Whats on your work bench?

[Rollin Hand]

And here's a shot of @tobijohn's parts bin.

40-yard-dumpster.png (55.5 KiB) Viewed 1836 times

[tobijohn]

And here's a shot of @tobijohn's parts bin.

40-yard-dumpster.png

Well, I don't have a single one, but the combined cubic capacity is probably close to that...

[Brendan]

...I wanted a different pickguard to go with this new combo, I have quite a few, but the only one that called to me was a single ply Esquire guard. No plans for an Esquire in the future, so I broke out the drill, files and a lot of sandpaper. I'm not going to admit how much time that neck pickup hole took me, but I"m happy with the results....

You should have talked to me first and saved yourself the time and hassle. I have what you wanted siitting in my pickguard bin and no need for it. Oh well, next time...

I didn't think to ask, but will remember next time. Thank you.
I think I was also being a bit impatient as I wanted to wrap up that guitar so I could move on to the thinline. Time to solder.

[jtcnj]

Broken Dean bridge. Used a trem arm spring to repair, can cut it down if need be.

[jtcnj]

New Dean V79 got nut slot heights dialed in (I still need to file down the top), and fret level. The nut was atrocious.
The fret work wasn't bad, now it is even better.

[Partscaster]

Just touched up the finish on my no-finish strat.


IMG_0389.jpgIMG_0390.jpgIMG_0388.jpg

swapped out pickguard for one I had in parts cabinet.
Its like Howdy Doodey time. Does anyone remember Rex Trailer/ Boomtown USA kids show.?
This guitar is a favorite. No body poly, no oil, just the charred and dirty wood. Its gonna get closer and closer to a greasy barn board.
Klein S7 hot formvar pickups. "The neck and middle pickup is constructed with the larger diameter Vintage Staggered Alnico 3 magnets wrapped with 42ga Heavy Formvar magnet wire and scatter wound. The bridge is stronger and utilizes Alnico 5 vintage staggered magnets."

[mozz]

Fender Pro junior, picked up for $200, very early tweed model with the blue alnico speaker. Someone had done some hack mods. There is a send and return spliced into it? Vol pot mod with a 390k resistor? Probably all BillM mods. Pots are bad. Input jack nut is crazy glued on. Some wires have masking tape over the solder connections. Perfect candidate for a EL34 /Hoffman board. Ripped out the pcb and stupid ribbon cables. Now it has a proper circuit board, twisted filament wires, full sized pots, switchcraft jacks, larger output transformer with 4/8/16 outputs.

[Mr. Leyvatone]

I installed another Buddha pickup set, this time into my trusty Squier Deluxe Strat. I love this guitar and have since I bought it.

Previously I had a tech install a Seymour Duncan Lil 59, and had him change everything under the hood while he was at it (CTS pots, a new switch, etc.).

Since all the guts were top notch and set up for HSS I just swapped that over to a new pickguard, swapping in the Buddhas as I went.

Kudos to Tim! Another success, taking a guitar that already had good tone and making it really sing.

[Tiga]

Completed some work on my Squier CV Jag. There was a very shallow break angle over the bridge which resulted in a ton of string ringing behind the bridge. Also the tremolo was extremely noisy - it would clank when using the arm and would ring/buzz when picking. This drove me crazy.

I put in some Stew Mac shims (.75) to pitch up the neck and raise the bridge, increasing the break angle. I then replaced the stock trem with a Fender AVRI unit. This unit is sooo much nicer than the original POS.

I then put some thread lock on the height adjustment screws of the bridge and wrapped the posts with a little electrical tape.

I then restrung it with 10.5 gauge strings and it's made a big difference in the feel and playability of the guitar. Well worth the effort. I'm still getting just a little ringing from the strings behind the bridge but no where near what it was before. I know many say this is just what Jags/Jazzmaster do and it's part of their charm, however I would prefer to do without it. I may try shimming the neck more or move up to 11's. The other popular option is just to do a string wrap behind the bridge to dampen the strings. I may just try that because the guitar plays so well right now I kind of want to leave it as is. Such a cool little guitar - thinking a mint green pickguard might have to be in it's future. Here's the finished product:

[tobijohn]

@Tiga , I bookmarked this years ago in anticipation of eventually picking up a Jaguar. I'm not sure if there''s anything in this article that you don't already know but here it is:

https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/guita ... ster-setup

[Tiga]

Thank you! I haven't seen that article before. This is my first jaguar so I'm learning as I go. Neat (albeit quirky) guitars - starting to want a higher end model now.

[BatUtilityBelt]

I'm still getting just a little ringing from the strings behind the bridge but no where near what it was before. I know many say this is just what Jags/Jazzmaster do and it's part of their charm, however I would prefer to do without it. I may try shimming the neck more or move up to 11's. The other popular option is just to do a string wrap behind the bridge to dampen the strings. I may just try that because the guitar plays so well right now I kind of want to leave it as is.

