What's on your workbench right now?

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by countertext » Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:49 pm

Dr Tony Balls wrote:
Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:33 am
All the parts for a modified Blonde Showman build except arguably the most important part: THE CHASSIS.
Just bolt a row of pedal enclosures together!

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:25 pm

Adjusted saddle height and set intonation on my Strat today. So much better.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:01 am

Gimme Glitter!
Image

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this will receive about 20 coats of clear over the course of the next 2 weeks to level the glitter, then cure for 3 weeks before sanding, polishing and assembly.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hexes » Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:28 pm

hulakatt wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:02 pm

Image
just when I was beginning to consider MJT again for a finish, their wear patterns make absolutely ZERO sense to me. That and the fact they will bend over backward to nail a color for some clients, but absolutely refuse to even try for new customers.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hulakatt » Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:37 pm

hexes wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:28 pm
just when I was beginning to consider MJT again for a finish, their wear patterns make absolutely ZERO sense to me. That and the fact they will bend over backward to nail a color for some clients, but absolutely refuse to even try for new customers.
Huh. I've bought several bodies from MJT, both already finished ones from eBay and to order. I've been happy with 7 out of the 8 and I suspect I'm just really picky about teles. I've heard of others not being happy with them, either their work or their communications during custom work but it's not been my experience.

I've heard good things about BloomDoom. Iirc, it's an ex-MJT employee that struck out on his own and is doing good work. Has a bunch of bodies lister on Reverb.
She/Her

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:12 am

hexes wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 7:28 pm
hulakatt wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:02 pm

Image
just when I was beginning to consider MJT again for a finish, their wear patterns make absolutely ZERO sense to me. That and the fact they will bend over backward to nail a color for some clients, but absolutely refuse to even try for new customers.
I feel like relics are just a cover for incompetence; my own experience with making a relic confirms that.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hulakatt » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:29 am

Not a guitar but a small repair on an old Mosrite fuzzRITE. So, at thanksgiving, an older family member asked me if I could repair an old fuzz of his. In the 70's, he was at a concert and the bass player was using this fuzz but it was acting intermittent and temperamentalso he removed it from his signal chain and chucked into the audience in a fit of rage. My family member managed to grab it. Took it home and it didn't work so he put it in his workbench drawer and forgot about it until we started talking about old fuzzes. He brought it to christmas and left it with me to repair.

2 broken solder connections, a bad battery clip, crusted switches and missing screws and feet.

I'll take some more pics of the finished fuzz but this is how it came to me.

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Last edited by hulakatt on Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
She/Her

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hulakatt » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:34 am

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:12 am
I feel like relics are just a cover for incompetence; my own experience with making a relic confirms that.
I had a Sherwood Green strat body from MJT for a long time and the only relicing done to it was a light finish checking. It was a beautiful body and very well finished. I have seen a lot of relic bodies that were badly finished first and I've seen some that were very well finished first. Relicing doesn't cover up bad finish work but it does distract from it.
She/Her

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:41 am

love fuzzrites. i've built a few of them and they're always lots of fun.
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hulakatt » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:52 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:41 am
love fuzzrites. i've built a few of them and they're always lots of fun.
I put more pics up in the vintage restorations sub! I love fuzzRITEs and have few clones myself.
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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hexes » Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:11 pm

hulakatt wrote:
Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:37 pm

Huh. I've bought several bodies from MJT, both already finished ones from eBay and to order. I've been happy with 7 out of the 8 and I suspect I'm just really picky about teles. I've heard of others not being happy with them, either their work or their communications during custom work but it's not been my experience.

I've heard good things about BloomDoom. Iirc, it's an ex-MJT employee that struck out on his own and is doing good work. Has a bunch of bodies lister on Reverb.
i realized i was a lot more harsh in writing than my thoughts. i have seen amazing MJT work. a lot of it. HNB always scores big. I just do question some of the stuff lately that’s come out. if I found a body for a good price I could forgive my nitpicks. if I were commissioning one, though, I’d be more wary about it meeting my needs.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hexes » Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:17 pm

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:12 am

I feel like relics are just a cover for incompetence; my own experience with making a relic confirms that.
i can see that. plus, business move in saving a fuck up and still turning a profit.

I gave up on my first two guitar bodies for small errors that seem widely acceptable these days. I’m extremely hard on myself for minute flaws.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by JSett » Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:01 pm

Today I put Chromes Flats on my acoustic (thanks Telliot) and fresh strings on all the others. Set up the Jazzmaster in a new alternative tuning (Db, Ab, Db, Ab, Db, F) and retubed/biased the Hot Rod Deluxe.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:26 pm

hexes wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:17 pm
Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:12 am

I feel like relics are just a cover for incompetence; my own experience with making a relic confirms that.
i can see that. plus, business move in saving a fuck up and still turning a profit.

I gave up on my first two guitar bodies for small errors that seem widely acceptable these days. I’m extremely hard on myself for minute flaws.
This one was in the way to turning out perfectly, when I accidentally sanded through the clear coat and scuffed the glitter. I was faced with either stripping it and doing it all over, or doing my first relic. Doing a relic was the path of least resistance. I will say, however, that relic-ing is also its own art form in a way… they’re not my thing, but it was kinda fun, although I didn’t have the heart to really dig into the finish, I just gave it some light scuffs on the top.
Image

I did have an offer to buy it that was hard to resist.

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Re: What's on your workbench right now?

Post by hulakatt » Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:37 pm

hexes wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:11 pm
i realized i was a lot more harsh in writing than my thoughts. i have seen amazing MJT work. a lot of it. HNB always scores big. I just do question some of the stuff lately that’s come out. if I found a body for a good price I could forgive my nitpicks. if I were commissioning one, though, I’d be more wary about it meeting my needs.
I've heard their work has been more hit or miss, particularly since the pandemic started but I custom ordered a LPB P-Bass body from them this past June and, yeah, it took a week or two longer than quoted and their communication was like pulling teeth but it did come exactly how I wanted it to. Haven't finished putting that one together yet though, still need a neck.
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