Yorgle

I haven't tried it with the amp yet. I'm curious if I'll start getting feedback with the gain at distortion level. As for the ground wire, it's still there inside one of the post holes. I suppose I could just pull it up a little further and solder it to the bottom of the thumbscrew post. I wonder how that's done on actual archtops?

I love the look of my Wildkat, but I've always suspected that the semi-hollow guitars are somewhat of a gimmick- you get the look of an archtop, but because the bridge is mounted to a solid block they really have little to no real acoustic properties. Despite its hollowed body and f-holes, my unplugged Wildkat sounds pretty much the same as my Les Paul. So a few weeks ago I decided to try some experiments- to see if I could make my semi-hollow into more of a semi-solid. As seen in my previous posts, I first replaced the bridge with a modified floating style. My thinking was that at least some of the vibrations from the strings might be transferred to the top over at least a part of the open chambers on each side. I noticed a very slight increase in unplugged volume-- but it still sounded like an unplugged electric solid body. So this weekend, I took things a drastic step further and using an offset saw blade (inserted through the neck pickup opening) I physically separated the top from the block in the area underneath the bridge. Now that made a definite difference- in fact, my wife (who had just put the baby to bed) told me to turn off the amp!

My latest experiment- I removed the stock bridge posts and inserts and modified an archtop bridge to to fit. The wider base extends beyond the solid block and into the hollow areas giving it a slightly more acoustic sound.

For some visual improvement, I'd swap in cream-colored pickup covers, switch tip and poker chip. Then I'd go with gold bell knobs. I think that would really look classy with the turquoise finish.

Longman- those open-gear tuners look great. Very Vintage.

I'm just about done modding my Wildkat, except I'm not entirely happy with how close the treble end of the vibrola "comb" sits in relation to the volume knob. It doesn't actually hit the knob, but it looks awkward. I think that the next time I change strings, I might cut the comb shorter and drill a new hole to attach the arm closer to the E string.

The factory Antique Natural finish looked plastic and too yellow for my taste so this weekend I fixed it. I started by sanding the factory finish down to 1/3 of its original thickness with 220 and 320 grit. I didn't want to risk going all the way to the veneer because I don't know how thick it is and didn't want to accidentally sand through it. Next, I sprayed three on three coats of Minwax polyshade tinted polyurethane in a burst pattern, color sanding with 400 and 600 grit between coats. After the final coat hardened, I wet sanded it with 800-1000-1500 grit, then rubbed it down first with some 3000 microgrit and swirl remover. I stopped buffing just a wee bit less glossy than the original because I think it looks better that way. The first pic is after wetsanding but before polishing. The second pic shows the finished result. Unfortunately, my camera washes out the color. In real life, it's a very rich amber burst. The area between the pickups retains a hint of the original yellow. If you look at Crust's Wildkat in his post just above, you'll get a clear idea of the huge difference in color.

Uh, nope.

Calling all Wildkat/Alleykat owners here. I like to be different- instead of a Bigsby, I added a Vibrola-style tremolo with a custom rosewood tailpiece, changed the switch tip to cream to match the tremolo arm and binding, changed out the black/silver knobs for gold/silver bells and added a treble bleed capacitor to the master volume pot. In the future, I'd like to add a roller bridge and after that (if I can put it down long enough) I'd like to refinish the top to do a vintage-looking burst. I'd love to hear and/or see what others have done.