TWANG Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Well.. phase three really.. the guads, not shown, being phase two. In this episode we gut Big Red. Replacing the GFS neck humbucker with a Kent Armstrong Hot P90 humbuck size, in chrome. Pulling the pots, switch and jack and replacing with larger pots.. sprague orange drop cap, switch was just fine, so I left it and the jack in. Drilled two more hole for an extra tone and volume pot. and added four Q parts set screw chrome dome knobs. The result. More control, classier look. Better balance between pickups. The GFS sounds better, the KA really turned out to the be perfect neck pal for it. Clean you go from tons of country crisp, jangle pop, on the bridge.. to sweet blues on the neck. Crank back the neck tone and you're in jazzland. Kick in little distortion and your blues gets hotter, your rock gets rockier.. and from there on out, it's all in the tubes, because both of these pickups can handle the job. burned the midnight oil on this one.. so I wouldn't waste any customers time. Still have to reduce the switch plate size, add two screws to the jack plate, (not shown), mount the guard. Tried to gloss the binding.. did a small strip.. didn't really like it so far, undecided on that. Same with headstock faceplate.. may leave it. Later will add abalone dots to the board. Yes, the wires show through the holes.. was in a bit of a hurry. I'll probably fix that later. Still not too hot at pics.. sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captmidnight Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Looking good Twang, and I bet she sounds good also. Nice job. Capt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 I'm really happy with the sound Capt. Thanks! I've become a real fan of p90s. The gfs is plenty bright now that I swapped electronics.. and the KA matched right in.. holes went in real nice.. 'course I drilled by hand.. no drill, started with a small bit and worked up. got close and then went to hand files.. enlarged the other holes, too. I may put in a series/parallel switch.. just to get a fourth sound. I'm really tickled about this guitar.. that's two studios now and worth every cent I've got in 'em. Tearing the lp down soon.. gonna redo the finish and put the gfs dream 180 bucker in it's neck spot. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Looking good man! I saw one of those on the wall at GC today, and thought of you, LOL. Yes' date=' the wires show through the holes.. was in a bit of a hurry. I'll probably fix that later.[/quote'] I have the same problem on m hollow LP, even though I used longer wires to hopefully be able to push them out of the way. Is there a special trick you don't mind sharing on getting them to stay put out of sight? I had a hard enough time just fishing everything back into place, LOL... every time I try to get my fat fingers in there to move the wires, they just flop right back where they were. I'm about to just stop caring, LOL. I'm probably going to switch out the pups again, and rewire with some vintage style pushback shielded wire, because I'm still having some hum issues. No shielded cavity and all... the shielded wire should help, according to "my luthier" at Guitar Center. (Quotes on "my luthier" in case Nelson is browsing as a guest, LOL...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 Just measure them better outside the guitar.. and then make a C shape of the grouns.. all I'll do is disconnect the ground from Neck volume pot to Neck tone pot.. and reconnect a ground from tone to tone-under the F hole. I wasn't worried about it at the time and making a square was quicker and stronger.. but I'll change that. What I normally do is put the parts on a card.. then you can shorten the pup wires.. to the right lenght and SEE what might stick out or show. I didn't know if I was going to keep the pups, and I'm still thinking about drilling a couple more holes.. a series/parallel switch.. and maybe run a master volume knob at the lower horn ala gretsch. Boy this is nicer to work with than the sheri.. gimmee big f holes! Yes, use sheilded wire for all hot leads. that will help.. and remember to connect one end of each sheilded wire to ground, too. What I like to do when I want to connect the shield to ground is run bit of a cap lead that I cut off into the shield.. solder a little carefully.. then put shrink wrap tight over that end. Holds real tight when assembling. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlg Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Twang, now we need a youtube vid (or even just mp3's) of what the stock Dot Studio sounds like compared to this one. I'd love to hear the difference between the stock/P90's. I was thinking of changing the stock pups not so much because they sound bad (I actually think they have a nice range from very bassy/mellow to cutting treble), but I'd like to get some 4 wire pups and some push/pull pots to do some single coil taps, etc. like: 2 HB, 1Vol(pp)/1Tone (pp) Inner/Outer modes I also saw a neat trick with installing wiring in a 335 type guitar -- use string and tie around the pots/switches, and then pull the strings through the holes to help get everything in place without breaking your knuckles: 335 assembly wiring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 I never had the stock pups.. so I don't know how they sound! I used a screwdriver on mine.. a small one.. just put the parts in through the hole and pushed up from the bottom through the hole and the shafts all went right through. on the output jack I used a piece of cloth covered ground wire. I made a loop.. not knotted and threaded it through the jack.. the f hole.. the jack hole and pulled.. held it gently put on the nut and plate then pulled harder on the ground wire. it bent and passed right through. done! You gave me an idea though.. I have some ties I use for amp wiring... you loop it and pull it through a hook on it' other end and it locks tight.. I could group my wires according to where they'd not show and tie them all up neat! I think I will! TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Hey Twang, I saw the note about adding abalone dots. The Studio Dot doesn't have any inlays right? So that's just a matter of drilling holes to the right height and gluing them in. But what do you do if you want to take mother-of-toilet-seat dots out and replace them? Or would you just recommend to leave them alone? The project looks really nice, BTW. (PS: why do they call it a Studio Dot when it doesn't have any?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Yep, no inlays. use the right kind of bit and drill them out, I would guess. Shouldn't be harder than drilling them in! You could replace them with anything.. even more rosewood. studio as oppossed to performance live, I suppose. you don't need glitz in the studio? I'm guessing! TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlg Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Sorry Twang, I thought you said this was your Second Dot Studio -- I was guessing you could play them both so we could hear the difference, unless of course your OTHER D.S. has undergone similar changes??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlg Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Twang, is there enough room (I'm guessing YES) for push/pull pots in the Dot Studio?? If so, any recommendations as to manufacturers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 I have a sheraton not another dot. I have an lp which is also a studio. None of these suckers are stock. *G* I can't recommend a brand on push pulls.. I'll have to check at my supplier. They'll probably be CTS Alpha or Bourns. I'm not really sure. I've got a couple.. but I don't remember which brand they are. In the dot studio you could get push pulls pretty easy. I'm going a little nuts, myself. I was considering a master volume, at the lower horn ala gretsch.. but I've decided to run the neck pickup to a switch there instead.. so I can reverse the hot/ground giving me two sounds at middle position on the three way. I'm using a good quality mini switch.. medium sized, really.. small toggle.. I know, it's kinda crazy to put a new hole in.. but I think it'll look way cool. I'm customizing the wiring right now.. so no wires show through the f holes at all. I bought a black bracket and a les paul style black output jack plate.. both with chrome nuts... and a black switch tip. I may make a new truss rod cover.. mimicking the shape of the headstock. I may make a new switch plate.. mimicking the shape of the body.. Then I'll do an extra fine level crown and polish on the frets.. Then I'll let it sit a week while I play it and stare at it.. the two things I may do then are.. dot style inlay on the headstock, in abalone.. and abalone dots on the board.. only all the way from the 1st fret up.. normal positions, of course. I think this will be the best looking dot studio on the planet. And I'm going to do everything I can to make it play like it looks. I think I've got a very nice sound right now, so I'm happy there. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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