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comment by b_b
b_b  ·  728 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: November 30, 2022

Been working on a new guitar build over the last 6 weeks or so. I’m nearing completion save for a few touch up spots, etc. Ridiculous but cool, I hope.





goobster  ·  727 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Woah... how many positions does that switch have? I think the math says there could be ... 300 -something different settings? Each pickup can be a Split/Single coil, and every permutation of the three switches...

How heavy is it? The body seems "thunderbird-large"...? Does it balance well on the strap? What types of pickups do you have in it?

b_b  ·  727 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's pretty ridiculous, actually. It's a 5-way blade switch that operates like a normal one: bridge; bridge-middle; middle; middle-neck; neck. Then the mini toggle kills one of the coils so you can have humbuckers or singles (all or nothing, though...not enough room on the control plate for 3 individual switches). But the kicker is that the volume knob is also a push pull that activates the bridge pickup in any position, so that you can have bridge-neck or all three simultaneously.

The push-pull pot was sort of gratuitous, but the reason it's on there is that I try to buy everything used when I do a build. I found a set of Seymore Duncans that I like ('59 in the neck and TB-4 bridge) that came with the wiring harness, as well. And one of the pots was a push-pull, so I had to figure out something to do with it. That was the best I could think of, the thing that would make it the most versatile. Middle pickup is a Dimarzio Super 2, also bought used, though high end pickups hold their value remarkably well--only get about a 20% discount over brand new.

The body is based on a "Telemaster", Fender's mashup of a Jazzmaster and Telecaster, but there's no weight relief or contouring, so it's pretty heavy, especially considering it's made of ash. I haven't added the strap buttons yet, so I don't know about the balance. You certainly wouldn't want to play a 3 hour show with it though! It's probably >10 lbs.

The neck is also used and is in need of some fretwork, so the playability is lackluster until I fix that problem, hopefully this weekend. This is a gift for a close friend, so I'm aiming to make it as perfect as I can with my very rudimentary skillset. (The paintjob is an homage to A Clockwork Orange, which probably isn't obvious. And yes I know this is a lot more info than your question, sorry!).

goobster  ·  726 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What a blast! A FrankenTeleMaster with crazy pickup options...

And here's Joe Dart with a $5k bass that has ONE knob and ONE pickup... for that Joe Dart Sound.

b_b  ·  726 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Lol. The wiring is all just for fun. You know you find those two or three tones that sound good and then you rarely ever stray. And FWIW I've never played a Joe Dart specifically, but I have played off-the-shelf Stingrays, and it's among my favorites. I don't own one, but I plan to one day whenever I can justify buying a 1970s vintage one! Perfection doesn't need to be complicated.