Leaderboard

Put it all back together, polished it up and it plays just fine. What a bargain

I don't think I've posted here before - I'm a member of basschat.co.uk, but after playing bass for decades, lately I've been singing and playing mandolin and octave mandolin. I don't actually play guitar, though I have a couple of guitar-shaped objects in my collection - an acoustic guitar bodied octave mandolin, and earlier this year a local guitar builder converted a copy of a Gibson SG to mandolin for me. I'm currently working towards a Rock School grade 2 acoustic guitar exam... with a mandolin!

Six months ago I bought my Hohner acoustic guitar when I decided it was about time I started to play again, I then purchased an Epiphone Gibson Les Paul Studio 2. This week my wife brought home an acoustic classical guitar that was going to be sent to the tip. I soon realised that it's previous owner had restrung it incorrectly with the strings fitted in the wrong order, there is also a little damage to it but I figured for the price of a set of strings it was worth messing about with. Three days on and aside from the new strings taking a while to stretch its not a bad little thing to mess about with, and I have been trying a few of the easy classical pieces that I used to play. All very basic stuff ( probably aimed at primary school leve) but I am enjoying it!

And...it's finished!!!! The 'last few jobs' always turn out to be a 'myriad of final jobs. Anyway, all sorted. I'm passing it across to Alex tomorrow - I will try and get him to do a bit of recording at one of their band practices but, in the meantime, you'll have to trust me when I say it sounds great . Although it is just a small wiring change and no hardware change, I've opted NOT to go for the P-rails standard wiring system which gives: Full series humbucker; parallel humbucker; P90; Rails. I've used that system in a number of my own gigging guitars and I found that: - the fact that both pickups are always in the same configuration for the four options is actually, ironically, quite limiting. I was always hankering for, such as, 'neck pickup full series humbuck for the depth, mixed with bridge pickup in split coil mode to add a bit of extra treble and dispel any muddiness' and similar - I also never, in practice, used the rails by themselves...not enough ooomph - and I never, in practice, used the humbuckers in parallel...not enough depth I talked that through with Alex and, for kickoff, we decided to have a standard split coil option for both pickups where the operating coil in each case was the P90. So he can go full series humbucker with 3 way options, P90 with 3 way options and one (either) pickup P90 and the other series humbucker. It's a 30 minute job to change the wiring to the 'P-rail standard' options if he wants to try that in the future. Anyway, here are some of the arty-farty finished pics: Thanks again for watching this develop and your kind remarks along the way

Thinking that I ought to have a hollow bodied guitar for jazz I bought a Streamliner and have indeed given that Bigsby a wobble from time to time despite it being considered inappropriate within the genre.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

Son(16) is a fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Cheap Squier Bullet Strat from Cash Converters and a Most-Marvelous Inter-Fret Job by @Andyjr1515 fella who sits (slumps!) at the bar in the BassChat Arms... (Blah! Blah! and Pics in a BassChat Tech&Repair post) https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/496955-microtonal-fretting-microwhat-but-sorry-not-on-a-bass/?do=findComment&comment=5264843 When 12TET and 20 or so frets just arn't enough... go 24TET and over 40 frets to play with!

Thanks everybody for your answers and contributions. Made some interesting reading, and some great model photos. Just before Christmas, I privately bought a Marshall amp. The owner asked if I would also take his old black and white Strat off his hands too for a meagre £30.... It was an exact double of the one in my original post with identical headstock and weight. Well...you can guess the rest! Cheers again for all of your input.

I think HB are great value guitars and worthy of modifying too...here is a Youtube video showing what I do to them:- Infinity Mirror Guitar v3 with hot rail pickup.

