Moderators daddymack Posted October 1, 2023 Moderators Share Posted October 1, 2023 On 9/29/2023 at 4:27 PM, u6crash said: Checking parts before I wire them up. .....The only part I am still waiting on is the jack plate I ended up ordering. .... hmmmm...good idea.... As Gardo said, you are going to be far more critical of every minor deviation, because you know what you envisioned. I totally get that, but sometimes you just gotta let go, be flexible, and accept that perfection is an ideal rarely achieved by humans and then find something tot blame for the failure! I don't know that you need those plastic under-plates for the p-ups, but that is your call. Oh, and maybe your pickguard shape should be based on the headstock design...just a thought.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted October 1, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 2 hours ago, daddymack said: I don't know that you need those plastic under-plates for the p-ups, but that is your call. Oh, and maybe your pickguard shape should be based on the headstock design...just a thought.... The original had rubber spacers under the pickups, so I'm kind of emulating that here. Also, the only #2 screws I could source locally, have a round head. Without the black spacer, the nickel trim has a weird gap as it won't sit flush (which is why you see the divots made with the forstner in any earlier post). Tried it without and it looked fine straight on, but noticable weird gap from many other angles. I could have sketched out more pickguards (and really, that's a thing I can replace any time, but I'm going with a design pretty close to the original. This is a sneak peek. I've seen license plates used on guitars before. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it. I'm going to do something a little different with this one, so reserve judgement until you sit in in the guitar. Here the back has been coated and leveled with clear epoxy. If it just looks awful, I'll do something more traditional. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted October 1, 2023 Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 4 hours ago, u6crash said: The original had rubber spacers under the pickups, so I'm kind of emulating that here. Also, the only #2 screws I could source locally, have a round head. Without the black spacer, the nickel trim has a weird gap as it won't sit flush (which is why you see the divots made with the forstner in any earlier post). Tried it without and it looked fine straight on, but noticable weird gap from many other angles. I could have sketched out more pickguards (and really, that's a thing I can replace any time, but I'm going with a design pretty close to the original. This is a sneak peek. I've seen license plates used on guitars before. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it. I'm going to do something a little different with this one, so reserve judgement until you sit in in the guitar. Here the back has been coated and leveled with clear epoxy. If it just looks awful, I'll do something more traditional. I’ll wait to see the finished pickgaurd. They can really be made from anything., I once used a piece of retro style Formica countertop to make one for a Tele. It looked wild but I just didn’t like the feel of it under my finger tips and went with traditional plastic. You never know until you try 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 1, 2023 Moderators Share Posted October 1, 2023 5 hours ago, u6crash said: The original had rubber spacers under the pickups, so I'm kind of emulating that here. Also, the only #2 screws I could source locally, have a round head. Without the black spacer, the nickel trim has a weird gap as it won't sit flush (which is why you see the divots made with the forstner in any earlier post). Tried it without and it looked fine straight on, but noticable weird gap from many other angles. I could have sketched out more pickguards (and really, that's a thing I can replace any time, but I'm going with a design pretty close to the original. This is a sneak peek. I've seen license plates used on guitars before. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it. I'm going to do something a little different with this one, so reserve judgement until you sit in in the guitar. Here the back has been coated and leveled with clear epoxy. If it just looks awful, I'll do something more traditional. ah...I see... round head screws...at least they are not fillisters No way to grind them down without losing the head cut? Okay, I get the premise...carry on. I, too, have made pick guards for electrics out of all sorts of stuff, including wood paneling, plexiglas, aluminum [treated with 'gold alodyne'], teflon, phenolic, and ceramic tile [proved too heavy, edges were too sharp...and difficult to work with, but it was visually effective]...and am intrigued by the license plate idea...so I will wait and see. I still think bringing/referencing your unique headstock shape to the pickguard would be an interesting artistic touch....but this is your project, and I'm just kibbitzing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted October 3, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 3, 2023 Small update. Might not be much this week as I've got to take care of some things. I don't think I'm doing this anymore. The idea was going to be to paint it all black, except the orange registration sticker. The epoxy isn't sticky, but it does seem soft. Maybe it will cure harder still. Maybe not. In the meantime.. I thought about what daddymack said about referencing the headstock. I still have to cut out the pickup cutouts. Had a little bit of tear out, but I'm going to go solid black with it, so I'm not too concerned. I don't have a clue what kind of plywood this is. It came as packing material with some silkscreen frames. