The Official Guitar Thread

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Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,941
33,945
I got a set of nut files from the maintenance guy that used to work for me. He builds guitars on the side.

Also I inherited an acoustic guitar. Plays OK but I need to lower the action. I miss the ease of doing so with a hardtail telecaster. And missed it quickly lol.
 
Julian The Apostate

Julian The Apostate

Vyemm Raider
2,337
2,439
Has anyone ever assembled an amp with one of these kits? I think I’m gonna give this one a shot. Tube Depots seem to come with the best assembly instructions.


www.tubedepot.com

Tweed 5E3 Vacuum Tube Amp Kit

This is the perfect kit for a first project as well as for the seasoned builder. This kit includes everything you'll need to complete the Tweed 5E3 amp.
www.tubedepot.com www.tubedepot.com
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
15,114
6,520
Stoked, my boogie will be here next Tuesday. Have a full set of tubes waiting for her.
 
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xKALECx

xKALECx

Golden Knight of the Realm
258
131
For the Ian Thornley fans...
The new Big Wreck dropped yesterday. Once again, the guitar work is ridiculous. Solo on this one is a bit unlike Thornley with all the whammy work, however the lyrics are written for Brian, their rhythm guitarist that died a few months ago of cancer. The "I miss my friend" line gets me every time.
 
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Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,713
7,528
I've only listened to it once, but I found the guitar work to be very impressive - even by Big Wreck standards. Really looking forward to the show in October.
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
15,114
6,520
So having my boogie back has been a joy. Haven't put in the new tubes yet, waiting for a can of DeoxIT to show up. Inspired me to finally order all new electronics for my archtop. Found a guy here in Boulder that can do the work as well.


Seymour Duncan '59 Humbucker-4 Conductor-Neck
Seymour Duncan '59 Humbucker-4 Conductor-Bridge
(2)CTS 500K Audio Taper Pro Guitar Pot w/ Brass Shaft
Gotoh 3-Way Guitar Toggle Switch-Black Chrome
(2)Double Pole ON/ON/ON Flat Handle Mini Switch - Black
Orange Drop .022 Microfarad Tone Capacitors
Cloth Vintage Style Guitar Wire w/ Braided Shielding
Switchcraft 1/4" Stereo Guitar Jack w/ 3/8" Threaded Collar
Heat Shrink Tubing for Guitar & Bass
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,941
33,945
Got a new nut put in my tele. Went easy and used a pre slotted one and just trimmed it to fit and set the height. Was super easy. Fitting a blank with no slots would have taken a little more time and a little more planning to get the slots cut the right height.
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
15,114
6,520
I'd forgotten how fucking heavy the Mark IV is(83 lbs.). Normally just take the flight case top off and keep it in the bottom part. Pulling it all apart and cleaning it is a bitch, but worth it.


EDIT Crazy how much they fit in that space.

IMG_20190905_170921.jpg
 
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sukik

sukik

<Gold Donor>
3,182
8,269
I'm not familiar with basses so I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I traded for this thing probably 20 years ago and never did anything with it. I'm hoping I can turn it into a decent little practice bass. The action seems high, but maybe the high action is normal for a bass like this? I adjusted the next a little but I don't want to do anymore if this is normal. Also, what kind of strings should I put on something like this.

IMG_20190907_123053.jpg

IMG_20190907_123106.jpg
 
sukik

sukik

<Gold Donor>
3,182
8,269
I think I found the answer to my question. I found a much better set up guide after a little more looking. I measured the action and it's a little higher than what's in fenders chart but I think it'll be fine for what I want to do with it. I ordered some D'Addario short scale strings and I'm gonna go through the full setup when the new strings arrive.

support.fender.com

How do I set up my bass guitar properly?

FENDER® BASS ADJUSTMENT AND CARE The following setup procedures and specifications are for you Fender bass as equipped with the strings that come on the instrument as standard equipment from the fa...
support.fender.com support.fender.com
 
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Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,941
33,945
jooka said:
Stewmac has some pretty good how to videos as well, which they will also be trying to sell you the tools they use.
Click to expand...

