Andyjr1515

And another one ticked off the list. I popped a couple of P Rails into the pickup rings (Matt will be supplying his own pickups) to line everything up. The strings, again, are just for lining up - they are a set of flatwounds I tried on Pete's piccolo bass build a few years ago. The P-rails are useful as one of the tasks was making sure that the pickups fitted and adjusted in the chambers and the coils of the P-rail are just a touch fatter than most humbuckers - so this should be worst case. Spent quite a bit of time chiselling out the tight spots. These now adjust fine, so I am happy that Matt's will also. And that leaves 5 jobs left on the list

And a couple more jobs off the to do list. First of all, drilling the bridge earth wire hole and fitting the earth wire. I talked about a tip to get inserts out. A bolt would be better, but I found that the screws they use to fit bed heads to beds are the right thread So with great care not to let the screwdriver slip (which is why a bolt would be better) I screw it in until it bottoms at the wood inside the hole: And then I just carry on screwing. The bolt can't go any further down, so the insert has to move the other way: With the control layout paper template, I mark the points from the insert hole to where I want the earth wire to come out into the chamber: I draw a pencil line joining those points on the other side. Then get a very, very long bradpoint drill and line it up with the line. Theoretically, it has to drill through the insert hole. Always a relief when it does, mind you And then simply push the earth wire through, with a generous length stripped of insulation, and just re-insert the insert, trapping the copper of the earth wire as it does so. Finally, drilled the recessed hole for the tele-style jack socket I am using: Just 7 items left to do

That's a scarf????????? Good heavens!

The SG has quite a cramped controls cluster. Some of that is the body shape, and some the fact that they have a top-mounted jack. While I can't do anything about the body shape, I do have the advantage of going for an edge mounted jack. I'm sure there are lots of other ways of laying them out, but after lots of mockups, sticking the knobs and tip on with blu-tack, this one below passed my 'air guitar test' of ensuring I would never accidentally hit the switch while flailing my arms Pete Townsend style, but could still reach both or individual volumes quickly without hitting either the tones or the switch. I tried with the switch position a little further forward but came to the conclusion that it is safer from accidental adjustment here. So it's still tight, but I think is going to work OK live: Inside, I wanted to leave most of the chamber bottom thicker than the pot spindles to maximise the stability in that knotty area, so I just Forstner-cut some recesses for the pots and switch to allow good thread access the other side: Once I've cut the jack hole, I'll tidy up the inside shape to make it look more like it was supposed to look like that

Hi, Derrey @ikay might be right. It is possible they are just push fit. The units themselves will be sealed in plastic so if a paper clip will go in (or the blunt end of a sewing needle) a gentle push will soon indicate if they are going to push out and that won't do any harm. If they seem firm, then they are probably superglued and won't be coming out.

Another two jobs off the list - fret levelling/recrowning ; fretboard tidy-up. And another shout here for Chris Alsop Guitars - after levelling with my 1m aluminium beam, I used one of his whole raft of really usable and practical tools - this fret recrowning file: It is a good radiused diamond file housed in such a usable handle! Easiest re-crown to date. I did the normal marking the flats on the frets with a sharpie and then used Chris's file first on its own, then with 320 grit sandpaper wrapped over the file, then with 800 grit sandpaper, and finally with 3200; 6000 & 12000 microweb cloth, again using the file as a radiused sanding block: Then used a single-edged razor as a scraper to tidy up the fretboard. It's come up nice:

Exciting! Hmmm...multi-scale...fretless...led's...multi-piece neck I can see that my "he's the guy who takes on the crazy stuff" crown may be slipping soon.

I think the chances are slim without wrecking them.

I'll sand these fully flush when I tidy up the fretboard and give the neck its final oil and buff after fret levelling, but the mother of pearl fret side dots are in: That's another one ticked off the list. Just 11 things still to go

Not quite right. It is the bending of the string, albeit vertically, to reach the fret (or in a fretless the fretboard). So if you have a high nut, your bottom frets will NEVER sound in tune because the string is bending and therefore tightening out of pitch in trying to press it down to the fret. So high nut, low action - it will be in tune at the upper frets and out of tune at the lower frets and low nut, high action - will be in tune at the lower frets and out of tune at the higher frets.

Basically, yes. In most cases with most bridges, wind the G saddle fully forward and fix the bridge so that the peak of the saddle is at scale length (yes - I wind back a couple of turns because I know how inaccurate my work is.) But before you drill holes, wind the bottom E saddle fully back (allowing for string windings too) and double check that this gives you at least 5mm longer than scale length, which is typically the maximum you are likely to have to lengthen beyond scale length to intonate the bottom strings. If in doubt, put an accurate long metal rule to the nut of one of your fully set-up basses and note where each of the saddles are sitting in relation to scale length. The thinkers amongst you will come to the conclusion that the only place that the string is going to actually accurately intonate is at the 12th fret. The reality, of course is...yes... I've said it before, basses and guitars are a series of compromises held together by hope...

