Home time....

Time to deliver this beastie to its new owner!

I think he's a reasonably happy chap!

Finished

What started out in the beginning as a Heveecaster is now lovely and lively light weight 6lb 14oz.

When I first assembled this it was virtually unplayable on the top E and B strings. So I took the neck off tweaked the truss rod and got it straight and levelled, crowned and polished the frets.

After the first round of fret work I found it was playable with a good action but I couldnth bend the E/B strings more than half a tone before they choked out above the 15th fret so I did it again, this time including a drop off.

This has made a huge difference to the playability however still can't get huge bends on the E string, just short of a tone and a half before it chokes out.  I can only put that down to the tight finger board radius.

I also trimmed the saddle height adjustment grub screws as they were all sticking out and catching the right hand making it very uncomfortable to play.

 On the bench all finished

Just hanging around on a stand

A pair of custom made Fender style guitars

At V Transmission band rehearsal with my main squeeze. I should have a tried to get some video footage of me playing it. It sounds great through my big valve amp set up!

All strung up...

This neck requires a lot of fret work. The fret edges are sharp and the frets very uneven so will need levelling and recrowning.

Anyway here's how it looks with strings...

Requires a lot of setting up but I'm very pleased with how the guitar sounds!

Fitting the p'ups.

Now the p'ups are made and the cavities routed they needed fitting.

Took a lot of fiddling to get the controls mounted but with the use of cotton thread to help it only took about 10 minutes to get it done.

And fitted...

P'ups fitted...

And with the neck...

And then the string ferrules.

Ear wax

After a bit of googling I got some stuff together and potted the p'ups

Took about 15 mins to get the wax fully liquid but then another 10 minutes for it to cool down to the required 140°f.

The p'ups were then left to soak in the liquid wax for 15 minutes/ all the bubbles stopped.

Only one downside is that the flat work when a bit wavey due to the heat. Annoying but doesn't affect the sound they make...

Oil slick...

After routing the p'up cavities and drilling the control holes it's had a good sanding and received its first coat of oil

Pick up the walnut

Bobbins made. I've wrapped some paper around the steel pole pieces to provide a tiny bit of separation from the windings

3 hours later the p'ups are wound and tested. The neck comes out at 6.45k and the bridge a little hotter, with an extra thousand winds, comes out 7.6k.
The neck has alnico 2 and the bridge alnico 5 magnets.

Should look nice!

Next job to get the p'up routes done...

Next job first the p'ups is wax potting!