This Olde Guitar

Last week I routed the neck pocket to get the standard 25 1/2 inch scale, got the neck on straight without stripping any screws (finally after 4 attempts), mounted the pickguard, strap buttons and tremolo. This thing is starting to resemble a guitar. I couldn't resist trying it on.....NERD!:

This is the nut I ordered. Notice it's wider than the hole it's supposed to sit in. It also runs over the binding.


A little trim with the dremel gets it to fit:


This guy showed me how to cut the nut (which I haven't quite finished yet)


The pencil is for marking how deep to file the string slots. It lines up with the frets.




These aftermarket pickguards aren't too good. Exhibit A:

I routed out that large chunk in the bottom and enlarged the holes for the bridge posts.

These aftermarket pickguards aren't too good Exhibit B: Check out the gap it left at the rhythm switch:


A drive out to Pointe Aux Pins and Uncle Evert to the rescue. He made this little patch for me. I glued it in and traced the outline of the switch that will sit in the rout:



Here it is with the gap fixed. You shouldn't be able to tell once it's painted. Also....STRINGS!:


I played it today for the first time!!! The action was all whacked and there were no pickups but acoustically it's friggin' loud.

I also installed the string tree. (No pics of that) All that's left is to wire it up and paint it. Sooooo close yet so far away...

Build Detour

I had originally planned to do this after my JM project was done but I came across these pickups/pickguard/pots on ebay for super cheap and snatched them up. I think they were cheap 'cause the guy wanted a money order only and no one was willing to take the chance. (Ebay doesn't cover money lost if you pay by money order. They do if you pay by PayPal.)

I never realized how huge those Wide Rangers are compared to the Squier pups.



The pickguard had to be squeezed in in order to get it to fit.



Here you can see where I'll have to do a bit of routing.



I routed the body by hand with a dremel borrowed from my uncle:



Used Jeremy's multimeter to figure out which was the bridge and which was the neck pickup because the guy didn't label them. The values were 8.5k and 8.3k respectively.
Took some finagling but managed to solder and fit the gigantic WRs in there:



Posed shot:




The only downside is that they didn't come with screws and springs so I can't set the pickup heights (and actually use the guitar) until those come in the mail. It was nice to actually do something right the first time as the JM project has been giving me great difficulty for a while now. I may have to redrill the neck holes a fourth time.

Build Update

This weekend I went out to the camp to get the holes drilled for the neck. My first attempt was ugly so Uncle Dennis gave me a hand this time. You can see my first attempt (the dowels). Hopefully this one works out.


The electronic components arrived as well:



Pots, switches, jack, roller knobs:



Wires and wiring diagram:


I also started to install the tuners. They're the first thing I've done on this project that I didn't screw up the first time. I shouldn't talk too soon though as I haven't quite finished them yet:



I'll have to enlarge the holes to get the collet to fit.


Up next is: buy a neck pickup, wire it all together, test it out, take it apart, paint it, wait a month for the paint to cure, put it all back together and finally play it.