For the curve on the pickup mounting ring, lay a pencil on the top. Position the ring, and shim it up so the bottom is even with the pencil tip at the corner, then draw the curve across the ring. Use a Dremel or end cutters to creep up on the line, then lay sandpaper on the top face-up and use it to sand the final curve into the ring. The procedure for the nut will be similar, but you'll want a half-pencil... sharpened carpenter's or golf pencil, sanded down halfway on a belt or disc sander to mark the fretboard radius and 1st fret height.
I used my trusty curve-transfer tool, which has banged around my toolbox for 30-odd years. Dremel, file, sand... yup. Prepping the solder job now.
Completed 9pm July 4th. 8.2 lbs. Needs setup work, but it tunes, plays, and all the controls function. No buzzes or dead spots up and down the board. Only thing missing is the strap buttons as I need felt washers, and it-ll be hanging from the eye a couple more weeks to let the clear harden more. Very resonant; vibrates strongly when played and strong sustain. Zero hum, silent as the grave. Shielded like a CIA black site inside. First pic complete.
Looks like you went for modern wiring, but it's hard to tell, since you have two wires running from both the end and wiper of the volume pot to the tone controls.
Good eye - I'm using push-pull pots on the tone controls; Down is Modern wiring, Up is Vintage. Here's some nice daylight shots for Bowmap to stare at. My mid-back sandthru spot has turned out to be a face peering down out of the guitar... Once seen, can't be unseen. The nut needs to be slotted much lower before I can do anything much by the way of setup, strings are so far above the first fret that it pulls way sharp trying to fret them. $30 Nut files on the way, arriving Wednesday. Neck angle is excellent. Frets came out like butter. My Gibson-loving guitar friend Andrew came over for the first playing, and although he doesn't play left-handed he was able to test-fly it inverted and gave it rave reviews on tone, sustain, and feel. And pronounced it "F'n sick, man; unbelievable. Feels, looks, and plays like a Custom Shop job!" It's got a gorgeous tone, even with the no-name pickups that came with it. Amp on clean and it sounds amazing. 73 days start to finish. Still a few things to square away setup-wise and a few cosmetic flourishes I want to do, but it appears I've produced a player. Finish still quite soft. I'll likely polish it again in a month or two as it hardens. Thrilled. Satisfied. Amazed it came out so well. Nothing about it says, "first attempt," much less "Sub-$200 kit."
Looks awesome. Watch that the rubber on that stand doesn’t bugger up the nitro. I don’t know if all rubber does but some rubbers have a nasty reaction with nitro.
Agreeing with the others here. That thing is gorgeous. Great work. I kind of like the face too. It will make it completely distinguishable from others if you ever need to ID it. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
^^^^^ This. Hercules hangers and stands supposedly won't cause problems, but as fresh as that is, I wouldn't put any pressure on that finish for a month or so. But even "safe" hangers and stands can cause discoloration simply by virtue of blocking the UV that ages the rest of the finish.
It was only on the stand for the time required for the pix, but thanks for the warning. Its still hanging like a bat in my closet, from the hook eye installed in the strap button hole. I figure I'll give it another month before it is hung on my nitro-safe wall hanger. Which will relegate the Thunderbird to life in its case.
The $30 set of nut slot files I ordered showed up. Very poor, not willing to risk them. On their way back. Ordered a $75 set of japanese make instead. Just cant bring myself to pop over a c-note for the StewMac ones. Likely to arrive around the 17th. So im stuck until then.
The Hosco tools have a decent reputation and are much more reasonable than Screw-Mac I see a lot of recommendations for mig welder tip cleaner wires... they're OK in a pinch to clean things up or deepen a slot, but you aren't going to cut a new nut with them.
The ones I bought were "metallor" brand and from 5ft away looked useable... but on receipt their shortcomings were all too apparent. Of the 6 cutting edges, one hadnt even been toothed; just raw metal. See the pic. This wouldnt cut butter. The other 5 were laughably off-spec. I did a test cut on some lexan scrap, and the .010 edge was cutting an .022 slot. Not even up to Harbor Frieght standards. I have a set of Hosco files on their way from New York. I hate waiting. But no choice really. Not something I can locally source.
Hosco files are the real deal. You should have no problem with them at all. I got mine from Philadelphia Luthier Supply. Ian
