16
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: May 06, 2020, 12:28:03 PM »
What I did on my Covid Vacation.
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17
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: December 21, 2019, 04:35:48 PM »
OXbird waiting for the check to clear. 
Satin Metallic Black LH Twelver on schedule.
Factory refurb Canon Color Laser Printer and toner for $185, less than $4 a pound. No more shlepping to the copy shop for my crappy graphics.
Satin Metallic Black LH Twelver on schedule.
Factory refurb Canon Color Laser Printer and toner for $185, less than $4 a pound. No more shlepping to the copy shop for my crappy graphics.
18
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: November 09, 2019, 06:33:23 AM »
Winding up (down) 2019.
Going out next week. Medium Scale, Satin hardware.
Early December for this one. Body/Neck total weight six lbs. Honduras ain't heavy!
Last weekend's progress on my 12er
Scale comparison to original size LP jr body (my EB0 is in storage).
Finally, Epiphone Firebird I 'Joe Bonamassa'. MIC, build and finish are first class. Even the 'KLuson' banjos are smooth and lI love the sound of the twin melody maker coil pickup. Sounds like a P-90 without the hum. I take back anything I've ever said about JB.
Going out next week. Medium Scale, Satin hardware.
Early December for this one. Body/Neck total weight six lbs. Honduras ain't heavy!
Last weekend's progress on my 12er
Scale comparison to original size LP jr body (my EB0 is in storage).
Finally, Epiphone Firebird I 'Joe Bonamassa'. MIC, build and finish are first class. Even the 'KLuson' banjos are smooth and lI love the sound of the twin melody maker coil pickup. Sounds like a P-90 without the hum. I take back anything I've ever said about JB.
19
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: September 29, 2019, 12:00:15 PM »Do you have imagery of your past life in carpentry...?
So much artistry...
Thanks, Ken, and everyone else. This is my most ambitious attempt in wood, around 1987. It was a little too springy. If I did it today it would have some carbon fiber in the arm/leg laminations. Back then it was basically unobtanium.
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: September 29, 2019, 06:16:36 AM »
Attack of the SinglePup SetNex
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: September 23, 2019, 05:18:24 PM »
One NR just needing finishing touches..
and 32" set neck getting close
and 32" set neck getting close
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Brooks EB-N
« on: August 31, 2019, 06:02:50 AM »
Beautiful work...and great playing!
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: August 31, 2019, 06:00:38 AM »
Gotta love hurricane season. Days of anticipation, hype, and preparation only to (hopefully) be a near miss. Take care in Kissimmee, Bob!
Routing the 1" increased width body. It will still fit in a standard Precision case.
Veneering.
Bound for glory.
Checking dimensions and color test. I'll be aiming at a 'Pelham Blue' shade of stain.
Inverness Green curing. Setneck MAX41 in foreground.
Routing the 1" increased width body. It will still fit in a standard Precision case.
Veneering.
Bound for glory.
Checking dimensions and color test. I'll be aiming at a 'Pelham Blue' shade of stain.
Inverness Green curing. Setneck MAX41 in foreground.
24
Other Bass Brands / Re: Fender + bird = Fenderbride!
« on: August 17, 2019, 10:43:47 AM »The drawings that I gave BaCH to build the FT01 were also based on pictures of John Entwistle's Fenderbirds, and some faithful copies that were out there (like former outposter Traynor's bass). If my memory serves me right the upper horn is also shaped a bit different.
The Cook/Entwistle FenderBird was modeled on a '64, it has the same upper horn, not the Bicentennial (and later Gibson) shape. It's almost like a Telecaster.
The original FenderBird preceded the Bicentennial reissue by around 5 years. This is from Whotabs with original case.
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: August 16, 2019, 02:40:39 PM »
Interesting to see a Junior with neck binding. That's very uncommon. Traditionally, Juniors had silkscreen logo and unbound neck, Specials had pearl logo and bound neck.
That Jr. had a stock Vibrola. That and the Polaris white put it a step above a standard Junior. So I'm guessing Gibson just did the neck like they would have on a Polaris SG Custom.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words! Working on an NR, set neck MAX, and a through neck bigger body EB0 32"12 string, that one's for me.
This one gets a bound flame maple top
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Other Bass Brands / Re: Fender + bird = Fenderbride!
« on: August 16, 2019, 02:25:19 PM »
My version of the FenderBird is closer to the original Peter Cook/JAE design. It has a compact body, is 46" long, and fits in a Precision size case. It's not just a Fender neck on a copy of a Gibson body. You can get an idea how much shorter it is than the Bach version by how close to the end of the body the bridge and tailpiece are.
