Superfreaky Brain Fart ~ Luthiery Laboratories

August 24, 2020

Superfreaky Brain Fart

August 24, 2020

Not sure what possessed me at the time, but I built this with A250 tone pots and B500 volume pots, and the B pots are doing their usual on/off switch behavior - no change until almost zero, then cut off completely. After my most recent testing, I have concluded that B pots have no place in a guitar at all. I probably did this because I have just two A500 pots in the parts bin, one mini and one full sized. A few days ago I ordered a lot of them, when they come in, I will swap these out. In the meantime, the B's will do, especially at full volume, so I can check this thing out.

Uncategorized, 08/24/20

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Rickenbacker 4001 Bass 1

This one is kind of a joke and an experiment in just how cheap you can build a guitar. The body is dry-erase board over plywood - no finish - with Tolex side binding. Dry-erase board is Masonite covered with Melamine. The neck is 100% Radiata pine, even the fretboard. The "inlays" are glitter and CA glue. The pickguard is the other side of the dry-erase board - 'chalkboard'. The pickup mount is a 57 cent switch plate.

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Working Metals

Bending steel is not that difficult. You can make a pretty tight bend up to 90 degrees in up to 1/8″ material simply by clamping it in a vise and hammering it over. To go beyond 90 degrees, say 180 degrees for a truss rod, first bend it to 90 degrees, then heat the elbow and finish the bend. Heat the bend point until it glows orange. For smaller (guitar-sized) materials, a common hand-held propane torch should be adequate. After bending, quench the part quick in water, like a blacksmith in a western movie. You can hold a small part under the faucet. That will restore the strength of the material.

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