Introducing "Selena".

Well, here she is folks:

Since I've been last on the blog, I have been working feverishly to complete her! Various soldering cock ups, crossed wires and cosmetic changes have taken up much of my time aside from work. But we found a way as you do to compete her and as you can see, she looks great. I even managed to add my secret push/pull tone pot to put her middle pickup out of phase.

All well and good! But does she cut the mustard tonally? See for yourself here:

This is just an example of the in phase and out of phase comparison when used with distortion. I used my usual recording set up:

 

Ashes to ashes

Unfortunately, I had an accident whilst decorating the guitar. Upon adding the final coat of varnish, the string that held her gave way and she landed right on her base resulting in a huge crack that ran more than half way up the body, that not even the most gifted luthier could repair. She went straight on the fire. At least I got a use for her even though I am massively gutted. The body is easily replaceable, but the time and care I put into preparing her is not.

But I am a glass half full kind of guy, most of the time, and while I search up a replacement body, I will be experimenting with her electronics. Namely wiring her middle middle pick up with an out of phase option, via a push pull tone pot, like a hidden magic trick! The operation is simple enough (The Internet is a marvellous teaching tool, you know) and I am looking forward to indulging my inner electronics nerd a little. Only one pickup will be out of phase as the effect is essentially an in phase pickup "fighting" with the out of phase pickup, which essentially leaves the artefacts or "leftovers" of the original tone. I chose the middle pickup as with the use of her five way switch I can get out of phase sounds with a neck and middle or middle and bridge combo.

Opinion is divided on the sounds. Being of a honking, nasal nature, it's pretty much a love/hate thing. I personally love it. Especially as it cuts through a heavy mix. You can hear a great example of the neck and middle out of phase sound here from 1.00 to 1.11:

Guitar DIY Pt. V

So it appears my Burns "Brian May signature" Tri-sonic pickups will be delivered tomorrow, early morning! This is the size comparison:

Small bit of routing required, as already covered. I think my better half is struggling to cope with my unbearable over excitement as the time draws closer. So if she reads this, "I'm sorry!"  :)

Guitar DIY Pt. IV

So, I messed up the finish. True to form and my short attention span, I rushed the job and made the mistake of using two varnishes. One slow drying, one fast drying. This caused awful cracking and bubbling. So I bit my lip, stripped the varnish, sanded her down and am now between applying coats of primer. So that was an unfortunate but necessary learning curve.

It's not all doom and gloom. I have finished the rest of the guitar. Just added the tuning pegs etc today. I completed the artwork yesterday and gave it a coat of varnish. It was meant to be a reflection of the pickguard and while it is a close approximation, I like to think I was unconsciously channelling my love of Antoni Gaudi's artwork as well. At least something is going right! Lol

My pick ups will not arrive until next week so I will concentrate on getting the guitar finish perfect until then. On another note, an over abundance of primer has brought out the artistic side of my better half. Something she has become quite the expert at is the art of "ageing" furniture. She sanded down a mahogany headboard and is looking to create an antiquing effect, a sort of aged white effect - like looking at old white victorian furniture. Already primed and ready to go. We are getting very arty these days!

DIY Guitar Pt. III

So I've been busy with the finish for the guitar today. The pieces were delivered and I started work immediately.

A pretty standard strat model. It came with the stock hardware but with exception to the wiring connections and the volume and tone pots, the rest is all surplus.

The finish is amateur but it's what I like. The human factor, it looks more organic. I bought some bright red acrylic spraypaint and gave her several coats. This is her right now after a first coat of clear gloss varnish.

I was going to shape the headstock, but there is something that appeals to me, with the hard edges. And I also have more surface area to work with. I masking taped her edges, sprayed a couple of coats of red, ruled a black marker through the rough edges and hand painted several coats of a silver acrylic base on the rest.

Again it's a little rough around the edges but I bought some more acrylic paint, a tasty selection of greens.

 
I will (with the help of my better half) be adding these, in a feathered fashion, to the silver headstock in an effort to replicate the green pearl effect of the pickguard. Still waiting on the delivery of my Brian May signature tri-sonics, the excitement  builds.

DIY Guitar Pt. II

Just a little update on my endeavours. Actually I have nothing exciting to post as I am confined to waiting on parts to arrive. But some things are exciting to me. Such as winning a bid on ebay after a three day battle. It was intense but worth it. This guitar will be a mixture of three things. My two joint biggest guitar influences and of course my muse. I have chosen to create a strat type model in tribute to Rory Gallagher. The overall colour scheme and eventual title I give to this guitar will be heavily influenced by my (much) better half and the electronics are in tribute to Brian May. Thank you ebay. It will involve a lot of work and routing but it will be worth it. Can't wait to get started.

DIY Guitar Pt. I

So now that we are well into January, I am taking on a new project, specifically a DIY guitar! Having been unexpectedly gifted holidays next week, I have decided to devote my spare time to creating my dream guitar or at least my idea of one.

It won't be created from scratch. I have been feverishly hovering over this very netbook on ebay, clicking, typing, screaming, crying, eating etc. You get the picture. Anyway to get myself ahead, I have procured a cheap strat diy kit but am sourcing the hardware individually online. As the stock pickups are not worth a fart in the wind and am currently waging a war against several individuals for the "dream" pickups so to speak.

My stepdad taught me well, as he made sure I had half an idea when it comes to wiring in all shapes and sizes in various appliances so I'm pretty confident as to what I can do! At the moment I am limited to drawing diagrams, whether I might put an "out of phase" option in there, but as it's my first attempt I'll most likely give it a standard strat 3 single coil wiring with no fancy wiring. I won't be starting until next week and that will (most likely) involve just painting, chiselling and creating a shape for the headstock. All I have at the moment is the pickguard/scratchplate. A Green Pearl effect.

Which will require some modification to accomodate the pickups I'm currently bidding for. But for now the ebay battle wages on and the retail uberlords hail me to work.