Whats on your work bench?

[deeaa]

IMO that's an EASY mistake to make because the bridge volume is the center one, not the one closest to the pups - which is logical in a way but in almost every other guitar the bridge vol is first.

I've a couple Dean V's and this V79 is great. I think I'll give it new SS frets as the original frets are super low and I've set the action so low it's getting very hard to do bends on. For whatever reason it's also the biggest of my Dean V's being like around 1/2 to 1/3" wider and longer than any of my other Vs which is also why I don't play it as often as I should. Been even contemplating selling it and get maybe an Epiphone V, either a Hinds, or Waters model or Prophecy V some day. Don't have a single Epiphone right now...but it's a VERY good guitar so I'm not eager to part with it.

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[glasshand]

A very minor but interesting bit of work: there was some pretty bad fret buzz on the higher frets of my Frankenpeavey, particularly on the inner strings, so I raised the action slightly at the bridge and made the radius of the strings match the fretboard better. That fixed the fret buzz, but surprisingly, it also improved the tone a bit. That surprised me a little, but I think the fret buzz might have been draining some of the energy from the vibrating strings and adding strange harmonics or something.

[Rollin Hand]

A very minor but interesting bit of work: there was some pretty bad fret buzz on the higher frets of my Frankenpeavey, particularly on the inner strings, so I raised the action slightly at the bridge and made the radius of the strings match the fretboard better. That fixed the fret buzz, but surprisingly, it also improved the tone a bit. That surprised me a little, but I think the fret buzz might have been draining some of the energy from the vibrating strings and adding strange harmonics or something.

That doesn't surprise me. Getting the strings far enough off the board to improve tone, but not too far is an art. I actually like strings a bit further off the board than some, and it pays off.

[deeaa]

A very minor but interesting bit of work: there was some pretty bad fret buzz on the higher frets of my Frankenpeavey, particularly on the inner strings, so I raised the action slightly at the bridge and made the radius of the strings match the fretboard better. That fixed the fret buzz, but surprisingly, it also improved the tone a bit. That surprised me a little, but I think the fret buzz might have been draining some of the energy from the vibrating strings and adding strange harmonics or something.

That doesn't surprise me. Getting the strings far enough off the board to improve tone, but not too far is an art. I actually like strings a bit further off the board than some, and it pays off.

Makes bending easier and clean stuff cleaner when action isn't too low. Our lead player likes his action so low I find it difficult to play already, and it's impossible to play clean picking passages with his guitar and avoid string noises.

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[jtcnj]

Yep, once I was doing fret levels, I was setting the action as low as I could, because lower is better, right?
I have long since raised it a bit for the way I grab the strings with my fingertips for bends, and to avoid fret out on rounder radius necks.
Sometimes the fret out is just a loss of sustain, as described above.

[Partscaster]

just swapped into my ES-333 a set of Onamac Windery's "Top Shelf Custom Alnico" humbuckers ( the guy had magnets made with intentionally more impurities in them) I've owned them for years, and now wanted to try in the 333. They were in a Doug and Pat Show humbucker shootout.

The 57 Classics that came in the guitar were very nice sounding. Nice voice, smooth, a little hair, well balanced. But it became time to swap around. Just like wives.
The Onamac's are low wind 7.2/7.4, unpotted, with his proprietary dirty alnico mags. They sound great. Big sound, growly. I like them. Dont think the classics will be going back in.
I lowered the pole pieces quit a bit in neck to bring out chime, and have them moderately close to strings. Big string separation, but growls. Responsive, punchy. Bridge pickup needed less pole piece adjustment, to get to balanced and brighter version of same. Cant wait to fire them up at next group practice.




from Onamac Windery:

"Top Shelf Custom

Looking for PAF's that ring like a bell?

These do and they have crystal clear vintage tone.

Low output vintage PAF tone at it's purest.

These are non-potted low output 7.2k 7.4k

Crafted using butyrate bobbins, maple spacers, our special custom spec cast alnico magnets, custom covers and baseplates. In order to use specific alloys the slugs, keeper bar, and pole screws were all custom manufactured. Specially selected plain enamel wire sorted from many spools to find wire of a specific diameter and ohms per foot.

Over the past 8-9 years we've been experimenting with alnico. Adjusting raw materials and even adding materials not typically used in the production of alnico in an effort to simulate impure raw materials like used in the 1950's. After years of testing and thousands of magnets we've settled on what we call for lack of a better description "custom alnico" since it doesn't correspond to any standard grade. It's a fairly weak magnet somewhat similar to alnico 3.

The result is a PAF pickup with an almost single coil sound and lacks the compression found in other grades of alnico. Due to it's low strength sustain and "bloom" is pronounced. Very much a vintage sounding pickup when combined with low wind count coils. Listen to the "Top Shelf Custom" pickups on the Doug & Pat show #6 humbucker shootout and decide for yourself. "

[deeaa]

Finished with my first SS refret. Turned out great but there are too many marks left on th board from taking the frets out. I will have to pay more attention and care the next time, and tape the board around the fret maybe. But all in all it plays and and feels stellar now. Really like those zero fret SS addons as well (Sintoms)...moved the nut a hair forward by glueing a thin strip of veneer between the nut and the zero fret and it works superbly well.

