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Gene Simmons LoBue Tribute Build

#1,121
I kicked off LoBue II with some simple stripping.
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What donned on me was, "Do I make a brand new looking LoBue, or should I relic it?"

Your thoughts...

Stay tuned. Headstock is reshaped!
 
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#1,129
Tonight was headstock trimming and joining day.
First, I found the center and straight lines where I would cut.
Bridge comes off and will probably be replaced with a bone version.
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Drawing lines, and finding center.
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Next, I had to make a jig which allowed me to cut a flush joint on the headstock. I tried double stick tape, but the piece moved around too much. I know the screws leave holes, but I can fill the damage and cover with black.
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I hate doing this cut. It's dangerous, and akways makes me recall the day I had a table saw kick back on me.
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I screwed up the tip, but it will be trimmed off anyways, since the Dano headstock is longer than the LoBue.
Finally, it was time to cut out some mahogany wings.
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Last order of business; gluing.
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More next week!
 
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#1,132
Since having twins, my time has been a little occupied. However, the kids went to bed early last night, so I got some headstock shaping done.
Band sawed the extra around the template.
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Now, it was time to route it into the famous LoBue headstock!
 
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#1,137
So tonight I had a lot of questions regarding the use of EMGs for these two builds. (Yes, I will be building both at once)

I've heard that covering the pickups with metal cover would kill the signal.

To be fair, my first LoBue pickup is the quietest passive I have ever used, so it wouldn't be a huge challenge to have a LoBue with hotter output.

Control layout:
Volume, Tone, Presence Controller, Afterburner<- (Mounted inside the control cavity)

Opening the boxes.
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Wire up, made easy with solderless connections.
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Next, we try it out!
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At first, all seemed good, but the output of the afterburner seemed ineffective.

After actually reading the directions, I realized that it's a push/pull pot.

I powered it up, pulled the pot, and I was blown out of my seat!

I think it's safe to say that output won't be affected by the metal plate.

Now, my concern...

Fitting pickups under a pickup cover may be a challenge.

No matter how I do it, the pickup is in the way of the pickup cover mounting screws.
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I'm going to have to get creative to stuff these pickups under the cover.

I'm pretty sure that the sides of the pickup cover for my P pickup version, will have to be trimmed.

Any ideas, let me know.
 
#1,138
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I think I figured out how to mount the humbucker.
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The screws are kind of small, but I think this will work. I just have to shave the sides of the pickup to accommodate the screws. Yes!


No I have to figure out the P pickup logistics.
 
#1,139
Seems like you could hide the P pickup under the pick guard and just have the chrome cover sitting on the surface of the guard. Maybe have a section cut out of the guard under the pickup cover so you could access the pickups if needed. Not sure if that would be too much distance between the pickup and strings but you could maybe make a tester "body" to attach everything to and see if it was functional. Hope this made sense. I can picture it in my mind but may not be wording it correctly.
 
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