'24 Partscaster Project

[JD01]

............. and 3.0 will want a drum-kit made of human bones and skin.

Hmmm. Now you mention it, I am looking for interesting projects now I have cleared my bench and semi retired. Leave it with me.

Mutt will become the Ed Gein of home recording.

[JD01]

OK, fretwork is going well. They're level, which I thought was gonna be really tricky, but turned out to be OK. And I've got them crowned and pretty shiny. A couple more grits to go though - I want to get them really nice.

Next question - aside from pickups. I'm gonna need a tone pot, volume pot and 4 way switch. Is there anything else I likely need? I'm thinking stuff like capacitors and bits of wire.

Oh, I also might need a couple of string trees.

[muttley]

OK, fretwork is going well. They're level, which I thought was gonna be really tricky, but turned out to be OK. And I've got them crowned and pretty shiny. A couple more grits to go though - I want to get them really nice.

Next question - aside from pickups. I'm gonna need a tone pot, volume pot and 4 way switch. Is there anything else I likely need? I'm thinking stuff like capacitors and bits of wire.

Oh, I also might need a couple of string trees.

You may want to shield it.

[JD01]

Got my neck on... in the right place. Had to glue some dowels into the body to fill a few holes in before getting the exact location of the bridge. Then I'll string it and see if I can get it to play nice before I decide whether to spend money on pickups.
This is where we're I'm up to, I'll get the bridge and a set of string on it soon to start working on making it play decent. Then I'll do the electronics

20240611_151812.jpg

[Tadpui]

Wow, that neck fit looks great! Fingers crossed that it plays great as well. Nice going so far!

[JD01]

Wow, that neck fit looks great! Fingers crossed that it plays great as well. Nice going so far!

If it fits great - its pure luck.

[Lt. Bob]

Wow, that neck fit looks great! Fingers crossed that it plays great as well. Nice going so far!

If it fits great - its pure luck.

luck is a very underrated commodity

[JD01]

Warning!!! We're now entering the realms of a truly half-arsed home-made botch job.

20240617_085111.jpg

It actually looks OK with the pickguard in place... you can't see all my dodgy workmanship.
There was a split in the wood between the pickup cavity and bridge cavity... when I re-drilled the hole for the bridge mount the body started to self destruct.

I'm gonna wing it, see how it goes - I'll get all of the electronics done, see if I can get it set up and playing good - which is what this project was all about anyway. I've already bought a cheap neck pickup. If the body self-destructs, I'll just get a new (shitty old) one. They're only about 20 quid on eBay.

[JD01]

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[muttley]

Nice one.

It's a shame you are not nearer to me as I would have sorted that bridge pin issue with a router and set in piece in an hour or so. If it lets go, let me know.

[JD01]

Nice one.

It's a shame you are not nearer to me as I would have sorted that bridge pin issue with a router and set in piece in an hour or so. If it lets go, let me know.

Ah, if it lets go, I'll just get another 20 quid body off eBay... and hopefully not fuck up the routing quite so badly.

I just need to pop a few more screws in the pickguard then I'll string it and see how it sounds before getting to work on the nut. I'm actually going to replace the nut with a bone nut, but I'm gonna practice on this plastic one first.

[muttley]

It wouldn't be hard to save that body. I'd take out the timber between the pickup cavity and the trem route and replace it with a solid piece and redrill the mounting holes. It's hidden so you wouldn't even know it was there unless you pulled the pickguard and bridge. I probably add a few dowelled fixings into the new piece for good measure too. Not a hard job if you approach it carefully.

[JD01]

Cool - I'll keep that in mind. I do quite like the colour of the body.
I'm looking forward to hearing how this sounds - I should get around to recording it on the weekend.

[JD01]

It wouldn't be hard to save that body. I'd take out the timber between the pickup cavity and the trem route and replace it with a solid piece and redrill the mounting holes. It's hidden so you wouldn't even know it was there unless you pulled the pickguard and bridge. I probably add a few dowelled fixings into the new piece for good measure too. Not a hard job if you approach it carefully.

Ok. This.

I've noticed that the bridge is shifting as I bring it up to tune. I think I'm gonna have to do what you suggest above. How do I put my new pice of timber in? Gorilla glue?

