Whats on your work bench?

[mozz]

Have a few lifetime's worth of
Vintage sleeving, yellow I think, PM your address and I'll send some footage.
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Another 50s wiring fan, me too. I've got to start slipping heat shrink over the cap leads. I'm getting tired of going back in and bending them out of the way after they short out against something...
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[tobijohn]

Have a few lifetime's worth of
Vintage sleeving, yellow I think, PM your address and I'll send some footage.

Another 50s wiring fan, me too. I've got to start slipping heat shrink over the cap leads. I'm getting tired of going back in and bending them out of the way after they short out against something...
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Thanks Mozz, much appreciated

[Rollin Hand]

Wiring hack job alert!

Don't have time to check it now, but the pickups are in and wired. We'll see if they have to be re-wired.

Yes,the neck pickup is backwards. Gotta keep the look right.

[Rollin Hand]

Ehh...what was that I was saying about hack wiring jobs?

I got amazing power and output (and tone!) from the neck, but the bridge sounds like a weak single coil. Both coils make noise when tapped with a screwdriver.

So, I pulled the cover back off and checked the wiring. The bridge pickup hot wire was hanging by a literal thread.

So, I tried to suck out the solder and redo it. I was having a hard time getting that solder to suck. Then this happened....

Maybe it is the solderer who sucks. Luckily I have another switch, though I may order a better one.

Then there is also the possibility that one of my splices is making contact with another one. If so, that'll be a pain to fix.

[tobijohn]

...Maybe it is the solderer who sucks. Luckily I have another switch, though I may order a better one.

If you don't and you don't mind box style switches, let me know and I'll drop one in the mail. I have literrally dozens of them pulled from new guitars...

[Rollin Hand]

Thanks man. But I luckily have one, and more luckily, I was able to find it in the Great Pile of Guitar Crap. I'll try again tonight or tomorrow.

[glasshand]

Maybe it is the solderer who sucks. Luckily I have another switch, though I may order a better one.

After a couple incidents like that, I have come to really hate box-style switches. They are just way more prone to heat damage, IMO.

[ILuvTeles]

the Great Pile of Guitar Crap.

I have a small mountain range made of that.

[tobijohn]

the Great Pile of Guitar Crap.

I have a small mountain range made of that.

Mine is large enough to feel small tectonic shifts...

[Rollin Hand]

Maybe it is the solderer who sucks. Luckily I have another switch, though I may order a better one.

After a couple incidents like that, I have come to really hate box-style switches. They are just way more prone to heat damage, IMO.

Well, in this case it was my fault. I had the iron on it for quite a while.

I wired the lead to the volume knob back on, and decided to redo the splices. I want everything as clean as possible in order to a) have good connections and b) be able to cram the wire through to the switch.

Hard to get 3 ground wires and 2 leads all through one little hole and get them connected and soldered though. Still, every time I do this stuff I learn.

[Rollin Hand]

GRUMBLEFARTS!!!

Got the splices right. Both pickups work well now.

BUT!

In wiring things to the switch, the cavity is simy too tight. Connections got broken, and exposed wires keep getting shorter. So, I need to peel back the wire cover further to get more wire loose and to aid in flexibility.

I have also ordered a Musiclily Switchcraft-style switch to free up some space and hopefully make the soldering easier.

What a pain in the ass this job has become.

[tobijohn]

What a pain in the ass this job has become.

I can't remember the last time anything related to guitars or gear went according to plan. Inanimate objects have always conspired against me but those related to guitar modification or repair are particularily vexing, if not outright insolent...

[Rollin Hand]

What a pain in the ass this job has become.

I can't remember the last time anything related to guitars or gear went according to plan. Inanimate objects have always conspired against me but those related to guitar modification or repair are particularily vexing, if not outright insolent...

I hear you. It's like they....know.

It's going to get worse too: I am planning on doing the pots next. I don't have the best history with soldering to the backs of pots.

Thinking about hiring out the pickup swap on my Jack Butler.

[Rollin Hand]

It looks like hell, but it seems to be working.

I learned a lot from this one. A LOT. One exame being that I need to clear off my workbench to have more space to comfortably bugger things up.

Now I just need to find all of the little screws that fell off the damn workbench to put the cover on.

And speaking of missing screws, I need to find the pickup screws so I can fasten the damn things down.

Maybe I shouldn't touch any guitars, wiring wise, for a little while.

EDIT: The pickups both work. They are not screaming hot -- pinch harmonics are not as automatic -- and the bridge is a little mid-heavy for my liking, but they are still light years better than the stockers. I would like them to be slightly hotter, but I am NOT taking that mess apart any time soon.

Next on this guitar will be the pots. Then it is done, and NEXT!

[tobijohn]

I learned a lot from this one. A LOT. One exame being that I need to clear off my workbench to have more space to comfortably bugger things up.

Now I just need to find all of the little screws that fell off the damn workbench to put the cover on.

