Klein build

Roland

normula1 said:

looking superb BTW

Thanks. I spent a hour this morning carving a shallow valley above the neck pickup. It means that the top edge is narrower, and flows around the player’s body. To the audience there’s no change. It won’t be visible to anyone except the player

Winny_Pooh

Cool! Starting to look like a guitar now

Comments:

1. Neck humbucker
2. Neck outer coil (too weak, prefer both coils in Parallel)
3. Both inner coils (spanky but a bit bland)
4. Bridge outer coil (a bit weak volume wise)
5. Bridge humbucker.

My recommendation:
1 Neck HB
2 Neck (Partial split with 5k resistor)
3 both HBs or neck HB + bridge split in parallel or inner/outer coils in series)
4 Bridge (partial split 8k resistor)
5 Bridge HB

The simplest to do without a 5 way superswitch would be would be the PRS 3 way switch wiring where the partal split is on the tone knob push pull.

TJT1979

Roland said:

TTony said:

I was going to say it's good to see something different being made here.

But then I realised that most of the M&M builds are different in one way or another!

So it's good to see one of these being made and your approach to solving the different challenges that this design creates.

That’s what I enjoy about this section. It’s often the small details, like Graham’s double holes for pickup wiring, that give those Ahhh moments.

I don’t want to derail the thread too much, but do you have a link to the double-hole thing? I tried searching but no luck. Searching “double hole” in Google is likely to find something quite different...

JGTay

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/177593/covid-19-im-now-in-total-isolation-so-lots-of-building-to-do/p3 look through his post from 9th June

Roland

Today was a tale of two other holes: the control and switch cavities. Noting @Andyjr1515’s point in another thread about recording the build in detail here’s more than you probably want to know.

The control cavity was cut without a template. The back of the body is angled at this point, and routing from a template would have meant that the cavity wasn’t square with the front. Pilot holes for the potentiometer shafts were drilled from the front, going right through the body. Round cavities for the pots themselves were drilled from the bottom using a Forstner bit. The wood between them was removed with a smaller Forstner and a chisel. The holes created by the points on the Forstners were filled with sawdust followed by cyano acrylic glue, which also toughens the thin section at the top of the cavity.

To create the cover plates I made templates from mdf. Did I say earlier that I couldn’t buy mdf at the moment? This piece was recovered from a neighbours waste bin. The template was used both to route out a 5mm deep shape around the cavity, and also to mark out the cover plate outline on a spare piece of the body wood. Using the same template means that the plate, and the hole it fits into, are different by the width of a scroll saw blade. Something which the closest measuring isn’t going to achieve. 

They fit nicely, but I might recut the cross-grained cover. I was trying to save wood, but I think it might be false economy.



Covers are held in with neodymium magnets. Not using screws means that I can route and sand the covers and body to shape. The magnets are inset by 0.5mm. To make the shallow holes I used a brad bit drill, and rotated the drill chuck backwards by hand. Rotating forwards bites too much. The base of each hole was then levelled with a nail punch before glueing the magnet in.

The blue ink on the magnets is how I know north from south, and don’t glue the magnets in the wrong way up. 

Roland

Winny_Pooh said:

Cool! Starting to look like a guitar now

Comments:

1. Neck humbucker
2. Neck outer coil (too weak, prefer both coils in Parallel)
3. Both inner coils (spanky but a bit bland)
4. Bridge outer coil (a bit weak volume wise)
5. Bridge humbucker.

My recommendation:
1 Neck HB
2 Neck (Partial split with 5k resistor)
3 both HBs or neck HB + bridge split in parallel or inner/outer coils in series)
4 Bridge (partial split 8k resistor)
5 Bridge HB

The simplest to do without a 5 way superswitch would be would be the PRS 3 way switch wiring where the partal split is on the tone knob push pull.

Thanks. I haven’t tried partial splits before, which seems a good reason for doing so this time.

normula1

Partial splits are great. Rather than fixed resistors, I use multi-turn trimmers and just tweak until it sounds the best for a given pickup. https://uk.rs-online.com/mobile/p/trimmer-resistors/5219647/

Roland

It has not been a good day. Drilling wiring channels between cavities and the drill wandered. 

Now sitting with the first of several beers wondering whether to plug the hole or put a plate around the switch.

crunchman

Ouch

guitargeek62

Roland said:

It has not been a good day. Drilling wiring channels between cavities and the drill wandered. 

Now sitting with the first of several beers wondering whether to plug the hole or put a plate around the switch.

Is that anywhere that you could position the output jack? You could route a channel into the body if so and inset it perhaps

Roland

Nope, it’s on the front of the body, below the neck pickup. Couldn’t be more visible.

I’ve just ordered a plug cutter bit.

PeteC

Ouch !!  There quite a bit of grain there in that spot so with a plug and sanding back it will probably be disguised fine hopefully. 

Roland

Right, let’s get back on the horse. I’ve filled most of the drilled hole with dowel, leaving the important last inch to be filled with a plug made from an offcut of the body wood. That will have to wait until he plug cutter arrives.

Today’s step forward has been the bridge screw inserts. In my view three M3 bolts will be more secure than five short wood screws.

Also shown is my installation tool. A bolt, stiffed out with spare nuts, and the all important washer before the steel insert. The longish bolt helps me see that it’s straight. The washer spreads the pressure across both sides of the screwdriver slot at the top of insert, and prevents it bending or collapsing the thread.

The interminable sanding has to be paused until the hole is plugged. Normally I prefer bound bodies. Black or white plastic binding outlines the shape, and protects the body from those inevitable bumps. So it felt strange to round off the edges. I started with a round over bit, and then sanded further to produce a fully round edge. This is where I got to. It reminds me of the well worn hand carved items which you find in museums.

Plukky

This is a great build, thanks for sharing, actually something that I would do myself if I had the balls! In fact I think I bought some necks from you with the intention!
It puts me in mind of a Teuffel Niwa version of a Klein, which is a very cool idea!

Roland

Plukky said:

This is a great build, thanks for sharing, actually something that I would do myself if I had the balls! In fact I think I bought some necks from you with the intention!
It puts me in mind of a Teuffel Niwa version of a Klein, which is a very cool idea!

This neck is from the same batch. 

Roland

Having plugged the wandering hole, and drilling a few more In place where I do want them, I’ve been sanding, and sanding, and more sanding. Even with the air cleaner going full blast the workshop has this sheen of Martian dust, and my clothes look as though I’ve been helping Mark Watney clean the rover. The out come is this:

My original intention was to use black paint, sanded back, to bring out the body grain. I tried it out on the flat slab before I started work on the body and it looked good. Contouring the body seems to have enhanced the grain, well it’s taken away the straight grain lines. The Mahogany and Ovangkol grains seem well balanced, so I’m not sure the black is necessary.

JGTay

That is stunning Roland, definitely wouldn't worry about the black, the grain really pops. 

WezV

looks great as it is... i love the "eye" on the bass side of the body

paulnb57

A few coats of oil or lacquer and that body will look even more stunning

PeteC

Love it - can’t wait to see it with the hardware fitted.