back to the smoking stacks tomorrow

Bike weekend.

On saturday I took the trip down the road to the Bike show in Gothenburg.
16€ later and I was off into a sea of motorcycles, mopeds, helmets and accessories.
To date, I have never purchased a new motorcycle and probably never will either.And to be honest, looking around the stands there wasn't much I would buy.
The theme for 2012 seems to be over done with huge touring chopper whatevers..with nasty paint schemes and horrendous prices...kinda gave me flashbacks to "orange county choppers" who , in my opinon, have never built a decent looking bike since they started...in fact, I would go as far to say that the yanks just don't have the eye for building decent choppers/bobbers/customs. Scandinavian chopper designs are much cleaner and better built and thats just the beginning...
..and at the MCM stand a few nice bikes were shown in a competition for best bike.
Otherwise the new "Victory" bikes were not my taste at all..and the Harleys..my god..I'll post pics of some of the "efforts" on show..the average age of those testing these bikes was Jurassic Period..I don't get it...but good for them if they feel cool driving around on something resembling a lucas ice cream van:

Apparently the lads of Motorhead have their own "victory" bikes..I was stopped and asked one of the younger girls handing out the adverts where the bikes were built...the answer I got was interesting...
- well, I know the drummer is Swedish..but the rest are ..like Americans I think...
I meant the bikes, I replied...
-Oh, America I think...
ok, thanks...incidentally..Lemmy is American ...I said
-Oh..which one is Lemmy...

hmmm...

Moving on and I got talking to some enthusiasts with the same interests which was very informative..a quick chat with Thomas from Motorspeed was followed up by a look at some marvelous bikes from a museum that were on show and had the rather remarkable "flying merkel"...

Now thats what I call a Bike!!! This was back to back with a Patton 500, a gorgeous blast from the past and a bike I've never seen before in the flesh..this however was a modern day replica..1 of 7 but who cares! I'll post pics at a later date that I took of the bikes.

Moving on and trying to avoid the "chopper space ship gliders"....I suddenly came across Checas Ducati superbike which was fresh from his winning 2011 season.This was followed by an incredible Honda Fireblade endurance racing..pics to come ...suffice to say , just the Öhlins forks had the same cost as a brand new fireblade! Swinging arm was HRC and crafted by the dwarfs of Mordor! I had a long chat with the mechanic who gave me some in-depth on the costs and technical datas of the project!

Right, think I'll stop there until I've uploaded the pics!

plans for the 77..

I've found it too hard to consider routing out the 77 hardtail..
The guitar (body, neck and neck plate) all came from the Isle of Wight and it just seems wrong to start cutting her up. This thing weighs in the same as a les paul , the heavier ones...so it's got a pretty special sound.
I came across a genuine Fender brass hard tail plate from the 80s which I picked up.I'm not sure if people understand that these parts made by fender were 22 carat gold electroplated and brass makes a wonderful ring to the sound.
There are a few options for this combo.We shall see.
I was happy that several parts dropped through the letterbox today, so the SRV p#3 got its black back cover and gold bridge screws and whitey got a claw and springs kit, so now I'm only waiting for a 3 way switch.Once that arrives I can solder up the DF and SDS-1 and see what the results are from that guitar.

Legend. Tone legend.thats all folks...

so..delighted with the srv neck project which sounds really great and resonates well...I started thinking about the 77 hard-tail but couldn't bring myself to take a scalpel out and route the beast for a bucker...instead, I thought it would be neater and an improvement to look at adding the new H/S pearloid guard to whitey to make her pearly now, and fit in the vintage sds-1 in the neck and retain the tim shaw Gibson dirty fingers in the tail..great combo from the analog days!
I'd completely forgotten that I'd actually fitted a 1 meg pot before to the DF bucker. This usually increases the higher treble frequencies..the idea now is to fit a Malsteen 250k pot to actually darken up the  sound. Although I have to admit, the DF sounded brilliant with the 1 meg pot and of course the Malsteen brass nut that I fitted..
To ensure the SDS-1 fitted in the neck pocket without fixing the routing, I cut back the cover which makes it look the business as well.
Just waiting for a few parts to finish her off and then the solder will be out again.
On the way there is a claw kit complete with springs which is just about all this one needs. At the same time a set of gold bridge screws will be fitted to SRv and the nickel originals moved back to Pearly.

I'm also thinking of making another hole for a tone pot and using a really heavy cap to darken up the sound even more.

JEM20TH

..out of the ashes of 1 project..comes others...

Some of the parts were stripped from the 77 boat anchor hard tail strat..so, when the new parts came in I starting thinking...maybe this guitar is destined to be a rhythm monster! It's on the same weight scale as a Gibson les paul custom , ie around 10/11/12 lbs...
so maybe this would be the guitar to route for a bareknuckles warpig humbucker and sds-1 in the neck!
Think it suits the pearloid guard that arrived today...

last winter I got bored and for a craic stuck the worst parts I'd amassed from fleabay together..i was actually surprised by the result as it played..however I  had to strip her of some parts to put the otehrs together..however, what I found interesting was the strap holders that I had on her are the same apparently as used by SRV on the genuine Lenny guitar...those actually came from the Gibson R&D shop...

pics from the workshop today...

Overdose of Volteraine and panodils and some guitar building..here are some pics from todays mekkin'..

