Pictures (Guitars)

[studiostud]

Here's a little mod project I did to my little Tele "Frankencaster".

I'm called this the "burn victim" finish.   





I also did a couple electronics mods that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I installed two switches in between the two control pots. One of the switches allows the player to choose between using the tone control knob as a regular tone control, or using it as a passive overdrive control with Germanium clipping diodes. The other switch allows the player to choose between sending the signal through the regular configuration, or taking the signal directly from the pickups to the output jack which can yield some very different tones depending on your amp/effects choice.

So I've received enough PMs about the technique to go ahead and post it here.  it actually wasn't very hard. the only reason it took a lot of time was because I didn't really know what I was doing or really what I wanted. I was just sort of "giving it a go" and seeing what happens. It was just a combination of two tools, a heat gun and a rotary tool (Dremel). The heat gun I picked up at Harbor Freight Tools for like $10-15. If you've never been to Harbor Freight, definitely go check one out. They are great. The heat gun is great cause I can use it to expedite the drying of clear coats or paint or it works great for shrink wrap when I'm doing wiring cause it will shrink it evenly without melting it or melting the wire insulation. The Dremel tool I didn't skimp on because I knew I would be using it a lot and really putting it through its paces. I bought an actual Dremel branded tool at Home Depot. It's been one of the best tool purchases I've ever made. Definitely in the top of my MVPs (most valuable purchases). What I used for the guitar was the larger size sanding wheel. You can't see it in the photos because of the lighting, but the first thing I did was use the heat gun to make dark spots all over the finish. I had to be careful with that because if I made them too dark by keeping the heat on it too long, the paint cracked. That's what happened around the edges, which is actually why I ended up with doing the extensive stuff down to the wood. I was just shaving down the cracked parts so it looked nicer and wouldn't slice up my arms when I was strumming. The rest of the body though, I was more careful cause I learned from the initial mistake. So the "big section" started with shaving down the edges with the Dremel/Sanding Wheel. It looked ok, but not fantastic. Definitely didn't look purposeful. And then when I was working a spot, my hand slipped a little bit and the wheel skipped across the surface on the top of the guitar and marred it up real good. So trying to figure out how I was going to remedy that, I came up with the idea of taking more of the surface down to the wood. Thinking, "let's not just age/relic this thing. Let's make it look like I fought my way back into the burning house to rescue my "baby." The sort of "leopard fur" pattern was really just the result of how the sanding wheel worked to grind down the paint. So I finished the top, looked at it from a bit of a distance, and decided that it sort of looked weird and unnatural for the grinding to be just on the top. Just kinda looked like a cheap "hack job" of someone trying to make it look old. So then I decided to take it down over the sides a little bit. I wanted to make it look as natural as possible. Make it look like that scenario could have happened where I grabbed it after the fire had gotten to it and had eaten away at it a little bit. So after that was done it still looked a little "hack-ish" because the wood still looked like new fresh pine wood. I knew that wouldn't fly because why would the fire only damage the paint but leave the wood perfectly fine. So then I used the heat gun to make dark burn marks in the wood. That was my favorite part of this whole process because I LOVE the smell of wood burning (maybe from too many campfires growing up in Oregon). The smell of melting clear coat and poly-based paint was far from pleasant... and actually caused me to break out the mask while I was using the Dremel because it was generating so much paint dust. One nice thing at this point was that, when I was darkening the wood with the heat gun, I did lift up a couple areas of paint, but since so much was already done around it, I just had to grind those sections down with the Dremel. So once that was done, I decided to fix up a couple other edge areas closer to the neck and by that time, I was pretty comfortable with the sanding wheel so they came out a lot cleaner and I didn't have to do more than I wanted. So with that done, I just needed a way to add a sealing agent to keep the wood protected. I ended up brushing on two coats of polyurethane minwax (satin finish) over all the exposed wood areas. This actually accomplished two things. 1) It protects the wood, and 2) in the large area, it adds a smooth/slick layer that protects my arm from any future splinters or scratching from the rough wood patches.

So there you have it. Sounds like a long procedure and it was, but like I said, it was long because I didn't know what I was doing. If I did it again or if I decide to add more burn areas, it will be a lot faster. Hope you liked reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love DIY projects!

[Valoosj]

Thank you Jeff!

