C18Q1 - eSullys partscaster rework

eSully

Thanks @paulnb57 - I've heard nothing but good things about Creamery pickups. Tbh I kinda cheaped out on this one though, I decided, as it's only my second effort at doing a guitar that for now I wouldn't go boutique on the pickups and keep the costs down. I ended up getting Iron Gear Rolling Mill - Overwound (Modern PAF) and Alchemist 90 set. I love the idea of having a bridge humbucker and p90 neck and actually, as the p90 is humbucker sized, this also meant I could buy a precut double humbucker scratchplate rather than cutting my own.

Which leads me to 2 questions I'd love opinions on.

1. Given its a strat scratch plate giving me 3 pots and a selector to play with, what wiring would people do given it's a humbucker/p90 combo. I could also split coil the humbucker as it's 4 leads. In my mind the issue with having one tone and 2 volume is that humbuckers usually have 0.22 caps but p90 recommends 0.47 cap. Should I have one volume 2 tone then, losing the opportunity to coil split then though I'd assume. Any opinions on this?

2. The body, very happy with how the binding has come out above. I noticed a Feline build recently where he had a gloss top and a matt back and sides (one of his lions) I loved the idea so was toying with having a natural back/sides finished with tru-oil slurry method as @WezV ; posted about in the past. The a spray paint gold top with Nitro finish. Am I making far too diffcult a job for myself there, Would that work or reality look ridiculous?

Cheers

DannyP

You can clearly handle a router, going off what you've achieved with the binding.

If it were mine, I'd use a custom scratch plate - assuming it would cover the strat jack rout?

I'd rout out the control cavity to house 2 Vol, 2 Tone and then drill through for a traditional tele jack position.

I think with the 2 different style pick-ups, you might benefit from having independent Vol & Tone controls.

eSully

Cheers for the reply @DannyP - I do agree with you that's the sensible option to put an extra volume pot in the mix but I'd like to stick with the strat layout so master volume and 2 tone it is I think

An update, not much of one as was so busy the project got dropped for a while I only got started again recently




*binding scraped




*This pic doesn't do it any justice, It's a far richer red/brown and the grain really pops out.


Few misfires and mistakes along the way (I managed to drop something on the top and put a big gouge into it which I had to fill, sand down the whole top and do again!! Not a happy camper that day) and it's far from perfect up close but getting there now.

The top is finished with Nitro clear coat, still a few more coats to go on and a sand and buff. Back and sides are done in Tru-oil. Only 7 Coats on so far, steel wooled twice so looking nice already. plan is to go for 14 coats, steel wool after every 2/3 and finish with a coat or two if 50-50 tru-oil/white spirits to get a nice glossy finish but I do want it to be more matt than the top.

Apart from that, sanded the old neck down and have been applying a few coats of tru-oil on that too which really making the maple grain pop out. Looks great. Machine head holes were 8mm so they've been expanded to 10mm too. Should get it finished in the next few weeks but taking my time with the tru-oil.

Very much sticking to the plan as below, with the exception that the neck pick up will be a P-90 and I'll go for the 3 knob layout with 1 master volume, 2 tone.

eSully

Bit late but I'm pretty much done, managed to get some time again on it over the weekend, still a few more jobs like a fret-level, intonate and setup to do but it's almost there, electrics work great, pickups sound fantastic and overall I'm happy with how it looks (Although the body finish is very amateur up close, great learning experience though) so I'll call time on this thread and add a few pics

SteveF

That's a great looker.  Love the goldtop with the binding.  Like the concept of the Strat style controls and plate, but I wonder if a custom plate which just follows the curve of the horn would look better. 

How does that neck pickup sound?  

eSully

Thanks @SteveF - I think the scratchplate suits it, perhaps I could have shaped it a bit better around the lower horn but I think overall it works. I did toy with other (known) shapes, such as:

but I thought on the whole the Strat style suited the overall look better.

Pickups sound fantastic in my opinion btw, very happy with them both, didn't mention in the previous post, it's an iron Gear set. Overwound Rolling Mill Humbucker in the bridge with an Alchemist P90 in the neck!! The p90 sounds great

Andyjr1515

Very nice job indeed.  The binding and natural back contrasting with the gold is beautifully done and adds a bucket load of class

eSully

Andyjr1515 said:

Very nice job indeed.  The binding and natural back contrasting with the gold is beautifully done and adds a bucket load of class

Thanks very much @Andyjr1515 , Can't remember if I commented on the thread but I was following and your Swift Lite build looked fantastic

Roland

I really like the contrast between the gold top and wood grain back and sides, and the way that the white binding really sets it off.