Whats on your work bench?

[Cornfed]

Not so much work bench just a couple, of many, I have finished

[mozz]

Pair of silicon tonebenders ready to be wired. Black parts caster with red pickguard/emg's,/chinese roasted neck.

[Sinster]

In the process of building a 3 channel snake x2 (XLR to RJ45). The wiring should be here today.

Got my cable and some parts from https://www.redco.com/ It probably was cheaper if I went this route https://www.parts-express.com/promo/tal ... %3D.V6FJTs or from https://www.amazon.com/LyxPro-4-Channel ... 07T92D5X4/ but being me. I had to do it myself.

[andrewsrea]

Tweaked my AMI 'Essentials Drive,' which is a low to mid gain OD based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal and the JHS Morning Glory. These have a characteristic that the trebles get all the boost when you turn up the gain. @golem lent me his Analogman King of Tone, which is also based off of the Marshall BB design, and I liked how Analogman used a lower frequency to boost. So I changed a few resistors in my design and like it better than any of the aforementioned originals. Killer cleans, very musical 'edge-of-breakup' and a tight-crunchy max gain, but all retaining the character of the guitar.

Also on my bench is a B-52 Amplification ATX100, which I will cover in a separate post. Quick pic:

[Partscaster]

Regardless of sound, thats one hot looking pedal.

[SamIV]

Tweaked my AMI 'Essentials Drive,' which is a low to mid gain OD based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal and the JHS Morning Glory. These have a characteristic that the trebles get all the boost when you turn up the gain. @golem lent me his Analogman King of Tone, which is also based off of the Marshall BB design, and I liked how Analogman used a lower frequency to boost. So I changed a few resistors in my design and like it better than any of the aforementioned originals. Killer cleans, very musical 'edge-of-breakup' and a tight-crunchy max gain, but all retaining the character of the guitar.

AMI Bare Essentials 2022.jpg

Also on my bench is a B-52 Amplification ATX100, which I will cover in a separate post. Quick pic:
20221113_102704.jpg

So you are telling me it sounds better than my always on Morning Glory? I don’t need any more pedals.

[andrewsrea]

20221113_102704.jpg

So you are telling me it sounds better than my always on Morning Glory? I don’t need any more pedals.
[/quote]

Lol. "Better" is subjective. The Morning Glory is a great pedal. If it works for you - don't mess with it!

For me, the MG and the Marshall Bluesbreaker it is based from, have a gain structure that very much favors the 2Khz frequencies as you turn up the gain, which can be harsh especially with single coils. The mods I did was to flatten the gain structure (somewhat like the King of Tone) so it wasn't so 'pokey,' used a 816K gain pot (may tweak this a bit more) which increased the gain potential and retained the ability for easily dialing in edge of breakup, added the 'KOT high-gain mod via an external switch and substituted two of the four silicon clipping diodes for two MOSFET transistors. That mod kept the tightness of the Morning Glory clipping but added Blackface-type output tube 'tight-growl' on the low-end.

This works very well as an always on or as a flavor pdeal, for me.

[LancerTheGreat]

I still have pretty much all of the same gear related stuff on my proverbial workbench.
But I’m currently babysitting a 5,000,000 BTU boiler in a mechanical room because the skimmer valve on the line doesn’t work so we’re manually skimming it through the season lol. Only an hour and 15 minutes left

[redman]

Not really working on anything but my ex and I parted ways 5 years ago and I finally got my old 70's Dunlop Crybaby and my DOD FX64 Icebox back so I am putting them on my pedalboard. To my ears the Icebox is the best chorus I've ever used.

[andrewsrea]

Not really working on anything but my ex and I parted ways 5 years ago and I finally got my old 70's Dunlop Crybaby and my DOD FX64 Icebox back so I am putting them on my pedalboard. To my ears the Icebox is the best chorus I've ever used.

NgMdh9Z[1].jpg

Nice board! ODR-1 and Holy Grail Nano are on one of my boards as well. Can't go wrong with your picks!