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[Partscaster]

Finished with my first SS refret. Turned out great but there are too many marks left on th board from taking the frets out. I will have to pay more attention and care the next time, and tape the board around the fret maybe. But all in all it plays and and feels stellar now. Really like those zero fret SS addons as well (Sintoms)...moved the nut a hair forward by glueing a thin strip of veneer between the nut and the zero fret and it works superbly well.

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wow. still, pretty nice job to get done. I havent ever refretted...someday.
zero fret seem good.

[jtcnj]

Been through a few budget level Teles, haven't found the "right" one.
Squiers have been 9+lbs, with very slim neck profiles; just doesn't work for me.

@NickintheStates - NIck posted his Tele build recently, with a body from ebay seller nomoonlaser. I was shopping from several sources, got out bid on a few at nomoonlaser, and finally scored this one for under $100 with shipping and tax. 4lbs = in the "zone".

WD music neck. Mostly Fender hardware, Alpha 250K pots, Bootstrap Extra Crispy pickup set scavenged of my Indio Tele.

The body routes came cut and string through holes drilled; checking pocket / neck alignment and scale length to verify / locate bridge.
For the intonation range, the saddles will be pretty far back but it should work.

20230819_140536.jpg

20230819_142725.jpg

20230819_145830.jpg

[andrewsrea]

Replacing the 12" Celestion Alnico Creme 90w, with this little jem: a Sunn 128G Alnico (early 70's Eminence). This repaired speaker was given to me in trade for some work, by a person named Chad who was here on AGF for a while.

I've been struggling with my AMI Lil Giant as far as never being happy with the internal speaker on its own and with my 4x10 (Weber Alnicos). The EV12L was too heavy and lower mid focused, the Celestion Classic Lead 80 was too spiky in the 4K range, the Fender Twin speaker was too clean and forward and the Celection Alnico Creme was not tight enough and lacking bottom.

This Sunn speaker is really nice! Tight when it needs to be and breaks up just right with the extension cab.

20230821_194236.jpg

[Rollin Hand]

I started grain filling the V kit that my kids "bought" for me for my 50th in December 2021. Yeah, I am slow to move on things. I will start sanding this afternoon if work is slow, with the goal of laying primer down tomorrow if the weather is OK.

The goal is to get it painted to a point, and then have the kids draw on it, which I would clear over.

EDIT: and priming has started....

20230822_133939.jpg

[andrewsrea]

I started grain filling the V kit that my kids "bought" for me for my 50th in December 2021. Yeah, I am slow to move on things. I will start sanding this afternoon if work is slow, with the goal of laying primer down tomorrow if the weather is OK.

The goal is to get it painted to a point, and then have the kids draw on it, which I would clear over.

EDIT: and priming has started....

20230822_133939.jpg

Hopefully you are experiencing mild temps and humidity. I have two nitro paint projects going (old-school candy apple red Kalamazoo bass and a caramel Tele Deluxe Thinline) and the humidity has me stopped in my tracks.

[Rollin Hand]

I started grain filling the V kit that my kids "bought" for me for my 50th in December 2021. Yeah, I am slow to move on things. I will start sanding this afternoon if work is slow, with the goal of laying primer down tomorrow if the weather is OK.

The goal is to get it painted to a point, and then have the kids draw on it, which I would clear over.

EDIT: and priming has started....

20230822_133939.jpg

Hopefully you are experiencing mild temps and humidity. I have two nitro paint projects going (old-school candy apple red Kalamazoo bass and a caramel Tele Deluxe Thinline) and the humidity has me stopped in my tracks.

We have been under the recommended max humidity, so I sanded and added more primer today.

Rain is likely the next two days though. Looks like the first silver base coat will have to wait. By the time I am done, this thing will have a lot of paint on it.

[Rollin Hand]

Thought i would jump on another guitar for a change.

I pulled apart the Edge 3 bridge for my traditional "let's put good fasteners on this bridge" process.

20230823_144556.jpg

I pulled out all the screws to replace them with hardened fasteners. Ever last screw/bolt on tgis thing was finger-tight at best. It's amazing it stayed in tune at all.

I attached weird 2-piece bridge baseplate to the block with better fasteners.

20230823_150117.jpg

Then I moved to put the new intonation screws in, and wouldn't ya know it, the ones I bought were too long. Back to the drawing board/fastener store.

I also discovered that the set screws that are supposed to set the arm tension are gone. It doesn't really matter, but still...

And I added my trem-lube to the knife edges: melt chapstick and put teflon in it.

I also replaced the screws for the locking nut pads. This was a shock: the original screws felt half the weight of their hardened replacements. Seriously.