I've recently bought a HB PB50 bass. I rolled the fingerboard edges and gigged it last week. £105. unbelievable

And bringing it up to the present state of play... To balance the purple of the headstock and fretboard, I added a slice of purpleheart to a cut block of ebony and carved the beginnings of the bridge. I also cut the fretboard end to where it will meet the soundhole: Next, I turned my attention to the decoration around the soundhole. Although you have to be a bit canny to maintain the accuracy, I actually find the Dremel radius accessory reasonable for this job: I used a 1mm bit to cut a circle at the centre and wrapped some 1mm b/w/b purfling into it after running a teeny bead of glue onto the bottom edge. After scraping the excess purfling off, I drilled an offset radius tool spike-hole that will be used to put in a second, larger offsett ring (you can just see the pencil check marking offset and outside the installed ring): And then another radius tool spike-hole in between those two to be able to cut - using a 3mm bit - a mid radius to create an offset channel for some curved abelone that, all being well, would fit in between the two other rings. It worked!! And finally, the radius tool spike back to the original hole, but at a slightly smaller radius to now cut right through and create the sound hole : And that's how far I've got so far. It's dinky, isn't it!!!! : Next job is the bracing and 25 foot radiusing of the top. Other pesky distractions mean that it is likely to be into next week before I get to that - but when I do, I'll be sure to post the progress

And here it is!!! Set up is lovely, and it was practically in tune (I will have to get used to the locking tuners). Frets feel like a tiny polish on top needed, but playing in will deal with that. Neck is gorgeous, and I love the firemist colour. Either a very, very almost imperceptibly tiny ding on the headstock, or a miniscule imperfection on the headstock finish, but that's the sort of thing it'd get in a few days' use with me, so.... Overall, a stunning piece. The gig bag is surprising good, much higher quality than I expected, and the 25th logo inside it is a nice touch. Highly recommended. I still hope they do 5his soec in the CC colours going forward, as a DLX model.

@Richards Guitars... I am one of several Moderators of this fine Forum; this task has been very simple for several years past, as the folk here are a great bunch. We enjoy the occasional bout of banter (whilst remaining civil, naturally...) between friends that are used to each other's little ways and foibles; nothing wicked or hurtful. If there is any doubt as to any posts here, there is, top right of every post, three little dots (...), from where it's easy to create a Report. Every Report is brought automatically to the attention of the Mods and Admin, and what rare issues that do crop up are handled with serious and diplomacy. Feel free to avail yourself of this function at anytime (this goes for all that read this, naturally...). This site is an extension of Basschat.co.uk, which has been active for many decades now. Here, things tend to be a little slower-paced, but there is a healthy cross-over from one Forum to the other (many here are members of both...). This leisurely pace suits us fine, so don't be surprised if some replies to posts come only after a few days. I'm usually here sporadically several times each day, but then again : I'm retired, so... Glad to have you aboard; meanwhile... Have a wonderful day. Douglas

My loyalty sale HB DC Jnr. At £128, it cost less than I've seen tgem go for used.... I did wonder if QA might be a little more flexible at this reduced price, but the sole flaw I can find is that one of the screws on the back of the bridge is cery slightly angled. As with the MR Classic, the bridge feels a little cheap but perfectly functional; I'm not anticipating replacing it in the foreseeable. In the medium term, I want to add a totey guard for a Johnny Thunders vibe. I'm halfway tempted to switch the knobs for dice knobs as well. Overall, It's ridiculously impressive for the money. Great set uo out of the bix just needed tuning. Not a sniff of fretsprout or a sharp fret anywhere. This is what impresses me most at this sale price. Back when I started playing in 1991ish, the most basic, plywood Strat type cost more than this new (even without taking inflation into account), and wasn't always as good as this. I'd put it on a par with the Epiphone model. To really go a step up, I'd need to be looking at sonething like Maybach or a Gibson; the problem with those is that it always felt inherently 'wrong' to me to take what is by design a simple, budget instrument and inflate it to "luxury" level. The one thing that I'd like to see Thomann do better is to get the TV yellow colour right. I *might* have paid full rather than sale price over this one for that (throw in stainless steel fretsand it would be a given), but all other things being equal, if it was just the colour I wouldn't replace this one with another for that, which auggests it's not really that big a deal.... Thomann dodo a small range of "tribute" guitars, basically unofficial quasi sig models.... if the MR Classic is a great base for a Johnny Ramone tribute, this and the Fat version should surely provide a great option for a nod to both Johnny Thunders and Mick Jones circa 1976/77 especially. One thing I'm really impressed with, as on the MR, is the neatness of the finish around the headstock, where the black facing meets the colour on the rear.