And speaking of missing screws, I need to find the pickup screws so I can fasten the damn things down.

Maybe I shouldn't touch any guitars, wiring wise, for a little while.

You'll get better at it over time but not as much as you'd think. One thing that will help a lot is putting all the little pieces you've removed or are going to install in a small cup or container. Left on their own, they are for sure going to skitter away the moment you take your eyes off of them. They can still get away by jumping out of whatever you put them in, but it makes it a lot harder for them. Something else I recommend is a pair of those magnifying glasses with different lenses. I found a set on eBay that had a little rechargable headlight for around $15 which was well worth the price. It helps tremendously:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274304867091?h ... BM5pvi-NRg

[jtcnj]

I have several old magnets or pieces of them - pulled from pickups, old speakers, etc. - on my bench. I stick the screws to them.
I also have several of the small and medium sized round magnetic parts trays from Harbor freight, but they always seem to have other crap in them...

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-ma ... 90566.html

[Rollin Hand]

I learned a lot from this one. A LOT. One exame being that I need to clear off my workbench to have more space to comfortably bugger things up.

Now I just need to find all of the little screws that fell off the damn workbench to put the cover on.

And speaking of missing screws, I need to find the pickup screws so I can fasten the damn things down.

Maybe I shouldn't touch any guitars, wiring wise, for a little while.

You'll get better at it over time but not as much as you'd think. One thing that will help a lot is putting all the little pieces you've removed or are going to install in a small cup or container. Left on their own, they are for sure going to skitter away the moment you take your eyes off of them. They can still get away by jumping out of whatever you put them in, but it makes it a lot harder for them. Another I recommend is a pair of those magnifying glasses with different lenses. I found a set on eBay that had a little rechargable headlight for around $15 which was well worth the price. It helps tremendously:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274304867091?h ... BM5pvi-NRg

I generally don't need magnification, unless I am wearing my contact lenses. Without the lenses, I am quite nearsighted, which helps.

I have a magnetic sweeper, which can be (and was) a lifesaver in these cases.

@jtcnj, I have a couple of those trays, both full of screws, springs, and all sorts of crap. Sometimes the screws get caught on the base, which is fun.

The bigger issue for the space is that I have too much crap on it. I tend to put stuff down and leave it there instead of putting it away. That means cables get crossed up, stuff gets crammed all over, etc. I will move my resin cabinet over to add a surface for putting my parts cabinets et al.

And I will put parts in the parts cabinets! That seems smarter and smarter the more I think about it.

[tobijohn]

...The bigger issue for the space is that I have too much crap on it. I tend to put stuff down and leave it there instead of putting it away. That means cables get crossed up, stuff gets crammed all over, etc. I will move my resin cabinet over to add a surface for putting my parts cabinets et al.

Just remember, as soon as you put it away or throw it out, you'll need it...

[jtcnj]

I suffer from bench clutter at times as well and it ebbs and flows.
Right now I have a number of things in some degree of progress and ya, it gets messy.
"Where's that confounded bridge?"

[glasshand]

One thing that will help a lot is putting all the little pieces you've removed or are going to install in a small cup or container. Left on their own, they are for sure going to skitter away the moment you take your eyes off of them.

See, I'm very organized. I put all of the parts for each project in their own separate container, one per project.

Then I lose the containers.

[tobijohn]

....See, I'm very organized. I put all of the parts for each project in their own separate container, one per project.

Then I lose the containers.

Or forgot you already bought the parts neeeded for a project and reordered then again and again after that which is why I have a dozen cream control knob sets and a dozen wraparound bridge locking stud sets and two dozen magnet sets and three dozen B500 pots and fifty feet of four conductor pickup wire and....

[tobijohn]

And of course, last night while installing a set of pickups in a master volume/master tone ALD-3010SE which should be a simple enough task, as it seems to with every project no matter how minor, a quote from Mark Twain again came to mind:

"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

[peskypesky]

My projects

1: I need to build up the courage to break out the soldering iron and put my Squier Affinity Telecaster back together.
2. I got a can of spray paint for one of my cheap Squier Strats.

-


I really want something like this:

and I found this color, which is pretty close:

But is out of stock everywhere and has been for months. Maybe no longer being made.

[tobijohn]

FYI: during my current flurry of pickup upgrades, I stumbled on an easy way to naturally relic your strings: Just don't play the guitar for about five years...

[glasshand]

My projects

1: I need to build up the courage to break out the soldering iron and put my Squier Affinity Telecaster back together.
2. I got a can of spray paint for one of my cheap Squier Strats.
tennessee-montana-professional-artist-spray-paint-078505-64_1000.jpg

Have you worked with the Montana cans before? I'd be curious to hear your experience. I did a project with Montana GOLD cans a while back, and while they're very high-quality, one thing I discovered was that the pressure was very low, meaning that the spray is affected even more than usual by wind, so you need a really still place to use them.