Lowe Guitars shop notes

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Parts is parts.

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Here's the new 3+2 zero-degree 5-string headstock, one of the last of my necks with a bullet truss rod. With the transition away from tiltback and bullet truss rod necks and the inclusion of shiny chrome hardware and logos on all builds, I'm making small design changes to facilitate ease of production and consistent aesthetics throughout the entire line.

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23 miles today.

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Comboluxe VI Prototype/Demo in Satin Goldtop with Dark Walnut back and Fralin High-Output Humbuckers from Summer NAMM 2019. I have some demos, prototypes, and discontinued hardware stock that will be going up on Reverb shortly. I'll post a thread in the appropriate subforum once everything is live.

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Another Summer NAMM 2019 build that has never formally been offered up for sale. Chromasonic IV in Satin Ocean Turquoise Metallic. This has had more nibbles without selling than any other build, so I expect it will find a new home soon enough.

 

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Cutting and gluing together the Fralin bobbins was a bust. They were too bumpy to use, so I was back at square one. My good buddy Dan worked up a 3D CAD file and I went looking for vendors that can 3D print the bobbins instead.

I got quotes from xometry.com and hubs.com to have 60 of the the Fralin Big Single bobbin for 5-string produced. Xometry was ~$175 and Hubs was $90.60 ($1.51 each). Both use HP MJF Nylon 12 (black), so Hubs will be getting the work. This is exciting!

[nnieman]

Another Summer NAMM 2019 build that has never formally been offered up for sale. Chromasonic IV in Satin Ocean Turquoise Metallic. This has had more nibbles without selling than any other build, so I expect it will find a new home soon enough.

 

I love everything about this.
It is absolutely perfect.

Great job

Nathan

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I love everything about this.
It is absolutely perfect.

Great job

Nathan

Wow...thanks Nathan, it's posts like this that keep me going!

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Some unexpected events, but all in all a productive weekend. All's well that ends well.

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Another Summer NAMM 2019 build that has never formally been offered up for sale. Fireluxe NR VI in Satin Transparent Orange. I'm discontinuing the Fireluxe NR and Thunderluxe NR shapes, so this will be the last chance to own a Fireluxe NR VI.

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Baseplates and bobbins and blades, oh my! After a couple of false-starts and lots of collaboration with and support from my buddies Dan and Lindy, it looks like the Fralin Big Single for 5-string bass is moving forward. This will be one of three 5-string pickups I use in my builds.

The others are the Fralin Split J5 under a P90 cover with no holes and the Lollar Thunderbird 5. All are off-menu options that I had some influence in bringing to the market. I'm very fortunate to have such amazingly talented collaborators.

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It's been a minute.

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Plug-and-play VVT bass harnesses laid out and finished. I may be a little OCD.

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I don't know that I've ever detailed how my quick connects are built. I use TE Connectivity gold-plated aircraft-grade connectors (204351-1 and 204370-2) crimped in place and color-coded with shrink-wrap. The resulting connector is nearly as slender as the wires alone and can be fished through typical pickup wire channels with no issues. Combined with my universal pickup rout and rings, I'm able to easily swap out a wide variety of pickup options and shapes.

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Another little detail...I love Hipshot Ultralites and I love shiny chrome more than shiny nickel. Because a 100% shiny chrome Ultralite (both key and casing) is only available in the import version, they are what I use most often these days. That said, the shaft on the import version is just a little bit slimmer than the US model. I've found that a #7 O-ring centers the backplate in a US-spec machine hole rather nicely.