I believe it's a First Act Delia. Reminds me a bit of a Hofner Verithin (sp?).

Well, on the final furlong. Basically, the finishing is finished and now just have to do the shielding, fretwork, electrics and final assembly/setup. The final stages of ebony sand-only and alder/maple Tru-oil slurry-and-buff is coming out nicely:

The quick answer is yes I am happy and have become even happier as my skills have developed. I guess in retrospect I should have asked more how would a more expensive guitar reflect in feel and my playing. I was lucky enough to come across a rather nice Epiphone Les Paul Studio electric guitar for what I have been advised is a reasonable price, there is not a mark on it. The same guitar tech that checked the acoustic changed the pick up switch for me and he is suitably impressed with my purchase. And bonus a work colleague gave me this little amp.

I spent some time this morning with the guitar strung up and on a strap for me to 'fit' the neck profile to suit Alex's style of playing. Basically, he played, I then scraped material off the neck haunches and then he tried it again. This was repeated over an hour until it 'felt right' for him. We can do further tweaks once it's finished and he can play it with amp/etc but it's probably close enough for me to start the final sanding, which I started this afternoon. As folks who have watched other builds will know, I often use some Tru-oil slurry and wiped to act as a grain filler and also as a reveal coat... to spot dints and lumps or sanding marks that are difficult to see on dry sanded wood. The good thing is that it also lets bot Alex and me see how the final colours and grain are going to turn out to be. I think it's going to be quite nice:

Well family stuff and domestic 'projects' largely clear and so I'm back to the build I'm not quite at the final furlong stage, but certainly getting closer to it. Next jobs were to finish the rough carving on the back and getting ready to sort the control chamber hatch. For the carve at the back, because it's curved, I am mainly using the larger of the two round-bottomed Ibex thumb planes and also the gooseneck card scraper: Don't let anyone tell you the Ibex planes are toys - they really are precision planes: Those curly shavings are rock maple and ebony! I used a bottom bearing rebate router bit to follow the chamber and mark the outer edge of the rebate - but the curve of the back makes it difficult to get an even depth of cut and so the rebate was cut to final depth using carpenters mallet and some sharp chisels. Done, ready to create the paper template and cut the hatch:

Couldn't resist doing a full mockup. In elapsed time (some pesky family commitments getting in the way ) this is probably around 4 weeks away from finish but, from the front view, it's getting pretty close. In the third pic, @Matt P, I also gave the top half a wipe with a damp cloth to show what the final colour will be. Seeing this, I'm certain tru-oil slurry and buff satin finish is the way to go :

So why are the body wings so deep? Well - because the body cross section is going to have some curves. Mind you, that will mean a LOT of carving - and I will creep up on the final shape and let the guitar show where it wants to go... Here comes in play one of my favourite hand-tools - the Veritas Pull-shave. I think it's designed for scooping out wooden chair seats, but it's ideal for this kind of job: But I also use the block plane, razor planes and cabinet scrapers. Off and on over a few days, it's starting to take shape. Carve here is probably 50% done for the body. In between carving sessions, I also added frets to the (still unglued) fretboard:

I cut the top ebony around the pencilled line of the fretboard end which allowed me to lay the fretboard on the angled neck and position the top. I drilled a couple of positioning holes in the middle of the pickup positions which, with the addition a couple of kebab sticks will stop the top from floating around as it's being clamped when the glue is applied: That meant I could check that the neck angle is going to be correct for the height of a standard tune-o-matic roller bridge: And so what about the end of the fretboard that is hanging in mid air? Well, of course the offcut from the neck blank when I cut the neck angle in the first place is going to be the correct angle. So I will be able to cut a short ramp from this (ignore the odd shaped headstock in the background - that's not connected with this project ) I will also be adding a demarcation stripe of maple between the alder and ebony: And so, with the kebab sticks positioning everything until the clamps were all on and then removed before the glue set, the clamps can now go on! :