I followed the advice of the guy who was the maintenance guy in the shop. I used a set of oxy-acetalene toch tip cleaners. They come in a set of 20-25 of them and they're round and like a file. I think the set cost $5 or something. Worked out just fine and had sizes to fit strings of a 9 or 10 set. Pretty sure couldn't go much larger and definietly not a bass. Used a pre slotted nut but I had to lower them just a tad and didn't want to sand the nut to lower it. Maybe 3-4 strokes and it came out just fine. Just put the tip cleaner in and angled to the tuning machine and a 2 strokes and check string height. Cheap and easy.

Going from the chart on the back of the set (it's all together like a folding allen key set) it goes from 0.012 to 0.067 in 14 sizes which worked well.

$_1.JPG
 
Julian The Apostate

Julian The Apostate

Vyemm Raider
2,337
2,439
sukik said:
I'm not familiar with basses so I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I traded for this thing probably 20 years ago and never did anything with it. I'm hoping I can turn it into a decent little practice bass. The action seems high, but maybe the high action is normal for a bass like this? I adjusted the next a little but I don't want to do anymore if this is normal. Also, what kind of strings should I put on something like this.

View attachment 222012
View attachment 222013
Click to expand...
Looks like you need to look into adjusting the truss rod for lower relief. Check this out, super simple to do.

How To Adjust Your Truss Rod | Check Guitar Neck Relief | Fix Neck Bow

www.fretnotguitarrepair.com
 
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sukik

sukik

<Gold Donor>
3,182
8,269
Julian The Apostate said:
Looks like you need to look into adjusting the truss rod for lower relief. Check this out, super simple to do.

How To Adjust Your Truss Rod | Check Guitar Neck Relief | Fix Neck Bow

www.fretnotguitarrepair.com
Click to expand...
I adjusted it a little and will try a little more when I restring it. It's a phillip's head(or appears to be) where the neck meets the body.

I'm also trying to clean up an old guitar. It's a 80 something Yamaha SSC 500 that's been collecting dust for as long as the bass. It works mostly ok except the pickup near the neck cuts out when I punch the tap on the tone nob. I can get it working by fiddling with the volume or tone nob. I don't even know if I could find a replacement tone switch for it if I wanted to. I thought something may have come disconnected or something got spilled in the pickup but I don't think that's the case. Everything still looks soldered but it's a dusty mess. There's some yellowish something all over some of the soldering, you can see it in the pickup picture below. I though it might be corn syrup from a soda but it's on all the soldering on the pickups and on the electronics behind the nobs so I think it's residue from being in a smoker's environment(tar). Which was constantly the case when I was younger.

This is the guitar.
reverb.com

Yamaha SSC-500 Blonde | Reverb

These guitars are highly underrated. A fairly obscure Yamaha model, this one was made in Japan was only 4 years in the early 1980s. It looks a bit like a Fender Strat and an Gibson SG put together. It is fairly thin and light, has a set-in neck with 3-on-a-side tuners, and has a hard tail ...
reverb.com reverb.com

I don't have a shot of the electronics in the back of the guitar but it all looks like this shot of the pickup soldering.
pickup crop.png


pickup front:
coil front.png


Also, does anyone know where I could get a screw like this online? I'm missing a pickup screw and it doesn't look like any of the single coil pickup screws that are common for strat copies. I've measured it and its about 3mm by 35mm.

screw crop.png
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
15,114
6,520
Get some DeoxIT D5 or some other contact cleaner for the pots which should give them life again. I would check pro bolt usa for the screw. nm, they dont do screws, thought they did.
 
Last edited:
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sukik

sukik

<Gold Donor>
3,182
8,269
jooka said:
Get some DeoxIT D5 or some other contact cleaner for the pots which should give them life again. I would check pro bolt usa for the screw. nm, they dont do screws, thought they did.
Click to expand...
Can I spray that stuff on all the electronics, pickups and soldering as well to clean it all up?
 
jooka

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
15,114
6,520
I just use it on the pots but since it evaporates pretty quick I don't think giving everything a squirt would hurt it.


