Here comes Guitar 10

Hi Mosh, nice to hear from you ! 

Ahhh, Status basses. We see a few over here. I think the last time I saw one was at a Suzi Quatro gig (my wife wanted to go. :-) ) Suzi played a bass solo. It was, er, interesting. ;-) 

Headless basses. There are some kits out there, including a very nice looking double neck guitar and bass over at https://www.gitarre-bestellen.de/products/Bass-Bausaetze/E-Gitarren-Bausatz-DIY-Kit-Headless-Double-Neck-Gitarre-Bass.html - the trouble is that most of the kits are (a) probably from China and with dubious manufacturing and (b) unfinished wood. The cost is in the finishing . ;-) 

I'm not really a fan of headless instruments, too old fashioned, I think. ;-) As for five string basses, I've never played one where the tension on the B string was pleasant, they always feel like a rubber band. Plus a lot of tuners won't cope with them (fret 5th, tune to E) - seems the wide neck is a big compromise to hit the lower notes. ;-) 

Guitar 11. Mockup from Fender Custom Shop. 

This is pretty close. Tobacco sunburst body - although I maaaaay get an unfinished body, glue a bookmatched fancy veneer top on and finish it in poly. Roasted maple MiM neck, American standard tuners. Elite string trees. Tusq nut. (That's the formula so far, why change it ?)

And yep, it's a Nashville, but with a difference - the middle pickup is going to be a Telecaster neck pickup and not a Strat one. This means gulp taking a router to the body. However. I want it to sound like a Tele and not a Strat. Custom scratchplate to be made, based around a Blacktop baritone. Black pearl. 

Pickups will be Lindy Fralin Blues, bring money. Bridge - Fender compensated. 5 way Oak Grigsby switch, top hat,  flat top knobs, electrosocket, 250k pots with cloth wiring and Orange Drop capacitors. 

This will be "if the missus doesn't kill me and bury me under the patio". It'll pretty much conclude the guitar collection. I've been thinking of making custom high spec Partscasters as a sideline, but it's frankly tooooooo much hassle. ;-) 




Edited by Davesax1965 - September 30 2022 at 03:18

It works ! Neck not set up yet. Sounds 3xcellent.

https://youtu.be/ESOi3ywbXB8

Nice work Dave! I'm soooo jealous.

Anyway, the specs are:

Fender MiM Pau Ferro neck, 9.50" radius
Kluson 19:1 tuners (modern 2 peg fit)
Tusq nut
No name three ply tortoiseshell scratchplate, 8 screw with front neck pickup adjuster screws
3 piece ash body, 3 colour sunburst, cream binding
US wiring - 250k CTS pots, 47uf Orange Drop caps with 150k treble bleed, CRL 3 way switch, Switchcraft jack
Electrosocket jack plate
Lollar 52 pickups (to follow)
Fender compensated bridge with brass saddles
Schaller strap locks

Some thoughts on the build. In many ways, this has been an easier project than the blue Strat, above. However, I made the classic mistake of mixing US and non US hardware here, meaning some metric and Imperial parts wouldn't fit. It's been an enjoyable build, though. 

By the middle of next month, the pickups will be in and then it's a visit to my brother to hem hem borrow his nut slotting files, and then..... done. ;-)

Next guitar (next year) will either be a Nashville Telecaster or a Jazz bass. Undecided. ;-) 



Edited by Davesax1965 - August 07 2022 at 04:37

Again, you run into problems, this time with the string tree. 

Older Telecasters had a round button string tree set high up on the headstock. (A string tree reduces the break angle of the strings over the nut and makes for better tuning stability.) The problem is that this is a modern neck and putting an old style string tree there might partially obscure the logo, as Fender of course helpfully moved the logo, didn't they ? 

I've got a few alternatives, but they're modern roller string trees, so I might get a "bit of metal plate" one. The whole setup for the neck is going to be done again due to the shimming, so it's really "see what works" after the shimming is done. 

And !! The boss pays the wages late and the shop runs out of honeyburst bodies. Rats. 

So I go for a very nice three colour sunburst body with edge binding instead. ;-)

The neck fits almost perfectly first time, it required two minutes sanding in the neck pocket as it was canted slightly backwards. Strings aligned perfectly. Getting the neck set up is the essential first step as everything hangs off it. 

So ! Everything should be physically together with a few hours work. The neck pickup is stock Fender US, there's a new bridge pickup coming next payday (exactly what to be decided, but probably Seymour Duncan Alnico II) - and the wiring loom, which I'll do myself. I'll put cloth covered wiring and Mullard Tropical Fishtank capacitors in... for a laugh. ;-) 

Tuners are Klusons, but not crappy old vintage, they're a "modern vintage" style which are build for Fender "two locator pin" necks. 19:1 ratio, very nice. The bridge is a proper Fender compensated one with brass saddles. there's an Electrosocket jack going in and some fancy 1952 style dome knobs coming in the post. 

Very happy with it so far. ;-) MiM necks have ludicrously high and difficult to cut nuts, so that's coming off and a Tusq nut going on, plus a vintage "round string tree", most likely. I'll get the Telecaster physically together first and then fine details like setting the neck up and cutting the nut slots properly all come later. 

Davesax1965 wrote: This is what Number 10 will look like. Sort of.

Few changes. This is the neck - Pau Ferro fingerboard, nice, eh ?
The scratchplate will be a tortoiseshell one. 
I might use the Classic tuners as pictured above, may go for American Standards.
Neck - stock Fender.
Bridge - SD Alnico II (of course)
Bridge - again a Fender, but with cutaway sides.
Schaller straplocks.
Metal knurled barrel selector switch.

Well, to summarise, this was Number 9......