34 am
Tweedledee wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 9:47 am
Oh, this looks promising! Is that a mini humbucker of sorts under that beautiful cover?
Thanks Tweedledee and Sleazy for the interest!

I suppose you could technically call it a humbucker... It's more like a hybrid design that I hope will have some single coil tonality, but which I don't expect will sound exactly like a traditional single coil pickup. I'm actually not sure how it will sound! That's the fun of it :)

If I'm really lucky, I'd like it to sound something like a DeArmond / Dynasonic pickup. It was in that spirit that I chose to use 1/4" magnets, and relatively long ones.

If my coil math is right, it should be nearly completely noiseless as an antenna - but the coils are deliberately and very extremely asymmetrical in all the ways the signal cares about, so I'm hoping it won't suffer from the weird mid-scoop sound of a conventional "stacked" noiseless single.

My Jaywalker guitar model allows in and out of phase and series / parallel options for all three pickups, and this means that with certain settings like Neck + Middle - Bridge in series, you can actually triple the noise (I do a RW/RP bridge instead of middle). So these are an attempt at something Fender-adjacent tonally but which are low-noise and have their own voice.

Only time will tell!
These sound like they're gonna be rad. They look awesome, too!

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by MrJagsquire » Sat May 15, 2021 3:44 am

Almost got my Strat project finished. Just waiting for a couple of parts so I can finish the wiring after I paint the cavities with conductive paint this weekend. Hopefully I can take the neck back off my other Strat and finish this one next weekend...can't wait to play it. 8)

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sun May 16, 2021 5:00 pm

I'm currently working on rebuilding a guitar for a friend of mine. It's his first guitar, and we had talked about him selling it, but at the end he decided to keep it as he loved the way it feels. So, I suggested that I put in some new pickups. It's an early 2000s (maybe 2001?) Ibanez GAX 70. The bones of it are great: solid body and a nice neck. The hardware and electronics were junk though. Here's a picture of one of the original humbuckers:

Image
It's similar with a lot of the other hardware on this thing: rusted screws, and dirty as shit. I stripped all the electronics (mini pots, crappy toggle, lackluster and rusted humbuckers, screws, etc.) It was pretty gross cleaning it (I'm pretty sure he never did), but it cleaned up nice. I scrubbed the body, the neck plate, the jack plate, humbucker mounting rings, and everything.

Image
Just a lot of Goo Gone and elbow grease.

So, this project is a labor of love, partially because he's my closest and oldest friend, and partially because my parents got me a little Yamaha keyboard (piano and 400 other sounds) for high school graduation that I let another friend borrow for a play he was in, and basically just let him keep it. So, I told my friend with the guitar that he didn't have to worry about money (though I was trying to keep things reasonably priced) and just to get what he wanted. He's been wanting something with P90s for a while, and after sending him some demos, we decided on a set of humbucker-sized clean Skookum-90s from Bootstrap. I'm trying to keep as much of the original hardware as possible because some of it is in good condition, but was just dirty. His original Ibanez-installed speed knobs were good, except one that was broken, so I wanted to replace all 4.

Image
Here are two of his original speed knobs next to two Neve console style knobs I'd bought a few months back from China. I thought the console knobs looked sweet as hell, but he wasn't feeling it. He wanted some black knobs with chrome tops for a 1970s kind of vibe. So, this is what we settled on:

Image
Cat sleeping as a bonus ;)

I ordered a Switchcraft 3-way toggle, but accidentally ordered a tall one. I think we are gonna keep the original wiring schematic (separate volume and tone for each pickup), but I'm tempted to buy a pair of these DMT Passive Dual Mode High & Low Pass Tone Control pots because they might be pretty cool. We are waiting to try out the electronics with my breadboard because I'm unsure if he will like 500K or 330K pots for the volume and tone (or if he will even be interested in the crazy PMT pot).
Last edited by Shadoweclipse13 on Mon May 17, 2021 8:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by ejendres » Mon May 17, 2021 8:20 am

Going to be swapping a Mojotone WHRB for a Fender CuNiFe WRHB.

