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Finished! Swiftbird? Fireswift? Supermaween Swiftfire?


Andyjr1515

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Well, on the final furlong.

 

Basically, the finishing is finished and now just have to do the shielding, fretwork, electrics and final assembly/setup.  The final stages of ebony sand-only and alder/maple Tru-oil slurry-and-buff is coming out nicely:

jqyuuwwl.jpg

 

2GIiuCel.jpg

 

BOAtCrKl.jpg

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All getting very, very close  :)

 

- Pickup rings are fixed

- Hatch and trussrod cover magnets are in

- shielding done

- bridge earthed

- pots, jack plate and switch in place (not wired up yet)

- spacer/nut shaped ready for final slotting

- luminlay side dots fitted

- strap buttons fitted

 

All being well, the next two days should see it finished and playable.

 

Here's how it's looking (ignore the overage on the two strings - the final set of fitted strings will be clipped):

mCxCs4sh.jpg

 

m962zw0h.jpg

 

E8qHevwh.jpg

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And...it's finished!!!!   :D

 

The 'last few jobs' always turn out to be a 'myriad of final jobs.  Anyway, all sorted.  I'm passing it across to Alex tomorrow - I will try and get him to do a bit of recording at one of their band practices but, in the meantime, you'll have to trust me when I say it sounds great  :) 

 

Although it is just a small wiring change and no hardware change, I've opted NOT to go for the P-rails standard wiring system which gives: Full series humbucker; parallel humbucker; P90; Rails.  I've used that system in a number of my own gigging guitars and I found that:

- the fact that both pickups are always in the same configuration for the four options is actually, ironically, quite limiting.  I was always hankering for, such as, 'neck pickup full series humbuck for the depth, mixed with bridge pickup in split coil mode to add a bit of extra treble and dispel any muddiness' and similar

- I also never, in practice, used the rails by themselves...not enough ooomph

- and I never, in practice, used the humbuckers in parallel...not enough depth

 

I talked that through with Alex and, for kickoff, we decided to have a standard split coil option for both pickups where the operating coil in each case was the P90.  So he can go full series humbucker with 3 way options, P90 with 3 way options and one (either) pickup P90 and the other series humbucker.  It's a 30 minute job to change the wiring to the 'P-rail standard' options if he wants to try that in the future.  

 

Anyway, here are some of the arty-farty finished pics:

KDEFIb9h.jpg

 

D9BRu33l.jpg

 

oQ1fChll.jpg

 

cebiECul.jpg

 

KPyYQDjl.jpg

 

302nMAml.jpg

 

S441DYll.jpg

 

C4u83sll.jpg

 

Many thanks for looking and for your kind comments - in spite of the fact that it is another one from 'the dark side'.  It's hugely appreciated  :)

 

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  • Andyjr1515 changed the title to Finished! Swiftbird? Fireswift? Supermaween Swiftfire?
9 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

Stunning!  The contrast.  The contours.  The textures.

There’s something rather beautiful about the contours and textures, particularly that ebony top. Just begging to be caressed. 😳

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Wow, fabulous and utterly stunning.

 

I'm somewhat pleased that I will never be good enough to play such a fabulous guitar, I could never do it justice, so there's absoutely no point in me having it. My mediocrity saves me here.

 

There's nothing else I can say. It's a work of art.


Rob

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Someone needs to commission a bass version of this. It would be a normally fretted, artisan version of the Dingwall D’Bird. 
 

30 minutes ago, rwillett said:

I'm somewhat pleased that I will never be good enough to play such a fabulous guitar, I could never do it justice, so there's absoutely no point in me having it. My mediocrity saves me here.

Ah, but this could be the instrument to inspire and enable you to become the player you dream of being ;) (enabler, moi? :D ).

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7 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Someone needs to commission a bass version of this. It would be a normally fretted, artisan version of the Dingwall D’Bird. 
 

Ah, but this could be the instrument to inspire and enable you to become the player you dream of being ;) (enabler, moi? :D ).

I'd love to commision a bass version of this, would £75 be enough, I could go to £100 if I push the boat out. I can try and sell one of the kids again, but each time I do this, the buyer comes back and demands a refund.

 

In all seriousness, I'd just hang it on the wall on a rotating peg and just look at it. Some people pay seriously silly money for art. To me, this is just as good. I'm very much in the form follows function camp, Bauhaus and all that stuff. This blows that principle out the water.


Rob

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3 hours ago, rwillett said:

I'd love to commision a bass version of this, would £75 be enough, I could go to £100 if I push the boat out. I can try and sell one of the kids again, but each time I do this, the buyer comes back and demands a refund.

 

In all seriousness, I'd just hang it on the wall on a rotating peg and just look at it. Some people pay seriously silly money for art. To me, this is just as good. I'm very much in the form follows function camp, Bauhaus and all that stuff. This blows that principle out the water.


Rob

Ian Allison on SBL refers to this kind of thing as double art. The instrument itself is a work of art and it can be used to create more art. 

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It is sublime.

 

Beautiful work.

 

I've enjoyed watching your builds in my time on this forum and seeing your craftsmanship.

The attention to details and the use of hand tools are a joy to watch.

Thank you for sharing your craft and explaining what you do and why the tool you use is the right choice for the job at hand.

 

I marvelled at the semi-hollow guitar (or was it all hollow) guitar you built earlier. It had such a serious depth to it, a visual weight - I don't know how to explain what I mean, but I was taken back to my mind as a child I think, and my first unconsciouss thought was "Medicine Man". (I was into native Americans you see).

 

This build carries the same visual weight or perhaps depth is a better word, (I'm not English (obviously) so I lack the vocabulary).

 

Beautiful and as others have said tactile. It's not often I see photos and have a yearning to touch it. I bet it plays as good as I looks.

 

Congratulations to you Andyjr1515 and to the owner. Thank you again for sharing. I'll be lurking😉

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
1 hour ago, mrbacco said:

Why not 3R+3L pegs+tuners on the head? Any tech reason behind your choice?

Yes - there was a reason.   It was to do with the width of the Steinberger units and keeping straight string runs with a narrow, short headstock (leastways compared with the original) and trying to keep as much of the weight nearest the nut to minimise any neck-dive.

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4 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - there was a reason.   It was to do with the width of the Steinberger units and keeping straight string runs with a narrow, short headstock (leastways compared with the original) and trying to keep as much of the weight nearest the nut to minimise any neck-dive.

 

I thought about the thin headstock reason, but I was not sure, I did not think about neck dive, thanks for the answer! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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