[pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Self built and self assembly ;)

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by kwhelan »

weird I did the same to an epi but my headstock was so long that I just used the template and shortened it down by a good 2cm and reshaped, ground off the logo, sand respray and good to go
changed logos and trussrod guard.
you'd need to be a gibson purist to be able to tell, regretted not adding a binding but that was getting too OTT
anyway went from some weird looking 12 string type thing to standard looking 335 if you had one eye closed

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by sizzlingbadger »

When I first saw the template I thought you were going to just trim the original head stock down.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by calling card »

Spectacular, I like watching the type who look like they're going to crash their brains out any second but haul it in and save it.
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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by telefiend »

Love it! It's like any woodworking I undertake. Seat of the pants and *shrug* let's see if this works.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Bg »

Batshit crazy
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by olegmcnoleg »

Might be a bit late to point this out (!), but there are some good vids on Youtube showing how to do that headstock conversion...in case anyone else is inspired to try.

e.g.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Jay »

Good stuff James, you need to be an optimist when doing this kind of work. And you have that in spades!

May I suggest you fill the tuner holes in first before drilling new ones....

Looking forward to see the rest
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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Single coil »

telefiend wrote:Love it! It's like any woodworking I undertake. Seat of the pants and *shrug* let's see if this works.
This is how I do most things. Seat of the pants is bang on the money.
Bg wrote:Batshit crazy
You knew that. Mind, I haven't had an alfa yet.
olegmcnoleg wrote:Might be a bit late to point this out (!), but there are some good vids on Youtube showing how to do that headstock conversion...in case anyone else is inspired to try.
Nah, not at all - Screenshotted a few stills for a closer look off a couple even.
jvpp wrote:Good stuff James, you need to be an optimist when doing this kind of work. And you have that in spades!

May I suggest you fill the tuner holes in first before drilling new ones....

Looking forward to see the rest
Yeahp, they're filled in alright, amongst other things.


Next instalment shortly.
werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Single coil »

Woke up to a package this morning (in the mail, perv). Surprisingly, my tiny dog didn't try to eat the delivery guy today. Must've been cold.
In said package was the new lungs for the goldtop. Body may as well be heart in this metaphor.

Entwistle HV58's - Low output alnico 2's, with nickel covers.

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4 conductor wiring I'm not going to use.

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No wiring diagram was included, so I was a bit miffed with that. Fortunately they use the same colour scheme as seymour duncan do, so that made life easy.
Here we are with the real business though. As predicted, paper stuck to it.

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Some trimming to do, nothing to write home about.

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After a bit of a sand, it ... Shit man, I'm pleased.

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Masking tape is there for a reason - Had a go at levelling the reverse out, accepting I'll have to get "made in korea" and the serial number made as decals of sorts.

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Eh, sorta worked. There'll be a remedy for this later.
While I wasn't dealing with that, I fired up my teeny little 15 watt soldering iron ...

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... To try get the new pickups in, with the help of the duncan diagram. Fortunately on the pickups, the red and green wires look very different to me. On the diagram, the green and bare wires? Not so much. Pretty similar. Fortunately they both go to ground, so I was out of the woods there.
They came with screws and springs (woo), but I feel the springs are super long - Check this out.

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Must've neglected to take a picture of them stuck in the guitar. Oops. Anyway, as for the dodgy bits on the headstock, I had a plan.
Not quite a veneer, but something to add juuuuust enough meat for it to have a bit of strength back.

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Enter my possibly oak veneer board thing.

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While that idea was flailing about in my head, I filled in the little crack thing where one of the wings wouldn't quite sit against the headstock.

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... Then promptly got distracted and drew on my veneer thing.

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Popped the nut off (again) for ... Some reason I don't remember now. Probably so I could get the cover thing right, some way or another.

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Sanded the ... crack wedge filling thing. It isn't terrible, really.

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Finally got out a toy I haven't played with in a while - The simple two speed power drill.
Drilled out the old remnants of tuner holes, and the ... little whatsit holes in the wings from fuck knows what.

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Whacked the dowels in, cut'em down, and gave them a bit of a sand.

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Thennnnnnnnn I got to filling all the little divots around said dowels, and other imperfections and so on and so forth etc blah blah blah

ahem

This included the 3 truss cover screw holes - I like the one that says standard on it better, so I'll find one of those and whack it in when all this is said and done.

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Managed to not take any pictures of the sanded fillings. Not sure why. Think I had a pie and forgot about it.
But, I had another plan.
Rather than use plywood, why not ... Un-ply it?
It'll be a uniform finish on either side, half of it will be glue, and it'll be strong ...

Pick a card, any card!

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This one has some lines on it where I'll cut out a truss rod hole.

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Let's plonk a weeny little bit of wood in there so the nut's got something to grab.

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Let's get the back ready - The side not shown is lovely and smooth, so it should bond quite happy. It's pretty thin stuff, so it should also conform to the wee slope in the headstock.

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Whacked one on top with a hefty helping of glue, found all the clamps in the shed, and left it at this.

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So yeah, more sanding and headstock shaping to come. When the tuners arrive, I will probably make another paper template so I get the holes lined up right. My plywood template has holes, but I think they're ever so slightly too big. Oops. Makes it tricky to drill pilot holes.

Anyway.

Exciting shit ahead. Once all the rest of the bits turn up, she's on.
werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Dano_NZ »

Love this thread. Good luck with the rest of it.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by willow13 »

James mate I could have given you some Maple or mahogany offcuts to use instead of Pine....you know for the tonez :mrgreen:
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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Single coil »

Ahaha.
I think rigidity is key here; in all seriousness I think the new nut and a bit more mass at the headstock will help it.

Along with decent hardware, which I wish would hurry up and get here.
Broke a string on the tele today :sad: off to the shop tomorrow. Quite enjoying this pure nickel business.
werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by telefiend »

Nickel is where it's at. Blegh to chrome I say

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Single coil »

I modded the amp to be brighter, then put eq pedals in the loop to tame the brightness, as well as pure nickel strings on both guitars to just take the edge off.

Funny old world innit. :lol:

The only gripe I have is they feel as if they're lacking tension vs. nickel wound. Dancing all up the fretboard is all well and good but I want something to dig into.

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werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.

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Re: [pic heavy as fuck] James's backyard goldtop day spa

Post by Tiglitar »

Fantastic thread, thanks for sharing!

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