This is going to be a through-neck and so the first thing to do is, generally, to sort the neck. 'Sort' means choose the timbers, assemble the laminates, incorporate the neck angle into the blank, calculate the headstock angle, calculate the body depth and the neck depth... ...but you can't calculate the neck depth until you know exactly what the fretboard thickness is. So, actually, that's where I started - by radiusing the ebony fretboard blank using the excellent G&W router jig: Then fifteen minutes sanding with a sanding block removes the router marks: So now I can do all the neck calcs and cut the maple/ebony/maple blank: The neck angle is around 3 degrees, starting from where the top body 'horn' meets the neck, and I generally opt for a 10 degree headstock angle.

Please accept my sincere and humble apologies! To make up for my schoolboy error, please accept 2 for the price of 1, the Epiphone and the Hohner acoustic I bought back in February. Now I am shopping for an amp, as per my post elsewhere on the forum.

After a bit of work with fine wet and dry and a polish up with brasso, it transpires it's a Coxx Classix.

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

To better appreciate this event, I would refer you to a previous post here, where the 'back story' is quite fully related, so doesn't need repeating here. Skip it if you're in a hurry, but you'll be missing out. Soooooo... I've just, in the past few days, taken delivery of a new (to me, but not quite...) guitar that has been on my 'bucket list' for over half a century. A fellow member of our sister site (Basschat...) passed me a link to a site where this quite rare guitar was for sale, in Sweden. After looking up my finances (it was not cheap...), I contacted the Seller I 'bit the bullet', and, after some tractation over acquisition of a hard case for shipping, it finally arrived, safe and sound, snuggling up nicely in a brand new case. 'OK', I hear you ask, 'but what guitar is it..?' You'll have guessed if you'd read the post in the link above; it's a Hofner President Thinline E2 Florentine, from the late '60s, the same model that I foolishly 'let go' in my stoopid youth. Yippee..! Here's the photos I hastily took as it arrived... Pleased..? You betcha; pleased as Punch. I'm now struggling to get back to where I was, all those decades ago, trying to play a chord-melody version of 'Misty'. By a horrible coincidence, I had trimmed my nails, on both hands, and will have to wait a while before playing that way, as I have done since year 'dot', with only fingers, so I'm struggling at the same time with the use of a plectrum. It's all good, though, albeit extremely slow going. I have a Chromebook for displaying a Pdf of the version I'm using (from a Sandy Sherman YouTube video; just about the best and most accessible I've seen...), but as soon as I think I've assimilated a few bars, I turn the page to continue, but have forgotten it when I turn back again. I'm using my usual method of learning the 'outro' first, so that I'll be working into 'known' territory as I move forward, but, for now (it's been only a few days, but...) I'm finding it quite a job remembering only these dozen or so bars. It'll come (it has to..!), and I find the neck of this guitar to be exactly fitted to how I play (perhaps 'muscle memory' from all that time ago, when I learnt on that first President...). Anyway, enough rambling; back to the Chromebook for another session. I'll see about better pictures if/when the weather picks up, for outdoors lighting. Bye for now... Douglas

When singing a melody through, in your head or out loud, try to pick out the highest and lowest notes, when you get to them. That's when to pick up the guitar and find those notes, and only those notes. That'll determine where on the fingerboard the rest of the melody lies, so, having established the extremes, now find the initial, starting note, keeping in mind these extremities. Does this help..?

If you can afford it and it will make you happy then do it. I personally am a tight arse and even if I could afford a Gibson (I can't) I'd never buy one because I'm a klutz and it would be an expensive thing for me to damage, same goes for a Ferarri, I'd have door pockets full of crisp packets and I'd no doubt kerb the wheels parking it.

What about selling it and buying a nice gift for the donor, or explain to him that you aren't getting on with it and ask if he would mind you selling it. You could offer him all or some of the money minus any expenses.

