Ash Les Paul: Sound Demo

Finally got a sound demo done of this beast in action. Unfortunately, it's me playing again, so no virtuoso performance ;). You'll just have to put up with it I'm afraid! The guitar is being played through a Fender Deluxe 112 amplifier with a Joyo Crunch Distortion pedal. It's feeding back to the bullshit, but hey - I like it! The song is "Mother" by Danzig - one of my favourite songs to play. Easy enough for me to get my fingers around (mostly) if you stay with the rhythm.


I'm certainly no great player, but I gotta say, I love the way this baby sounds. The Entwistle HDN pickups just scream - it's the hottest guitar I've ever owned in terms of sheer output. It was hard to sync up the original backing track with my playing so it's a little off. But hey, you get the picture. Let the flaming begin!!

Ash Les Paul: Looks Great, Sounds Even Better

Well, my rock beast is finally complete! This morning I filed a new bone nut and got the action at the 1st fret as close to perfect as I dared to go. Whether or not I could have gone down any further, playing open chords now feels oh-so-sweet! With the nut sorted, I focused next on the bridge height and brought it down until just before the height where the strings started to buzz. There's still the slightest amount of buzz on the E and A strings, but it helps playability so much and its not enough to come through to the amp. All along the neck, the strings are now nice and low on the fretboard and she feels really, really wonderful to play!

With the action sorted, on went the truss rod cover and that was the entire build completed. What do you guys out there in inter-web land think? Compared to my Epiphone Les Paul Standard that I've had for 20 years, she doesn't even compare in look or in playability. Colortone dye + Tru-Oil really is a simple and effective means to obtain a professional looking finish cheaply and easily! I recommend anyone out there thinking about finishing their own guitar to give this combo a try.

I really love the ash veneer on this Pitbull kit. Filling the ash grain with Walnut Timbermate was definitely the right decision - especially with the Tobacco burst over the top. It has really popped the grain beautifully and helps to spread the dark tobacco theme out over the entire top. The dark filled grain even makes the wood look a little scorched don't you think? Maybe it's just me ;) .

How about those Entwistle zebra pickups - they just scream ROCK! It makes this LP look a bit like the Slash signature model from Gibson. You can't get more rock than that!

In terms of the headstock, I really like the way the burst headstock complements the body so well. When I first did the headstock I had serious doubts that it was good enough, but now I wouldn't change a thing.

The grain on the sides and rear of the body also looks great with the Walnut Timbermate fill. It has come up a little like Mahogany in that respect. It's really allowed what figure there was in the body pieces to come to the fore, even though there wasn't much there to begin with.

The Entwistle HDN pickups are the hotest pickup I've ever heard. I've been playing the guitar all day, and I've found that for my playing style the sweet spot volume-wise is about 7 on both the knobs. I've never needed to adjust the volume on a guitar before! When the volume is at 10, the guitar really drives the amp - the neck pickup especially. If I could squeal lead notes, then this baby would be on fire. Even better, lifting the volume knobs performs a coil tap on each pickup, modifying the sound of the guitar to give that more hollow single-coil sound. Just another awesome aspect to these amazing pickups.

All in all this LPA-1 is an amazing kit from Pitbull Guitars (Build Your Own Guitars), and I think I've done it justice. The set neck went on perfectly without issue or shim, and the resulting neck height is exactly matched to the height of the tune-o-matic bridge. For a perfect action, the bridge is raised about 2mm from it's lowest setting. No shim, and no bridge sticking out off the body. The end result of all my ministrations looks amazing (in my humble opinion) and is a real pleasure to play.

I'll try to get a sound demo recorded in the coming days - just as soon as I learn a song that will do this baby justice!

Ash Les Paul: All Wired Up!

Well it's been a hectic couple of days, but the Ash Les Paul is almost ready to rock. Once the neck glue was dry (I gave it 24 hours), I set about shielding the cavities and wiring the electronics on a cardboard template. The shielding was grounded (pickup cavities and control cavity) and in no time at all the pickups were installed.