[mozz]

This is what happens when you buy a Etsy body. Well, bought this a year ago or so, i figured it is time to build it after finally getting a decent neck from Aliexpress. This was somewhat etched with a cnc router, probably a cheap one, maybe 1/16th of a inch. My original thought was to stain/paint/something with the top then sand it off leaving the lower section filled.

First mistake, do not buy a body with the pickguard holes already drilled, you should know by now (talking to myself here) all pickguards are different. I wanted to use a clear pickguard and ended up using one but that may change in the near future.

Second, neck pocket was cut to low and you can see i had to move the neck up about 1/8" to center the intonation saddles. I don't care, not really noticeable, if i switch to white or other color pickguard would show less. Screws holes were offset to the left also. That doesn't matter either as i use neck inserts for most of my builds, still that neck will probably not ever fit any other guitar. I said fukit and threw a strat decal on just to play with peoples heads.

Third, it a 4 piece body, no where near as noticeable in the ad until i first stained it, distinct glue lines running the whole length. You just can't get in there and sand between the routing design. Also appears to have grain going the wrong direction in every other piece! I was tempted to just paint it to hide everything, but by that point i just said fukit again and threw amer walnut stain on it and clear, then sanded then did it a few more times. It does have binding though.


Fourth, Bridge pickup with baseplate barely fit. It had to be copied from a cheap tele, probably plastic bobbin ceramic magnet. I didn't have to route it out but it's shoved up against the neck direction. Also it had 3 bridge screw holes drilled, the compensated Wilkinson bridge i was planning to use has 4 screws, so do most other bridges. More making me think the body was copied from a cheap tele copy. No worry, i put 4 screws in, so far so good.

Fifth, of course the control cavity would not fit full sized pots. It also had a Gibson style 4 screw hole drilled for the output jack, so much for the Electro socket cup style. Mostly my fault for all this, not much description/on sale/tele and i just clicked buy it now.

Good points, none. Well there is a good ending. The chinese neck, which took a long time to get here, (after me ordering other necks and they never even shipped them), the frets are very nice, can not feel any sharpness, no warping, probably won't even touch anything except the nut slots are a touch high. Not fat, not skinny. Think i paid more over my usual for a chinese neck, was about $60+ship.

Pickups I wound, after searching and searching for the specs i deemed what a good tele would have. Bridge was 7.1k installed (42awg A2 copper plated baseplate)and neck was 7.6k (43AWG A2 nickle silver cover) installed. They rock, nice and even output and when on the middle position it's like stepping on a pedal. Can't say i had that happen before. Good thing while winding i made 2 sets, so now i have a extra set. Settings are saved on my cnc winder so in theory i should be able to duplicate them again. Great sustain with the neck inserts as usual. If you never had a guitar with neck inserts, i highly advise it.

Pictures. May still change the pickguard.

[SamIV]

20221113_102704.jpg

So you are telling me it sounds better than my always on Morning Glory? I don’t need any more pedals.

Lol. "Better" is subjective. The Morning Glory is a great pedal. If it works for you - don't mess with it!

For me, the MG and the Marshall Bluesbreaker it is based from, have a gain structure that very much favors the 2Khz frequencies as you turn up the gain, which can be harsh especially with single coils. The mods I did was to flatten the gain structure (somewhat like the King of Tone) so it wasn't so 'pokey,' used a 816K gain pot (may tweak this a bit more) which increased the gain potential and retained the ability for easily dialing in edge of breakup, added the 'KOT high-gain mod via an external switch and substituted two of the four silicon clipping diodes for two MOSFET transistors. That mod kept the tightness of the Morning Glory clipping but added Blackface-type output tube 'tight-growl' on the low-end.

This works very well as an always on or as a flavor pdeal, for me.
[/quote]
I don’t need any more pedals, so I did not hear any of this.

[andrewsrea]

This is what happens when you buy a Etsy body. Well, bought this a year ago or so, i figured it is time to build it after finally getting a decent neck from Aliexpress. This was somewhat etched with a cnc router, probably a cheap one, maybe 1/16th of a inch. My original thought was to stain/paint/something with the top then sand it off leaving the lower section filled.