I put the strings back on, strung it up, and the whole thing feels more sensitive to the bar. The strings are old and poopy, so a new set should liven things up nicely.

[andrewsrea]

I lied. I fixed the real problem in my AMI Lil Giant amp and swapped the Sunn G128 12" speaker, returning to the 12" Celestion Alnico Creme.

Sounds big and musical!

That said, the Sunn 128G is a great speaker and I am looking for a future use of it (currently a keeper, into storage).

Details in an 'amp' thread I just posted.

[Rollin Hand]

It became time to throw som paint on the V. I was going to pick up a pop-up spray booth, but tgen remembered someone posting about one of these working well for the purpose:

https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/vuku-wardr ... gI6DvD_BwE

It works!

20230827_141047.jpg

20230827_141038.jpg

I have three coats Duplicolor silver acrylic lacquer on the body and headstock. After a few days of curing, I'll add this:

[tobijohn]

It became time to throw som paint on the V. I was going to pick up a pop-up spray booth, but tgen remembered someone posting about one of these working well for the purpose:

https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/vuku-wardr ... gI6DvD_BwE

It works!

That was me, hoping someone else would be the crash test dummy...

[Rollin Hand]

It became time to throw som paint on the V. I was going to pick up a pop-up spray booth, but tgen remembered someone posting about one of these working well for the purpose:

https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/vuku-wardr ... gI6DvD_BwE

It works!

That was me, hoping someone else would be the crash test dummy...

[voodoorat]

i swapped the speakers out in the jc-120. one of them sounded torn at volume and investigating they looked like low-wattage home-stereo grade panasonic speakers, very light and not very loud. i ordered some celestion centruries but amazon screwed up the order so i wound up at least temporarily putting a pair of seventy 80s i had laying around in the amp (i know, i know, but i promise they were an improvement). it actually sounds pretty good, at least for now. a whole lot louder and stil clean though i do wonder what those centuries would have sounded like.

and today i busted my k&k pure mini install cherry, put one in a 1972 guild d25 i traded my vox ac30 for. it was a lot easier than i expected to install, i think i'm going to get another one for my eastman e6o too as it's got no electronics but i'd like to try it out with the guys sometimes.

[BatUtilityBelt]

@Rollin Hand , @tobijohn That IKEA "spray booth" looks like a perfect answer for small project work. I just ordered one too, my first IKEA purchase ever. I will cut a hole for a filter and fan, but otherwise perfect. $22.46 delivered to my door for something I was putting off making. Thanks, and my Jaguar project also thanks you.

[tobijohn]

...I just ordered one too, my first IKEA purchase ever. I will cut a hole for a filter and fan, but otherwise perfect. $22.46 delivered to my door for something I was putting off making.

It's too bad you can't order the Swedish meatballs that they serve in their in-store restaurants, they're delicious...

[deeaa]

...I just ordered one too, my first IKEA purchase ever. I will cut a hole for a filter and fan, but otherwise perfect. $22.46 delivered to my door for something I was putting off making.

It's too bad you can't order the Swedish meatballs that they serve in their in-store restaurants, they're delicious...

I'm gonna go pick up that wardrobe tent...12,99;- only if you buy in-store.

Maybe I'll get some meatballs we eat at Ikea like every other month or so, but I haven't gotten meatballs in ages, as there are dishes I like more, such as shrimp sandwiches and breaded pork cutlets or fish and chips....but yeah they don't deliver foods you can get then frozen though.

There's a lot of little things I've bought from IKEA that I've used for something totally different than intended.

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[deeaa]

Finished bringing my V79 to same specs as others last night. SS frets, Roller saddle, 498t, weight relieved tuners. Love the guitar and it plays and sounds just as well as all the rest but it's annoyingly a little bigger than all my other Vs, the largest body of the lot. At least the black color hides the size some, but it's literally like an inch longer than the next biggest one, which is also a Korean Dean V from the same year, go figure....still, a sweet guitar.

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[Rollin Hand]

...I just ordered one too, my first IKEA purchase ever. I will cut a hole for a filter and fan, but otherwise perfect. $22.46 delivered to my door for something I was putting off making.

It's too bad you can't order the Swedish meatballs that they serve in their in-store restaurants, they're delicious...

I'm gonna go pick up that wardrobe tent...12,99;- only if you buy in-store.

Maybe I'll get some meatballs we eat at Ikea like every other month or so, but I haven't gotten meatballs in ages, as there are dishes I like more, such as shrimp sandwiches and breaded pork cutlets or fish and chips....but yeah they don't deliver foods you can get then frozen though.

There's a lot of little things I've bought from IKEA that I've used for something totally different than intended.

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Last time I tried to eat at Ikea, the lineup was so long it was down by the Fniss display. I ended up at Subway.

Fair warning that this thing is.mildly frustrating tk put together.

[voodoorat]

i put another k&k pure mini in my eastman e6o.