Thinline build - "The Freddy"

[Freddy G]

LOVE the look of that bridge pup. That's one cool mother-bucker

 

[Barnaby]

LOVE the look of that bridge pup. That's one cool mother-bucker

Austenitic stainless mesh, baby!

Actually, the inspiration for this design came from a pair of microphones I once saw you make on the forum. See - there's more than one reason this build is dedicated the way it is. I'm dead serious...the image stuck in my head, and I thought to myself "that's the coolest thing ever...one day..."

 

[MacG]

In fact, I admit with some shame, the first time I undertook this process and photographed it, I did, indeed, save the image as "Shibari1'.



Dude!

Ahh, Maugham with a Spin(oza) !

Don´t be ashamed. We are almost grown ups here. And: What would anyone living in Tokyo in a small apartment, with exotic toxic dust, do with his (Apparently non-existing ! ) spare time, except indulging in a little artful rope-play ?

Fantastic build, Barn.

 

[MacG]

Quite simply, "fenderish" people have to deal with the 60 cycle hum (or 50 depending on where you are) from single coil pickups. Shielding helps.

I agree. You learn to live with some hum if you like single coils. I think P-90´s are the worst... Nothing totally removes the hum, except humcanceling pickups. When I played in bars, with Budweiser neon signs, noisy refrigerators, and light dimmers, I put stacked humbuckers in my Strat. Hated the sound, but at least it was quiet...

The Fenders I have that are shielded I use shielding paint. I don´t like the effect copperfoil has on the tone. I recently adjusted a friends Strat, and it sounded dull and lifeless, even though it sounded great acoustically, and had quality pickups. When I opened it up it had the thickest copperfoil I´ve ever seen, carefully glued to all the cavities: It was almost like a sheet of copper. I removed it, put the guitar back together again, and it was like night and day: It opened up the sound, changed it completely. I redid it with shielding paint, and I think it took a little top end away, but it was still much better than before. Have anyone had a similar experience ?

 

[Barnaby]

Ahh, Maugham with a Spin(oza) !

Don´t be ashamed. We are almost grown ups here. And: What would anyone living in Tokyo in a small apartment, with exotic toxic dust, do with his (Apparently non-existing ! ) spare time, except indulging in a little artful rope-play ?

Fantastic build, Barn.

Cheers! Don't know much about art, but I know what I like...

The Fenders I have that are shielded I use shielding paint. I don´t like the effect copperfoil has on the tone. I recently adjusted a friends Strat, and it sounded dull and lifeless, even though it sounded great acoustically, and had quality pickups. When I opened it up it had the thickest copperfoil I´ve ever seen, carefully glued to all the cavities: It was almost like a sheet of copper. I removed it, put the guitar back together again, and it was like night and day: It opened up the sound, changed it completely. I redid it with shielding paint, and I think it took a little top end away, but it was still much better than before. Have anyone had a similar experience ?

I've heard this too, but not had direct experience with it. It does kind of make sense that thick shielding would have a strong effect.

 

[Barnaby]

Now, it’s time for the neck pocket cavity. I start by marking and drilling a bunch of holes for depth.



Then, I chisel away the waste.



Done and smoothed with a router plane. Some cleanup yet to do, but this is OK for now.



With its older brother. Note a family resemblance?

 

[Freddy G]

Curious Barnaby.... what tool do you use to make the corner radius on the inside of that neck pocket?

 

[Barnaby]

Curious Barnaby.... what tool do you use to make the corner radius on the inside of that neck pocket?

Sharp incannel gouge, mallet and sandpaper wrapped around a marking pen...after cleanup, I can get it close to looking like it was done by a machine, but not quite yet. I need some more practice.

 

[Freddy G]

Sharp incannel gouge, mallet and sandpaper wrapped around a marking pen...after cleanup, I can get it close to looking like it was done by a machine, but not quite yet. I need some more practice.

It does look impressive and machine-like! That's why I asked.

 

[Barnaby]

It does look impressive and machine-like! That's why I asked.

Thanks! It's an interesting and slightly contrary way for me to approach things. By trying to make my lines as clean as machine-routed ones, I may eventually get to a stage where it's difficult to tell the difference, thus managing, by virtue of unstinting practice and hard work over the course of several builds, to do in only several hours what a power tool can do in about ten seconds.

Ummm...now I actually put it in writing, that makes me sound like the world's biggest moron.

 

[Spotcheck Billy]

I've heard this too, but not had direct experience with it. It does kind of make sense that thick shielding would have a strong effect.

I have read someone here on the forum who thought that Tele bridge hardware had an unpleasant effect on the bridge pickup. Tone must like wood more than metal.

 

[VictOr358]

Master B., your hand tools skills produce cleaner results than my puny router/dremel attempts.

 

[Barnaby]

I have read someone here on the forum who thought that Tele bridge hardware had an unpleasant effect on the bridge pickup. Tone must like wood more than metal.

Well, it certainly adds "twang". I'm not sure why...and I've read lots of theories, but it seems to me that, generally, nobody knows for sure. Maybe it's because "twang" is a kind of subjective term.

Master B., your hand tools skills produce cleaner results than my puny router/dremel attempts.

Oh, hardly - you flatter me. Besides, you have wrestled with the mighty RoboStalin, which makes you a thousand times more manly than I. That's what's really important.

 

[Freddy G]

I have read someone here on the forum who thought that Tele bridge hardware had an unpleasant effect on the bridge pickup.

In my own experiments I've found that a normal steel tele bridge does re-enforce the twang factor with a normal single coil tele pickup. But if you stick a humbucker (ie. hotrails) pup in the steel bridge there is harmonic weirdness. Switching to a brass plate bridge with the humbucker however rectifies that.

 

[Spotcheck Billy]

I wonder if the presence of the ferrous metal is altering the magnetic field (as a buried object alters the magnetic field enough that a metal detector "detects" the object)? The pickup magnet's lines of flux would be disturbed by the mass of the bridge, in other words.

 

[jonny]

The pickup magnet's lines of flux would be disturbed by the mass of the bridge, in other words.

So maybe the tone pot needs a flux capacitor?

 

[jeff.longino]

Thanks! It's an interesting and slightly contrary way for me to approach things. By trying to make my lines as clean as machine-routed ones, I may eventually get to a stage where it's difficult to tell the difference, thus managing, by virtue of unstinting practice and hard work over the course of several builds, to do in only several hours what a power tool can do in about ten seconds.

Ummm...now I actually put it in writing, that makes me sound like the world's biggest moron.

As I sit annoyed at a bit of router tear out tonight.....I'm thinking that perhaps your approach has at least avoided that issue

It is looking very nice.

Do you know yet how you plan to finish that top?

 

[Barnaby]

As I sit annoyed at a bit of router tear out tonight.....I'm thinking that perhaps your approach has at least avoided that issue

It is looking very nice.

Do you know yet how you plan to finish that top?

Not sure yet - that's a little while away yet, so we shall see how the planets align.

 

['59_Standard]

You're aligning planets now. Via Solar Power I hope.

 

[coolhand23]

So maybe the tone pot needs a flux capacitor?

That and a DeLorean!