The electronics were wired using the "Vintage" Les Paul wiring model. You can see a diagram of this below. The difference between Vintage and so-called Modern wiring is that the Vintage circuit connects the tone capacitor to the output of the volume pot (ie. the middle lug) rather than the input (the outside lug).

Vintage Wiring - Diagram Copyright guitar-mod.com

In simple terms this means that the low pass filter is only applied the signal that the volume pot lets through rather than being applied to the entire (raw) signal. The benefits of this approach are hotly debated in forums across the inter-web, but anecdotally it is said to give a brighter response when dialing down the volume. Whatever. I just like anything with "Vintage" in the title :) .

With the wiring done, I cut some circles of milk bottle plastic to sit under the pots (it stops the pot lugs from inadvertently shorting out) and then installed them. The shielded control covers followed shortly, and a tap test confirmed that everything was working as expected. In addition to the wiring shown in the diagram I also used push pull pots for volume, allowing me to coil tap both the neck and bridge humbuckers. When the volume knobs are pulled out, single coils it is!

With everything in and working, I strung her up for a first test of the Entwistle HDN pickups. I reckon she looks magnificent!

A guitar at last. The burst and zebra pickups look killer!

I'm really digging my burst headstock now.

With the burst and the zebra pickups, this is one mean rock beast. At least in my opinion. Something Slash might find himself holding ;). A first test of the HDNs showed that these are indeeed hot, hot pickups. Even on the clean channel they all but melted my face. For the first time ever I found myself diving for the guitar's volume control! Really a wonderful (powerful!) sound. I have only to file a new bone nut for this beasty and I'll be able to take her for a proper sound test. Stay tuned for some very badly strummed tunes on a very loud, very rock-worthy axe! Guffaw...

Ash Les Paul: Setting the Neck

Today I got back to the Ash Les Paul. I was able to level, re-crown and polish the frets for a sexy look and a super-smooth action! I've previously waited until after the neck was attached to do the frets, and on the whole my experiences have been mixed. Previously I have found it hard to re-crown frets on the bridge end of the neck for some models when the fretboard is close to the body. I decided to try leveling and re-crowning the frets before gluing this time. The frets turned out ok, but trying to hold on to the neck whilst sanding and filing was a bit of a bitch. I guess I need a couple of vices here on the work-bench!

Anyway, with the frets done, I carried on immediately and glued the neck. Fingers crossed that I did everything correctly! It all looks great - the E strings run nice and straight up the neck and are sitting almost on the top of the 22nd fret. Should make for a nice low action! However, in the back of my mind I couldn't shake a little voice telling me that I didn't use enough glue. I had all the surfaces covered, but there wasn't much squeeze out. But that's a good thing right?? Oh well, time will tell!

Titebond and a clamp does a set-neck make!

The whole shebang. She's looking the goods!

E strings sitting nice and straight up the neck and almost resting on the 22nd fret.

I'm very excited about getting this little baby completed, and she's actually starting to look like something now! Next step is to get the control cavity shielded and to solder on the ground wire. I don't think I'll shield the pickup cavities this time around as I've read comments out there on the inter-web saying that shielding here cuts the highs from the signal? Am I right in thinking this? Let me know your opinions out there!

Once the clamp comes off the neck, I'll be waxing the fretboard with Dingotone guitar wax and then starting on the electronics. Stay tuned!

Stone Roses Tribute: Setting the Neck

So the day finally arrived when this Stone Roses Tribute could start being assembled. The clear coats have been subjected to IR lamps for a few days and given I wont be polishing the surface to a shine, I'm pretty confident I can move on with the next steps. The first and most important task - gluing the set neck!

There was quite a bit of play in the neck of this kit, both in and out and laterally within the neck pocket. To make sure the neck was glued at the correct angle, I installed the bridge and tailpiece first along with the tuners. This allowed me to get the two E strings placed up the neck to check for correct lateral angle.

To make sure the neck was installed at the correct depth, I installed the neck pickup and made sure the neck wasn't so far into the pocket that it stopped the pickup from being installed. I marked pencil lines to indicate the exact depth required on each side of the neck to accomodate the pickup.