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 3, 2023 Moderators Share Posted October 3, 2023 well...thank you! Pretty much what I envisoned. I know, it isn't my project, but I really think that will help tie it all back together. Not as weird as it sounded when I mentioned it....? Paint it with a few coats of enamel to minimize the scratching....or use the same ink and clear coat the heck out of it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted October 6, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2023 On 10/3/2023 at 9:00 AM, daddymack said: well...thank you! Pretty much what I envisoned. I know, it isn't my project, but I really think that will help tie it all back together. Not as weird as it sounded when I mentioned it....? Paint it with a few coats of enamel to minimize the scratching....or use the same ink and clear coat the heck out of it... It took a few iterations because it was challenging to keep the top curve below the cutaway. I also wondered if there is any change of catching the point on the back of my hand as I'm strumming, but there's no good way to test that until the neck is on the guitar. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted November 15, 2023 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2023 Well, I haven't died, but also have made little progress. Took a job at a local warehouse where OT is scheduled too often, while continuing to search and network for a full time job in UX or service design. Had a little bleed through under the tape. I think I can scrape this clean with a razor, but open to suggestions. Holes are marked for tuner screws, but not drilled. Pickguard has one coat on it. I might have to modify the shape more to my liking, but it's a pickguard. I don't need it to play. It can change later. That's all I've got. Life is crazy busy right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 15, 2023 Moderators Share Posted November 15, 2023 Thanks for the update...looking good! As to the bleed-through? Meh, razorblade, X-Acto...it'll clean up. I'd really like, at some point, to see the entire instrument....not finished, but the neck on the body,the pickguard*... just to see if I was right about the pickguard bringing 'cohesion' to the overall look....but not today, I know you are busy.... *don't hate me, but I was thinking a while back that a clear lucite pickguard, shaped the same way and painted black on the underside, might look cool....meh, just ignore me, I'm an inveterate kibbitzer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 22, 2023 Members Share Posted November 22, 2023 On 11/15/2023 at 1:03 PM, daddymack said: I'd really like, at some point, to see the entire instrument....not finished, but the neck on the body,the pickguard*... just to see if I was right about the pickguard bringing 'cohesion' to the overall look....but not today, I know you are busy.... Count me among the folks who would like to see the whole guitar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ay34 Posted March 26 Members Share Posted March 26 On 11/15/2023 at 12:18 PM, u6crash said: That's all I've got. Life is crazy busy right now. Hi thank you for sharing this project im Planing to do similar project can you please let me know if I can put fender USA strat neck on 2014 Coronado 2 reissue body ? Is it going to fit and work ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 30 Author Members Share Posted March 30 On 3/26/2024 at 5:59 AM, Ay34 said: Hi thank you for sharing this project im Planing to do similar project can you please let me know if I can put fender USA strat neck on 2014 Coronado 2 reissue body ? Is it going to fit and work ? I'm not certain as this is not a 2014 reissue body. But I see no reason why it wouldn't. I'm finally trying to get back to this. This part went pretty okay. I have underestimated the importance of flux in past soldering attempts. My idea for getting things in place was this string going through the bridge cavity and then hot glued to the tops of the pots. This did not quite work and I got things tangled.up a couple times. Here's where I'm stuck now. The jack does not come through enough. And now I wonder if I knew this and forgot it. I have an oval jack cover with a circular depression. If I increase the size of this hole, I should be able to get the jack through the jack plate. Other complications: The height of the long shaft pots is such that they have to tilt them under the