Monday 12 December 2011

Rounding Off The Edges

I spent a couple of hours yesterday with a file, rounding off the square edges that the rasping created - reasonably easy going although obviously a fair bit of care required. I'm very happy with the results, in a little over two hours I managed to do all the bits round the front of the body:




The back of the body will have to wait for another day, and clearly it'll all need a bit of tidying up with various grades of sandpaper after that, but the main part of the job (on the front at least) is done. Still finding my way with all this woodworking stuff, but I'm really happy with how it's going so far!
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous14 December 2011 at 17:05

    Congratulations, Steve! I am satisfied for you, I find your remarkable work, continue in this way! Big kisses, Pauline Moreira.

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  2. Steve14 December 2011 at 23:20

    Merci Pauline!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Daniel Bottacin19 January 2012 at 13:20

    Hi Steve,
    Hey I just discovered this hobby of yours!
    It is absolutely great! Will you only work on bass guitars or do you plan to work on electric guitars as well?
    I am currently very intested in the addition of functionalities with the pick-ups such as implemented on Jimmy Page's Les Paul: commutation from Humbuckers to Single coils, Resversing the phase between bridge and neck pick-ups...
    Congratulation for your work!!

    Daniel (Kim's Hubby!!)

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  4. Steve25 January 2012 at 21:46

    Hi Daniel - thanks for commenting!

    I definitely plan to work on 6-string guitars as well as basses, I'm keen to try as many different things as possible really. My plan after I finish this bass is to do one or two "kit" guitars (the Saga ones look quite good) for the experience then try some more complicated projects.

    The electrics are very interesting, I'm hoping to try some different things on future projects. In fact I have an old Encore electric guitar that might be a prime candidate for some pickup experimentation :-) I actually found this a while back: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/ - perhaps it might be interesting/useful for you? I'm sure there's a wealth of information out there on the internet too.

    I really ought to put another post up on here, since I actually managed to do some work on it on Sunday!

    Steve

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    Replies
    1. Daniel Bottacin28 January 2012 at 19:33

      Hi Steve,
      Thanks for the link. It is very exhaustive and therefore very interesting.
      Do you know this one?: http://www.1728.org/guitar.htm In particular this one: http://www.1728.org/guitar9.htm which describes a "Jimmy page" style wiring with many different pickups configurations.
      This is not the "Les Paul Jimmy Page #2" but it is close. I have found a bad quality diagram for the #2 that I am currently checking. I will update you.

      By the way it is a great idea to try your pickup experimentation on this old guitar. I will be particulary interested when you will have reached this point!!

      Daniel

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  5. Steve28 January 2012 at 23:55

    Wow, there's a lot of info on there! I think there can be a risk of making it *too* complicated though, and ending up with a lot of combinations that you may never actually use. But then maybe I'm just used to my Ibanez Apex 2, which has just a 3-way switch and a single volume control for its H-H pickups :-) I suppose the old Encore would be a good chance to try something with loads of combinations, so I can figure out what I like and would use.

    I'm definitely interested to play around with some of this stuff though, and see what comes of it. Things like phase switching, the "solo" switch and a "kill" switch (a simple on/off switch) are things I would like to try.

    Steve

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  6. Daniel Bottacin30 January 2012 at 13:52

    Hi Steve,
    when you have some time try these links:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyMP-ljaGXk -> You can hear the sound differences between various combinations of pickups using the "Jimmy Page style" wiring.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCjFRsws1M -> An other demo for the "Jimmy Page #2
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSz5vD9Dho -> The Maestro's voice about his guitar.
    The diagram shown in http://www.1728.org/guitar9.htm does not change the appearance of the guitar. It just requires 2 "4 wires" humbuckers and 4 "push-pull" potentiometres.
    It offers most of the different sounds and any 2 humbuckers/2 Volume controls/2 Tone controls guitar can be easily transformed.
    The #2 with all possible combinations requires in addition 2 DPDT switches that Jimmy page has installed just under the Pick-guard of his Les Paul.
    This one requires a bit more work, but who cares if you have planned it in your own guitar design ;-) ...

    Daniel

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    Replies
    1. Steve30 January 2012 at 20:32

      There's definitely a lot of variation in the sounds there, I like that about it, and it'd certainly be an interesting project - that side of it certainly appeals to me. From a playing perspective I like the idea of having all the combinations available but I'm not sure I (as a fairly limited guitarist!) would fully use the wide range available though, I'm quite lazy with that sort of thing!

      Steve

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