C18Q1. TTony goes mad.

paulnb57

Very nice Tony! I especially like that Strat, oozing class.....

AustrianJohn

That Strat is looking lovely! The inset pickup rings are cool - I wish my routing skills were up to doing that

TTony

AustrianJohn said:

I wish my routing skills were up to doing that

@AustrianJohn -  if you can make the template, you can do most things with a router, and I'm sure your skills are more than adequate!

TTony

The more critical - or observant - of you will have noticed the little imperfection in the P90 LP in the shot above  ...



Because I'm using P90s, the end of the neck (mahogany) will be visible between the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup.  No pickup ring  to hide it, and the mahogany won't take the stain that I'll be using on the maple very well.

It'll look horrible.






But, as if by magic ...

... no more visible neck mahogany!

I used the router to remove about 3mm of the mahogany, and then used an offcut of the maple top, carefully sized and cut, to glue in its place.

Happy with that!

paulnb57

Outstanding save Tony!

Rabs

All looks excellent..  I am nicking the recessing surrounds thing on my next build 

Andyjr1515

Top class work and results @TTony ;    Beautiful builds, both of them.

TTony

Better late than never - even if it's very very late


The first of my 3 Q1 builds is now builded.





Why??

Because it completes the set ...

normula1

I like the offset pickup, especially as it's in the correct colour scheme for a non-covered humbucker.

Does the offset have a noticeably different tone from a standard pickup?

paulnb57

Very nice trio!

fandango

TTony said:

Better late than never - even if it's very very late


The first of my 3 Q1 builds is now builded.





Why??

Because it completes the set ...

Fantastic. Well done Tony!

Love the fretboard colour of the strat on the left. How are you enjoying the P90 in this one?

TTony

normula1 said:

Does the offset have a noticeably different tone from a standard pickup?

It's impossible - for me anyway - to say @normula1 ;

Can't really swap a normal HB in  to test for tonal differences, and there are so many differences between that guitar and anything else with a normal HB in it to be able to say that any of those differences are due to the offset/slant.

I do like the p'up though.  I've got an original Gibson Nighthawk and, when I play it, it's the bridge HB that gets selected most often.  So when this one came up FS, I grabbed it quickish.

TTony

fandango said:

Fantastic. Well done Tony!

Love the fretboard colour of the strat on the left. How are you enjoying the P90 in this one?

Thanks @fandango.

If I had to choose just 1 pickup style, it'd be the P90.  With careful use of volume (and occasional use of tone) controls, I find it the most versatile.  I usually opt for fairly high output p'ups, but the P90 seems to clean up nicely once you turn the vol down a bit and go a bit easier with the pick, whilst still staying nicely clear.  That's what my ears tell me  ...

TTony

With all these Q418C threads about, I can't help feeling that I'm a little behind the times ...


Anyways ... apparently last seen on Apr23rd, I've been a bit busy with #2 today





It *is* all wired up, honest ...



And it even has a neck ...


Flamey, flamey!

Quick test fitting of the neck showed that it's sitting 1mm-2mm too high, so I need to deepen the neck pocket - or sand a bit off the neck heel before putting it all together. 


Tomorrow, hopefully.

TTony

And done.

And easily in time for the end of the Q1 Challenge!






There was a last minute Tony-up (aka cock-up) with this one.  Put it all together and decided that it was playing a bit too high.  Rather than cheaty-shim the back of the neck pocket, and rather than doing the sensible thing of getting the router out to deepen the neck pocket, I decided to just take the heel of the neck to the  belt sander to take a couple of mm off.

Which ended in tears and a rather uneven (ie not flat and parallel) heel.

All sorted now though - thanks to the neighbour's CNC machine.  And it plays really nicely too.

I used one of StewMacs "megaswitches", so I've got;

• Bridge
• Bridge + Middle
• Bridge + Neck
• Middle + Neck
• Neck

The p'ups are a set of slightly special Oil Cities.  

I like this one.

bigjon

Looks fantastic, Tony. V pleased with my new Oil City p/ups, glad you're pleased with yours.

Roland

You’re getting good at this Tony

Rabs

Looks sweet.... I like the two tone nature of the back and top wood....

TTony

Thanks @bigjon (hope all is well with you?), @Roland @rabs.

it took a while to get this one done!  I think my building appetite is close to sated now.

Andyjr1515

Beautiful job, @TTony ;