I'm using this small Unimat lathe. Just finished making some hardwood dowel to align my body sides to the neck on my latest build.
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Winter 2019 Build Off - The Carl Factor
- Thread starter Jisch
- Start date
I am on the search for a used lathe, that looks like a nice compact one. My dad's is a huge Jet, made for bowls and such.
I need to be able to click "Like" on this pic several times instead of only once.
STUNNING.
STUNNING.
Man, I thought it looked stellar before, but...
Even stellarer.
Even stellarer.
I hit a bit of a snag with the pickups, well one of the pickups, well one of the coils in one of the pickups. These are dual coil pickups and I am wiring them as standard humbuckers. After getting everything connected I did the tap test and there was no output from the neck pickup. I unsoldered it and ohmed out the coils, the bottom coil is open. I traced it back and I can see that the wire between the coil and the solder point is broken. I was able to carefully solder a larger wire to the winding wire, but I am still not seeing continuity on it, which is strange.
As I bought these used, this is the risk. They look to be in good shape, although the wires were cut off (I would have expected them to come just desoldered). I guess I can go back to the guy I bought them from, but I've already probably gone too far in desoldering and whatnot that he could say I broke it.
Anyway I guess I have a couple options:
As I bought these used, this is the risk. They look to be in good shape, although the wires were cut off (I would have expected them to come just desoldered). I guess I can go back to the guy I bought them from, but I've already probably gone too far in desoldering and whatnot that he could say I broke it.
Anyway I guess I have a couple options:
- take the pickup apart and see if I can figure out why it's open, it could be as simple as removing a single winding and reterminating the winding wire. Taking it apart won't be easy though, of course anytime you do something like that you take the chance of making things worse.
- put it in as a single coil
- find a different pickup for the neck (that's the nice thing about covers!).
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,016
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- 31,730
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
I like single coils at the neck. I think the single-coil clarity complements the thicker neck-location tone nicely. Lucky you!
I agree, I also find them a nice compliment to the aggressive tone that you get from a bridge position bucker
Well... I notice that it's plugged in.... so how it sound? 
And, um oh yea... man that's a beauty!! drool
And, um oh yea... man that's a beauty!! drool
I've been on calls while putting strings, so only my DAW knows how it sounds, so far. I've just plugged in to tune it.
Not sure what adjectives to use, but wow, it sounds soooooo good. Very happy. I haven't set intonation and the nut needs some work but I am impressed with these pickups. Very rich sounding, nice highs, not brittle. NBD is here!
I got the intonation done, but the string height (on both ends) needs a little work. The fingerboard is perfect (that's actually a premature assessment as I won't know for absolute sure until I get the strings a touch lower).
I definitely like this Nova headless bridge better than the one I used on my last five. Separating the clamping from the tuning is definitely the way to go. I started by tightening the string clamps as hard as I dared, but the strings slipped out just before the string got up to tension. I started over again, but this time went even tighter, smashing the string under the set screw, it held fine.
After I got it up to tune the intonation was way off, all of the tuners were too far forward. I was concerned that I was going to be relying on the smashed string, moving the tuner back meant some of the smashed string was outside of the set screw. No ill effects at all, I got all five strings tuned up and they seem to be holding tune fine. I will get another set of strings though, I suspect that flat spot will break sooner rather than later. That's what I've found with headless tuners, you have to learn how they work and that means you might waste a string or two learning. I measured where to put the bridge, I should have measured again where to set the intonation and I wouldn't have had to move it so far. The fact that you have to totally loosen the string to adjust string height and intonation is a bit of a pain, but really you do that pretty rarely.
I went to put the knobs on and realized that they needed another couple coats of Tru Oil, so that's happening now.
I need to put strap locks on as well, as with all my instruments I'll use those dunlap ones that get recessed. I am not sure if I'll put it in the back or on the end of the scroll. I like it in the back, but this body is thin and contoured, so there's not much room for a screw, I'll have to measure it to see if it will work there. I like that stealth look and without a headstock, there's no chance of head dive.
I got the nut cut, but it needs to be fine tuned a tiny bit and polished.
I sanded the back of the neck with 600 grit sandpaper then gave it three coats of wax, that is such a great neck finish, it feels super smooth.
So as usual there is nipping and tucking to be done after it's together. Then I guess I need to record a song and take some pics. I suspect this will become my main bass from here forward so I want to get some pics for the build off finals before I have a chance to put a scratch in it or whatever.
Thanks for looking and all the nice comments, I love the LC.
I definitely like this Nova headless bridge better than the one I used on my last five. Separating the clamping from the tuning is definitely the way to go. I started by tightening the string clamps as hard as I dared, but the strings slipped out just before the string got up to tension. I started over again, but this time went even tighter, smashing the string under the set screw, it held fine.
After I got it up to tune the intonation was way off, all of the tuners were too far forward. I was concerned that I was going to be relying on the smashed string, moving the tuner back meant some of the smashed string was outside of the set screw. No ill effects at all, I got all five strings tuned up and they seem to be holding tune fine. I will get another set of strings though, I suspect that flat spot will break sooner rather than later. That's what I've found with headless tuners, you have to learn how they work and that means you might waste a string or two learning. I measured where to put the bridge, I should have measured again where to set the intonation and I wouldn't have had to move it so far. The fact that you have to totally loosen the string to adjust string height and intonation is a bit of a pain, but really you do that pretty rarely.
I went to put the knobs on and realized that they needed another couple coats of Tru Oil, so that's happening now.
I need to put strap locks on as well, as with all my instruments I'll use those dunlap ones that get recessed. I am not sure if I'll put it in the back or on the end of the scroll. I like it in the back, but this body is thin and contoured, so there's not much room for a screw, I'll have to measure it to see if it will work there. I like that stealth look and without a headstock, there's no chance of head dive.
I got the nut cut, but it needs to be fine tuned a tiny bit and polished.
I sanded the back of the neck with 600 grit sandpaper then gave it three coats of wax, that is such a great neck finish, it feels super smooth.
So as usual there is nipping and tucking to be done after it's together. Then I guess I need to record a song and take some pics. I suspect this will become my main bass from here forward so I want to get some pics for the build off finals before I have a chance to put a scratch in it or whatever.
Thanks for looking and all the nice comments, I love the LC.