Here it is, about to get treated to a good clean and some new strings. Setup seems spot on but I’ll check it all and set the pick-up heights to suit. The overall finish is superb - not just for the price but for a guitar of any price. The binding is lovely and clean with no gaps or flaws that I can see and the fret ends are super smooth (the frets need a good polish though). It needs a good clean up and some oil on the fretboard and I may swap the volume and tone knobs for black ones at some point but I do think I’ve blagged a real bargain for once

I came back from the UK yesterday with an entire suitcase of stuff I'd managed to squirrel away over the last 7 years in it's own suitcase. All of it bought for less than market due to being in the right place at the right time. With the delivery of a couple of V30 loaded 1x12 cabs today, I spent a decent chunk of this afternoon, jetlag permitting, putting a couple of the preamps through the MPX G2 (which I already owned). My favourite amp is a Princeton Deluxe which is being shipped over, it nails the sound I've always wanted to hear. But I didn't expect how much I would like the Marshall JMP-1! I even preferred it to the Mesa Studio pre.

I'm loving this all. For years I've wanted something very much like that for plugging in headphones or hooking up to the PC at home. I've not bought anything as yet because I'm not really interested in most of the potential they have - years ago, I bought a Vox Valvetronix (still got it). The original, blue cloth one, size of an AC30, 2x12. Thing is I only ever used one amp model, and I don't bother with the built in effects. Something like this, though, I might be more inclined towards as at that price, as long as the sound I want is good, it doesn't matter so much more of it is "wasted"....

@Matt P Hi, thanks for the advice much appreciated. I made several enquiries by phone and email with mixed response, I have to say that some places were better than others at responding and will comment no further on that other than I recieved what I consider truly excellent service from Hobgoblin music. They are an outlet largely for anybody looking for instruments used particularly in the folk world, a couple of phone calls to discuss what I wanted and needed and within 24 hours of placing the order I had a case delivered to my ho,e address. Unfortunately my nearest music shop is now about an hour away so I do tend to rely on Internet searches otherwise I could end up driving around the south of England if I can't find what I need in one particular place. That said that is exactly what I did when I bought my guitar as there was no substitute for actually holding a selection of guitars to get the feel before buying. Back to my original point I now have a Viking case for my guitar which is an absolutely perfect fit and should keep it safe, whilst this case is not armoured or expensive, and I wouldn't want to use it I an aircraft hold for example, it will provide more than adequate protection for storage at home and the occasional trip out and about.

I've probably got too many jazz books already but why not order this one as well? I just have, for delivery before the end of the holidays. Already got the turtleneck.

You may have seen elsewhere in other posts that I have been asking all sorts of questions ahead of a potential upgrade, well today I bit the bullet. After much research, asking questions and visiting several guitar emporium today I picked up a rather lovely Lag T88 electro acoustic for a bit more than I was planning to pay, however I am absolutely over the moon with my purchase. I hadn't visited this local music shop previously and I was delighted with the service, right down to the fact that my wife was offered a seat as she struggles to stand for too long due to severe arthritis in her knees. The sales guys listened to my story and then proceeded to thrust a selection of guitars into my hands and being as my abilities are limited took each guitar back and played the same pieces on each guitar so that I could hear the difference. I wasn't sure that I would hear much difference between guitars unless the difference in price varied by thousands rather than just a few pounds. My wife and I quickly discounted the lower price ranges around £200 and in the end plumped for the most expensive, and the clincher was that the difference between the last two was that the cheaper of the two was of natural satin finish and my final choice is gloss finish. I really liked the satin look finish but the gloss finish has a much fuller sound. When I told a guitar playing friend that I was looking to upgrade he said that you really need to hold a guitar before buying and that once in your hands you would know it is the guitar for you, these words are so true in my opinion. Finally back to the sales guys who offered me some advice on my playing and I may even book the odd lesson or two now.

I will do a build diary to document this when i get started, but am going to do a neck only p90 build. Going to use a humbucker size p90 so I don't need to increase the size of the rout on the body I have and to keep it flexible for the future. Will keep you updated.