[kurtlives]

[liddokun]

nice house.
oh wait...you're trying to show us your guitars and amps. 

nice guitars. haha. i'll post my set up soon.

[Paul Marossy]

Here are some better pictures of my SpankenStrat

[kurtlives]

nice house.
oh wait...you're trying to show us your guitars and amps. 

nice guitars. haha. i'll post my set up soon.

Parent's house

Thanks!

[sean k]

Heres a few snaps of something I'm putting together at the moment.



It's midday Friday now and I want it to be working by Monday night. Not really that much left to do. Sort out the tail piece and bore a big hole in the side for an output then start screwing it all together. Kinda weird huh 

[Mialbu]

I think that may be the most beautiful photograph I've seen all year!!!

[Renegadrian]

Lawson (from eBay)...Great guitar for the price...

mmm, I am currently working on that one...I am not the type of guy to go with signature stuff, (my YJM308 left apart), and also I have never been a great fan of the man with those fuc.in' stripes. That kind of guitar could be good for a Tiger replica (Lynch) or for a Ratt replica. But again, those guitars were made for those players, and I pretend not to have something that is tied to one person (I am not.) So after this initial steps (I disassembed it and am currently sanding away the last parts of that damned striped finish) I guess I'll go FLAMES...I know I won't be the first with flames on guitars, but at least I'll make MY flames...Pics to follow in the next month, I hope...

[Gila_Crisis]

this is my new baby :

[metalero30]

dxmgt japan emg 81bridge  and 89 neck

dk2 pro japan sh13 bridge hotrails neck

[Al Heeley]

Here's some guitars I've put together over the last year or so

[davidallancole]

Here is my guitars.

This one is a rare prototype guitar form Fury of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Only 6 were made in around 1969-70.  This one was heading to the dump so I grabbed it and had it re-painted.




This one is my Epiphone LP100.  Its my first guitar.



This is my Jackson Dinky Pro that I bought when I got my first job.

[anchovie]

You autographed your own table?

[Al Heeley]

it's ok, the wife thinks one of the children did it.

[amptramp]

I got this Jaguar guitar (not to be confused with the Fender Jaguar) for my daughter for $115 one Christmas.  The pictures are taken on paper on the bed because all other surfaces of the house are covered in dog fur (see avatar).  It came complete with case and lead. You can see how the head is bent down at a considerable angle. Pretty good for $115 at Cash Converters! Spawnofron has a friend (who is into serious music production and took her to her first open mike night) who wishes I would go guitar hunting for him!




The head has the Jaguar name but is not the same as the Fender Jaguar. The Fender Jaguar had slide switches in various places - not really a quality component.



You can see a little more detail here including the alligator paint job, the pitch-bend mechanism and removeable whammy bar, all high quality. The strap is removeable, I just didn't bother. The 5-position pickup selector switch does not have a plastic cap. Otherwise, it is complete except for the pressure pads at the neck, sounds excellent and appears to be high quality throughout.

[amptramp]

I picked up a Cort guitar that started off as a piece of sh1t. The controls were noisy, the sound wasn't great but it came with a Univox U65G transistor amplifier (even worse piece of sh1t). But the price was right - $20 for both at a garage sale!

I modified the amplifier without much luck - replacing the capacitors did not improve things although it got the tremolo to work properly. I took the guitar internal electronics out and did a proper job of grounding. All grounding had previously been done by connection to a piece of aluminum shielding foil that runs under the controls, a certain recipe for increasing noise as corrosion and contamination increases the ground resistance. I added the yellow 18-gauge grounding wire to the left of the controls and shot the controls with tape head cleaner. The controls are quiet now and he guitar sounds reasonably OK.




It actually looks pretty good with the unit assembled. Cort makes guitars under their own name and also makes some private-label entry-level guitars for some of the better manufacturers. You won't mistake it for a top-end guitar with the flat whammy bar and cheesy pitch-bend mechanism, but it is OK for playing just for yourself.



The head looks like this, with the strings attached just enough for testing:

[DUY1337GUITAR]

I'm still not finished with this guitar yet, I still need pickups, components, tuner keys, and some more hardware.  Too much school going on right now...

[THOMMO]

Another entry for the Lefties!!
Hagstrom Ultra Swede

Hagstrom Viking

And an SX Trad. series Strat. $99 from cash converters!!!


Jason.

[davidallancole]

Rock on lefties!