ExplorerBird for comparison.
I had pictures of the actual Entwistle basses but Photobucket ate them. Here's my build thread from 2010.
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=4598.0
Weight is under 8 lbs (~3.5 Kg) with Honduras Mahogany body. Neck dive is minimal, even with original Kluson style tuners and strap button on upper horn.
ExplorerBird for comparison.
I had pictures of the actual Entwistle basses but Photobucket ate them. Here's my build thread from 2010.
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=4598.0
Weight is under 8 lbs (~3.5 Kg) with Honduras Mahogany body. Neck dive is minimal, even with original Kluson style tuners and strap button on upper horn.
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: July 29, 2019, 01:19:32 PM »
Outta here tomorrow.
28
The Outpost Cafe / Re: Etsy to acquire Reverb (no, not a joke)
« on: July 29, 2019, 01:13:04 PM »
"For hints as to what might come at Reverb, take a look at Silverman’s changes to Etsy: he has raised fees, pushed free shipping, and moved to an auto-renew listing model (which goes into effect on Thursday)."
What a surprise, higher fees.
What a surprise, higher fees.
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: July 15, 2019, 12:58:59 PM »Beautiful Esquire. Good to see that you didn't sell the neck.
Thanks, Dave. I'm at least going to play it for a while. There's always the possibility of swapping out the neck since the total value of the rest of the parts is about 10% of the neck and tuners.
12 string RR, ebony neck and Pelham Blue I custom mixed the basecoat from GM colors designed to be used under 2K urethane clear. Instead I used automotive acrylic lacquer. I did a test about six months ago and they're compatible as of this week. Advantage is no waste mixing up too much catalyzed material plus you get a durable thin topcoat.
Price of a gallon of Clear Acrylic Lacquer has gone up to $300, twice what it was when I last bought one. It gets thinned 1.5:1 with thinner to clear so that brings the price per usable gallon down to around $160. I estimate it comes out to around $45 in materials for a paint job adding in base coat, additives,etc. and primer. Probably another $5 for disposables.
Pin router jig for pick guard.
I cut the first four freehand, a lot quicker with the router.
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Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: CURRENT CATALDO
« on: July 14, 2019, 06:59:34 AM »
...and now for something not completely different...
I recently cleaned and set up a friend of mine's formerly Polaris White '65 SG Jr. He bought it in the early 70s from Lipham's Music for $75 with case after another friend of mine traded it in after stripping the body. On a new EB-1 reissue IIRC. Here it is next to my '65 EB0.
Hadn't really been played since then, frets almost perfect. What really amazed me was that the neck was bound with the binding filed to cover each individual fret end, just like you'd see on the most expensive Gibson. Amazing for what was basically a student guitar, although it originally had a vibrola.
Anyway, I played it for a while and it was FUN! So this resulted:
Tele swamp ash $100 body from a Reverb shop in NH I shot with toner mixed from white nitro/ sanding sealer mix.
Scuff sanded it with 400 the next day and shot six ounces of nitro clear on it. Day after that I hit it with some #0000 stell wool and attached my late brother's '57 Esquire "V" neck to it that hadn't been played since 1980. Also a Duncan Jerry Donahue pickup on Steve Soar's recommendation and a modded three way switch:
Gives a pretty good approximation of a two pup guitar
New calluses!
I recently cleaned and set up a friend of mine's formerly Polaris White '65 SG Jr. He bought it in the early 70s from Lipham's Music for $75 with case after another friend of mine traded it in after stripping the body. On a new EB-1 reissue IIRC. Here it is next to my '65 EB0.
Hadn't really been played since then, frets almost perfect. What really amazed me was that the neck was bound with the binding filed to cover each individual fret end, just like you'd see on the most expensive Gibson. Amazing for what was basically a student guitar, although it originally had a vibrola.
Anyway, I played it for a while and it was FUN! So this resulted:
Tele swamp ash $100 body from a Reverb shop in NH I shot with toner mixed from white nitro/ sanding sealer mix.
Scuff sanded it with 400 the next day and shot six ounces of nitro clear on it. Day after that I hit it with some #0000 stell wool and attached my late brother's '57 Esquire "V" neck to it that hadn't been played since 1980. Also a Duncan Jerry Donahue pickup on Steve Soar's recommendation and a modded three way switch:
Gives a pretty good approximation of a two pup guitar
New calluses!