this is the initial concept design - like everything i do, i take into photoshop first and play with the design:
and after much wrangling and the invention of seven new expletives that I have since been approached by webster's to contribute, the outcome was this:
some finer details of the build - this one shows the placement of a Digitech DF-7 (Distortion Factory Effects Pedal) into the guitar itself:
This one shows detail of the pickups etc:
and the pickup switching configurations:
and finally, the headstock:
Lessons learnt from building this:
- build from scratch, instead of pretty much destroying a perfectly good existing guitar for the sake of cutting corners because you're a noob and thinking you'll save time and money. WRONG.
- DON'T wire directly into the guitar post painting. As a consequence to my already bodgy paint job, I dripped solder, made additional marks and scratches, and drill marks on the still-setting paint. I pretty much have to strip this guitar back and re-spray it now, i've made that much of a mess of it. What i'm going to do next time around, is trace out the electrics position per guitar, and cut/drill some ply, mount the electrics for wiring into that and then wire it up - to get the wire lengths right. I will then just disassemble from the ply and drop the final assembly into the finished guitar - that way I also don't have to wait until the guitar is finished until constructing the electrics (I can't use my powertools at night after work during the week- but I can solder).
- Circuit board pickguard - yeah, well. never again. Massive headaches from inhaling fine particles while cutting it up (no doubt carcinogenic, too).
- Wait for the paint to dry and set properly before doing any further work to the guitar. Oh, and don't cheap out on spray cans with crappy nozzles. Spray somewhere where wife won't stab you in your sleep after also unintentionally spraying new expensive outdoor deck furniture. Good ventilation is entirely dependant on how many stars you want to see after having a dizzy spell and hitting your head on said expensive outdoor deck furniture as you pass out. So many good times.
- Safety first - total noob in regards to this, as a master of logic because of my day job, common sense often is absent. Eg. jumping to using a router, belt sander, jigsaw, dremel etc without any consideration of eye protection, ear plugs - eg. stupidly attempting to remove a hot router bit with fingers (the smoke should have been a give away), skipping around the work shed like a screaming tourette's monkey cradling an eye full of hot aluminium shards, saying 'what' to annoyed family members regularly post project time because of enclosed garden shed where workshop is and close proximity to power tools.
Full version of this build (its about 37 parts) on my site under the 'calm like a bomb explorer'.
I've since started building a 335 and a double neck tele/bass, applying the lessons learnt from the above this time around. No doubt my next 'lessons learnt' list will be bigger, but I don't care - I'm doing this for enjoyment, not a living, and you live and learn.
All I can say, stuff ups and all, I'm having so much fun. It is so good to be creative, put effort into something and have something tangible as the outcome - much different to my daytime job in IT.
I still do that sort of stupidity after 30 years on the tools.