Frankenstang.

[spacelordmother]

So I just scored this old MIK "bass" on Craigslist for peanuts:



At 24" scale it's hardly a usable bass -- no idea where they got bass strings that short and you can't tune it to pitch -- and I play way more guitar these days, so I'm going to turn it into this:



The neck is a little chunkier than my Jag, but same width at the nut and at the heel. Pretty sure I am going to use a Toronado bridge (string-through) since I don't use a trem. I'm sort of up in the air on the pickups, but know that I want single coils and/or P90s since I have humbuckers in my Jag. I might just wire up a single pickup (maybe a Seymour Duncan P-Rail for single coil/HB/P90 toanz?) into the existing guard for now and see what I think instead of all the extra work and a new guard in order to get it like the mockup. It would be pretty sweet as shown though... Would use the standard Mustang 3-way switch for bridge > both > neck rather than the on/off/phasing in a stock Stang. I haven't tried a ton of different pickups so thoughts and ideas are surely welcome!

I'm also thinking about building a usb midi brain inside of it with pressure sensors up the neck for note on/off or modulations/detunes/sample triggers/etc. I figure that I use midi all the time and this might as well be a crazy project, so why not? The wires would run out between the body and the neck and attach up the back for easy thumb triggering ala ILF'er Echoes genius idea here: http://ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=32365&p=777560&hilit=monome#p777520

I got the body all taken apart and cleaned today and am going to start sanding the headstock so I can fill the tuner holes in preparation for guitar tuners. Seems like this will be the biggest bit of work, so it should go pretty quickly (knock on plywood) after this step!



Will do my best to keep this thread updated with pics as we go!

[weed_killer]

as a sunburst mustang owner, welcome to the club. The black headstock will make it way easier to mask the old tuner holes when you re-drill, and the midi idea sounds super cool.

[UglyCasanova]

This looks to be an awesome project! Looking forward to seeing this evolve!

[skullservant]

Stoked on this!

[spacelordmother]

Thanks duders!

It only took about 3 seconds of sanding before I hit wood on the headstock! Wondering if I will end up wanting to refinish the whole neck, but I'll have to see what it looks like once I get it plugged and redrilled. I ordered the bridge, ferrules, and string tree last night -- having a bit of anxiety on the nut, tuners, and pickup choices. It also looks like I should make a new guard because the width of the existing route will be really limiting on what I can put in there.

My mind is rumbling with a bunch of different ideas for the midi integration. I need to order the brain (Livid Instruments Brain Jr) so I can play around with it to make sure it's all going to work like I think it will. Of course, I also need to learn to solder before I get too much farther along, so...

[wildebelor]

Just looking at the body with the guard off - man that is one weird sunburst!!!

[Obulus]

I like where this is headed! I have been contemplating putting some trigger pads on one of my guitars since I saw this video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo3cDTJIxiw[/youtube]

Some trigger pad action starting from somewhere around 5:35, but the whole thing is awesome.

Echoes guitar is super cool too, must have missed it when it was originally posted!

[spacelordmother]

Just looking at the body with the guard off - man that is one weird sunburst!!!

Totally weird. Everything about it is!

I like where this is headed! I have been contemplating putting some trigger pads on one of my guitars since I saw this video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo3cDTJIxiw[/youtube]

Some trigger pad action starting from somewhere around 5:35, but the whole thing is awesome.

Echoes guitar is super cool too, must have missed it when it was originally posted!

I'm slowly refining in my head how I am going to lay it out. More details as I get closer to that point, but first I want to make it a "real" guitar. Got the existing tuner holes drilled out, plugged, and glued tonight. Going to let them sit for a couple days before moving ahead. Bridge and ferrules should be here tomorrow so I can do that in the meantime.

I should probably buy some tuners, a nut, and a pickup...

[spacelordmother]

Not much real progress to note after a busy weekend. Bass tuner holes are plugged, trimmed, and sanded flush. Ordered tuners and a nut, and pretty much decided on a single Phat Cat in the bridge straight to volume w/o tone. Will required a new guard, but the stock pup was so awkward that basically anything would. Essok, from what I've been reading shit will sound good.

Went out into the garage tonight to install the bridge and ferrules. Got it all measured and marked and went to put it on the drill press... and the press is too small to drill the holes I need. No matter which way I turn the body that damned bar won't let me line it up! Guess I'm going to have to either invest in a larger press, try to find one locally I can use, or try to find a time to spend a day in my dad's (almost 2 hours away) garage.

In all instances: wait.

[spacelordmother]

Option 4: Hack the press.




It's pretty damn level and stable, and it worked great! It's also totally reversable and didn't require any modification to the existing press. The bit kept getting stuck when I was drilling the bridge-through holes and I couldn't figure out why, and then I remembered the layers of glue between the layers of ply. It made drilling through kind of a pain, and as a result 2 of the ferrules went a tiny bit astray from 90 degrees. I'm kind of pissed, but it won't be something I notice and it doesn't affect stringing or playablity. I also need to keep learning lessons on the impossiblity of perfection and the serenity of acceptance, so...

Went out today and got the tuners installed and couldn't help but to string it up.




IT'S A GUITAR NOW!



Going to go back out after a snack to break it down and give the headstock its first coat of paint.

Still having trouble deciding on pickups. Considering a phat cat in the bridge, but there's also an overwound Lollar p-90 in b/s/t that could be pretty sweet. Debating on whether or not to have a neck pickup, but am worried I need one in order to round out the bite from whatever ends up in the bridge. Thinking of dropping a Cobain mustang pickup in there and then wiring them both straight to volume with a switch for bridge / both / neck. Other thoughts??

I am still going to add the midi controls to it, but since I have so much to learn about all this (both luthery and controller programming) I decided to finish making it a working guitar before I get into that. Patience is not one of my virtues, but maybe I'm getting better?

[Moose]

Hell of a weird sunburst. But anyway, nice work on the headstock man!

And I think it's a good idea to get it as a working guitar before adding midi. Just to make sure, the last thing you want to do is spend loads of time on the midi, get it working, and then realise that only the midi works.



Or do you.......?




Additional note: A couple years ago I gutted out the mid and neck pickups on an ibanez RG-style guitar. Only several years later am I realising the joy of neck pickups. I say stick a neck one in there. I also agree with straight to volume, no tone control. That's how I wire up everything now pretty much, unless I'm putting in something fancy (like a varitone or similar).

Looking forward to seeing the finalised project man! Keep us updated

[spacelordmother]

It doesn't look so weird when the guard is on.

The last few parts showed up yesterday and the girlfriend is gone until tomorrow night. Time to get this thing done! (right after I eat this meatball calzone...)



wish me luck I'll need it

[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