First mistake, do not buy a body with the pickguard holes already drilled, you should know by now (talking to myself here) all pickguards are different. I wanted to use a clear pickguard and ended up using one but that may change in the near future.

Second, neck pocket was cut to low and you can see i had to move the neck up about 1/8" to center the intonation saddles. I don't care, not really noticeable, if i switch to white or other color pickguard would show less. Screws holes were offset to the left also. That doesn't matter either as i use neck inserts for most of my builds, still that neck will probably not ever fit any other guitar. I said fukit and threw a strat decal on just to play with peoples heads.

Third, it a 4 piece body, no where near as noticeable in the ad until i first stained it, distinct glue lines running the whole length. You just can't get in there and sand between the routing design. Also appears to have grain going the wrong direction in every other piece! I was tempted to just paint it to hide everything, but by that point i just said fukit again and threw amer walnut stain on it and clear, then sanded then did it a few more times. It does have binding though.


Fourth, Bridge pickup with baseplate barely fit. It had to be copied from a cheap tele, probably plastic bobbin ceramic magnet. I didn't have to route it out but it's shoved up against the neck direction. Also it had 3 bridge screw holes drilled, the compensated Wilkinson bridge i was planning to use has 4 screws, so do most other bridges. More making me think the body was copied from a cheap tele copy. No worry, i put 4 screws in, so far so good.

Fifth, of course the control cavity would not fit full sized pots. It also had a Gibson style 4 screw hole drilled for the output jack, so much for the Electro socket cup style. Mostly my fault for all this, not much description/on sale/tele and i just clicked buy it now.

Good points, none. Well there is a good ending. The chinese neck, which took a long time to get here, (after me ordering other necks and they never even shipped them), the frets are very nice, can not feel any sharpness, no warping, probably won't even touch anything except the nut slots are a touch high. Not fat, not skinny. Think i paid more over my usual for a chinese neck, was about $60+ship.

Pickups I wound, after searching and searching for the specs i deemed what a good tele would have. Bridge was 7.1k installed (42awg A2 copper plated baseplate)and neck was 7.6k (43AWG A2 nickle silver cover) installed. They rock, nice and even output and when on the middle position it's like stepping on a pedal. Can't say i had that happen before. Good thing while winding i made 2 sets, so now i have a extra set. Settings are saved on my cnc winder so in theory i should be able to duplicate them again. Great sustain with the neck inserts as usual. If you never had a guitar with neck inserts, i highly advise it.

Pictures. May still change the pickguard.
20221209_191228.jpg20221209_191148.jpg20221209_195045.jpg20221209_195104.jpg20221209_195208.jpg

Looks like you navigated the challenges to produce a real looker-player!

You are braver than me with the necks. It is the main thing that holds me back from building my dream Telly, as I am so picky to neck feel. Most today trend on the thin-wide-flat with medium frets. For a Telly, I am a thicker soft-V, 1 5/8" nut spacing, rolled edges and at least medium-jumbo frets type of person. Even the 50's Classic Vibe Tele necks are too much like a 90's Strat for me.

[jtcnj]

Finally got some time with the new Squier CV 50's tele.
Worked the nut slots, full set up.
Will likely fab up a bone nut when time allows - could be months though.

A few high and low frets; not horrible but I'll go for a fret level soon.
The fret ends were not bad, some bevel edges a little sharp, but if I wasn't doing the fret level I wouldn't bother with them.

The vintage style tuners are quite stiff; I tried working a little oil into them, no bueno.
Worst tuners I have come across so far, but may be more quality control issue.
(I have a recent CV strat and the tuners are at least ok / usable; same type).

This is new for me for budget tuners: When you get tension on them, a tone or so below standard tuning, they bind. It seems the posts have a bit of slop to them. They are then hard to turn and really hard to make small movements.
You can see them pull toward the bridge as tension is wound up; very noticeable.

