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<![CDATA[Guitar Discussion Forum - The Fret - Blogs - Dee's guitar-making/modding projects blog by deeaa]]> http://www.thefret.net/blog.php/10149-Dee-s-guitar-making-modding-projects-blog This is a friendly discussion forum for guitar players and bass players of all ages and abilities. en Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:48:36 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.thefret.net/images/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Guitar Discussion Forum - The Fret - Blogs - Dee's guitar-making/modding projects blog by deeaa]]> http://www.thefret.net/blog.php/10149-Dee-s-guitar-making-modding-projects-blog Yamaha shredder to hardtail dee-construction http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/29-Yamaha-shredder-to-hardtail-dee-construction Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:18:15 GMT I got bored with the Floyd on my Yamaha...and the guitar needs a complete work-over anyway...so I ordered a Gibson-style wraparound-bridge and I'll do the Davette thing on the axe...rip out the Floyd, carve a large opening in its place and glue in a big block of new wood...plane it nice and install a fixed bridge. Sand down and slightly V-shapify the neck, re-shape the headstock, sand and re-finish the entire body. Actually cover the front entirely with aluminum.

Heres' what happens:

Here's some progress info:



Got everything taken apart, drew outlines to the aluminum sheet & got the router sorted...so all that remains now is to start working! I'll first have to route the cavity for the wood block (in the picture; I'll make it smaller first tho) and then glue it in and await a day or two...then saw and shape the aluminum & glue that on and again wait a few days...and meanwhile need to go over the neck. Already gave it a slight fret job and cleansed and oiled the fretboard nice. Next ripping off the lacquer and reshaping it gently. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/29-Yamaha-shredder-to-hardtail-dee-construction
YouTube demo http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/25-YouTube-demo Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:41:22 GMT Here:



It's Ok, not a bad player at all, but even though only slightly, still the neck heaviness bothers me.

Furthermore, it still needs a little fret work, at the minumum a re-crown as after leveling some spots are far too wide.

Remains to be seen if it after that 'wakes up' better in upper registers, now it doesn't really sing and have a great sustain to speak of in the upmost registers. Same thing that's noticeable on my Squire vs. the custom made strat; the strat really sings all the way to the end while the squire screams but doesn't sing so beautifylly and with such sustain. This also lacks in that department. It just sounds too dead there...likely both the fret condition and the neck-thru design eats away the liveliness and ringing sustain you get from strats with tremolos. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/25-YouTube-demo
Rest of the photos http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/24-Rest-of-the-photos Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:59:40 GMT Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TZdjjyPQWQI/AAAAAAAADvo/u6xDpqW_nLU/s640/IMG_6750.jpg Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TZdjjbOSo-I/AAAAAAAADvk/VVtL-JkJNbs/s640/IMG_6752.jpg Image:...

]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/24-Rest-of-the-photos
Done http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/23-Done Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:13:48 GMT OK here's the first pic from the back...it's all done now:



S*tty finishing job, but what can I say, I'm really impatient :-) ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/23-Done
Backside http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/22-Backside Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:38:59 GMT OK,

It's about done. Just the electrics to add for now, once the lacquer dries some.

The lacquer is far from great, I really should do a whole lot more sanding and whatnot, but I'm just tired with it so I think I'll finish the build for now. It's just cosmetic anyway now, and looks good from a few metres anyway.

If it turns out to be a great player and I'll spend much time on it, I can always strip the parts and give it a better finish then.

]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/22-Backside
Short video of the guitar with the strings on for the 1st time http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/21-Short-video-of-the-guitar-with-the-strings-on-for-the-1st-time Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:51:03 GMT

Lots of issues to deal with still. LOTS. Not to mention the neck still being hugely thick, there's a gazillion little details to worry about, fret ends etc. and there's a couple of high frets as well still. Can't seem to get them properly seated, I'll have to remove and make sure there's nothing in the groove, probably there is something.

Then it's a lot of sanding and such as well, the saddle and whatnot. Drilling some holes for controls etc. etc...

There's a couple of design flaws apparent now as well...I shaped the headstock too small after all, I guess I was a bit too aggressive with sanding it to form :-) anyway, it works fine, just that 1/3" wider the strings would space better on it. Just a visual thing, though.

Also, the neck 'joint' area - although it is a neck-thru, is a tad too weak I fear. It holds well now but I'm not sure I'd ever dare to put an 11 set on it or such...pretty thin wood there holding it all together.

I've had enough of the project for a little while now I think...I'll leave it stringed up, high frets and all, and see if it settles any and if the neck seems to hold the tuning at least...there's so much more to do now I don't know where to continue, really, and haven't got the enthusiasm just now. No doubt it'll come back soon enough, but just now I'm feeling like I've been putting off band stuff and whatnot largely because of this guitar project, so a bit of a break is in order.

I'll report back when I get something new done to it again :-) ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/21-Short-video-of-the-guitar-with-the-strings-on-for-the-1st-time
Final shape ready http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/20-Final-shape-ready Thu, 24 Mar 2011 05:22:12 GMT https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6...0/IMAG0710.jpg

Ready for fine sanding and such...lots and lots of sanding to do now. The neck has a shape as well but it's too thick as of now.