Thanks folks! For the fretboard, I had found an offcut of some purpleheart that I used for neck splices in the past. I sliced a length off on the bandsaw and radiussed it with a radius block: Then used a 24.75" (I think it was) scale in my fretting mitre jig starting at the 5th fret to give me the 17" scale: Next I added some sawn strips of purpleheart to act as binding, curved to radius and taper using my little block plane: As the purpleheart gets exposed to the light it will pinken markedly. Originally, I was going to put a plain ebony headstock plate over the mahogany...but maybe a bit of purpleheart there too? Got me thinking and experimenting. Hmmm...and was there room for a swift in there too? : Then add some dots and frets to the fretboard - this might work: Then back to the neck. No trussrod needed but, as it is a mahogany neck, maybe a little extra stiffness would not go amiss - so I slotted the top for a couple of hollow carbon-fibre beams: With that sorted, I could bandsaw the neck and start shaping that. Before shaping the heel, I added an extension to its length. The neck is just laid on top of the fretboard - it won't be glued on until the neck angle is fully sorted (a long time yet!): Did a bit more carving to start sorting the neck profile and, in the same way that you can't have too many clamps, you can never have too many swifts! You can tell the age of my iphone by the colour aberrations of its camera!! Starting to look like an acoustic guitar neck

I'm not going to replace my fingers

Having played it a bit more since last post, I have to say this is a really fun guitar to play. It's not a shredding machine, and as a lead guitar it doesn't stand out as much. As a rhythm guitar though, it's f'n awesome! It sounds great with everything from a little crunch to hooked up with a high gain amp. I think it's actually the best guitar I own right now for playing fast metal riffs, every note played sounds clear and the riffs doesn't get mushy no matter how fast you play. It's got this twangy, almost percussive quality to it when played through a high gain amp, which can be fixed easily with a channel strip if you want a more conventional metal sound

Just to follow up on this one, I did end up taking my nice Yamaha on holiday (I figured if I was going to cart one around it might as well be a decent one). Ended up playing on the beach watching the sunset with mates, and also jamming with some local French musicians I met in a campsite on the way home. Definitely the right decision! And guitar seems happy with its adventure.

Last weekend, my daughter asked to have a go on my guitar. She heard me play a single note that reminded her of something and asked me what "that song is? You know, the one that goes (hums tune I don't recognise)". Eventually, after a few more clues and using my dad psychic abilities, I realised she meant "Misirlou" by Dick Dale and the Deltones. SO I worked out the notes for it and she spent most of the weekend trying to play it. Now, she has never really played guitar before and had a strumming action similar to a stuck windmill sail, but she was enjoying it. She also had a go at Master of Puppets and a bit of Nirvana. Then when I was out of the room I heard a couple of recognisable tunes and realised that she was looking at one of my books and was having a go at "Sex on Fire" and "Cigarettes and Alcohol". I was impressed that she was having a go and even managed to produce something recognisable, so I've decided to get her an electric guitar of her own. I've ordered a Mooer Hornet modelling amp (£105 from Thomann) and today went down to the local guitar shop to look at one of the new Squier Sonic series Telecasters (I considered a TE-62DB from Harley Benton, but wanted to get a guitar from a shop that would be set up already, without having to worry that I might have to return it or pay for a setup). I went in and asked to try the black model. The guy got a cable, got the guitar, plugged it in and left me to it. I played for a bit and then started to examine the guitar and that's when I noticed a lump out of the finish where my arm was resting. I had a notion that they only had one black one in stock. I pointed the chip out to the guys in the shop and they were gutted, not at me obviously. The guy I'd been dealing with even said that he wouldn't have minded if someone had done it and said to them. To damage the instrument and hang it up again before walking away is just a really sh***y thing to do. Anyway, they've ordered a new one for me and it should be here within the week.

