Bubba's Guitar Build Thread - 2016/17

[Bubba]

I think I will try and get this to you late this week, early next week and leave it so if we need to tinker it's just a matter of return and tinker then final assembly when we are sure. It's only that not being able to examine what you have to confirm makes working remotely a little uncertain. Best to take a little longer and get it right, it isnt more than a trip or two to the post office and a little patience.

Woohoo!

[muttley]

Apologies bubba, something has come up and it will not be with you until middle to late next week. Hope it doesnt hold you up too much.

[Bubba]

Apologies bubba, something has come up and it will not be with you until middle to late next week. Hope it doesnt hold you up too much.

Take your time, mate, it can wait. Your situation is far more important.

[muttley]

Apologies bubba, something has come up and it will not be with you until middle to late next week. Hope it doesnt hold you up too much.

Take your time, mate, it can wait. Your situation is far more important.

Its work related, I dont like letting people down so apologies. Family are doing OK right now... Will keep you posted on both.

[Bubba]

Just dropped off the guitar at the finisher's this morning. Hopefully pick up on Wednesday fully finished and buffed.

[JD01]

Just dropped off the guitar at the finisher's this morning. Hopefully pick up on Wednesday fully finished and buffed.

Cool, I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing how this turns out now. Looks great so far.

[muttley]

PM your address. I have it some where from the secret Santa thread but damned if I can find it.

[Armistice]

PM your address. I have it some where from the secret Santa thread but damned if I can find it.

Level 11, 200 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000 Australia.

I know, I know, you think Bubba is from the north of England but he's actually an aussie, struth!

[muttley]

PM your address. I have it some where from the secret Santa thread but damned if I can find it.

Level 11, 200 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000 Australia.

I know, I know, you think Bubba is from the north of England but he's actually an aussie, struth!

OOOOH I didnt realise you were so far away. Send me $150 to cover postage and it should be wih you next week.

[Greg_L]

Just dropped off the guitar at the finisher's this morning. Hopefully pick up on Wednesday fully finished and buffed.

How would they do it so fast? Don't you have to wait days between coats of lacquer and shit?

[Bubba]

Just dropped off the guitar at the finisher's this morning. Hopefully pick up on Wednesday fully finished and buffed.

How would they do it so fast? Don't you have to wait days between coats of lacquer and shit?

I think he uses a pre-catalysed lacquer, which gasses off like a normal lacquer but then a pre-added catalyst begins to cause a chemical reaction that polymerises the lacquer and sends it off rock hard. He planned to do six coats or so on Monday, leave it overnight then flat it off on Tuesday, spray another set of coats after that then do a final buffing out on Wednesday if everything goes to plan. He seemed unconcerned by the minor blemishes and slight grain pore issues that I pointed out, too. Fingers crossed it should be a good job.

[Bubba]

PM your address. I have it some where from the secret Santa thread but damned if I can find it.

Level 11, 200 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000 Australia.

I know, I know, you think Bubba is from the north of England but he's actually an aussie, struth!

Gods love a trier, Armi.

[muttley]

How would they do it so fast? Don't you have to wait days between coats of lacquer and shit?

I think he uses a pre-catalysed lacquer, which gasses off like a normal lacquer but then a pre-added catalyst begins to cause a chemical reaction that polymerises the lacquer and sends it off rock hard. He planned to do six coats or so on Monday, leave it overnight then flat it off on Tuesday, spray another set of coats after that then do a final buffing out on Wednesday if everything goes to plan. He seemed unconcerned by the minor blemishes and slight grain pore issues that I pointed out, too. Fingers crossed it should be a good job.

Yep, almost certainly a precat lacquer. There is nothing wrong with them unless you are after super authentic and absolute clarity. Precat can give an almost imperceptable haze. I have rarely ever noticed it though. I use a precat lacquer these days on a lot of stuff...

Precat is also better for grain filling so you should be good. Dont be suprised if it drop in a bit over time and you see some grain lines grinning through. It will still look good. It may not happen, The only way to avoid it is to grain fill with a hard filler.

Now on to some p90 magic.....

[muttley]

Today I had an hour or two free to finally put this thing together.

Start with all the bits required.

bubbap90_parts.jpg

We hgave discussed the best way forward with this and we may want to swap out the magnets to try and adjust the output and tone so I am going to pot the coil now as that is what it is. Normally you would wax pot again once it is asseembled to completely seal off any microphonic response from moving metal parts other than the coil. That will have to wait but I dont think we will need to because it's pretty tight in there and not much room for things to move around.

bubbap90_potting.jpg

While the coil is in the wax for about 10 minutes I can get on with attaching the base plate to the ground on the braided hookup cable.

bubbap90_baseplateground.jpg

After that the hot and ground from the coil get soldered to the start and ends of the pickup coil.

bubbap90_solder.jpg

Now we need some magnets. Alnico 2 and Alnico 5 are the most common in p90's. I'm going with Alnico 5 for this as it's a neck pickup and supposedly gives better highs.

bubbap90_magnets.jpg

More to follow..... hang on. Only 5 att per post it seems.

[muttley]

The magnets go under the bobbin either side of the spacer bar and have poles facing so you end up with the adjustable pole pieces reading south up. I use a bit of double sided tape to keep them in place as they tend to want to jump about when orientated that way.

At this point I have removed the chrome pole pieces and replaced them with a nice matching set of black which will sit well with the black cover.

bubbap90_blackpolesl.jpg

Now it's just a matter of popping the cover on and digging around my parts boxes for some screws and a surround and maybe some springs. Before that I need to tap the lugs to take the standard 3-48 height adjustment screws..

bubbap90_tap.jpg

Now some fittings.

bubbap90_ringl.jpg

Now we are about done.

One custom wound bespoke p90 Humbucker...

bubbap90_final.jpg

I will test in the morning and hopefully it will make tomorrows post collection which normally gets picked up around 3pm...

[Greg_L]

Wow so cool! Nice work mutt.

[Bubba]

Ok, So the MuttPups "Bubba" B90 custom pup arrived today. I also picked up the finished body, which isn't flawless but looks pretty damned good. I'm going to leave it hanging and hardening for a couple of days, then I'm going to begin the process of assembling this bad boy. Progress pics tomorrow.

[WhiskeyJack]

I love this thread. So much. So stoked to see and hear this.

[Bubba]

I love this thread. So much. So stoked to see and hear this.

Thanks, Jack. It's been a long road! Hopefully there will be tones in the middle of the week!

[muttley]

Glad it arrived safely. Not bad for First class mail as It went in yesterday lunch time (ish).

Take care with the cover as it is only held on with a little epoxy right now in case we want to get in there later. Also you may want to take care if you want to raise the poles pieces, they can snag a cover even when its soldered on. Make sure they have cleared the cover before going at it too heavy. You should be OK though. Enjoy..