Michael Britton

Progress being made on the "orphan" guitar. My new H/B showed up this afternoon so a quick mock-up was in order. Sanded to 400gr.,6 coats of Tru-Oil, probably will need 6 more. Nothing lines up, after the finish is done I will string it up with a set of strings and determine where the p/u and tailpiece goes. My 30 year old granddaughter, my worse critic, likes the gold and creme with the natural wood. May not play any better, but it certainly will look better than the cheesy black and decal...... Question; I intend to install a DPST on-on gold bat switch to split this new H/B. I have room in the cavity to put the switch just about anywhere. You guys that play, do I want the switch between the pots, or behind the tone pot? Thanks, Mike

Isaac, So far I only have about $100 invested in this project, so I can afford to add a new pickup. Having said that, there are a plethora of H/Bs that claim to be tube amp "fat". The hardest part is making the choice.

Thanks, I have that schematic saved. There is a lot of talk about shielded cable, but this guitar was originally wired with regular 26 ga plastic insulated wire. I understand that the thicker the wire, the less resistance. I have a ton of 16-18 ga wire from my job with a big ag co. Can I use that?

Mike Britton here. I've been around guitars much of my 75 years. But this is the first time I ever got involved with the wiring, and I'm a bit lost. I'm modding/refinishing a low quality Chinese guitar, single humbucker in the bridge position and I'm struggling with things like "Screened cables, and capacitor values, What gets soldered to what etc.,etc. I ran across this ready made wiring harness for a P base and my naive logic says "It's got 500K pots and a capacitor, why wouldn't it work for my needs on my single humbucker 6 string guitar?' Am I missing something here? Thanks, Mike

Any of us who repair and restore vintage guns or musical instruments will occasionally find that "tree in the road" that interrupts a project's forward evolution. Case in point; My 30 year old live in granddaughter is kind of "steering" this project as far as choice of stain, knob/pickup ring color etc. Taylor wanted cream knobs and pickup ring so I ordered cream knobs and a H/B pickup ring. I measured the original First Act H/B and it's ring before, and apparently missed on the precision. The First Act pickup ring is about 1,1 1/2 mm bigger than a standard H/B, leaving an open spot in the rout that needs to be covered. Several avenues to go down here. One is to use the complete original First Act H/B. But that doesn't address the fact that Taylor wanted cream to go with the very nice Red Oak stain on the body. It also doesn't address the fact that I'm betting the First Act H/B is going to be waaay too bright for my taste. I could use some more cigar box wood to craft a pickup ring that will copy the First Act's ring dimensions. Again, that doesn't address the cream trim issue. The third, and most difficult option is to fill the original holes for the First Act ring and after installing the neck and bridge determine the center for the H/B ring. Since the First Act unit is ever so slightly bigger than a regular H/B that may require creating some sort of plate, probably more cigar box wood, to cover the original rout, which is bigger enough that I have plenty of wiggle room to move about. Dumb luck that this is a flat top body, making all of this immensely easier. First order of business it to order a good fat PAF style H/B and see how much extra room I do have in the rout. While I'm at it, I think I'm going to install a 2 way "bat" switch so that, if I choose to later on, I can split the H/B. There is plenty of room in the cavity for that, and the switch can just ride along. Taylor made a great choice on the Red Oak stain, and I have started with 2 coats of Boiled Linseed Oil with just a few drops of Japan Drier. I will solve the pickup issue before I go any farther on what will probably be 10 coats or so of finish. After a lifetime of restoring "beaters" I pick up at the gun shows, doing a guitar is not only in my wheelhouse, but a pleasant diversion from the occasional beat up .22 rifle. Thanks, Mike

Finally!! Ding dong, the black is gone!! And I didn't screw up the body too bad to shape the way I want while I'm finish sanding. Going to finish out to 400 grit, then seal with my favorite sanding sealer. Some red mahogany stain and viola! Everyone says you shouldn't stain multi-piece bodies. I don't see why not. This is a 3 piece body, and I have no intention to try to make it more than it is. I'm just glad that near ceramic cheap black finish is off and I can move ahead! daddymac, I couldn't let go of your comment about the wooden washers under the knobs. I went back and re-engineered my repair. Now a standard pot will work. Thanks for making me think! Mike

I have decided to take a couple days off to let my 75 year old arthritic hands rest for awhile. We are in the throes of a major ice storm here in DFW, and Netflix is calling to me! LOL What you see in the cavity is how I got it. I didn't care, I intended to replace all of the hardware, both external and internal. I'm assuming the volume switch was the one that was loose. I'm making several assumptions here. The green wire was soldered from one switch to the back of the other, I have no idea where the red wire went. The black wire with the bare end was buried loose between the body and the bridge. The other end is soldered to the body of one of the pots. I'm assuming that was the ground for the bridge. The other black wire was to the P/U. The grey wire went to the jack plug. Can I/ should I re-use the green cap? My mom and I both worked for Texas Instruments in the 70's, so I understand what some of these pieces are from my time in the plating shop. I want to replace these mini pots with full size pieces, everyone says that it will be worth the labor to get a better sounding guitar. I'm going to revisit my soldering skills! LOL Again, thank you for your help in this. I would rather look the fool than be the fool....Mike

Mr. Grumpy! Thanks! Always good to have a list of pros in my guitar folder!

