I found a new project.

[buddhuu]

Looking great.

 

[harpman54]

It's looking good! A fun thread to watch.

 

[Papa]

Gettin' Close!!!

Papa

 

[Brians Evil Twin]

Good progress, keep it coming!

 

[Bigneil]

pickups arrived today,

decided not to get the toneriders .... in the end I pulled the trigger on a set of 50's classic deluxe from axesrus.

the specs.

"String Spacing - Bridge - 52mm , Neck - 50mm

Resistance - Bridge - 7.7k (+/-10%), Neck - 7.2k (+/-10%)

Inductance - Bridge - 4.1h, Neck - 3.8h
Wiring - Black - Live, Silver - Ground

Magnets = Alnico III

Cover Material - Nickel / German Silver

Wire = .42 Gauge Formvar"

started on the harness too, in a 50's independent style.....but I have changed my mind. I kept not being able to get hold of the pots I really wanted so I have ended up with 2 vintage back custom tapers as tone controls and 2 bog standard audio tapers CTS pots as volume....

However after much deliberation I am decided to get 2 volume pots from Martin6stings with the log taper I wanted, and change it to a 50's dependent wiring scheme.

Now, This guitar has not had strings on for about 10 years or so, so I strung it up a couple of weeks ago and waited a least a week before looking at the truss rod adjustments and ...I have of course encountered some very obvious buzzing which I did expect after it had not been strung for at least 10 years. spent some time today with my make shift fret tool set wich includes an old credit card and a flat needle file lol.


It's really starting to look the part too...can't wait to take some beauty shots, but you can have a rubbishy phone pic to tide you over.

Just one last detail I need ..... brown back switch and control cavity covers to fit an Epi.?

 

[RaSTuS26]

Getting there mate, can't wait for your report of the final result.

 

[bobswinea]

So you're well prepared for a long and cold winter in Scotland....

just don't use it as firewood

Happy Modding

Firewood?!? Eeeekkk! Nice snag Neil! Do keep us posted. Really looking forward to seeing the gold top soon. Yepper 10 quid is a bitchin' great deal. TBob

 

[Tonyd145]

Nice looking Goldtop! Nicely done.

 

[Wekkuli]

No shame to do some parts again,it´s part of learning..No coat is easy to do,every time you spray something out,you have to try it on some scrap parts first.It´s lookin very nice indeed now!

 

[Bigneil]

OK, now I need some advice !

I said this earlier.

[However after much deliberation I am decided to get 2 volume pots from Martin6stings with the log taper I wanted, and change it to a 50's dependent wiring scheme.

My original want, is to have 50's dependent wiring. This works best with a log taper somewhere between a standard audio taper and a linear taper according to my research and experiments (special thanks to papa for his pot tapers thread). Now, the only source I have found so far to purchase a good quality CTS pot which is spec'd at 550K and has a log taper of 20% and has a nice tight tolerance of 10% are the ones that "martain6strings" sells on his website (but isn't that a good thing?). not if you live in the north of Scotland.

So I went on to the website and got as far as the checkout and was floored by the costs of shipment to UK. ...

Here is the problem

cost of 2 pots $23.90 thats very reasonable for good quality gear (£15.18)
add the cost of usps shipping $51.85 (£32.94) we more than doubled it now.

next there is calculating the cost of UK import VAT

from hm revinue and customs website

4. Calculating the VAT (If applicable)
The rate of VAT in the UK increased to 20.0% on the 4th January 2011 (up from 17.5%). So, to calculate the VAT, you need to do the following:
Add the amount of Duty, that you just calculated (if any was applicable), to the total value of your goods (incl. the shipping costs), then you have to add all the UK charges, such as Customs clearance and delivery costs (from port of arrival/Bonded Warehouse through to your door). Then, simply multiply this total amount by 20.0%, to give an approximate amount of VAT that you would have to pay to UK Customs. ukimports.org

so now we add uk customs clearance costs and UK delivery fees aprox $15.00 (£10) ..that's conservative. and we have a new total of $47.94 (£30.46)


add the 20% VAT and we are now at total of $57.53 (£36.55)

I strongly suspect that customs clearance costs could be a lot more....but essentially it is prohibitively expensive to buy stuff in from the States


So I have tried to find Good quality pots in the UK that meet the specs I want, and have come up blank so far....the closest I have found to date are some nicely built and spec'd CTS pots from bareknuckle that are custom audio taper....(12%). nice but not what I want so I am using them as my tone pots.

So does anybody know where I can find some from a UK supplier ?

 

[RaSTuS26]

Also from the US, but much cheaper unit cost and shipping:

CTS® 550K AUDIO TAPER POT ± 9% TOLERANCE SPECIFICALLY TUNED FOR HUMBUCKER 500K | eBay



From the UK, but have the pot metal shaft sleeves, not brass, cheap for 2 pots and caps though (comparatively speaking):

Jensen guitar Capacitor and Cts Guitar Pots Custom Audio Taper 550K | eBay



Sadly neither mentions exactly what percentage of taper they have, suppose you could message them.