I may make a warranty claim, as I like the rest of the guitar.

[deeaa]

I resized the Dean Inferno in the middle. It was annoyingly large so I cut it shorter and slimmer to match the size of the Retro to the left. Turned out nice. Not perfect finish close up but good enough and I will likely refin the whole guitar some day when I put SS frets in all these .

Sent from my M2103K19G using Tapatalk

[jtcnj]

The new Squier CV 50's Tele.
The stock tuners are certainly defective, not just cheap, and I could file a warranty claim.

But for under $20 I went this route:

I have use the Pro series with good results several times.

I left the stock bushings in place and re-used the screws.

Fresh set 9-42, and we happy.

First bit of damage: I nicked the neck just ahead of the B string slot with a nut file. I use the horn of plenty shape for my nut slots.



This stock nut is actually very good now and all strings return to pitch after bends or test bending above the nut. I will sand the top down when I do the fret level.


The old tuner on the right -the shaft has a LOT of play, the new just a little.

[mozz]

Wilkinson makes some decent tuners, found on stratosphere for a decent price.

[deeaa]

I decided to build a 2x10"cab because I have a few speakers extra, and I wanted to try something different. I made the sides from 18mm solid wood, but the baffle and back is just 4mm plywood. It should vibrate with the speakers pretty easily.

Will try to get to testing tomorrow, I want to try how it works if I add braces or a connection between the back and front and whether damping material works, and also how it sounds closed, semi open and with a thicker back plate.

I got the idea from old Fender amps that have really thin plywood baffles and that is apparently a big factor in their sound.

Once I find a good sounding setup I'll glue and paint it etc. If it's any good, that is. Pictured is how far I got between after work and dinner time

It's nicely measured so that it fits my Origin head horizontally and the V30 head vertically.

BTW I dunno why it looks so crooked in the photo, must be the angle...it's just a rectangular cab not slanted or anything. Odd.

Sent from my M2103K19G using Tapatalk

[artandsoul]

made my own fat cat hadean today Installed new strings, pickguard, aztec fat pole bridge and p90 humbucker size pickup today in hadean tele. I broke my router template and said ill just do it freehand lmao boy its ugly but as long as no one can see the ugly its fine with me lol. didnt even remove the neck to route just dropped router low and went for it.

As always have to dremel/sand out the corners of neck pocket on pickguard so it fits but after doing a few sx teles its easy and only takes a few minutes and this hadean was actually better fit than the sx neck pocket area. Used a alnico 2 bridge p90 for the neck and alnico 5 fat pole in bridge sounds pretty good way better than stock . not bad for an hour and half job start to finish and under 55 bux all in with all parts.

[Rollin Hand]

On my ongoing (and going, and going....) Watson Wolfgang project, fixed the mud issue by resoldering the switch. It was still muddy, so I turned to the volume pot. I went to move it, and the entire mass of wires pulled right off the back of the pot! Even after sanding AND flux. This fit in with some reviews of the specific run of Alphas I have, with people saying no solder made will stick to them. I nabbed a Fender (CTS) pot I had lying around and changed pots. Boom -- most of the mud is gone. Now I am eyeing the tone pot for replacement.

Oddly enough I put one of these Alphas in another guitar, and it works beautifully.

[jtcnj]

Squier CV 50's Tele got fret level.

And brass compensated saddles.
Shimmed the neck end of the pocket because the saddles were really high.

smooth, sweeeeet.

[Partscaster]

I am swapping humbuckers around in my quest to find most optimal pairings of pups and bodies.
My attentions are coming back to my 2 Gibson Tributes from 2018. I had liked them, but favored the SX Callisto's tone with some of my pup sets and had put these "away" for a few years.

Well, there back on the work bench and about to get my priciest pups put in them for a go. I will say, the 2 later Callisto's I bought were heavier than the early ones, and I dont like them or their tone quite as much.

