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Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:45 pm
by guitarchuck
Ok, some progress has been made! First off the battery box didn't fit in the tremolo cavity without drilling some of the wood out. I used one of the flip out battery boxes for the Peaver EMG pickup circuit, so the battery can easily be changed. As you can see the back side of the guitar is finished complete with a custom neck plate! Here's some photos of the back, excuse the glare that looks like spots in the finish:
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I've also started some work on the front side. The Kahler hardtail bridge did not cover the tremolo hole like I thought it would. Thankfully they make a adapter plate that does, although you do have to modify it to make it work. The TV Jones Supertron (Chet Atkins '59 CG neck pickup) comes with 4 conductor wiring, so I'm going to use one of the stacked pots to dial one of the coils out from humbucking all the way down to a single coil. This will add even more versatility to the guitar.

Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:51 am
by George Beasley
I just assembled a guitar a few weeks ago. I got the body and neck from Guitar Mill in Murfreesboro TN. The body was finished. The neck was raw. I decided to finish it with pure tung oil. I installed Sperzel locking tuners, TV Jones pickups (TV Classic Plus in the bridge, and a Magnatron (humbucker voiced to sound like a DeArmond single coil) in the neck. The bridge was made by Marc Rutters in California. The brass saddles are straight, but compensated with a string slot cut at different points on the barrel....it intonates very accurately.

Plays great, and sounds good. Looks pretty cool, too....

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Also, for strap buttons, I always liked the oversized Paul Reed Smith buttons. You can buy a set of PRS brand buttons for $25, or you can buy bass string retainers from StewMac for $3.50. Guess which one I did.....

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Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:10 pm
by guitarchuck
Nice guitar George! I finished the neck on mine with tung oil also. I just need some spare time to work on my guitar. It's not going to happen this week!

Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:34 pm
by guitarchuck
It's Finished! The mini switch, switches between the passive pickup (TV Jones Supertron, like in the '59 Country Gentleman, only in a soapbar cover) and the active "Peaver" EMG circuit.

With the mini switch in the up position, you get the TV Jones pickup. The upper knob controls the volume, the middle knob dials one of the coils out to make it a single coil pickup and the bottom knob controls the tone.

With the mini switch in the down position, the "Peaver" circuit is engaged and the top knob controls the volume, the middle knob is the tone control for the middle pickup and the bottom knob is the tone control for the bridge pickup. The lever switch is a three way switch that selects just the middle pickup, both the middle and bridge pickup, and then just the bridge pickup.

Here's some photos, it's hard to take them without getting a glare:
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Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 am
by Drail
That looks great Chuck!! Now the only thing missing is a clip of you playing it!

Re: Building a new guitar

PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:56 am
by awykle
Really looks good Chuck! Congrats!