New kid on the block

I just put a new true tone jack in my Jackson Rhoads and it is like I just upgraded my pick-ups. This is the second Jackson I have installed these jacks into. They really do make a difference. I am so frigging impressed. I was going to install new EMG's in this guitar, but now I'm going to wait and see. That was my problem before, I just felt like there was something missing from my tone, then this morning I put the true tone jack in and bam, I have what I was searching for.

I mallet-tapped the outline of the rugby-ball jack plate with a variety of radius chisels and then used a small chisel to start creating the rebate: Once it was all level, I rounded the sides, drilled the hole with a 20mm forstner and popped a drop of tru-oil to match the alder before doing a trial fit: And after a couple of experiments, I had a go at the ebony. The great thing about ebony is that it will sand/polish to a good finish. What I didn't know was whether the brown streaks would behave in the same way. They do This is after around an hour, progressing through around 15 grades of emery/micromesh from 180 grit up to 8000. Nothing else - just sanding through the grades: There are a couple of dints that I will lose by repeating the process, but this will be pretty much how the top will finish up.

I'm only a bedroom player, so don't have much in the way of pedals. The board is from Thomann, as is the case. I won the D'Addario tuner. The Blues Crab is a great little drive pedal. The Donner Dark Mouse is a rather good distortion pedal, supposedly based on the RAT. The Horse Classic Chorus is a cheapie from Amazon. Does me for all I need it and the Donner One is a basic looper.

The little amp has arrived. I opened it just to check that it works and had a very quick play through it. It's very light, but the knobs, buttons and switches all feel fine. It sounds great. I played through the a few of the presets they all sound superb. There's a built in tuner, which will be useful for my daughter. It's all boxed up again until her birthday.

I've updated Basschat with up to the above stages. The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit bitty - I need Alex here to fine-tune the neck profile and his and my calendars are like ships passing in the night! In the meantime, someone on Basschat was interested how the Steinbergers work - below is what I posted if it is of any interest : You wind the knob at the back until the spindle rises to the top, exposing the string hole at its base: You thread the string through the hole and pull tight while clamping it by rotating the 'T' bar at the top (the T is a simple screwed clamp): You then rotate the knob at the back in the opposite direction, which pulls the spindle down into the housing and takes the string with it, tightening it as it goes. This is the 4th string now at full pitch: Clearly, the far end of the string can be clipped at the other side of the spindle but, while I am fitting am removing the strings regularly, it is easier to leave them long. It is a very clever design and they are well made: They are as smooth as silk. No backlash and very accurate and controllable tuning. They can be placed anywhere, unlike conventional tuners that have to be close enough to the headstock side for the adjuster clearance. And so, the headstock can be any shape you like. The string is always 'at the bottom of the peg', maximising break angle over the nut

Next is lining up the bridge. If ever there was a 'measure 14 times, drill once' it's this! First thing I did was to check the full movement of the bridge rollers from fully forward to fully back. Probably enough for a square-on positioning - but there's no point in even banking on that and so I will incorporate a modest bacward sweep to aid the intonation of the bass strings. Then to position, I fitted a couple of strings, threaded through the stop tail to the outermost tuners and taped it into position. I could then slide the roller bridge under the strings and position it to scale length on the top E with the roller fully forward (intonation for the top E is usually relatively close to scale length but, if anything, will be a teen bit further back - it will never be shorter than scale). Then, once I'd positioned it so that the two strings were where I wanted them in relation to the fretboard sides, I could press the spike of a bradpoint drill in to mark the centre: Then use a forstner for the bridge insert-holes: And finally, with fingers crossed, hammer the inserts in and try it! Big phew!

With the neck blank done, I could start trial-fitting the wings and top. I joined the book-matched ebony top and cut out the broad shape. I also cut the alder back wings slightly oversize and a couple more strips of ebony between them and the neck and dry fitted them to make sure everything was going to end up in the right place: The ebony will have a sheet of constructional maple veneer (1.5mm) as a demarcation: All good so out came the sash-clamps: The neck is the top face of the original billet and the length between the top wing front join to the tail is angled the 3 degrees to give me the required neck angle. Double check that I've got it right before the next stage: