It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
And a couple more jobs off the to do list.
First of all, drilling the bridge earth wire hole and fitting the earth.
I talked about a tip to get inserts out. A bolt would be better, but I found that the screws they use to fit bed heads to beds are the right thread So with great care not to let the screwdriver slip (which is why a bolt would be better, I screw it in until it bottoms at the wood inside the hole:
And then just carry on screwing. The bolt can't go any further down, so the insert has to move the other way:
With the control layout paper template, I mark the points from the insert hole to where I want the earth wire to come out into the chamber:
I draw a pencil line joining those points on the other side.
Then get a very, very long bradpoint drill and line it up with the line. Theoretically, it has to drill through the insert hole. Always a relief when it does, mind you
And then simply push the earth wire through, with a generous length stripped of insulation, and just re-insert the insert, trapping the copper of the earth wire as it does so.
Finally, drilled the recessed hole for the tele-style jack socket I am using:
Just 7 items left to do
It's the same method I use on LP's, but wouldn't do it on a Gibson SG because of the thickness and wood choice. Or at least go very carefully.
It's fine until it isn't
Instagram
Tidy as, andy!
Those long ass drills bits are so handy
This method is OK when there is plenty of meat underneath the end of the insert. But for certain designs, the amount of wood at the bottom of the insert holes can be quite thin and, in those cases, it is possible to simply break through the back of the guitar!
As a point of interest, @WezV, what is the 'safest' way to remove an insert for those cases without damaging the top? Happily, I've never had to do it...
The uncouth way is with a small crowbar/claw hammer resting on a caul of some kind to prevent marking the top. You need to be careful not to pull out at an angle though, so work around it without too much force in any one direction. It's not ideal but will get you by if you use common sense and care
The better way is to use a knob/bushing puller like stew Mac sell, but plenty of DIY versions out there too. It applies even pressure in the right direction
Of course sometimes none of them work because some fool has glued the bloody thing in.... Then you have to heat it first and see which one feels best.
Whatever way you do it, never force it
Instagram
If the bolt can't go down, the insert will come up (providing your bolt has at least a couple of turns into the insert)
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/61134/sarge/p1
Can't believe that anyone here will make an innuendo out of that
The P-rails are useful as one of the tasks was making sure that the pickups fitted and adjusted in the chambers and the coils of the P-rail are just a touch fatter than most humbuckers - so this should be worst case.
Spent quite a bit of time chiselling out the tight spots. These now adjust fine, so I am happy that Matt's will also.
And that leaves 5 jobs left on the list
There'll be the 47 posts of me finishing it and putting right what Matt found was wrong with it and then the posts of me stopping people in the street (2m apart, of course) to show them and following them until they tell me how beautiful it is and then the bulk spam shot of 'Have You Seen THIS????' to 64m unsuspecting computer users in Europe and then....
Thanks!
I posted this on a bass orientated site and most of the bass players and builders were unaware that the ToM bridges have to be angled because there isn't enough intonation adjustment for them to be parallel to the frets. A few commented and I've had to explain the 'Gibson Way' of angling the bridge rather than designing a bridge that has enough adjustment.
But what they haven't mentioned yet is that, actually, the two pickup rings are also a bit skewiff to each other...and they shouldn't be.
Looks worse than it is - there is a shadow and they are ramped rings so there is an optical illusion at play - but there is, indeed, a 1mm skew there that shouldn't be. Easily fixed...but that makes it 6 things still on my 'to do' list
I'm sure the good folks here have seen it too but are too polite to say
Today, started by straightening up the errant pickup ring. You can see better the teeny offset on the bridge that gives me the extra couple of mm safety factor with the intonation:
Then it was to the control chamber with some copper shielding and some magnets:
The two strips on the cover are carbon rods so that the cover always stays completely flat:
And with magnets adding to the hatch too, control chamber is done and I'm down to 4 items on the finish list
There's a fingernail cutaway at the front edge (I'll take another shot when I get a moment but if you look closely above, you may be able to see a soft arc just at the thin forward end). It's easy to remove but very securely held in place
So yes - I just run a tiny bridging line of solder across at least one joint per strip so all the strips are electrically joined up. It only takes seconds because the copper heats very quickly locally and the solder loves copper to flow across.