You need to know that with the bridge fixed in a particular place, that there is enough backward movement to intonate the most affected string (which is usually the Low E). But the amount of movement of the saddles is sometimes barely adequate and so, if the top string saddle is as far forward as possible when you fix the bridge, then if gives you the maximum amount of backward movement. On this one, there is only just enough movement - so if the bridge is even 0.5mm out, then you could get to the stage of not being able to intonate the bottom E...which would be upsetting. And so the bridge (as with most SGs and Les Pauls) is angled slightly, pivoting from the top string saddle position to ensure there is a safety factor and, regardless of the string type, gauge or action height, it is always going to have enough backward movement to intonate. Re-reading my poor explanation, I can see I might have to draw it!

Yes - the intonation is always going to be longer than the scale. Easiest way of seeing it is that when you press the string down to the fret, you are effectively bending it down to the fret in just the same way as we bend strings sideways for pitch change. And it will always go sharp. The amount it goes sharp is affected by the string tension and the action height (ie, the amount you are vertically bending). It's never going to go flat. And therefore the saddle is never going to need to be in a position that is shorter than the scale length. On your Fender BBOT - exactly the same

Scrumptious, @scrumpymike

For the bridge, now I have the stop-tail in place, I can fit a couple of strings and get the bridge in exactly the right position both for string-to-fretboard-edge distance and, of course, intonation. For the latter, I wind the top E string saddle fully forward and place that at the scale length and then wind the bottom E fully back and ensure that there are a couple of mm adjustment possible behind the 'normal' offset of around 5mm. This way, if I have a cumulative build error of up to 1mm somewhere, it's still going to fully intonate. And then same process - drill on the drill-press, press the inserts in and pop the bridge on the pegs to make sure it all fits as it should: And finally, another mockup Bit of decorating tomorrow, but might be able to either make a start on the fret levelling or maybe sort the control positions

Didn't get round to the hatch magnets yesterday. Instead, I went for something much more scary! Fitting the stoptail. Now this really is a measure 15 times, drill once. This - and the ToM bridge is even worse - has to be right. I used my little drill press to drill the 11mm holes and then also used the drill press chuck to press them in: I still have to drill the earth wire hole and fit the wire, so will be removing the lower bout insert soon (Tip about removing inserts/bushes, assuming they are open ended - get a bolt of the correct size, screw it in until it bottoms on the body wood at the bottom of the hole, use a spanner to carry on screwing and it will lift the insert gently out). In terms of finding the insert hole from the control chamber with my earth-wire drill bit, I have a cunning plan. Just got to remember what on earth that might have been But, challenges aside, it's starting to look like a guitar: Now that I have the stoptail and tuners in place, I can pop a spare 6th and 1st string on and position the bridge to make sure that it is lined up with the fretboard. Then the last really scary bit after checking the measurements, oh, probably 35 times? - drilling for the bridge inserts

Just downloading Jitsi. For good measure, I'll download Chrome onto my desktop.

Aha - realised my Desktop is still using the older version of Edge. Got the new one on my tablet - I'll try that in a sec

Hi, Richard I'm on Edge but it's telling me that it doesn't recognise the browser I'm on and that I should use Chrome or Firefox. Is there anything I have to tell Edge to do settings-wise?

I decided, once the varnish had fully shrunk after a week's curing, that it did need flattening and then a couple of final coats of varnish applying. While I'm happy with ridges that are following the grain lines, I'm trying to get rid of the ridges that are from accumulated brush strokes and other lumps, bumps and dust buggies but taking care not to get back down to the timber. And I've mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating, that unlike nitro and other 'melting' finishes, with this kind of finish you flatten before the final coat and not after. : I have used here some 1500 grit wet 'n dry used wet and with a sanding block. Almost there. Again, I'm trying to flatten the varnish itself and not get down to the underlying timber - gently does it! : I then give one or two thin gloss coats - here I generally thin the varnish around 5% to ensure that it flows and flattens. This process often takes a few goes. This is after the first go - close but no cigar: While it's a whole lot flatter than before and the lumps, bumps and dust buggies are sorted, the surface finish is a bit bobbly. So it is simply a case of letting it cure a day, then repeating with a very light flattening (usually 2000-2500 grit) and another go...and this whole process repeated as often as needed. Here, patience is your friend - you are only affecting that final couple of coats, so at least one time it's going to be OK! This is better - much flatter than before and decent surface quality that will gloss up nicely with a light polishing in a week or so when it's fully hardened: But it's already hard enough to be worked on, so I can now carry on and finish the build Today's job is going to be fitting the magnets to the control chamber hatch that has also been varnished: And then it's the other dozen or so finishing jobs, final polish and done! Probably by the end of the coming weekend Must chase up Matt and see how he's getting on with pickups for it!

Looking really good

Great

For the control chamber hatch, I take a sheet of paper and run my fingernail round the recess to make a template: Then cut the shape out of the offcut slice I cut a while back a mm or less oversize. And then just use a sanding block to gradually make my way round the recess until I get a clear but close fit: As long as I can keep this flat - which means applying the finish to both sides each time - then this should hold well with magnets, and ditto the trussrod cover. Other jobs done: fret ends rounded; headstock plate started being varnished. I'm quite close to having few enough jobs left to be able to fit the list onto a piece of A4!

Well that's a bit like, after you've let me look at your Aston Martin, you saying, "Hey Andy. I understand you got a new moped recently - can I have a look?" As long as you PROMISE never to show this to Martin... Well...you did ask! Andy

No - I don't think so