Whats on your work bench?

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rrobbone
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On the workbench: Five body blanks made from pallet wood, just as an experiment.

Hanging in the shop rafters: Six cut and painted bodies awaiting graphics, or clear, or something.

On the shelf, posted for sale: Ten bodies with my usual off-putting style of paint work.

In the office: A flying V build, dual humbuckers, undecided on wiring. It prob will get a set of Dragonfires I have knocking around - Phat Screamers, I believe. A Hypersonic build, awaiting a floyd rose purchase, which will get the cheapest set of humbuckers I could find on Amazon - on a whim. I think they're called Fleor, or Floer, or Flour, or some other name that sounds quickly made up and decided upon by someone who doesn't speak english. Lastly, a baritone build which will get a JB/Jazz set to start. I have all the parts, just need the gumption.

I also have a pile of Home Depot lumber lying around that was bought for a home related project that never got off the ground due to wifely indecision. It's been begging for lamination and shaping for awhile now. Undecided: cut it, or store it?

Unrelated, but still in the work queue: My arcade cabinet still awaits the mounting of controls. It's all cut, screwed, and glued - and I have all the parts I need. I want to whip up some artwork for the control panel, but have maker's block on any design ideas.

I think this covers it. I should have the palletcasters all cut out tomorrow.
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jtcnj
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Finally got around to making some changes to the Silkyn Super 50, more towards the JCM800 / 2204 circuit.
Changed some resistor values, separated the v1 grids, add the 2 treble peakers, a few other tweaks.
Had the parts for 4 years. Glad I waited as I am much more familiar with the circuit now.
Much improved the preamp.
Put a few burn marks in C33 with the iron, ugh.
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technically I had this on the bench for adding the roller string trees today.
Good excuse to post a pic. And play it some more.
It plays very well. I put some nice low-mid heat p90s in there and its got a good p90 cleanish Strat sound.
I may have to shave the pickguard p90 hole edges at the thin ends as its very tight for adjustments. I dont think Im getting all the tilt adjustment I should be able to before it hangs up on the ends.

The whole body has a tiger-eye shimmer effect

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"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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Tiga
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Started on a speaker build today. It's the C-Note Kit from Parts Express. These get pretty good reviews and this seems like a great kit for my first build. Just glued up the first cabinet today.
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tobijohn
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Partscaster wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:27 pm ...I may have to shave the pickguard p90 hole edges at the thin ends as its very tight for adjustments...
Exactly what tool do you use for that? I've got a few that could benefit from the same thing. TIA...
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tobijohn wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:37 pm
Partscaster wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:27 pm ...I may have to shave the pickguard p90 hole edges at the thin ends as its very tight for adjustments...
Exactly what tool do you use for that? I've got a few that could benefit from the same thing. TIA...
a really sharp wood chisel at first, but that went pretty slow. I was shaving the edges.
I then used a large bastard file, thats pretty slow, and the corners dont look great.
I've also used a "Fine Tool" which is a vibrating saw , but that could go wrong fast.
I've always had messy results with a dremel.
So, I have no tried and true method. But, I'm willing to sacrifice quality once I get pissed.

I did realize that the p90 mount screw pattern is a little too close to achieve all the easy tilt I get from a sc or hum.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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mozz
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Contender for the heaviest strat in PA. Northern ash strikes again. 9lbs 12.5 oz. Body was Reverb swimming pool route to fit 3 p90's. I still had to cut a bit away towards the neck pocket to fit the neck pickup. Only pickguard at the time i could find was tortise, so i added the jazz bass style knobs. Hardtail because i wanted a hardtail, P90's cause i wanted 3.

Neck, well that is a story in itself. I have bought maybe 3 of these neck from a local guy who makes them by hand and sells on Ebay. Can't find his sales anymore, maybe he gave up or was banned. He won't let you pick up local, i don't know why. They are rough, fat, sharp, and a few other words. Neck pocket fit is always good though so i am happy about that.

Haven't measured fret 1 and 12 but full and fat, maybe 1 inch even. Cheap enough. Stainless frets, slots cut too deep. Sharp edges, stainless is a bitch to file. Brass fret markers which will not be lined up after nut is glued down. Somewhat wide neck. Close to 44 mm nut width. Gibson style huge bone nut, why, i have no idea. Very thick rosewood fretboard, aluminum side markers, not all are centered. I don't recall what the neck wood is, not maple, screwing the string trees in was easier than maple.

String height is not yet setup or nut height cut.

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Edit: tablet is taking shitty pictures it seems, lens is clean, 2014 Samsung 8mp camera, maybe time for a new tablet? I swore it used to take a lot better pictures.
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mini-H mini-H thinline strat.

Just got these pups from OZtralia. They look good. D'Urbano Magnetics Phoenix mini-hums.
Havent got it running yet. Tomorrow should be ready.
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"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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mozz wrote: Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:48 pm Contender for the heaviest strat in PA. Northern ash strikes again. 9lbs 12.5 oz. Body was Reverb swimming pool route to fit 3 p90's. I still had to cut a bit away towards the neck pocket to fit the neck pickup. Only pickguard at the time i could find was tortise, so i added the jazz bass style knobs. Hardtail because i wanted a hardtail, P90's cause i wanted 3.