EDIT

just found this video that is helpful
 
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sukik

sukik

<Gold Donor>
3,182
8,269
jooka said:
I just use it on the pots but since it evaporates pretty quick I don't think giving everything a squirt would hurt it.


EDIT

just found this video that is helpful
Click to expand...


I ordered some deoxit. I'm going to take my computer air blower to it then hit it with the deoxit. I also found a screw on amazon from some factory in asia that should work if the thread pitch is correct. I guess I'll find out in a month when it gets here.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,941
33,945
sukik said:
I adjusted it a little and will try a little more when I restring it. It's a phillip's head(or appears to be) where the neck meets the body.

I'm also trying to clean up an old guitar. It's a 80 something Yamaha SSC 500 that's been collecting dust for as long as the bass. It works mostly ok except the pickup near the neck cuts out when I punch the tap on the tone nob. I can get it working by fiddling with the volume or tone nob. I don't even know if I could find a replacement tone switch for it if I wanted to. I thought something may have come disconnected or something got spilled in the pickup but I don't think that's the case. Everything still looks soldered but it's a dusty mess. There's some yellowish something all over some of the soldering, you can see it in the pickup picture below. I though it might be corn syrup from a soda but it's on all the soldering on the pickups and on the electronics behind the nobs so I think it's residue from being in a smoker's environment(tar). Which was constantly the case when I was younger.

This is the guitar.
reverb.com

Yamaha SSC-500 Blonde | Reverb

These guitars are highly underrated. A fairly obscure Yamaha model, this one was made in Japan was only 4 years in the early 1980s. It looks a bit like a Fender Strat and an Gibson SG put together. It is fairly thin and light, has a set-in neck with 3-on-a-side tuners, and has a hard tail ...
reverb.com reverb.com

I don't have a shot of the electronics in the back of the guitar but it all looks like this shot of the pickup soldering.
View attachment 222428

pickup front:
View attachment 222429

Also, does anyone know where I could get a screw like this online? I'm missing a pickup screw and it doesn't look like any of the single coil pickup screws that are common for strat copies. I've measured it and its about 3mm by 35mm. If you had a cheapy thread gauge that would a lot. I think they are like $2.00 or something.

View attachment 222430
Click to expand...

McMaster Carr for the screw. But probably have to buy 1,000 of them at a time. Still might be worth to look at and figure out what the name of that type of screw. If you had a cheapy thread gauge would narrow it down to the thread gauge. I think the cheapy ones are like $2.00 or something at harbor freight.

www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
 
Warmuth

Warmuth

Molten Core Raider
877
520
sukik said:
I'm not familiar with basses so I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I traded for this thing probably 20 years ago and never did anything with it. I'm hoping I can turn it into a decent little practice bass. The action seems high, but maybe the high action is normal for a bass like this? I adjusted the next a little but I don't want to do anymore if this is normal. Also, what kind of strings should I put on something like this.

View attachment 222012
View attachment 222013
Click to expand...

Just throw some strings on it and make noise. I use to buy strings from bassstringsonline. Get the proper length for the scale and coated strings will be a bit less harsh if you can choose that. Lower action will save your fingers a bit. Specific strings and set up isn’t nearly as important as it is on guitar, provided there’s no real problem, unless you become a bass player.
 
E

Elidroth

Trakanon Raider
539
1,246
xKALECx said:
So I made PLENTY of mistakes in this as it was one take without fully figuring out the song. However, wanted to show off the power of the Fractal AxeFX III. Absolutely nailed Ty Tabor's tone which isn't easy.

Can really hear it stand out around 1:33.

Click to expand...


The Fractal stuff is amazing.. Being that I travel for work a lot though, I just went with Bias FX 2 on my MacBook.. The tone matching in v2 is ridiculously good..
 
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