Very excited to hear the results.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by ejendres » Mon May 17, 2021 8:22 am

Image

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon May 17, 2021 8:27 am

ejendres wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 8:22 am
Image
And with the Swope Descendant :? :? :?
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by ejendres » Mon May 17, 2021 9:12 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 8:27 am
And with the Swope Descendant :? :? :?
Yessir. Great trem

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon May 17, 2021 9:19 am

ejendres wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 9:12 am
Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 8:27 am
And with the Swope Descendant :? :? :?
Yessir. Great trem
And he makes a lefty version too!!! :-*
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Deed_Poll » Mon May 17, 2021 10:32 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Sun May 16, 2021 5:00 pm
I'm currently working on rebuilding a guitar for a friend of mine. It's his first guitar, and we had talked about him selling it, but at the end he decided to keep it as he loved the way it feels. So, I suggested that I put in some new pickups. It's an early 2000s (maybe 2001?) Ibanez GAX 70. The bones of it are great: solid body and a nice neck. The hardware and electronics were junk though. Here's a picture of one of the original humbuckers:

Image
It's similar with a lot of the other hardware on this thing: rusted screws, and dirty as shit. I stripped all the electronics (mini pots, crappy toggle, lackluster and rusted humbuckers, screws, etc.) It was pretty gross cleaning it (I'm pretty sure he never did), but it cleaned up nice. I scrubbed the body, the neck plate, the jack plate, humbucker mounting rings, and everything.

Image
Just a lot of Goo Gone and elbow grease.

So, this project is a labor of love, partially because he's my closest and oldest friend, and partially because my parents got me a little Yamaha keyboard (piano and 400 other sounds) for high school graduation that I let another friend borrow for a play he was in, and basically just let him keep it. So, I told my friend with the guitar that he didn't have to worry about money (though I was trying to keep things reasonably priced) and just to get what he wanted. He's been wanting something with P90s for a while, and after sending him some demos, we decided on a set of humbucker-sized clean Skookum-90s from Bootstrap. I'm trying to keep as much of the original hardware as possible because some of it is in good condition, but was just dirty. His original Ibanez-installed speed knobs were good, except one that was broken, so I wanted to replace all 4.

Image
Here are two of his original speed knobs next to two Neve console style knobs I'd bought a few months back from China. I thought the console knobs looked sweet as hell, but he wasn't feeling it. He wanted some black knobs with chrome tops for a 1970s kind of vibe. So, this is what we settled on:

Image
Cat sleeping as a bonus ;)

I ordered a Switchcraft 3-way toggle, but accidentally ordered a tall one. I think we are gonna keep the original wiring schematic (separate volume and tone for each pickup), but I'm tempted to buy a pair of these DMT Passive Dual Mode High & Low Pass Tone Control pots because they might be pretty cool. We are waiting to try out the electronics with my breadboard because I'm unsure if he will like 500K or 330K pots for the volume and tone (or if he will even be interested in the crazy PMT pot).
Looking great J! I must say, I'm a big fan of 'reflector' knobs too. I think they're just about the most versatile looking knob - I can't really think of a guitar they would look truly out of place on, since all guitars have at least some metal or black on them, and the gold ones with silver tops really help to marry together guitars that have mixed steel / brass / chrome / gold hardware schemes. They also feel nice, with the little rim around the top edge.
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www.guitarform.com ◈ @guitar_form

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon May 17, 2021 1:27 pm

Deed_Poll wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 10:32 am
Looking great J! I must say, I'm a big fan of 'reflector' knobs too. I think they're just about the most versatile looking knob - I can't really think of a guitar they would look truly out of place on, since all guitars have at least some metal or black on them, and the gold ones with silver tops really help to marry together guitars that have mixed steel / brass / chrome / gold hardware schemes. They also feel nice, with the little rim around the top edge.
Thanks Dan!! And I agree! I knew what they'd look like, but was surprised at how classy/classic they looked when they arrived. I'm tempted to get a set for myself, and almost tempted to put them on the Juniorbird, though I have bigger plans for that ;)
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by kifla » Mon May 17, 2021 1:38 pm

Bass for my son finally done!
Image
Alder body, gloss acryl finish. Bound maple neck, satin acryl finish.
Schaller bridge and tuners. Made neodymium pickups, 7.1k neck and 7.8k bridge, RWRP.
Hope he'll like it!:cool:

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