Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 So I'm building my first guitar! I have never soldered before and I figured it was time to learn. What better way then to learn by building a guitar? Anyways I'm keeping it simple and cheap. Simple as in one humbucker and one volume knob. The goal is to learn the basics of guitar wiring and soldering and not to build the greatest guitar ever. I'm keeping it cheap as in I plan on buying very little things for it and using existing parts laying around. I'm using the body and neck from my very first guitar, a Squier. The only thing I have spent money on so far was a GFS MIM upgrade tremolo ($35+$8 S&H), and a volume pot that came with a volume kit and two wires ($8 from Torres). So I was sitting here for the last few days trying to figure out how to score a single humbucker pickguard for next to nothing and it hit me, just use the one I have! But the one I have is SSH and I don't want the holes showing into the body. I went ahead and blocked out the two single coil mounting holes and covered the pickup so that you could never tell. I even shielded it with aluminum. Here is the process enjoy: Step 1: Cover the pickguard in stickers! Step 2: I used some thin cardboard cutouts from Kleenex boxes to fill in the mountings holes. It took 4 templates glued together to get the proper thickness. Step 3: I finished the sticker process to cover up the templates and to make them templates structurally stronger. From the Step 3 you can see that there is only one humbucker opening and all of the knob holes and switch holes are gone as well. No one would ever know that I patched it up. Now we gotta have a damn quiet Strat! So what if it's only a humbucker I mean dead freakin silent! So let's shield this up. Again cheap! Using rubber cement and aluminum foil (from the kitchen). Step 4: Get aluminum and rubber cement. Step 5: Make a rough cut of the aluminum foil after you lay it on the pickguard to get close to the shape. Step 6: finish the edges of with a razor blade. No tv or radio signals here! If you want to build a one humbucker guitar or a humbucker and one single coil guitar do it the cheap way! No need to go out and buy expensive pickgaurds for $15-$30 bucks. Screw that! Plus it's unique, my pickguard is representative of my skateboarding background. And it pays tribute to Johnny Romano a 10 year old skater that died from lukemia. Hope you guys enjoyed my first installment of building a bad ass 1980's tribute guitar for damn near nothing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Maleficio Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 tinfoil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitargod0dmw Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 So what does the front look like now? An HSS pickguard with cardboard filling in the SS parts? I'm having a hard time imagining how awesome it is. tinfoil? DIY shielding...so long as the rest of the cavities are done in the same fashion...and soldered together. It's it's heavy duty foil at least... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CanIBDom Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 Resourceful! I actually considered doing something like this for a project guitar--a Washburn with an odd-shaped pickguard: (not mine, but the same model) Back in my stupid days I did a terrible job enlarging the pickup routs by hand with a file when I got new pickups for it. I could have had a replacement made from a tracing, but, with the {censored}ty filing job I did, I likely wouldn't have lined the new routs up correctly on the tracing. So, after thinking it over for a while I came up with a plan...I bought a thin sheet of plastic (the kind that's used in cheap picture/poster frames instead of glass) and glued it to the underside of the guard below the neck and middle routs, and I filled the tops in with joint compound (or mud to you home improvement types). For the bottom rout I had to use a humbucker ring around the rout to cover the rough edges. I filled in the holes for the 5-way switch the same way, and then sprayed paint and clear coat over it. I got a GFS Crusader (their Invader-style pickup) in there with volume and tone pots, plus a 3-way toggle to split the coils. I blocked the trem, and now I have a budget DeLonge-style guitar, which I had been wanting anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OptimusV6 Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 Points for being original!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 So what does the front look like now? An HSS pickguard with cardboard filling in the SS parts? I'm having a hard time imagining how awesome it is.My bad! Here is the picture of the front now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members headless Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 My bad! Here is the picture of the front now. I always like to see people be creative on a budget, and I certainly can't argue with the results.But going from Burlingame to Riverside? Perhaps you've worked with that rubber-glue a bit too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members d_dave_c Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 why did you need to shield it? were you getting buzz from 1 humbucker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 I always like to see people be creative on a budget, and I certainly can't argue with the results.But going from Burlingame to Riverside? Perhaps you've worked with that rubber-glue a bit too much. HAHA! Yeah it was a big change to say the least. Going from the SF Bay Area to the Inland Empire was a life change for sure. It was only for school though cuz I went to UC Riverside. I graduated in June and am back in the Bay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitargod0dmw Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 why did you need to shield it? were you getting buzz from 1 humbucker? It's never a bad idea to shield... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 why did you need to shield it? were you getting buzz from 1 humbucker? Well I want a totally quiet guitar. I know humbuckers are hum canceling but I'm trying to shield against outside frequencies as well. When I get the humbucker I'll be shielding it as well. I want to cover all my bases now when I'm putting it together then have to take it apart in the future after it's been put together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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