Building /assembling a guitar around the pickups! DeArmond content

OilCityPickups

You can see here how I'm bringing a pair of early fifties DeArmond 2000 Dynasonics back to life after serious water damage.
This is where I'm going to hopefully put them into a Tele body and create a Dynasonic equipped 'Cabronita' with hopefully a Bigsby style trem. 
The pickups have been waiting about five years for me to find the time and inclination to do something with them ... 
I initially thought of some cheaper Gretsch solid as a host ... but having had a couple of  Electromatic Jets in the workshop I wasn't impressed. Heavier than my Gibson Les Paul and still with a neck profile I'm not keen on. 

The trouble is, the surface mounting Dynasonics need a load of clearance, and most solid guitars don't have the strings high enough off the body ... or indeed enough body depth to be routed away to take the 'valve gear' hanging out the back of a Dynasonic. 

Then I remembered an unfinished Cabronita style body I had packed away in the workshop. I had started putting an aged red stained Tru-oil finish on it ... but on trying it with a neck ... the neck sat really high ... ah ... actually exactly what I need now!

So I went ahead and ordered a new roasted maple tele neck ... but as yet none of the design elements are set in stone.

I will need a high bridge to allow the strings to clear the pickups ... I have a Rickenbacker style one but it's fairly horrible ... besides I'd prefer rollers to use with a flat mount horseshoe style 'Bigsby' ... I shall probably pick up a cheap 'Chibsby' till I know if this concept will fly ... watch this space 

If you have any parts suggestions please feel free ... the body and neck are all I have as yet. 

Winny_Pooh

Need to see pics. A tune-o-matic could do fine

OilCityPickups

Winny_Pooh said:

Need to see pics. A tune-o-matic could do fine

Pics of the bits so far on Monday ... and I was thinking of a roller style tune-o-matic (Northern Guitars I think) ... had one fitted on my old Ibanez semi acoustic with a Bigsby ... held tune very well. 
Neck will be here late next week.  

Sporky

Could you do one of those Duesenberg Les Trems? A bit less bulky than a Bigsby.

OilCityPickups

Sporky said:

Could you do one of those Duesenberg Les Trems? A bit less bulky than a Bigsby.

Hummm lets find a piccy 

OilCityPickups

The only Issue here is I'd still have to drill in a pair of tailpiece stopbar posts ... as well as bridge posts. The other issue is cost.

I want to put this guitar together with as many recycled and low end bits as I can in order to see if the resulting guitar is worth  improving. A bigsby knockoff could easily be replaced with a Bigsby if I find I have a guitar I like here.

lovestrat74

Interested to see how this is going to work. I passed on some repros because I didn't think they would be too tall to work with a Tele body.

OilCityPickups

lovestrat74 said:

Interested to see how this is going to work. I passed on some repros because I didn't think they would be too tall to work with a Tele body.

I already had the vernier calipers out ... it'll be tight, but on a full 45mm Tele Cabronita body with that shallow neck joint they should fit (given that I'll shim a slight neck angle too). 
I will have to rout the bejesus out of the pickup holes ... leaving less than 1/4 inch of body ... but that's fine. 
I may also have to source some long neck bolts due to the thickness of the body 'tongue'. 

lovestrat74

OilCityPickups said:

lovestrat74 said:

Interested to see how this is going to work. I passed on some repros because I didn't think they would be too tall to work with a Tele body.

I already had the vernier calipers out ... it'll be tight, but on a full 45mm Tele Cabronita body with that shallow neck joint they should fit (given that I'll shim a slight neck angle too). 
I will have to rout the bejesus out of the pickup holes ... leaving less than 1/4 inch of body ... but that's fine. 
I may also have to source some long neck bolts due to the thickness of the body 'tongue'. 

Looking forward to this

OilCityPickups

lovestrat74 said:

OilCityPickups said:

lovestrat74 said:

Interested to see how this is going to work. I passed on some repros because I didn't think they would be too tall to work with a Tele body.

I already had the vernier calipers out ... it'll be tight, but on a full 45mm Tele Cabronita body with that shallow neck joint they should fit (given that I'll shim a slight neck angle too). 
I will have to rout the bejesus out of the pickup holes ... leaving less than 1/4 inch of body ... but that's fine. 
I may also have to source some long neck bolts due to the thickness of the body 'tongue'. 

Looking forward to this

In fact a better idea may be threaded inserts in the neck heel ... then long bolts are easy

Winny_Pooh

What about building up the neck pocket to be taller with a fat full length shim? 

I've often though about doing this, then taking a B5, cut off the roller and recess whats left.

Eg

OilCityPickups

Winny_Pooh said:

What about building up the neck pocket to be taller with a fat full length shim? 

I've often though about doing this, then taking a B5, cut off the roller and recess whats left.

Eg

Shouldn't have to the neck pocket is way shallow in the Cabronita ... probably because of the height of Filtertrons :-)

Funkfingers

The obvious comparator model would be the Fender Tele-Sonic. (Set neck, 24¾" scale length, wrap-around bridge.) I can not pretend to recall the neck pitch angle.

If the partscaster is going to have a regular Stratocaster-type hardtail bridge, it may be necessary to engineer the neck pitch angle into the neck pocket floor à la Eighties Charvel Model series.

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

The obvious comparator model would be the Fender Tele-Sonic. (Set neck, 24¾" scale length, wrap-around bridge.) I can not pretend to recall the neck pitch angle.

If the partscaster is going to have a regular Stratocaster-type hardtail bridge, it may be necessary to engineer the neck pitch angle into the neck pocket floor à la Eighties Charvel Model series.

No it'll probably have one of these 

with a Bigsby behind it 
The fender design wouldn't work with vintage Dynasonics 

These pickups in this have got super short magnets and are height adjustable ... 
Not like vintage Dynasonics at all. Mine are from around 1953  :-)
The colour is actually very close to the finish I already have on the Cabronita body 
Scale will be Fender 25 1/2 and probably with one volume and a pan pot.

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

The pickups in [the Tele-Sonic]  have got super short magnets  

Like the TV Jones T-Armond. 

OilCityPickups

Mine are like the full fat vintage ones on the right ...HUGE magnet mass ... hence the mahoosive tone of the early ones. 
So the body is going to be somewhat lighter once all that wood is out :-)

WezV

Exactly how deep are they?   Any room for recessing the pickup by a few mm

OilCityPickups

WezV said:

Exactly how deep are they?   Any room for recessing the pickup by a few mm

I'm not at the workshop so cant measure ... but really deep ... I worked out that with them surface mounted I'd have about 4mm of guitar back left! 
Of course they were meant for semi acoustics ...

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

Mine are like the full fat vintage ones on the right

The middle example looks like a TVJ bridge position unit.

MikeP

What do you die/ tint your tru oil with?

OilCityPickups

MikeP said:

What do you die/ tint your tru oil with?

I rub the die into the wood before oiling :-)