Neck, well that is a story in itself. I have bought maybe 3 of these neck from a local guy who makes them by hand and sells on Ebay. Can't find his sales anymore, maybe he gave up or was banned. He won't let you pick up local, i don't know why. They are rough, fat, sharp, and a few other words. Neck pocket fit is always good though so i am happy about that.

Haven't measured fret 1 and 12 but full and fat, maybe 1 inch even. Cheap enough. Stainless frets, slots cut too deep. Sharp edges, stainless is a bitch to file. Brass fret markers which will not be lined up after nut is glued down. Somewhat wide neck. Close to 44 mm nut width. Gibson style huge bone nut, why, i have no idea. Very thick rosewood fretboard, aluminum side markers, not all are centered. I don't recall what the neck wood is, not maple, screwing the string trees in was easier than maple.

String height is not yet setup or nut height cut.


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Edit: tablet is taking shitty pictures it seems, lens is clean, 2014 Samsung 8mp camera, maybe time for a new tablet? I swore it used to take a lot better pictures.
that is an amazingly thick rosewood slab..although if its arched, maybe its just a veneer. LOL.
Give us a tone report when you can.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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mozz
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From what i am reading, heavy ash strats are pretty bright, snappy attack. Unlike alder which are more mellow and rounded. To counteract that, the p90 magnets are A2, neck is 9000 winds, mid is 9500, bridge is 10,000. I think i put in a .022 for the neck and a .047 tied to mid and bridge. I'm sure it's gonna have some p90 snarl somewhere. Was also thinking of running 10's or 11's and seeing if i can get any Pete Townsend out of it.
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mozz wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 1:11 pm From what i am reading, heavy ash strats are pretty bright, snappy attack. Unlike alder which are more mellow and rounded. To counteract that, the p90 magnets are A2, neck is 9000 winds, mid is 9500, bridge is 10,000. I think i put in a .022 for the neck and a .047 tied to mid and bridge. I'm sure it's gonna have some p90 snarl somewhere. Was also thinking of running 10's or 11's and seeing if i can get any Pete Townsend out of it.
That sounds good.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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Phoenix Mini-Hx2 strat is done.
Those D-Urbano Phoenix pickups are great. He advertises that they are a single coil sounding mini-humbucker. My test drive generally has reflected similar tones to his video of them, except better, as you'd expect vs yutube. Quack in mid position of 3way switch. Very quiet, no excess noise. This sounds like a quiet strat with powerful growly single coils. Vintage sc voice, loud cleanish Hendrixy.
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here's his demo vid:

[url]
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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jtcnj
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Added impedance switch to RR JCM800 MICRO.
At first the way the taps worked out I got positive feedback squeal in 1 of 2 the positions - but not both.

I should have realized that would happen, and realize it I did when I heard the familiar squeal.
Picked another wire combination that puts both switch positions on the same "side" of the coil wind with respect to the lead used as common.
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I added some grade 12 hardened steel screws to my headless' bridge. The fastener store didn't carry the ones I needed for another part of the bridge, so I nabbed some stainless and added those.

I also put an OFR R2 nut on my AX40. The difference is subtle overall, unless I hit an open string. Then it's very noticeable.
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rrobbone
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Update:

I built one more body out of pallet wood, having decided I wanted one for myself (again). It's strat shaped, and I'm thinking a set of P-rails with my unused Triple Shot rings - or just a dead simple wiring up of the angriest P-90's I can find.

The specter of a lefty-flipped strat a'la Joe Perry persists, like a splinter in my brain. I have access to a lot of free wood, so this may still become reality.

As for the other palletcasters: the plan I tried in order to keep as much of the patina as possible had mixed results. In addition to this, three of the six bodies are guitar-shaped firewood due to cupping - ranging from barely noticeable to "holy crap, I didn't know that was even possible." Good experience gained tho, so that's still a win.

Some kind of flu-ish non-Covid malady took a nasty run through our home, so no builds mentioned in my previous ramblings are any closer to completion. Parts have been ordered, so I should have at least two new or revitalized partscasters to play with very soon. The V and the Supersonic +10 builds are next up after that.

8 items left in the store. Time to grab some fresh boards and get new bodies whipped up.
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Tiga
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I really dig this.
Partscaster wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 2:42 pm Phoenix Mini-Hx2 strat is done.
Those D-Urbano Phoenix pickups are great. He advertises that they are a single coil sounding mini-humbucker. My test drive generally has reflected similar tones to his video of them, except better, as you'd expect vs yutube. Quack in mid position of 3way switch. Very quiet, no excess noise. This sounds like a quiet strat with powerful growly single coils. Vintage sc voice, loud cleanish Hendrixy.

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here's his demo vid:

[url]
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jtcnj
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fret level Squier CV 50's strat.
wasnt horrible, but enough to warrant it.
smoothed out some rough fret end bevels as well.