I'm about an hour away from getting all the clear poly/black paint off. I didn't use stripper, I didn't want to affect the surface of the wood. I'm "wearing" the old finish off with relatively medium/fine sandpaper. I don't want to change any of the edges, yet. I have some ideas I want to try, but I want the original shape to still be there when I start back. A bit better pic of the pickup. It measures out to be a standard Humbucker, single black wire coming out of it. I intend to put it back in service until I decide if I want A H/B, or rail, or what. I'm not going to split the pickup as I struggle to put batteries in a flashlight, much less wire a guitar. I'm still learning about pots. Are the volume and tone pots the same? 500K for a humbucker? Thanks, Mike

daddymac! You are seriously helping me make some decisions here. The neck bolts are in steel ferrules, they just don't show in the photo. Since I am changing to gold hardware I am waiting for GF to get the gold screws and ferrules back in stock. As far as the cost of P/U's and things, I'm more about the tone than the cost, within reason. Right now I am studying about pots. I have to replace the pots with long shaft pots as there was some damage to the body and the fix is going to require a long shaft pot. The P/O let one of the pots get loose and dug a pretty significant crater in the body. My fix was a thin layer of J-B Weld inside the cavity for the pots to sit on, and then a pair of cigar box wood "stand offs" on the top of the body. Solid as a rock, but too thick for the original mini-pots that I probably should replace anyway. You guys all have me wanting to wait to replace the pickup until I really know what I want. I can use the funny looking P/U the guitar came with until then. As best I measure, it's a standard size H/B, just goofy looking. LOL Thanks again, Mike

Thanks, daddymac. I plan on a stain/oil finish. I've been sloooowly grinding off the 1/8" thick clear plastic to find what may be a Paulowina body. Seems to have more grain and color than Basswood, and feels a bit softer as well. I'm assuming I will want to replace the pickup as all the reviews on the First Act commented about how bright the pickup was. When I first got the little orphan I had all kind of ideas about Bigsbys and splitting pickups and so on and so on. Now, I'm leaning toward a simple single pickup guitar with just a nice fat humbucker. Sometimes less is better. Seymour Duncan has a copy of the 59 PAF I kinda like. With my arthritis starting to really act up the guitar will probably spend more time hanging on the wall than anything else. All the same, I'm having fun turning a $75 guitar into something better. Mike

Duhh! Now I understand! A 2 way switch! One side is humbucker, the other side is single pole! I'm okay, really....

Thanks, badpenguin! Never even considered the fact that the strings spread as they move toward the bridge! Duh!! I looked at the diagrams, all of them use a push-pull. So that means my idea of having a 2 way switch like Gibson uses to move back and forth from one H/B to the next is out? I noticed that the bridge pickups have less resistance. I've been told they have more bottom, less briteness. Zat so? My first guitar was a Tiesco ? single P/U in the bridge position. It would overwhelm my pitiful little Airline amp!

Hey all, Mike Britton here. I'm a newbie to the forums, building a "Frankintar". Maple neck, Indian Rosewood fretboard. Paulowina body, single H/B in the bridge position. 251/2" scale. Strat style top loader hardtail Might want to install a Bigsby later. I'm researching options on different pickup ideas. One is to find a good H/B and then split it with the tone button. Another is to drill and install a 2 way switch like a Les Paul (the body is a double cut away Les Paul Jr. copy.) to split the H/B. I've been looking at the Seymore Duncan "Pearly Gates" pickup. Nice and fat, Billy Gibbons's favorite pickup. What about putting a neck pickup in the bridge position? Is there any advantage? As you can tell maybe, I'm looking for a fat. clear bluesy sound out of this single pickup guitar.

daddymac! Thank you! These guys are just South of me! I'll get with them. I will start with the tubes, they will want to do that anyway. Yeah, you are probably right LOL, Those "Solvang" tubes are probably at fault....Sad part of it is that I've been to Solvang several times! I really like the Legend amp. It can be brite like a Princeton, or it can get really growly. Thanks again.