Holy Craparoni - 1966 Klira Star Club Schematic and controls

[theworkoffire]

Holy craparoni... I just noticed that every single damn thing installed into those control plates is totally different from stock! (Okay, so I'm slow. What of it!?)

What does the guitar look like all put together? Can you take us through what all those esoteric knobs and dials do?

By popular demand...

[Stereordinary]

Awesome!  You should get templates made from it and be the one guy in the world that can make custom-ordered Klira Star Club clones!  Even I'd order one!

[theworkoffire]

Good plan, though after each body rout my workshop would look like this:

[Stereordinary]

You could always modify the body route to remove less wood.  I know I would.

[Mighty Tom]

lol... Well now I feel special. In a short bus kind of way.

Thanks for sharing. The one I played was made in the same year.

[theworkoffire]

Just adding a few more pictures I shot today:






I've been toying with the idea of retro-fitting blocks and binding, or at least just binding, to this. When I got it the neck was severely twisted, and I ended up removing the old fretboard, sanding the neck flat, then fitting a new board. I used a 25.5" board with the nut where the first fret was to make it just over 24" scale. The bridge radius is only 16", so I used a 10-16" compound board.  I need to re-fret it anyway - I rushed it a bit when I fitted the new fretboard and didn't have the right tools and experience to make a perfect job. Things are different now, so it seems like an interesting opportunity, and since it's a new fretboard anyway, it feels like I've got nothing to lose.

Stupid?
Unneccessary?
Worthwhile?

[Gordon]

I wondered... What kind of pot is the swell ot? Does it have a spring in it or something, or does it stay at the place you leave it?

[theworkoffire]

I wondered... What kind of pot is the swell ot? Does it have a spring in it or something, or does it stay at the place you leave it?

It's just a normal 1meg pot with the lever drilled through the shaft - you can just about see it in the horribly blurred picture of the guts above. There's a spring that goes from the lever to the screw in the pickguard just above. You can pull on the lever with your little finger to bring it up to full volume and it springs back down to the lower volume when you let go.

[Gordon]

Thanks. It gives me some ideas...

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Any chance you could make some soundclips of all the different settings?

[theworkoffire]

Ok - I'll see what I can do...

[Stereordinary]

Any chance you wanna send me one of the white roller knobs, so I can make copies of it? 

[theworkoffire]

Any chance you wanna send me one of the white roller knobs, so I can make copies of it? 

I'll have a look when I take it apart to do the re-fret/binding, but the pots are integrated into the knobs, which are held onto the shaft just with a tiny split washer. Any damage to either the pot innards or the knobs and it's completely screwed, so I'd have to be sure I wasn't going to jeopardise it in any way.

So in theory, yes, but the practice might be a little different...I'll let you know. 

[Stereordinary]

You don't really have to, I was mostly kidding.  I already have a plan for making white plastic roller knobs.  But copies of those would probably be pretty cool, just to give folks more options.  I'll let you decide if you think it's worth it.

[theworkoffire]

ok