Charcoal Frost JM (Buick II) - Finished pics page 5

[ludobag1]

beautiful i love the green reflection

and like you i hate the truss rod adjustement in the neck pocket cause to ajust it you have to pull out the neck and flat the string or
remove the neck pickups and is lot of time to make a 1/8 of turn

[DerRoy]

Beautiful guitar!
I love the photos of the charcoal frost body with the open brass tubs, it makes for a really nice contrast. Heading off to the Dressing Room to play around with charcoal frost guitars

[garyptaszek]

I quit! Holy crap, man...

+1

you're the fucking boss Ben

[theworkoffire]

Thanks

Some final setup things today - hopefully the weather will clear up enough for some outdoor shots tomorrow.

Placed a drop of thread-lock on the bridge post screws then screwed them most of the way back in:



I cut a bone nut blank down to fit inside the binding, then cut an initial mark for each string position, strung it up more or less up to tension, then I filed each slot down in turn...



...until the nut was fully roughed out:



Then I took it out, filed the top down and polished it a bit. Then it went back in with a drop of titebond under it, and I strung it back up so the string pressure would clamp it in place until the glue set. Oh, and drilled the string tree:



I left the trem on the original body when I swapped it, and received this one in return, so I needed to do a bit of work to stop the arm from flapping around. I gave the short part of the arm a slight kink by placing it in a vice near the bend, gripping the end with mole grips and giving it a slight tug:



Then, being in a belt-and-braces kind of mood with this build, I tightened the collet teeth with a cable tie. When the arm went in it tensioned up enough to keep it on pretty firmly. Now the arm stays exactly where it's put and doesn't wobble at all in the collet:



Then I tuned up acoustically and plugged it in...nothing. I'm making quite a habit of this.

Turned up the amp...could hear it a bit, but very weak and drifting in and out.

Checked the pickup switch...could hear the difference but still no volume.

Checked the knobs...both on full.

Checked the rhythm knobs...both on full.

Checked the rhythm switch...

...KRRRZZZZZZZXXXXXXXXX!!!!!

Apologised to mrs workoffire for the ear damage

So the rhythm circuit was fine, lead circuit wasn't. Because there was some output, but very low, I figured it wasn't something shorting out against the shielding - more likely to be a bad solder joint or a wire that had come loose...


...like this one:



I must have pulled on it when I was freeing up wire to spin the jack yesterday. Soldered it back on, popped the guard back, tuned up, then that was that.

Suffice to say, I'd forgotten just how good these Peter (Pickup Whiz) Leonard pickups are. Also, I haven't played a JM that wasn't strung as a baritone for about a year, so that was a bit of a revelation, too. It sounds absolutely benchmark JM

[PorkyPrimeCut]

You've outdone yourself with this one Ben.

This could well be the best JM build I've ever seen. Whether it is "true" Charcoal Frost or not has now become totally irrelevant. It's stunning!!!!

Another example of how colour balance makes all the difference. The witch-hats & guard, the switch tip & neck, the block inlays & pup covers, the matching headstock. Everything compliments everything else perfectly!!

If I had the money I'd have an order in for one of these by now. I bet I'm not alone in this either.

Can't wait to see it strung up & basking in the winter sunshine!!!

[garyptaszek]

I want this guitar when you're done with it

[theworkoffire]

Thanks guys

Uploading the garden shots right now

[andrewdoeshair]

Thanks guys

Uploading the garden shots right now

andrewhitsrefresh. Andrew hits refresh again. Refresh. Reeeeeeeeeee fresh.

[theworkoffire]

The plan:



The action:

[andrewdoeshair]

You're pretty good at this guitar building thing

[jazzymaster616]

This is now my favorite guitar on OSG.
Fantastic!

[Joeleo]

This is now my favorite guitar on OSG.
Fantastic!

+1

[Markocaster]

Damn that is an awesome looking guitar
I hope my jazzmaster turns out half that nice. I am doing the same colour.
Well done

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Drop dead gorgeous.

I'm liking your record shelves too!

[idiotbear]

Yeah, it's official: Ben, you're a genius. Proof is here for all to see. It's such beautiful, precise work, and the finish is more professional-looking than plenty of real Fenders.

(Which reminds me, my bloody Silvertone is still cluttering up your house. I might be able to scrape together some cash in the New Year to do that XII conversion we discussed, or I could just pop round and pick it up if it's pissing you off. I was thinking about rewiring it entirely with Filtertrons, incidentally, and retaining that string-through idea for one of the courses, and the Bigsby for the other).

But enough of that. This guitar is probably the best build I've ever seen on here or anywhere else. Congratulations!