Andyjr1515

By the way, anyone spot the 'spectre with a mole on its chin spots the Ghostbusters coming down the corridor!'?

Well it's very kind of you to notice

Before cutting the chamber for the controls (they are going to be top mounted on a purpleheart plate), I need to double check how much real-estate they are going to take up. This is @fleabag's requested layout (albeit the other way round): He's also supplied me with the pots and switches. So they will be laid out a bit like this on a purpleheart plate a similar shape to the pickup cover: Should all fit. I also reminded myself of how to do a series/split/parallel with an on/on/on switch: Just got to remind myself WHY it works....

Folks who read my build threads will know that I really, really, really dislike routers. They are OK for deepening and flattening a chamber when used with a guided bearing and completely captive within the chamber...but other than that they are of the devil! So for pickup chambers nowadays, I start with a Forstner: Then straighten up the top 10mm with chisels. Nowadays, by the way, these are pretty much the only chisels I tend to use, both sets bought from Axminster: And then - and only then - use a guided router bit within the chamber to take it to final depth. Note by the way, the appearance of the cable channel I cut before I put the top on:

When I get to shaping the heel, it's useful to already have the screw recesses in place: The carve along the heel line will be radiused to cut into the recesses - if I get it right, they should follow the angle of the machine screw ferrules. I probably will get the neck to a stage of being temporarily fitted before I sort out the carve of the end blip - this one will be more about feel than aesthetics, and you can't really do that until you are in a position to be able to play 'air-bass' with it. Next job is carving the chamber for the pickup cover to fit into (which, incidentally is at this very moment winging its way to Kent for Aaron Armstrong to do his stuff) and carving the controls chamber. While that goes on, I'll carry on reviewing and tweaking the body carve until it's 'right'

Well, having surprised myself making the pickup cover, certainly aren't going to risk it getting crushed in transit to Armstrongs!

Looks good, @Andre_Passini

@fleabag 's idea

Still quite a bit to do - but it's getting there

Good excuse to get out into the surprise sunshine Carve is starting to get there. You can see here that my chamfer isn't quite deep enough yet - you can see the very edge of the glue-line/step-line there!: In terms of the overall shape, still a bit to do but I think this is starting to look right:

More like this - which is I reckon closer to how @fleabag drew it in concept anyway

Trying it on the body, I reckon this is visually too long. I'll take 10mm off each side by softening the radius: There's plenty of meat there to take off and still have large enough blocks for the height adjustment screws: Carve-wise - I think this is actually just about there for most of the body. Just got to finalise how to treat the chamfer on the lower-horn cutaway. Anyways, I'll consult @fleabag to what he reckons

While I ponder on the next stages of the body carve, I made the final version of the pickup cover. I'll send this off to Armstrongs early this coming week: I have to say, making a thin-walled box like this was quite satisfying...

Great job!

That looks splendid!

Is that figuring in the fretboard? Nice, whatever...

You see. Not so painful was it? Sounds pretty stupendous to me. Nice playing, too

Excellent Thanks for posting - even if it is a silent and still movie It looks good!

OK - that's enough for one day. It's a sleep on it and have a look in the morning - especially what best to do with the lower horn and cutaway and the curve of the top horn. Oh - and check with @fleabag that this was what he broadly had in mind Adding a bit of dampness gives a clue to the final depth of colour:

And the body carve starts. This will be a 'carve a bit, stand back, consider, carve a bit more' and will come together little by little. As a start off, @fleabag wants me to see if we can achieve a bevelled edge - a bit like an SG - so that's where I'm starting and see how it looks as the carve develops

Happily for @fleabag's health, this one would be the project AFTER his

Me too

This is interesting. I might have just the project for it!

OK - just to take everyone's mind off the f*****g headstock ( ), I knocked up a quick prototype of the pickup cover the Armstrong custom pickup is going to be built into: The real one will be all purpleheart. It took me a while to understand what Aaron Armstrong and @fleabag had in mind (I'm a bit dense at times) but basically, in the same way as a pickup is often expoxied or waxed into a metal of plastic housing, the pickup innards will be epoxied into this. There will be height adjusting screws in the two end pieces so it should act like a typical soapbar. What I am pleased with is that the purpleheart sliced readily down to 1.5mm for the top and sides and the box seems reassuringly rigid I'll make the final version over the next few days and get it over to Armstrong Pickups for them to build the pickup into it.