Wired!

 

Figuring out everything can go through the solderless volume pot.

Tone pot and switch installed in the body.

What the switch and tone look like underneath.

Now everybody's here and the party is starting!

It works!!!

Time To Rebuild

Headstock fitted with tuning machines, bone nut, and truss-rod cover.

Aligning neck in pocket of the body.

Set neck with a thin wedge-shaped maple shim in edge of pocket.

All strung up and waiting for electronics.

Whippersnapper +1 Luck Guitar Custom Rebuild

(Hey! I see my face...)

I am laid up with a bad cold, but it so happens that all the parts (except strings) have arrived to rebuild the Whippersnapper +1 Luck Guitar gifted me from my friend Sick Rick. 

The guitar has always at very best intonated a hair sharp on the low E because the bridge saddle adjustment screw bottoms out. I thought it was perhaps because Sick mis-drilled the bridge-pin holes, but it turns out the original neck could be the culprit. 

That neck, a super thick and heavy piece of maple, had the 22nd fret sitting right above the bottom edge of the neck pocket. The replacement neck I found (same 24.75" scale length on a thinner piece of maple) has the 22nd fret sitting about between a 1/4-1/2" down the neck from there. Installing the neck will have the effect to shift the entire scale length away from the bridge providing I estimate a better range for the intonation adjustments on the new saddle without having to drill new post holes.

The rebuild upgrades are:

• Schaller Signum Bridge
• Schaller locking tuners
• Schaller Strap Locks
• Custom mid-scoop switch, 3-way Tone Pot (normal tone, push-pull pulled has bass cut and fixed wah), and volume pot all by KellingSound
• Maple 22-fret Guitar Neck
• Custom Waterslide Headstock Decal from PopsDecals
• Custom Truss Rod Cover by GuitarUpgrade

I am keeping whatever humbucker pickup Sick installed, it is a screamer. Also Sick had put a bone nut in that looks like it will pit perfectly on the new neck. 

Only thing is even if I get it all together this weekend strings won't arrive until Tuesday. :~P

P.S. Ohhhh, tired of force-feeding guitar through a 15" speaker bass rig I picked up a used early 1990s Fender Ultimate Chorus...

Complete and Still Work to Do

(Nice and clean-looking)

Last weekend I finished the soldering and tucked everything in nicely, only I was getting a weird crackle and cut out when the cable plugged into the output jack was moved. Tried to tighten down the jack a bit and ... POP! Something snapped and sound went dead.

(Wiring after troubles fixed, you can tell I've been in there...)

So this weekend unscrewed the wiring harness and found I pulled both the positive and ground wired out from the output jack, probably by rotating the innards whilst tightening. Ha, I also somehow soldered the positive leads to the tone POT to the wrong connection. Problems with working past your bedtime on a school night when there is a big test the next day. (Not really, but I did have a shit-ton of work to do.)

(Def mutant guitar, folks will wonder.)

Here is the almost final setup. After I got the wiring done and strings on, discovered the action's almost double what it should be. Playable, especially up towards the nut, but less so as you progress down to the higher frets. The Schaller roller-bridge I added is really a Gibson-style, where the stock bridge was much lower. The answer I found is to shim a little neck-angle at the heal of the neck ($37 from StewMac on Amazon). I also have a lighter set of strings coming in and some replacements posts from Schaller for my locking tuners (the inner post are of 2 sizes: 1 screw all the way to the top, 2nd only about 1/3 of the way for larger string and didn't grasp my D string. Schaller immediately shipped me the longer posts.) I should have things working perfect in a couple weeks.

(Closeup of the knob and switch board)

I did have a chance to set the pickups and everything sounds terrific, even the vintage stock Epiphone mid-PUP. I still enjoy the Fralin neck and bridge pickups together best. Daughter Resident Evil stopped by for a visit and wailed away, so much so I promised her the instrument after my demise (ha, I had already recently in the past few years gifted her brother my vintage 80s Yamaha SSC-500, and Resident Evil doesn't have a guit with a Bigsby).

Thus Far ...

