Doing Things Wrong

Freakenbacker Back Together

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The new A500 pots came today USPS a day early - so never say bad things about them. I pulled up the diagram above, heated up the soldering iron, and Presto-Change-o !!! Then I tried to put the pickguard back, and it didn't fit, because, of course. The old mini pots barely cleared the body wall, and the new full-sized ones didn't. So I had to delve back into woodwork and make clearance for them. I had to razor and dremel away about a quarter of an inch, without messing up the 'finish'.

So it's all back together now and cleaned up, and believe it or not, I can wait until tomorrow to try it out. I did do some testing by tapping on the pickups with a piece of metal, and everything works as ordered, with a much better sweep on the volumes. No more B-pots for me !!!

That diagram is drawn from a classic Danelectro and shows Danelectro values for the pots and caps. I used more like Fender values. It's not that critical. I'm not sure if Danelectro used linear or audio taper pots, they're not usually marked. I would guess that they are linear, or "B", probably the same parts you'd find in a 1960s TV or radio.


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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