Humbuckers? Single coils?

I've been researching pickups all day!

I want to make my own. StewMac has kits for it, but, again, I want to do it myself. That's no reason I cant use their wonderful diagrams to build my own, though, is it?

I would like to put P90 sized humbuckers in the Jazzmaster/Jaguar guy. I think it would be really neat. So I'll need to figure that out. Utilizing StewMac and TV Jones...I think it is possible. Granted, I am not going to be able to count my winds, as I plan to use a drill for winding. Maybe I can figure out how to rig up a simple counter to it, but I'm going to doubt it. We have some of those distance measuring wheels at the school....maybe I could appropriate one.

But I know it is possible to have p90buckers...look at these offerings from TV Jones.


They look fantastic in cream! (I think if I make mine I might make wood covers out of something pretty....)

What the hell is Ipe?

Okay, so a lot has been going on, and I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with everything.

First and foremost, my birthday came and went - and Liz bought a PS3 for me!! She is fantastic.

Second, before my birthday (7/19), I finished cutting out the body of the Jazzmaster. Check it out below...

Third, a good friend, Mr. Michael Florio, said to me when I started using the workshop, "Hey, I have all of these Ipe scraps everywhere - If you want to use it, go for it." So, I investigated the wood a bit.

It is an exotic used for decking, typically, as it has a natural insect resistance. It is also used for outdoor furniture. The wood is not particularly easy to work but is a good wood nonetheless. You can read about it at the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabebuia
http://www.ballurio.com/BG/BGCShopOnFingerboards.shtml

So, guess what? I decided I'd give it a try! It sure beats paying through the nose for a blank of something else, wouldn't you say?

Here it is in it's out-of-focus glory.

I cut it on the old table saw to width, then used the band saw to get it down to thickness and get rid of some surface imperfections. Then came the hard part - planing... I had to plane both sides to get it pretty flat, and my blank measures in at around 19.5".

When I planed the blank, I colored it with a pencil to see where the high/low spots were as I planed. It's tough to see, but there is a picture.

I also cut my maple neck to length today. I need to figure out at what angle I want the neck to taper (how thick I want it at the neck pickup and nut) and then cut it to size. Also, I need to add a truss rod channel before gluing on the fingerboard.

Here are both pieces sitting on some cork...

From a design standpoint, I also did a bit of work today. I didn't have any original ideas for a headstock, and wanted something simple and timeless. I went for a take on the old parallelogram style headstocks on Epis and Gibsons and thinned it out a bit...adding a bit of my own pizazz. Let me know what you think - I am still not sure if the site is letting other post comments. Those of you with my email please let me know if they are not.

Enjoy!

The Night's Templates

Here's the process before cutting it down to size....

Step 1: Print out your pieces and cut them a bit down.



Step 2: Line up, cut out, tape together, and glue onto poster board.



Step 3: Make sure your dog is occupied chasing shadows on the floor. Very important!



Step 4: Cut out poster board, and voila! Templates for bodies. Must measure them though to make sure it's all copacetic.






Then, go check on your body blank...







Looks good. Can't wait to ruin it! Er, cut out the body.

Stay tuned...

The Passat rimshot.

The first order of business today is to take my car to an auto parts place so I can have a check engine code read. Then figure out how to get it fixed. After that, maybe I'll have time to do more guitar work.

Here's what I did last night, pre-car episode.



First, I got on the old table saw and cut up my Sipo. Four pieces...




22" long (ish) by 17" wide.

I then proceeded to glue two of them into one single guitar blank.



That's a lot of glue! But the last thing I want is this thing falling apart. For the sake of trademarking and such, I used a wood glue that starts with "T"...and ends with "itebond."

I then got to clamping. And everyone knows what you get when you clamp two things that are glued together, right?



Seepage! SEEPAGE! I drink your milkshake! Initially, I decided to use four clamps, and some scrap wood I found in the scrap bin, to hold this thing together. After the initial gluing showed a minuscule gap in the middles of the edges that weren't clamped, I went up to 6 clamps. That seems to work well.



Nice, huh? I hope it comes out okay.

I then proceeded to head upstairs and print off my templates. To print them full scale, I had to tile print them with overlap. Then I'll stick them together using tape. I may even tape them to a piece of poster board for added stability.

That's it for now folks. Off to get the car fixing started, so it may be this evening or it may be days before the next posting. Stay tuned!

I think I fixed the comments section. If you leave an anonymous comment or a comment not linked to an account as a follower, I will delete it without posting it.

Cheers!

Calculon

New Futurama episodes = happiness!

I know that many people think The Simpsons is funnier, but I disagree. We'll just leave it at that.

My calculations say that I will need four 22" long pieces of the Sipo. I'll be laminating them one atop the other.

Tomorrow, I measure twice and cut once. The official build begins!

I've got wood.

I went to Kellogg Hardwoods today, finally! David and Sarah (Liz's brother and his girlfriend) were here all last week, so there went the best laid plans of mice and men...

But it is done now.

I purchased a piece of mahogany for bodies and a piece of maple for necks. The mahogany is a bit on the thin side (13/16") so I will be laminating two pieces together for bodies. Which is really perfect because I wanted to do a semi-hollow with the mighty Gretsch-esque anyway.

Check it out...



The above pieces are the wood! Wood is pricey! I spent a fair bit on it - a little over $100. I did get some big pieces, as you'll see later.




This is the maple that I'm using for the neck. Pretty nifty, eh?



This is Sipo Mahogany. At $12/ board foot, it isn't the cheapest lady at the dance, but it sure is pretty! I feel almost blasphemous painting this.



I told you it was a lot of wood! The maple is about 7' long, while the Sipo clocks in at just over 8'. See the look on my face? I'm either (a) pained at spending that much on two boards or (b) trying to figure out if the timer function is working on the camera. Which do you think?

Now let's see some measurements. I put the camera away and got out the iPhone for this next bit, so hopefully it isn't too grainy. I promise to rig up the camera and the tripod in future, but I was a bit excited about actually starting this project.

So first, the maple...



It's about 4.75" wide, but not quite...hmmm - I have some options here. I could try to save as much as possible by ripping it down the middle, and probably get a ridiculous quantity of necks out of it. How wide is a neck again at the base? I'll have to check my drawings. Of course, this is my guitar, and I can do what I want I suppose.


Now, on to the Sipo:




Here is the width! 17"! Damn!

The length is -



- 97". 8' 1", for those that can't do the math or are lazy and on summer vacation.

One thing I forgot to tell you is this...



CRAP! I huge check! I have to lose about 4" of wood due to this. To make sure it doesn't continue, I think I'll use a really thin blade on a jigsaw. I didn't see any circular saws lying around.

I was going to do the math tonight, but I think I'll do it tomorrow. Time to play some Wii, or maybe just go to bed!

UPCOMING: Measurements and project start! Yippee!