No rest in January - Two guitars & a bass [three down!]

[epizootics]

Looks really cool. The pickups sound intriguing, if you can put up some sound samples it would be great. Nothing wrong with low wind pickups, I have some Teisco square poles that measure around 3.3k. I was surprised to find that out, as I have others at around 7k, and the low wind ones don't have as much punch but are not gutless either and have a different quality to them. Somewhere in the Lipstick zone (another nice low wind pickup).

Here's a very quick'n'dirty sample I put together straight after stringing it up to send to my friend (who won't be able to get his guitar until the mess clears up unfortunately) - https://soundcloud.com/model-beirut-rec ... CiLj9hiaj4

You'll find that a lot of those old low-wind pickups use a certain amount of extra metal in their design - brass or steel base plates, metal covers, retainers, etc. The Gretsch HiLoTron is a perfect example:



Those metallic structures are there to guide the magnetic field to and from the inside of the bobbin, but they have the added advantage of increasing the inductance of the pickup, making it both louder and less shrill. It may or may not have been an attempt to save on wire costs. I'd be curious to see price sheets from suppliers at the time.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Damn! That's got a very vintage sound to it! KILLER sounding pickups!!

[Amon 7.L]

You Sir have made a beast of an instrument!!
The sounds that come out of those pickups are just as amazing as the guitar looks!!

Thanks for sharing, top notch work!

[LVC]

Looks and sounds great! And you did most of the building in your flat? That's simply amazing!

[antisymmetric]

- https://soundcloud.com/model-beirut-rec ... CiLj9hiaj4

[marqueemoon]

Sounds great!

[Deed_Poll]

Beautiful work! The lines work very harmoniously with the headstock. Excellent balance.

[hexes]

this is fantastic... thought it sounded a little mosrite-ish on the sound file, now it makes sense the pickups were somewhat modeled after the carvins.

beautiful work.

[epizootics]

Thanks y'all This one really helped me keep my sanity in the first few weeks of the lockdown. While it doesn't fully replace putting on my cleats and working on my seam routes with my QB friend in the park or hiking around the French Alps, guitar making does keep your mind and hands busy.

Looks and sounds great! And you did most of the building in your flat? That's simply amazing!

Well, I *think* this is the 8th guitar I complete in this flat My 'workshop' (ie. the one room with a door in the flat) is a full fat 6m². Overall there is a whole lot more hoovering than woodworking going on in there. I use my angle grinder at the window so as not to ignite the residual sawdust. It can all work with a bit of discipline, but I'm looking forward to getting an actual workshop.

Beautiful work! The lines work very harmoniously with the headstock. Excellent balance.

Thanks Dan! Funny thing is, the forearm contour following the upper horn thing is something I was convinced I had seen in one of your designs, but then I couldn't find any evidence of it. Am I losing my marbles?

[Deed_Poll]

It's possible!

I usually define the join to the body face that way, but I almost always use a very smooth and gradual transition and the line itself is only visible from reflections. There are a couple of exceptions - one St. Vincent style; and one was a version of the Jupiter I designed in which the arm contour raised up *above* the main plane before cresting and sinking back down into the body surface. The shape of the crest was a long, smooth arc inspired by automotive design and that extended up to the bass horn, and curved down on the other side towards the controls - I did a few renders of it at the time but have never made one. It would be possible, but as much work as a fully carved top for the sake of what is a fairly subtle feature! That might be the one you were thinking of

Wonderful work you're doing!

[Deed_Poll]

I found a render of the design feature I was taking about!

[epizootics]

I found a render of the design feature I was taking about!

Oh, yeah, I found this one when I was looking at your designs to see if I had hallucinated that contour. It might be my favorite of yours, from headstock to strap pin. That curve is insane. It fully deserves coming to life - I seriously gawped at it when I saw those renders.


I've gotten off to a slow start on the bass. Prepping the fretboard:



Now, this is the nicest piece of padauk I have in the house. The color both subtle and in-your-face. Hit it with acetone and everything turns bright orange in the shop. It also reacts badly with my eyes and makes me look like a rabbit with myxomatosis.

I wanted to do something slightly over-the-top with the fret markers -



- which was no fun at all. I cut 1/8" sections from a tiny brass tube with my dremel, and fashioned a tiny dowel cutter with a stainless steel spacer to make 3mm dots from a sky blue PVC sheet that will match the body paint. Those dots did not want to leave the cutter - I had to make them one by one and punch them out super carefully. I think I spent four hours total making those.

So here we are:



...which should turn into that...



BTW, the tuner holes are in the wrong place on that picture. I will add a forearm & belly contour, but the one thing I'm unsure of is the roundover radius. 1/4" or 1/2"? The bigger roundover would be more comfortable, but I'm afraid the bass will lose its shape in the process.

[Scout]

Always inspired. Thanks

[solfege]

I think I agree with you re: smaller roundover.

[epizootics]

I think I agree with you re: smaller roundover.

Yup, it seems to be the way to go. I'll save that brand-new 1/2" roundover bit for the guitars. Maybe.

Thinned down the headstock yesterday. I'm pretty much doing everything with hand tools these days, so as not to add router noise to everybody's quarantine woes. There will be plenty of that later anyway