Curious thing BTW...I have all the parts like pickups in a box, and the box weigh just about the same as the guitar with just the wood parts. This is going to be a rather light one!

Can't tell from the photo but the top is slightly curved actually, especially the part that comes under the right arm gets thinner towards the edge by about 1/2 inch. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/20-Final-shape-ready
Testing parts placement http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/19-Testing-parts-placement Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:58:16 GMT Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TYUJxQ7006I/AAAAAAAADuY/qeP0qDs8X0A/s640/IMAG0704.jpg The shape is still rough; there will be a deeper/rounder cut at the back and of course every edge will be trimmed nice, the body is about 1/4 too big almost everywhere right now, quite...

The shape is still rough; there will be a deeper/rounder cut at the back and of course every edge will be trimmed nice, the body is about 1/4 too big almost everywhere right now, quite rough sawn as it is. I wanted to leave plenty of wood for sanding it down nice.

Ditched the tu-tone color scheme; took a while to get the mid section colored the same as the flanges due to different wood, but it's OK. The black parts will line up with it anyways.

Still trying to figure out how to do the fade to black at the edges. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/19-Testing-parts-placement
Another angle http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/18-Another-angle Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:17:53 GMT OK, here's the whole thing from another angle.

Clearly shown the body wood and the overlaying veneer...there will be another veneer for the back, but not with maple showing, all intact from the back. I'll contour the edges some and they will be black, thinking of some kind of sunburst. Although white binding would be super cool too..only, that might be a bit much to try to learn how to do.

The body wood also has all cavities done, plus most of the wire routes...now I will have to finish those routes and all, and start glueing the body together. I'll glue the body first sans the center neck part, though, and glue the center in last...will have to make it real tight, though. Still, I can finish both pretty much separately and lacquer them too and glue them in only before the final touches and lacquers. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/18-Another-angle
First test assembly...birch on birch and center maple http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/17-First-test-assembly-birch-on-birch-and-center-maple Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:05:24 GMT

I'm going to leave it 2-tone all the way...so much like it is now. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/17-First-test-assembly-birch-on-birch-and-center-maple
Headstock designing http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/16-Headstock-designing Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:01:14 GMT Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TYEWyYeMA_I/AAAAAAAADtQ/4lVrBFPnPzs/IMAG0702.jpg ]]> deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/16-Headstock-designing <![CDATA[Bigger area test 'markered']]> http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/15-Bigger-area-test-markered Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:19:05 GMT Here's a guitar-size slab of veneer done with the markers:

]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/15-Bigger-area-test-markered
Coloring test with Magic Marker. See other thread... http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/14-Coloring-test-with-Magic-Marker-See-other-thread Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:39:44 GMT Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TX5D7M5NL3I/AAAAAAAADsI/ya5l_I0ncbQ/IMAG0698.jpg ]]> deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/14-Coloring-test-with-Magic-Marker-See-other-thread Overall view http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/13-Overall-view Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:37:05 GMT

Alright; seems I've settled with the star shape. Here's the fretboard glued in place and radiused and the neck part laid over the bottom veneer with the shape marking. Also the headstock shape now visible; the same knife shape repeats in the body.

The body will be built much like an acoustic, but with ~1" thick maple sides and the neck-thru, but anyway hollow with birch veneers on both sides. I'll try to bend the veneer on the top star horn to give it a nice curvature.

I'm still a bit hazy on the body construction, but I figure I'll come up with solutions as I go along :-) I will have to plan for the control cavity and for a volume knob...no tone...will have 1 bucker obviously and a single at neck, but housed in a bucker cover so it'll look 2-bucker...the gibson style switch I will install most likely in the upper horn. Jack plate (straight square) will probably be located on the topside of the lower horn where from it'll be easy to run the lead over the strap end. Will need to leave enough room for a possible EMG PA-2 to augment the Tesla active pups...and, damn, I need to order a 9V battery compartment for easy access to battery from the outside. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/13-Overall-view
Radius gauge http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/12-Radius-gauge Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:54:10 GMT Image: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_6nk96PAbWiI/TXygzwEu4BI/AAAAAAAADrM/uz5isoYXFM4/IMAG0696.jpg While the glue is still drying, I made this radius sanding tool to keep me busy. I screwed a slab of metal onto a chunk of acrylic or similar quite hard/resilient plastic of some sort (used to...

While the glue is still drying, I made this radius sanding tool to keep me busy. I screwed a slab of metal onto a chunk of acrylic or similar quite hard/resilient plastic of some sort (used to be a MinuteMaid chopping board) , dipped it in boiling water and used screws and a few washers to force it into a nice curve; it was easy to adjust it by turning the screws in various locations. I don't know what it is, though, I'd imagine it's something like 14" or so, not a very round radius but nothing like a flat shredder either; I just adjusted it to fit the radiuses of my guitars I like the best in that respect.

Now that it's cooled down it stays put in the radius it was in when hot...I could have just left the screws and all on it for further adjustment later, but I figured I won't need it. ]]>
deeaa http://www.thefret.net/entry.php/12-Radius-gauge