 

So early, early Thursday morning I got the new Fralin neck and bridge pickups in (the middle is original vintage 70s Epiphone that is stock with the guitar). Also laid down faraday tape in the electronics cavity.

Similar earliness Friday attached the KellingSound electronic Pots wiring harness to guitar's cover of the electronics cavity. You can see the three black knobs for volume, single red knob for tone, and the chickenhead knob for the six-position rotary selector switch.

On this view clockwise starting straight up at 12 o'clock is the rotary selector switch, then from around the horn to the right next is neck pickup volume, then Iron Age momentary killswitch, universal tone Pot, middle pickup volume, and last next to the output jack is bridge pickup volume. A weird layout to be sure, but perfectly functional for me and looks cool with all the knobs in place (ha, you'll need to wait for the final).

Here We Go Again...

 

1973 Ibanez 2383

Pre-lawsuit "open book" headstock FujiGen Gakki constructed Ibanez design for Mann Guitars of Canada. I've had this guitar for a bit over 7 years and is in need of an upgrade. The instrument has problems staying in tune (no locking nut for the tremalo) and getting all the strings exactly intonated.

I am replacing the bridge and tuners with Schaller, with the tuners being of the locking variety. I also bought 2 new slightly overwound Fralin-recreated PAF neck and bridge humbuckers (keeping the original vintage Epiphone for the middle pickup) along with a new wiring pot harness assembly custom made by KellingSound on eBay. (KellingSound made the assembly I used for my Fender MB-4 bass which is excellent.)

I did pull an oopsies on the strings though, I picked up 11's and it turns out there were 9's on the guitar. I was trying to figure out what I had on there from Amazon purchases (I use Elixir "nano-web" coated strings so they last a long time since I am usually jamming only bass guitar meaning the 6-string electric often sits idle). It looks like the 11's were on my Whippersnapper Les Paul Jr. copy (made by Sick Rick). So I'll see how it goes. I can always put the lighter strings on later. Ha, I play regular guitar pretty chord heavy anyway.

The guitar's appearance, with the new chrome instead of gold hardware plus some very unusual knob assignments, is going to be a bit bizarre. Not the least is going from a 3-way toggle pickup switch to rotary 6-position chickenhead knob, but also adding an Iron Age momentary kill switch. Har, insanity...

(Stripped neked...)

(All clean!)

All-Together Now (All-together Now!) All-Together Now ...

 So here is where things started out Sunday afternoon installing new guts for my 1995 Fender MB-4 bass...

Basically, everything was soldered excepting the grounds. I needed to widen the holes just a bit for the new pots and also fashion a new hole in the cavity for a momentary kill switch (ala Buckethead).

First thing I did though is shield the cavity with some Faraday Tape.

Next widened the pot holes using a hand wood reamer and added hole/momentary kill switch.

And finally got everything connected and seated...  (Ha, my friend J.A.S. would say, "You can tell I've been in there.")

Looks pretty good from the outside!

Below is the finished guitar: New pot assembly from KellingSound88 on eBay and new P/J pickups from Fralin Pickups out of Richmond, Virginia.

All was not without friction however, when I had everything put together the pickups wouldn't engage except when the instrument cable was only about halfway inserted. And even then the momentary kill switch, which did work, had kind of "pop" when activated (this indicated the switch was just cutting the hot wire instead of grounding it as the design was supposed to).

So I figured some kind of short was created when I flattened out the wires into the cavity to put the cover plate back on. Opening everything up I didn't see anything unexpected, so I just took extra care that no bare wire was crossed anywhere then sealed the guitar back up.

Then the bass played extra fine and the instrument cable jack was as normal. There also was just the most minimal of noise at high volume (hiss noise from the original pickups are what started me down this project). The Fralin pickups a superb. Coupled with the new pot assembly I can get everything from an acoustic-sounding low-end to a very crunchy overtone-laden mids/highs.

Unfortunately the momentary kill switch no longer works. Not sure whether there is an internal bad connection that broke. I checked the wires and everything was connected as it should be before re-installing the cavity plate. Right now I am just enjoying the bass as it is. I might look for a different kill switch that will fit the 12mm hole I drilled. Ha, the button looks cool by itself even if it does not actually do anything.