Looks great! I wish they made those in lefty. I agree on the mint green pg. I kinda like the jangle from the strings behind the bridge, but we all have our own likes, so I get it. I think you can find a nice way to dampen them without impacting anything else. Oddly, in one ear, I often hear string vibration from above the nut (acoustically, not through the pickups). I dampen the most "ringy" strings with what I call the guitar's "spirit animal" - a rubbery toy. I got that idea from tennis racket vibrasorbs, and it doesn't seem to affect tuning at all.

[Tiga]

Looks great! I wish they made those in lefty. I agree on the mint green pg. I kinda like the jangle from the strings behind the bridge, but we all have our own likes, so I get it. I think you can find a nice way to dampen them without impacting anything else. Oddly, in one ear, I often hear string vibration from above the nut (acoustically, not through the pickups). I dampen the most "ringy" strings with what I call the guitar's "spirit animal" - a rubbery toy. I got that idea from tennis racket vibrasorbs, and it doesn't seem to affect tuning at all.
Spirit.jpg

Thank you! I like the rubber lizard idea - I think my son has a couple of those around. The ringing doesn't come through an amp thank goodness - it's not terrible (although it was before the mods) and I'm wondering if it's just something I need to get used to. Aside from that the guitar plays really well and I love the shell pink with the block inlays and tinted neck. I love the new vibrato - it's so smooth. The bar sits a little higher than I like so I'm going to have to see about bending it a bit. I'm not familiar with jaguar pickups but from my ear I think the neck pickup sounds wonderful, but the bridge seems a little thin. I should probably adjust it a bit before thinking of replacing. Fun working on this one.

[Rollin Hand]

Here's a blast from the past. I decided to get my Douglas Spad working properly for the first time ever, darnit! A key to this was actually getting a decent 3-way switch.

I am not good at precision soldering, and it made no sense to me to have to jump lugs on the switch. Why don't they come like that from the factory? Now they do.

Here is the old switch:

And here is the new Kaish switch:

This is a seriously nice switch. Everything about it feels premium. It weighs way more than the original, the switch feels firm and moves well...well worth the extra money.

So I get everything set up....

....and remember that my ham-fisted soldering has damaged the original tone pot. How bad you ask?

Yeah, that bad.

I have now soldered in new Alpha 25K pots (using an AliExpress set of actives). Next, I need to widen the holes for the replacement pots and pick up the new knobs that I ordered. I will be stoked if this works.

I also ordered a new set of locking tuners off AliExpress, because the ones I have on there *suck*.

[Rollin Hand]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The new pots are too short to go through the body. I have to buy MORE pots.


Adding to my joy I just bought knobs for the too-short pots.


Grumblefarts! Please see my sig, below, for my current mood.

[tobijohn]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The new pots are too short to go through the body. I have to buy MORE pots.

Grumblefarts! Please see my sig, below, for my current mood.

So, you've embraced my own "measure once, order twice" philosophy? I just received my third set of gold screws for the humbucker surrounds on an AD-3200MCC that I'm switching over to gold hardware...

[Rollin Hand]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The new pots are too short to go through the body. I have to buy MORE pots.

Grumblefarts! Please see my sig, below, for my current mood.

So, you've embraced my own "measure once, order twice" philosophy? I just received my third set of gold screws for the humbucker surrounds on an AD-3200MCC that I'm switching over to gold hardware...

No, I have embraced my own "read the damned description, idiot!" philosophy.

These were better, full sized pots, solid shaft...really nice. But a short shaft. Why is it a short shaft always gets me in trouble?

At this rate, I'll have spent more on the pots than I did on the pickups.

New crappy mini pots are on order.

[Rollin Hand]

Decided to do something different and try that old Gotoh pickup in my VH1 style Partscaster. I put in a fender pot and wired it without the guard.

Now I have a problem. The GFS Fat Pat I had in that guitar sounded great. This one, the look is amazing, the sound is almost single coil like, but with a certain brittle snarl. Almost like a weak Super Distortion. Almost....brown.

Of course, I don't know if I even have the right wires to the right places. There aren't a ton of pickup wiring diagrams for 80s Gotoh pickups.

I still have the black pickguard from my Peavey Predator. It would cost me nothing to cut it like a certain red, white and black guitar.

And I could just leave it looking rough like this....hm, tempting.

[tobijohn]

...Of course, I don't know if I even have the right wires to the right places. There aren't a ton of pickup wiring diagrams for 80s Gotoh pickups.

I've got an older set of Gotoh humbuckers in an Agile. They were NOS and came with a wirng schematic and I doubt that Gotoh changed their wiring color code. I rarely throw anything out so it's got to be around here somewhere. Worst case, I'll just open up the Agile and take a look. It's coil split and works properly so each of the four conductors goes to where it's supposed to...