In terms of the neck angle front to back, putting the bridge at it's lowest height I was able to establish that the two E strings were touching the first few frets. This indicated that a good action could be dialed in without the need to shim the neck. Phew! With all this done, the neck could be glued into the correct place and clamped.

I used Titebond to glue the neck into the pocket (the king of wood glues) and now must wait two days for the glue to fully dry before putting any weight on it (ie. stringing it up!). I'm pretty happy with how the neck is sitting and can't wait to give this baby a strum!

Stone Roses Tribute: Video Build Diary #7

The seventh installment of my video build diary for the RC-1 Stone Roses Tribute is now on YouTube. This installment deals with the do-over of the Pollocking paint job, and (finally!) the setting of the neck.

Enjoy!

335 Semi-hollow Bass: The Neck is Set

With the clear coats finally in an acceptable state, it was time to glue the set neck onto the 335 bass. Before I could do that, I needed to drill a hole for the bridge ground wire from the front bridge post out into the cavity. This time I remembered to use a metal ruler to protect the finish from the side of the drill bit.

All was completed successfully, and the ground wire was installed by baring some of the wire, turning this downwards into the post hole and then inserting the the post into the hole. A multimeter attached to the bridge post and the end of the ground wire indicates very quickly whether the bare wire is making contact.

With the grounded bridge post installed, the other bridge posts could be pushed in and the bridge mounted to allow the outside strings to be aligned down the neck. With this looking good, it was time to get out the Titebond and slather it into the cavity and onto the neck heel. The clamp went back on (tight!) and now it is left to dry for a couple of days.

I am a little concerned that the neck could come over more towards the E string at the tuner end. The string is sitting a little too far into the fretboard down at the pickup end of the fretboard for my liking. But try as I might, I could not get the neck to twist horizontally any further. It's definitely playable as-is, and this certainly wasn't a visible issue during the mock build,so we'll have to wait and see what it looks like when the clamp comes off.

Les Paul Florentine: She's Got Neck

So, who says that I can't glue a set-neck? Not me. Well, not anymore at least. Today, after 2 days of waiting, I released the clamps holding the neck joint on the Florentine. The Titebond glue seems to have produced a very strong join, although to be honest I haven't driven my car over it.

One thing that did worry me is that upon inspection the angle of the neck seemed quite shallow compared to my Epiphone Les Paul. Worried that I might end up with action out the wazoo, I immediately fitted the trapeze tailpiece and the E strings to check the string height. Thankfully, using the bridge but without the bridge posts fitted, the E strings are just touching the neck at the highest fret. I'm hoping that once the bridge posts are in, this will leave just enough wiggle room to allow a nice action to be achieved. That's the big trouble with these set-neck builds - once it's in, it's in! Not being able to shim the neck to fix the action brings me out in a cold sweat..

Anyway, apart from the neck angle (which is, well, fine actually) everything else looks good. With correct bridge post placement, the two E strings can be aligned so that they sit over the outermost pickup poles and travel nicely up the neck to the nut. Yippee!! The next job is to drill the bridge post holes (carefully, carefully!!) and then finalise the finish so that the wiring can begin. She's slowly nearing completion, although her wiring promises to be a real pain in the grunions. Fun times ahead - stay tuned for that one!

Les Paul Florentine: Gluing the Neck

Today marked another first for me. I finally glued the neck onto my Les Paul Florentine - the first set-neck that I have built. I was a bit worried about it, having never glued in a neck before, but the neck fit was reasonably tight on the kit and I didnt really expect problems. I used a liberal amount of Titebond glue on all surfaces (the cavity and the neck) and then held the neck in place with two clamps.

Titebond is reportedly much stronger than PVC for neck setting, and is still water based. I was able to wipe off excess glue with a damp rag. The nice thing about this particular set neck project is that the bridge posts havent been drilled yet. What that means for me is that I could just glue the neck into place without having to worry too much about string alignment from the bridge, over the pickups and down the neck. In a couple of days I'll remove the clamps and see how well I've done.

Once the neck is dry I can position the bridge, taking the string alignment and pickups into account, and then drill the post holes when everything is lined up nicely. That will be the next step for this bad boy!