Frankenstang.

[wildebelor]

I eagerly await a lot of photographs!!

[spacelordmother]

Probably not the haul of pics you wanted, but...

During the last week I got the headstock painted and finished -- after bringing up the paint coats once I was having some strange pitting from the paint soaking into the wood (cheap cheap playwood) unevenly so I sanded it back down and started again. Things started fine, but then the pitting started again in completely different spots. I decided there wasn't much to be done so I built-up layers of poly on and sanded/buffed it to a nice satin sheen.

Lots of work happened this weekend! I hogged out the body in order to fit the new pickups, and eventually the midi brain. The combo of forstner bit and dremel cutter/sander really did the trick! Unfortunately (once again) the cheap materials here bit me in the ass -- even though I was trying to go slow the wood and glue was giving me a lot of kick back and I took out some paint in a few places. Not sure if I'll be fine to touch up a bit and get over it, but I don't think I want to go through refinishing the whole thing. The only one that really shows beyond the pickguard is that loooooooong one.





I made a template for a new guard which turned out great until I did the pup routs! It works for what it is and I figured it would let me wire everything up mounted and let me know how everything sounds. Guard wiring was really straight forward, but as someone who just learned to solder and had never wired switches before I was delighted when I worked as planned right away! I did end up having to switch the wires on the neck pickup because it was out of phase with the bridge when they were both on. Switches are neck/both/bridge, and series/split/parallel for the p90. AND IT DOESN'T HUM!



It's alive!



Holy shit the combo of single coils and new strings is ridiculous! And the output!! Sounds chimey and bright, but with a full bottom end. Mids are scooped, but not so hard that it sounds hollow. I wanted a guitar that sounded different than my HH Jag and I got one! Tuned to CGCGAC

The switching schemes seem to balance alright and provide a few different tonal options -- I am going to have to get used to them as the strings settle in before deciding if I want to change anything around. I ordered 250k pots but they were too big for the holes in the jack so I used a 500k that was in it. Strangely the body has an incredible sustain that I can feel vibrating through the body. I didn't expect that with the cheap plywood!

She's definitely still a work in progress -- I need to cut a real guard (think I have access to a laser cutter and/or CNC machine soon!) but I actually like the blonde look of the wood right now. Reminds me of those old burst JMs with gold guards. I will also probably have to redo the headstock again. I thought the poly was cured enough (after sitting for 5ish days) but during setup I put a Snark on to tune and when I took it off it left a mark. I'm also thinking about getting one of those string bars like you see on so many of the old Japanese guitars -- string break over the nut is pretty high. Since I'm there maybe a custom waterslide too?

Next up is the midi brain and sensors which I am ordering this week. Gives me a few days to just play and enjoy it.

[Moose]

That looks amazing!

I love the contrast of the P90 and the normal single coil, and the mustang style switches. Black slide switches are the owl's bowels as far as I'm concerned.

What's wrong with the pickguard, It looks pretty damn decent to me?

Hope fixing the headstock finish isn't too much of a pain either, that sucks about the Snark mark.


Whereabouts are you placing the midi brain? Is it going in the control cavity or under the pickguard?

Nice work, I want one

[spacelordmother]

That looks amazing!

I love the contrast of the P90 and the normal single coil, and the mustang style switches. Black slide switches are the owl's bowels as far as I'm concerned.

What's wrong with the pickguard, It looks pretty damn decent to me?

Hope fixing the headstock finish isn't too much of a pain either, that sucks about the Snark mark.


Whereabouts are you placing the midi brain? Is it going in the control cavity or under the pickguard?

Nice work, I want one

Thanks man -- to say I'm excited about it would be an understatement.

It all worked out well with those switches and the pickups. I got all the options I wanted and kept the classic Mustang layout. The guard is alright, but a little sloppy around the pups and a little misaligned. Since it's wood it's thicker than a normal guard which is weird, but it's actually sort of nice to touch wood instead of ABS plastic.

Headstock work shouldn't be too bad and I can do it while I have the body apart for midi work. Not sure what else to do about the pitting as I used wood filler both times before and still no luck. I guess I just need to take a little more time this go around?

The brain will live beneath the guard between the pups. Right now I'm thinking it will be wired to a knob on the jack plate, an force sensor on the pickguard lower bout (where a 3-way switch usually goes) and a ribbon controller or contact points on the back of the neck for triggering midi notes. Going to need to do some playing around to find what's best, but the ribbon would be way cleaner and require WAY less wiring. The deciding factor is if I can program it to trigger precise notes -- not sure how great it would be trying to playe a fretless midi neck on the back while playing regular guitar on the front!