binding, which is thicker than the actual top. I'm going to try and work on it a little more tonight, but this has taken up a surprising amount of my day already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 30 Moderators Share Posted March 30 u6, I was thinking about this a while back, and I am glad to see you are back on it. Typically I use fishing line and load the pots/switch through the f-hole. Other people use surgical tubing. I know that Coros have weird f-holes [size and center point*], so the parts won't go in that way? As to the jack...yes, the jack plate is the proper solution. One of the more common repairs I've done is retrieving 'sucked in' jacks and adding a jack plate. *the classic design is centered at the bridge...not your fault these were not designed by luthiers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 30 Author Members Share Posted March 30 Hopefully I'll have some positive updates soon. I came to another disgusting realization yesterday. The height of the pots with the braided wire soldered on the back is too tall. So I had to break those connections and I'll be moving them to the sides of the pots. New hole for the jack is already drilled (I already had the jack plate on hand) and actually also serves as a nice way to look inside. The pots have to go in through the bridge pickup hole because they are too big to fit anywhere else. If there were such a thing as medium height pots, that would have been ideal. And as I'm sitting here typing this, I wonder if I need a nut on the inside to keep the pot shaft from coming up too much. Partly life has been crazy busy, but also I knew this was going to be the most frustrating part of the process. I did check that the electronics work before I started stuffing them in, so that's one success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 30 Author Members Share Posted March 30 Well. I have two in. And I feel those shafts are too long. It turns out there are some medium shaft pots out there, but they are hard to come by. The remaining two feel pretty stuck. I'm tempted to take the whole thing out, find new pots (or manually shortening these), and maybe rethink my wiring strategy. Right now I need a break before I lose my cool. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 30 Members Share Posted March 30 Put a second nut/washer on the back side to set the height. Loctite in place. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 30 Moderators Share Posted March 30 the other advantage to the jack plate is you don't need an output jack tightener. Just a screw driver and pliers/wrench. Nothing worse on a gig than having an intermittent signal due to a loose jack! I have two...one for the shop, and a different one in the gig-kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members u6crash Posted March 31 Author Members Share Posted March 31 (edited) Woo! Guts are in and working! I ended up rewiring the whole thing with short pots. The regular CTS pots for the volume were fine. The shorter no-load tone pots grab just enough of the bushing to work. This took a handful of tries and I learned a lot of things. I learned that if you use too much flux on your switch, it can run and act as a conductor. So I got to take the switch apart and clean it. I used two different wire colors, but more would have been better. Feeding the pots into place got easier with practice. In the end I only used strings on the two tone pots and the jack (plus the switch) because too many strings often meant something was getting tangled up somewhere. What ended up working best were bamboo skewers. Thin, flexible, rigid, and the point was useful.for moving the knotted ends of strings. I also used the skewers to position the pots I to place. From the top a skewer would center and steady the shaft. A second skewer from the jack cavity would lift it into place. Here is my big oops moment: I accidentally crimped the split shaft and in trying to open it up I broke off half. I'm using knobs with set screws, so I'm going to make a repair with JB Weld or something. Unfortunately, I also put a small scratch into the body. Here it is all mocked up. I can't find the bridge. Still need to put the name.on the headstock. It's 3:30am. I'll worry about these things later. Edited March 31 by u6crash 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted March 31 Members Share Posted March 31 Changiing the pots gave a great result, probably made them a little easier to pull through as well. I haven’t seen this product in a while and have been just admiring the pictures. So ,yeah I love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted March 31 Moderators Share Posted March 31 1) get a longer set screw and don't try to mend the split shaft. 2) yay! 3) the pickguard is just a bit too large by .5-.75 width, and sits too high [IMHO] but it does bring the headstock 'home' 4)I'm just trying to find the bridge! Has anybody seen the bridge? Please! (Have you seen the bridge?) I ain't seen the bridge! (Where's that confounded bridge?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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