The project #3 sounds awesome!

Nickel n Gold musical chairs...

January is always a tough month, and with the project 3# on the go , I've been scratching my head as to how/what to fit into the routes..

I've got 3 awesome humbuckers , but none of them are trembuckers or F-spaced...thats not the end of the world..but...it's just that much off that it's annoying...the dirty fingers is running against a fender bridge and works...but at the same time its twice the power of the burstbucker..

The options out on fleabay are numerous and the humbuckers I wanted are apparently rarely come up...an el diablo seymour duncan for a start..

Then of course, the SRV neck has gold tuners...so..I removed all the gold hardware from the white S/H and replaced all the gold parts on that guitar to nickel/chrome hardware...sounds easy and is...but takes time..and on the new 3T body I had to line up the holes correctly for the bridge, the pick guard and rear cover..the Fender original bridge went in and was replaced by another nickel bridge I had in my parts case..without saddles...

So...I made the call to use the original Fender 77 pickups complete in the pick guard and drop it in the 3T body..the gold output jack was taken out white, the nickel output jack from the 77 hard tail went into the whitey...

Now, the reason I'm stripping the 77 Hardtail is basically because I never use the guitar as she is a real porker..typical late 70's anchor...She will be cased and one day everything will be replaced again, but there are too many parts on her to just be not played..

So, the project #3T is almost ready to plug n play...really great weight from the swamp ash body which imo is the secret of getting a great tone from a strat..

And Whitey just awaiting a few parts that are borrowed so now require replacing..but I used the saddles from the hardtail bridge and they fitted nicely..

I'll probably use the tuners from the 77 as well for the 73 Blackie that is currently out on loan...

Kitchens been busy today...

P#3 Body arrived today

Very much impressed by the light weight and quality of the swamp ash body which arrived from the states today. I had to remove the neck plate from another guitar to see how the SRV signature neck would match up.

Bandage removed!

..one step at a time..here is what your hand looks like after key hole surgery.
2 weeks after the operation I was told to remove the bandages..
Now it's rehab and hopefully if that goes well enough I can avoid the open surgery.

Project #3T

Despite having parts lying around, once again I'm having to go out on the web and find some quality parts for the latest project that has a "january" budget.
I wasn't actually intending on even starting a project but when the swamp ash 3 tone sunburst body came up with a light weight of 3,14 it was a "must have"..
I was intending on taking parts off the mint green/white single humbucker project...but to be honest it's such a great sounding guitar, despite the fact that I changed the squire JV 3 bolt to a 4 bolt, its one great sounding guitar...so it stays complete..

So, there are some good deals out there.
Currently on the way are 2 pickguards..both pearloid..

but one is a single humbucker style like Minty white and the other is a single humbucker bridge and single coil in the neck..the reasoning was simple..I have a vintage Dimarzio SDS-1 just waiting to be put somewhere...To keep the balance with an SDS-1 you just can't go weak in the tail..however...EVH style guitars and you want to keep to his philosophy of having a weaker pickup and use the amp to overdrive for the best tone..I have 3 humbuckers which would all do that job anyway...But there are others that are tempting...so still undecided..just have to ensure the balance is there IF I use the H/S pickguard..

So for that project:

 3 way switch is on the way, SD in the case..charvel brass volume pot on the way..no tone pot, straight through to the output jack

The MM Body is exactly what I've been looking for to take the SRV signature neck. I'm surprised at the prices they can sell a USA made Swamp ash finished body..but at the same time it's a gloss 3T body which is a poly finish..doesn't really matter , it's the weight imo that makes things work..and of course..a steel block.

Using the single H p/g and thats easy..drop my Gibson Burstbucker #3 into the bridge of the guitar...

As the original tuners in the neck are SRV gold..I've decided to stick to the gold harware route which I feel will work with the pearloid and especially the 3 tone tobacco burst body.
As I don't want to remove the bridge from the M/S EVH style strat, I'm thinking of going a bit more modern with the bridge but keep the steel block as the zinc blocks you usually find in MIJ's make a huge difference to the tone.
After looking around at the options with regards the budget, I reckon this Wilkinson is the best on offer...with stainless string blocks and steel block as well as the whole semi modern look but with the 6 vintage style fixtures..at the price I feel it should fit the project well..

And as always...the charvel style brass volume pot seals the signature single humbucker look.

...and the under the guard I'm going with a seymour duncan Malmsteen speed pot.These frictionless pots are amazing..you breathe on them and they just slide so smooth! However, I was gonna go with a CTS 300k for the humbucker , but will do with a 250K for the project...highly recommended!

Basically thats your lot if your fortunate enough to have a decent muckle neck lying around...the neck can make or break the project! 12" radius and a signute neck on such a light weight body with some serious pups should make for "potato chip" tone..
Time will tell of course, as the first round with the Minty/white sounded aweful and that has given me some experience on this build..

I was toying with the idea of sticking a Dimarzio super distortion humbucker in the bridge as that would marry up with the SDS-1 in the neck position.

Then the more you look the more you find..The Crunch Labs pickup could also be a good one to stick at the bridge..the only downside imo is that its ceramic magnet and not an alnico V...but good enough for Petrucci....

Time will tell...a table full of parts doesn't equate until it's plugged and played..will be interesting this one...