[Rollin Hand]

...Of course, I don't know if I even have the right wires to the right places. There aren't a ton of pickup wiring diagrams for 80s Gotoh pickups.

I've got an older set of Gotoh humbuckers in an Agile. They were NOS and came with a wirng schematic and I doubt that Gotoh changed their wiring color code. I rarely throw anything out so it's got to be around here somewhere. Worst case, I'll just open up the Agile and take a look. It's coil split and works properly so each of the four conductors goes to where it's supposed to...

Thanks. I found a chart that says I may have wired it wrong (black is hot, red and white soldered together). I'll have another look on my lunch break.

[Rollin Hand]

So, rewired it and it works!

The only problem is that it lost a little of the single-coil vibe it had. But it gained in not buzzing, which is good.

And it still sounds like a mild Super Distortion.

So, now the question: keep this one in the guitar or go back to the Fat Pat? Right now I am leaning towards screwing it in there and mocking up a Frankie pickguard. It just gives the guitar a vibe that's hard to abandon.

But then I need a home for my Fat Pat. Maybe I should put it in place of the JB in my Predator, aka "The World's Brightest Guitar" (seriously, this thing is even overly bright acoustically).

Hmmm.

[tobijohn]

So, rewired it and it works!

The only problem is that it lost a little of the single-coil vibe it had. But it gained in not buzzing, which is good.

And it still sounds like a mild Super Distortion.

You probably had it originally wired so that only one coil was active, hence the hum and now that it's wired correctly, both coils are working and no hum...

[Rollin Hand]

Seems so. The diagram I found said it was basically Duncan wiring (black=hot, white and red together, green and uncovered together).

Of course, then I went and played the Predator with the Duncan right after it -- way fuller, better mids, and just better. So I might be going back to the Fat Pat, which is fuller than the Gotoh.

Or maybe I should try the old double cream Schaller pickup I have for a laugh.

[Rollin Hand]

Got after it again, this time putting CTS mini pots in my Douglas Scope. I used the minis because the volume pot is oddly tight in the route. No pics this time, but it did seem to give the guitar a bit more brightness.

Other odd note: the CTS pots seemed to be easier for soldering.

I also discovered that a step drill bit in a multibit screwdriver works well to enlarge the pot holes.

I guess next up is redoing the pots in Watson.

[dabbler]

Decided to do something different and try that old Gotoh pickup in my VH1 style Partscaster. I put in a fender pot and wired it without the guard.

20221025_202826.jpg

Now I have a problem. The GFS Fat Pat I had in that guitar sounded great. This one, the look is amazing, the sound is almost single coil like, but with a certain brittle snarl. Almost like a weak Super Distortion. Almost....brown.

Of course, I don't know if I even have the right wires to the right places. There aren't a ton of pickup wiring diagrams for 80s Gotoh pickups.

I still have the black pickguard from my Peavey Predator. It would cost me nothing to cut it like a certain red, white and black guitar.

And I could just leave it looking rough like this....hm, tempting.

I didn't read all of this thread, but in the future, the following info might be helpful for wiring in pups:

Pickups - What wire does what?

If you've ever bought or been given a pickup and wanted to know how it should be connected, this tip should help. I will explain the process for a single coil but the SAME principle applies to HBs. If it is a 2 wire you will do it for the pickup as a whole, for a 4 wire HB you should do each coil separately.

Tools needed: multimeter (MM) that can read DC, screwdriver (metal).

1. First, connect the MM across the leads in resistance mode to make sure that you have a complete coil (this might be especially important for 4 wire HBs).

2. Connect the MM across the coil leads in DC mode (if you have to set the sensitivity, some MMs do this automatically go for the most sensitive setting).

3. Tap the coil with the screwdriver. Actually, it is not really necessary to touch it, but you must bring the metal of the screwdriver within the coil's field. When you do this, the meter will jump either positively or negatively. When you remove the screwdriver from the field, the meter should jump in the opposite direction.

4. Record the color leads connected to the + side of the voltmeter and the - side. Call the lead connected to the + side of the meter when the voltmeter jumps + the positive side of the coil. Actually, I may have + and - reversed here, but it really doesn't matter ALL THAT MATTERS is that all the pickups you install get installed the SAME WAY. On 2 wire pups, however, if one of the leads is a shield, call that the - lead (shields should always go to ground).

5. Repeat for every other coil/pickup. If the next coil/pickup makes the needle jump negative when you touch it with the screwdriver, then whatever lead you have connected to the - side of the voltmeter is the + lead for that coil/pickup.

When you are done you will know the + and - side of each coil/pickup. In order to make sure what you are installing is in phase with what is already in your guitar, check it too.

I didn't invent this, I got it from a book. But it has made me NEVER have to guess how to wire a pickup!