 

[Bigneil]

Also from the US, but much cheaper unit cost and shipping:

CTS® 550K AUDIO TAPER POT ± 9% TOLERANCE SPECIFICALLY TUNED FOR HUMBUCKER 500K | eBay



From the UK, but have the pot metal shaft sleeves, not brass, cheap for 2 pots and caps though (comparatively speaking):

Jensen guitar Capacitor and Cts Guitar Pots Custom Audio Taper 550K | eBay



Sadly neither mentions exactly what percentage of taper they have, suppose you could message them.

Thanks for your input Rob. What i'm up against is that nobody selling them here seems to know much about them...I have bought a few from different places and tested them on the meter and all, even if they advertised as premium quality are coming up as 500K +/- 20% and have a standard 10% audio taper...some I returned and some I kept to use for tone pots in other guitars....

There must be a UK source for the good CTS pots somewhere.....I may start a new thread somewhere ......(strokes beard)

P.S those links arn't working for me rob!

 

[paruwi]

Thanks for your input Rob. What i'm up against is that nobody selling them here seems to know much about them...I have bought a few from different places and tested them on the meter and all, even if they advertised as premium quality are coming up as 500K +/- 20% and have a standard 10% audio taper...some I returned and some I kept to use for tone pots in other guitars....

There must be a UK source for the good CTS pots somewhere.....I may start a new thread somewhere ......(strokes beard)

P.S those links arn't working for me rob!

Not UK but ships to you

| Rockinger Guitars - Webshop for guitars, guitar parts, supplies for making guitars, effects pedals, strings, and accessories for guitars and basses

BTW
Rockinger is the parts shop from Atze Göldsdorf, the Man behind Düsenberg....

 

[Bigneil]

The Sun appeared over the dull and dreary land of Caledonia this morning.

As thousands of small pale skinned ginger children squinted at the burning ball in the sky, dropping their the pokes of chips and cans of Irn-Bru in amazement at the strange and alien solar occurrence, while pointing in wonderment and and asking their parents what it was,
I was ransaking the children's bedrooms for toys with working AA batteries that I could use in the digital camera.

and took a couple of beauty shots.

some second hand and played in hardware...the pickup rings, poker chip, bridge and stoptail came from my other epi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and now for the ugly.

I did make some mistakes as I went along.

the ones that are still visible are,

when I was sanding the clear coat smooth, I picked up a piece of the wrong sand paper and scratched the top ../. I thought I had got them all out, but you can still see the odd scratch ... see the swirl between the poker chip and the neck.

and also this one... I had a tool slippage through a moment of stupidity and made a nasty dunt on the top, fortunately it is mostly disguised but just check the mark between the bridge and the treble pickup ring.

And an aproximate rundown of the cost.

£40 potentiometers
£13 pointers (I know...I got ripped on the postage fee)
£60 pickups
£4.20 gold knobs
£12 replacement bridge and stoptail
£5 capacitors
£7.50 braided wire.
£10 guitar
£20 spraypaint and sandpaper


TOTAL £171.70


So, I could have bought a nice second hand one for that price....was it worth it though....? YES absolutely...all the components are exactly as I want them, It sounds great, and I had a blast working on it.


Two jobs left to do, I still need to do some fret work because there is still a wee buzz on the 8th fret, and I need to either get some backplates made...or make some myself.

 

[RaSTuS26]

Stellar job Neil, great value for money, and as you mention, just the way you want it, kudos.

 

[bobswinea]

Great job BigNeil! Amazing results. Happy to see the sun is out in Scotland; the land of my father's people. Remind the wee ones that the celestial event you described will soon pass. Best wishes

 

[fumblefinger]

Maybe you could have found one for what you have in it (doubt it, with all the special parts you put into it), but the knowledge you gained is priceless!

 

[Bigneil]

Ok, after tonights lessons I figured I had a small window of time to make a short recording ... my intention was to record sound bytes of clean and overdrive on both pickups......but I was feeling like I was in an ACDC mood and accidentally just blasted out some acdc style riffage using the treble pickup, with just overdrive.....oh well. I will have another go soon.

However, if any one would like to hear the 57 through the Laney with overdrive on, then here it is.
Remember, it's just a quick sound byte, knocked up in the kitchen in a few minutes, but it should give you a rough idea how it sounds.

AMP (Laney pro tube lead AOR 50watt head)
presence 10
bass 10
middle 4 (pull boost engaged) or 14 lol
treble 10
master 7
pre gain-1 3
pre gain-2 5
pre gain-3 4 (overdrive boost engaged) or 14

GUITAR (the '57)
treble pickup
volume 6-10 depending on which guitar part
tone 8

acdc style sound byte

 

[RaSTuS26]

Argh, AC/DC, don't do it for me much (NOT).

Some great riffage there Neil and some tasty lead over the top, thanks for that.

 

[seasonedcitizen]

Great job Neil!