These 2 Tributes both seem to have 1 piece bodies based on end grain and back searching. They have no weight relief ( the case only for the 2018 Tribute year) and have mahogany neck which switched to maple the following years. They weigh 8-lbs 5 oz, and 8-lbs 7 oz. They are 1/8th inch thinner than typical LP Standards Any how, thought I'ld present them again as the work includes them.

------------------------------

a few hours later, and I think I've now got the best sounding Les Paul I've ever heard live. I know, the Honeymoon goggles are fully on.
I put a boutique winder's 57 pickups in a Tribute. I bought them a few years ago and they've been in a newer SX Custom Callisto GT. And they were good in there... but not like this.Anyhow, that winder had dissected an actual 57 pup from 1st half of that year and said he learned something, in that that early 1957 pickup had wider diameter "42 guage" wire., amongst other things he was keeping to himself. This guy is a nut, costs an arm and a leg to get a set.

I've raised them so that they are getting growly once my 19w amp is turned up to about 40% and guitar vol is dimed. The sound is very clear, and each string stands out...but each note is growling with a fine grainy growl around the edge of the notes. There is no nasal aspect. I'ld say its warm and clear. The bridge is not too bright, and the neck is full and warmer without loosing string separation. They both sound "big". I will soon do the second Tribute with a different set I got from the same winder.

[andrewsrea]

My 2002 PRS McCarty Artist (Rosie) should have been my favorite from the time I picked her up new in 2004. She sat in a friend's store for almost two years on the top row and I got a scorching deal at the time, because someone custom ordered it and he deal fell through. However, she always eluded me and did not make it into my top rotation, which makes no sense since she is acoustically very resonant and visually beautiful. I was having a tough time getting the tones I knew she was capable of.

I've picked on small things over the years: replaced broken pot with a CTS 500K, settled on a 270k + 680pF treble bleed and added the DGT coil cut resistors. After watching a Jeff McErlaine video on Les Paul set-ups, I realized my problem was a pickup mismatch. The PRS McCarty bridge is 8.9K Alnico 2 and the Neck is 8.2K Alnico 2, to which I could not set an amp up where the neck pickup sounded sweet without the bridge being honky-piercing, or the bridge sounding great and the neck sounding dull.

Being a pickup guy, I rewound the neck pickup to my AMI Divinity specs, but with an A2 magnet instead of a calibrated A5. Absolute perfection!

This guitar just entered heavy rotation and will be challenging my LP for the #1 spot. I may change the switch tip to a cream to match the aged pickup rings, or aged-yellow to match the flame.

[glasshand]

I finally got to work on something I was excited about, and it turned into a flop. I got this OD Firebird a while back, and I'd always wanted to put proper Firebird tuners on it, since I feel that a Firebird should have them. (It's kind of silly vanity on my part, because the current tuners work just fine, I admit, but whatever.)

Here's what a standard FB headstock looks like from the back, for reference:


So I started lining up the tuners in the same orientation, and...uh-oh. Because the new Epi FB headstock is not the same size/shape as the original, it doesn't work.

OK, but if I flip them 180 degrees, it's still a little crowded, but they sit better (and only the most obsessive FB fanboy would ever notice that the "step" is on the wrong side, I think):

But then at the other end of the headstock...

That tuner nearest the nut is actually sitting so close to the edge of the headstock it's starting to overhang the curve of the edge no matter how I turn it. I think I let my excitement get the better of me on this one.

[voodoorat]

quick question: has anybody ever had a knob that moved too freely causing a problem? on my hss strat the volume knob moves very easily.. and it's an american elite so it has the rubber ring around it so it's extra grippy... and i find that when im playing i must like lightly tap it, becuase i neve rhave this problem with nay other strat but on that one when i'm playing sometimes, oops, my volume drops to nothing and when i check the knob's been adjusted to 0. i can try to avoid it by modifying my playing but it's distracting. if it was just slightly more stiff i don't think it would be a problem, iike i said never had this happen on my other strats where that knob is in the same spot. how can i make it a little stiffer, do i have to replace the pot?