Especially since my heavy handed picking is more apparent at 25 1/2" vs vs 24 3/4" scale.
Even with the fret work, my setup for action and relief is higher than spec.
Have been working on skill drills more consistently to improve my technique.
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I will have the bridge on Watson coming apart again this weekend. I did up the trem and installed it and...it wasn't as good as I had hoped.

The block shim on the bridge I installed is plastic. I thought nothing of it until I noticed that the original bridge from my Sterling had a steel one. That bridge sounded great. So, I'll tear it down again and put the steel one on. If it works, it should keep more vibration in the strings.

And it'll mean that I'll be doing the same with the other guitar I have using the same bridge
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mozz
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94' Gibson studio, gold hardware yuk. Strings were black. Price was right. Road runner hard case. My 92' was abused and played hard, this one is played but was taken care of a lot better. One of the last 94's. switched to rosewood by then, my 92 wine red is ebony. I shall see which i prefer. Collapsed bridge just like my 92'. Hardware even says "made in germany", zamac (cast zinc) junk. Wonder how many people are playing 90's gibsons with the bridge radius over 20", almost flat. That has to make some playability a bit harder/higher/buzzing.

My new Tonepros bridge is on the way. Took the gold pickup covers off, 490r/498t, same as my other so i want it to be a bit different sounding. 490 now has a UOA5, 498 has a A2 so basically a magnet swap from stock. I know in stock form hitting the treble switch is like stepping on a pedal, the 498 is fairly hot and even lowered down there is still too much. Yeah i have volume controls to even if out but i find riding the volumes is nowhere like playing a strat and using your pinky to adjust.

Speaking of bridges look at the pictures. Factory saddle notches, are way off. Guy told me it is stock and he was the second owner so far as he knows everything was original when he bought it 10-15 years ago. Moving them over so no slant really doesn't change much on the fretboard so i should be good edgewise. They are way off to the high side.

Speaking of volumes, factory pots in Gibsons are 300k linear volume/ 500k audio taper tone. Been that way for many years. They get ripped out. I don't like linear volume and i don't like 300k, it chokes the pickups sound. 500k Bournes long shaft all around now installed, spin easier than i like but you can't have everything.

SBE orange drop caps .022uF in both positions. These were the lowest dissipation factor and exact value caps i have ever tested, next to a polystyrene cap.The factory caps are .022 tiny disc caps, you can't buy anything cheaper. Measured about 543k/540k for the new volumes and 480k/480 for the tones. Since i had it apart and the meter was running, i measured the original pots. Tones were real close to each other , about 470k, volumes were another story. 20% of 300k is 60k ohms, that's a lot. Gibson being cheap uses 20% tolerance pots. Bridge pot was 280k, neck pot was at 240k, which is lower than a strat single coil recommend pot value of 250k. He had the pickups lower than the rings, so this had to be a very dark sounding guitar. Once the bridge gets here off to the scale to see what she weighs.

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Much better when they are straight!
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Those sloppy saddle notches are disappointing.
Its like sabotage. Notchless from the factory would be better,...but they've got a guy with special skills.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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Lacking Talent
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New knobs and plastics front and back...

BEFORE

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AFTER

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All pics extremely embiggenable!
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Lacking Talent wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 7:10 pm New knobs and plastics front and back...

BEFORE

Image

AFTER

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

All pics extremely embiggenable!
Gorgeous guitar.
I liked the stock plastics, but I think the new ones do edge the old one's out.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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PsychoCid
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What's on my bench:

A box of cheez-its.
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Rollin Hand
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I managed to string together a few minutes yesterday to deal with something that has been bugging me. I just installed brass block and some hardened fasteners on the new bridge for my Watson Wolfgang copy, but felt that the plastic block shim was likely hurting things. So, I grabbed the metal shim off the trem I pulled from my Sterling.
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The end result is a moderate improvement. I am getting a little bit more harmonics and sparkle out of the bridge, and it seems to sustain a little better when doing whammy bar silliness.

Next steps: properly intonating and changing out the pots and tone cap to see if electronic measures help.

I also need to measure carefully and source a new nut. The original was not great, and the supposedly same-sized new one I had is too wide. Measure twice, nut once. :D
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mozz
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Picked these up a few years ago, so i figured it was time to work on them maybe.

Harmony H-400 widowmaker amp. A full 2.3 watts output. Bought this just to pull out the Jensen 8" 4 ohm speaker, i needed a original speaker for my 59' Champ, wrong year but same model. Installed a isolation transformer. Basically every resistor was over 20% out of tolerance and all caps were replaced. Think this is already sold to a guy at work.
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Next up is a Premier 120. These are worse than Gibson or Ampeg when trying to find the correct schematic. Use the same model number but use totally different guts inside. I found 4 different schematics, i think i have the correct one. Anyway, look how nice and neat these were assembled. I wish this quality work was the industry standard. All disc caps and i can bet they are all perfectly good, they don't absorb moisture like wax or paper caps. Looks like a 4 input 5E3 Fender tweed deluxe except grid leak bias and tremolo. Only thing I'll probably change is the main can cap. All resistors are within 10%. Jensen speaker looks like a replacement from 1962 in their concert series. I have heard these were used if the factory speaker blew during warranty so it would never come back.
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