[Moose]

Ah right fair enough on the pickguard. I'd love to have a guitar with a wooden one on it, might have to do that with a future guitar project. I get the feeling a walnut finish would look noice.

I'm not sure what to suggest with the pitting, that's pretty weird thing to happen The guitar I'm doing at the moment is plywood (i posted it earlier today in this section) but I haven't had any pitting issues? Sure it's not the paint itself? I did mine with spray paint, I have a few issues with the paint "blooming" due to moisture in the air, but after some sanding and careful work it came up okay. I think the pitting might just be one of those unfortunate things to live with? Unless you take immense care and take about a month to do the headstock

The midi plan sounds awesome! As long as the magnets in the pickups don't mess with the midi brain? I wouldn't expect them to, it's just a thought that jumped in my head.

A force sensor and ribbon controller/contact points sound like a great idea I reckon the ribbon controller is the better way to go.

I think it would make more sense to have it to trigger precise notes, fretless would be a risky mixture of amazing/infuriating

Of course, because it's midi you could always arrange for it to trigger other things, if you have synth gear/a computer rig & DAW set up with it. I'm just imaging in my head a chromatic scale up the neck with reverb ambience increasing steadily....

Whereabouts are you going to place the ribbon controller on the neck? Straight up the middle, or offset to one side? I think it'd be useful to have it so that you can use your fretting hand to activate it for some notes, but not others whillst you're playing something




Seriously, the scope of this guitar will be ridiculous Can't wait to see it done

[weed_killer]

that is the strangest looking mustang - the longer I look, the weirder the proportions of everything get. I love it.

[spacelordmother]

Electronics ordered. MIDI program is a go!

[wildebelor]

This turned out really cool!
The only thing that sticks out for me is the pick guard - it doesn't seem to flow with the body at all?
Maybe try relocating those top switches to the lower horn or something?
I don't know - I'm just weird like that haha

[ChetMagongalo]

IT'S SO CUTE!!!

[spacelordmother]

This turned out really cool!
The only thing that sticks out for me is the pick guard - it doesn't seem to flow with the body at all?
Maybe try relocating those top switches to the lower horn or something?
I don't know - I'm just weird like that haha

Thanks!

I took a scan of the guard and am going to refine it a bit in AutoCAD, but it will probably be almost the same as now. Switches are there a la a real Mustang. I'm still adjusting to them, but I like them there. Plus, that leaves me more room for midi controls on the lower bout.

IT'S SO CUTE!!!

[braaandooon]

The only thing I can think of as far as the pitting goes, is that the headstock may not be sealed properly, and the open pores in the crap wood keep soaking up the paint. You could strip that headstock, and wet sand a few heavy layers of shellac onto it, then that should allow for a nice even coat of paint to be applied

[spacelordmother]

The only thing I can think of as far as the pitting goes, is that the headstock may not be sealed properly, and the open pores in the crap wood keep soaking up the paint. You could strip that headstock, and wet sand a few heavy layers of shellac onto it, then that should allow for a nice even coat of paint to be applied

Good ideas, mang! It was puzzling because it was in one place, and then when I sanded it back down and started over it was in another place. Still debating on whether or not to redo it again, but if I do this seems like a good plan.

[spacelordmother]

Small update: midi brain and sensors are here and testing has begun. What I have tried so far has worked, but needs tweaking. Turns out it's a bigger challenge to program than I thought, but I will make it happen!

Will probably ditch the small force-sensitive resistor because the readings it produces are too unpredictable and it takes a lot of pressure to get it to trigger. Will probably use a button instead to turn on and off the sensors on the neck for a little better overall control.

In the meantime this guitar plays and sounds so so good. Definitely didn't disappoint in my desire for something that sounded different than my hb jaguar!

[Moose]

That sucks about the force-sensitive resistor, but then maybe having a strict on/off for the neck will actually work better in the grand scheme of things anyways!

Glad it's going well, looking forward to seeing the finalised product!

[spacelordmother]

I've still been struggling with the brain. Turns out that the simplicity of what I got (Livid Brain Jr.) also means that it won't do some of the things I want without a lot of runaround in Ableton, and those results are spotty at best. I ordered an Arduino last night which should do everything I want (YES!) but means that I have to learn to code (BLOOOOO!) in order to make it happen.

Still -- the guitar plays and sounds great. I'll try to upload a clip this weekend!