[WhiskeyJack]

This is a pretty cool little project man. Literally a Frankenstein if ever there was one. I like where it is headed. If you and mutt do this be sure to document it lots if you start getting wood and adding dowels.

I think i have to move my bridge back a few millimeters on my sparrow. The into action is still out to lunch. I will likely have to go the dowel route.

[muttley]

It wouldn't be hard to save that body. I'd take out the timber between the pickup cavity and the trem route and replace it with a solid piece and redrill the mounting holes. It's hidden so you wouldn't even know it was there unless you pulled the pickguard and bridge. I probably add a few dowelled fixings into the new piece for good measure too. Not a hard job if you approach it carefully.

Ok. This.

I've noticed that the bridge is shifting as I bring it up to tune. I think I'm gonna have to do what you suggest above. How do I put my new pice of timber in? Gorilla glue?

Definitely not Gorilla glue. I'd use Titebond original which is pretty much standard across guitar building. A small tub would only cost a few quid. Failing that I would use a good white PVA but even that is inferior in terms of being elastic.

A couple of more things I would do. Add a couple of dowels or screws to add strength as it is hidden. You can screw it down to clamp it as the glue dries then pull the screws and drill them out for dowels or just throw the screws right in.

Cut the body and infill piece with a slight wedge shape from the trem route to the body route so that the piece can be tapped into place from the trem side. That will help stop the piece pulling forward once done.. you don't need much of an angle just enough to seat the piece in tight.. Cut the wedge first over length and then mark the body and cut it as tight as you can and trim the wedge before glueing it in place.

Good luck.

[JD01]

Ok. This.

I've noticed that the bridge is shifting as I bring it up to tune. I think I'm gonna have to do what you suggest above. How do I put my new pice of timber in? Gorilla glue?

Definitely not Gorilla glue. I'd use Titebond original which is pretty much standard across guitar building. A small tub would only cost a few quid. Failing that I would use a good white PVA but even that is inferior in terms of being elastic.

A couple of more things I would do. Add a couple of dowels or screws to add strength as it is hidden. You can screw it down to clamp it as the glue dries then pull the screws and drill them out for dowels or just throw the screws right in.

Cut the body and infill piece with a slight wedge shape from the trem route to the body route so that the piece can be tapped into place from the trem side. That will help stop the piece pulling forward once done.. you don't need much of an angle just enough to seat the piece in tight.. Cut the wedge first over length and then mark the body and cut it as tight as you can and trim the wedge before glueing it in place.

Good luck.

Ah, cool, the wedge shape idea I definitely wouldn't have thought of. It's almost like you've done this shit before.

[muttley]

Definitely not Gorilla glue. I'd use Titebond original which is pretty much standard across guitar building. A small tub would only cost a few quid. Failing that I would use a good white PVA but even that is inferior in terms of being elastic.

A couple of more things I would do. Add a couple of dowels or screws to add strength as it is hidden. You can screw it down to clamp it as the glue dries then pull the screws and drill them out for dowels or just throw the screws right in.

Cut the body and infill piece with a slight wedge shape from the trem route to the body route so that the piece can be tapped into place from the trem side. That will help stop the piece pulling forward once done.. you don't need much of an angle just enough to seat the piece in tight.. Cut the wedge first over length and then mark the body and cut it as tight as you can and trim the wedge before glueing it in place.

Good luck.

Ah, cool, the wedge shape idea I definitely wouldn't have thought of. It's almost like you've done this shit before.

You pick up a lot of tips and tricks after doing this stuff for nearly 40 years.

I'm still learning stuff every day.

[JD01]

Having basically no spare time, I finally got over to a mates place to fix the bridge fuckup a couple of weeks ago. Then last night, got time to fix the bridge and wire it up (mate did the soldering for me).

20240820_212710.jpg

20240904_215857.jpg

[JD01]

Woohoo, got the nut slotted now and set it up quite nicely. Its not my best guitar, but its better than I expected it was gonna be - to be honest I expect it was gonna be shite, but this is perfectly playable. It'll probably get better the long I have it too as this is obviously the guitar that I'll be doing various experiments on etc.