my new, finished project
 

well its been ages since ive posted anything here about what ive been upto, i stopped putting any money into cars and found new hobbies you could say. my current project i just bought an old squire telecaster(owned/made by fender) thats got 2 humbucker pickups and a nightmare of wiring job from the guy who put in the new pickups. i gutted the thing and redid all the electronics in it similar to jimmy pages les paul setup(supposabley) and it sounds and plays like a damn dream. considering i paid $30 for a non working guitar with good pickups, and its kinda a low end crap version of a telecaster, just a very nice electronic layout that cost me $50 and a few hrs of soldering, which i took almost full advantage of. i got lucky and the neck is in good shape and the action on it(how hard you have to press and how it feels on the strings) is damn perfect on most parts of the neck. bad part or good part is that i now have 2 working electric guitars and a 3rd non-working one that i know im gonna end up redoing even though i know i should just sell it for what i can.

next for this one is possibly having one of my friends paint (ive got an idea but it needs to peculate a bit still) some airbrush work on it and refinish it. dont know how complex i want to get it since i love simple designs done cleanly

my next project is building one from near scratch. ive got the electronics part figured out, now im gonna try and build a body, and maybe a neck. gonna go all oiled wood

heres the wiring diagram i used, a bit confusing, but after 3 days of studying it i had a good grasp on what was going on

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUHH3T2204

and heres a picture of the guitar... my new baby

and of course now that all my friends know i can do this ive already fixed 2 of their guitars, and i know a few more who want/need work done.

Good shit man..... I really need to do this on my Washburn as well, since the volume control has been acting up alot.....

its simple man, real simple. i was supprised. it takes more confidence in your soldering than electronical knowledge(i think). that site i used for my wiring schematics has tons of other ones, one that probobly fits yours if when you pull it out its not obvious whats loose and what needs to be fixed. and if you need to replace the volume pot(the actual electronic part) they are like 3 or 4 dollars for the standard ones you'd need. what kind of washburn is it? ive got a washburn bass i like alot even though its a lower end model

btw im getting pretty dead set on trying to make a guitar body from scratch. im gonna be back home for the week here either tomorrow or thursday so im gonna see what tools i still have laying around and what i can figure out. there should be a router, which is really all i'd need, but we'll see

Thats awesome man. I've never really messed with the electronics on my guitars, haven't really had a reason to. I've looked at it though and it doesn't look overly difficult. Congrats on the redo! Making a body from scratch would be pimp. Keep us posted if you do.

well i came back to my moms house for the weekend and i found:

1.5hp router (only 1 bit, and not what i need)
nice heavy ass wood plane
bunch of C clamps (for gluing stuff together)
rasps and files

and.....


a bunch of high quality scrap mahogany from a 6 ft table she had built a few years ago. i havnt seen the wood yet but i know its all at her art studio and its thick and should be ample to at least make a 2 or 3 piece body. 1 would be ideal but i doubt imma find a 13x2x20 peice there. never know though. im so pumped about it... i'll take pics and document the whole thing. im not putting a drop of paint on the guitar. all oil and stain, maybe not even stain. ive got 4000 ideas right now and all are as good(in my mind) as the rest so ive godda really draw and plan this thing out. ive decided on cannibalizing the electronics in the black one if this works out since in all honesty the black one, as good as it plays, is cheaply made.

hard question now is do i want to attempt to make a neck or buy one.... man i wana get this rollin asap

picked up sandpaper, router bits, steel wool, lint seed oil... project is rolling

got the wood, looks like imma make a 3 piece body. beautiful mahogany. might do a maple flame top since its about 1/4 of an inch thinner than i wanted. but i think maple front with a mahogany back(light and dark, respectivly) will look real good, and match my acoustic for that matter...

Dude I can't wait to see this thing when you get done with it.

wow its been 2 months since i "started" this. ive got the wood stripped down but its not square, so i have to go by a wood shop to have it professionally done, and probobly glued together since im not spending $200 on the clamps i need. but im getting a rosewood neck with an ebony fretboard for it i think. im gonna go with a natural top, leaning away from flame maple as its too... i dunno showy almost. might do koa or something a bit darker and less common for guitar tops.

Lets see some updated pics. The project looks nice.

:wtf: Pics! Pics! Pics!!

ok ok ... the body blank is together. as soon as i figure out how to get pictures off my phone i'll have em up here, or if i find batteries for my camera. im also getting either a goncalo alves(type of wood) or canary wood neck with a rosewood fingerboard... custom made to my specs. no dots, no inlays, no hard urethane finish. natural wood, natural feel. yay so excited. im torn as to what type of top i want on it as the blank is 1/4 inch thinner than i need, and about a 1/2 inch thinner than i want.

found batteries... herse what i got going.

the 3 piece blank is the mahogany, its got one little knot on it, but its gonna be the back of the guitar, and it gives it some character

and earlier today i went to an exotic woods store and picked up some bookmatched birdseye maple.

need to do some work to get everything smooth but damn its gonna be sexy.

i saw this thread on the first page, figured i'd update it to give us some activity since its well almost a year old.. haha



ive done a ton of research and built one, working on my second. the first one was made for under $120, and a few pickups i had from other guitars. its a pine body, maple/maple/oak/maple/maple laminated neck(grain flips/laminates help stabilize the neck) couple cool little wiring things i did to it, no pickup selector switch, im using a blend potentiometer(knob) to fade between pickups..... and heres a few pictures...

more

the last one is first shaping of the new body, ive taken a little more off, making it a bit mroe aggressive looking, but not much.

Wow man, great work, that looks REALLY nice!

Oh man...I remember building guitars when I was in high school. I suck at wiring, but that always came easy to me with guitars for some reason. It was the woodworking that messed me up. Couldn't do it these days even if I wanted to...after my dad died my mom sold all of his shop equipment. Oh well...Ibanez and Fender can build shit for me anyway.

I'd like another guitar, but I just dropped a bunch of money on an MPC1000 and I'm looking at getting a new car so guitars are gonna have to wait.

heh i own 6 or 7 playable ones, maybe 8 or 9 if you count unfinished projects. i already have a few orders for $1000+ once i get 4 or 5 made and they are coming out on part with american fender quality. im offering my friends $100 over cost to help me learn to make them. i figure $250+ for a custom made "anything goes" guitar is worth it. and theres a good chance its going to be top quality since im trying my damnest to learn to do this right. i however need to quit getting attached to them and sell them to pay for studio time for my album that should be finished mid july.

Damn, I'm half tempted to buy one. Never know.. It maybe worth millions someday. Seriously though.. I really am tempted if you're willing and get caught up.

haha thanks man, millions might be pushing it, but once im happy to put my name on them i will let you know.

Sounds like a deal to me. I know quite a few guys that play. I'll let them have a whack at it. You might find more orders coming.. :yup:

and of course now that all my friends know i can do this ive already fixed 2 of their guitars, and i know a few more who want/need work done.

Great work on the guitar.

It still looks antique-like, but really well-refurbished.

Great :hmmm:

Hi, your new guitar look cool! I am an English teacher teaching in Shanghai and a student of mine plays the guitar well. He often performs in some important events at school.