Modding a '66 Mustang (really?? really???)

[Andyjr1515]

And so, on the basis that everything affects everything, before I start plugging and fixing the new bridge, are the pickups chosen in @ped's concept going to fit?

 

The two pickups that @ped got sent to me are a hot Ric-ish Gemini Pickups 'Surfrider' for the bridge and an equally hot Thunderbird-ish Gemini Pickups 'Degenerate' for the neck 

 

Here they are in their approximate positions:

 

The bridge Surfrider will need a sympathetically chosen surround made as it is slightly narrower than the J and there is the base plate to hide.  It will be hard against the bridge as with the original J.

 

 

The ring with the Thunderbird so very nearly covers the existing P - it only fails because that is at the skewed angle and that leaves a teeny gap.  I will make a thin plate under-ring just a couple of mm larger than the metal ring to hide the gap.

 

There will be switch(es) - Mustang slide switches if they will fit - for coil tap.  And that should be that! 

 

Just got to do it 

  

 

[ped]

22 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And so, on the basis that everything affects everything, before I start plugging and fixing the new bridge, are the pickups chosen in @ped's concept going to fit?

 

The two pickups that @ped got sent to me are a hot Ric-ish Gemini Pickups 'Surfrider' for the bridge and an equally hot Thunderbird-ish Gemini Pickups 'Degenerate' for the neck 

 

Here they are in their approximate positions:

 

The bridge Surfrider will need a sympathetically chosen surround made as it is slightly narrower than the J and there is the base plate to hide.  It will be hard against the bridge as with the original J.

 

 

The ring with the Thunderbird so very nearly covers the existing P - it only fails because that is at the skewed angle and that leaves a teeny gap.  I will make a thin plate under-ring just a couple of mm larger than the metal ring to hide the gap.

 

There will be switch(es) - Mustang slide switches if they will fit - for coil tap.  And that should be that! 

 

Just got to do it 

  

 

Is it going to be a late night? 😂

 

More info on the pickups here

https://www.geminipickups.co.uk/bass

 

The owner was really helpful and I had fun discussing options with him. 
 

I also considered Mojo Pickups but their lead time was 40 days at least and frankly they didn’t seem very helpful via email

[Beedster]

Nice 👍

[Andyjr1515]

For plugging the drill holes that I'm just about to make for the new bridge screw holes, dowelling is no good.  Why?  Because the grain runs along the length of a dowel and the circular bit is therefore end grain - which has insufficient screw-pull-out resistance.

 

And so I use a plug cutter on some similar strength/softness wood to the body.  For this one, I'm using mahogany which is closer in hardness to what is probably an alder body than, say, using maple.

 

With a following saw cut, it releases the 'across the grain' dowels:

 

 

And the plugs are in waiting for the wood glue to fully set. 

 

All being well, tomorrow I will be able to drill to refit the bridge in its straightened position and then I can string it up with a couple of spare strings so that the pickup positions can be accurately marked

 

 

 

[ped]

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

For plugging the drill holes that I'm just about to make for the new bridge screw holes, dowelling is no good.  Why?  Because the grain runs along the length of a dowel and the circular bit is therefore end grain - which has insufficient screw-pull-out resistance.

 

And so I use a plug cutter on some similar strength/softness wood to the body.  For this one, I'm using mahogany which is closer in hardness to what is probably an alder body than, say, using maple.

 

With a following saw cut, it releases the 'across the grain' dowels:

 

 

And the plugs are in waiting for the wood glue to fully set. 

 

All being well, tomorrow I will be able to drill to refit the bridge in its straightened position and then I can string it up with a couple of spare strings so that the pickup positions can be accurately marked

 

 

 

Little details like this are why I wanted you to work on the bass  looks great

[Beedster]

16 minutes ago, ped said:

Little details like this are why I wanted you to work on the bass  looks great

Impressive stuff indeed 👍 

[Andyjr1515]

It took a couple of goes to get the bridge in the correct position (good thing about there being so many fixing screws was that I only needed to use two for the first trial - enough for being able to fit the strings straight but un-tensioned.  Those first two screw holes will need to be re-plugged ) but got there in the end in terms of the strings lining up correctly with the fretboard dots:

 

And with that done, I could start on the bridge pickup chamber. 

 

Those who have followed my previous threads will know that I detest routers and certainly wouldn't willingly use them on something as old and fragile as this.  Instead, I start with drilling the corner radii and positions of the pickup base plate and scribe a line tangential to the two corners:

 

Next, I rough out - for a full humbucker I would use a Forstner bit but, for this extension to the existing Jazz p/up chamber, just a brad-point drill:

 

And then next, out come the sharp chisels and mallet:

 

Don't worry - the red next to the chisel is some silk from the test-strings I use for the on/off/on/off malarkey that is necessary for this kind of work.  The blood from my missing finger is out of picture on the carpet 

 

And twenty minutes later, we have a chamber:

 

Finally, a quick restring to check it does actually line up.  Phew!

 

So tomorrow, I will re-plug the two erroneous bridge positions, take out the P pickup and start thinking about both the fitting of the Thunderbird-ish neck and the surrounds to hide the gaps. 

 

 

 

 

[ped]

Love it thanks for the update Andy 👍🏼 I hope your finger was insured and no I’m not liable 

[Hellzero]

Fingers crossed.

[Richard R]

I hate you @Andyjr1515!

I am quite deliberately taking a break from social media and most non-work web browsing, including BC. I was doing well, even closing tabs that I'd opened inadvertently. Then I saw the title of this thread and just had to read it all.

 

 

Is there a Build Diary Readers Anonymous? With a 12 fret programme? 

 

 As always, absolutely fabulous work.

[Andyjr1515]

@ped and I had a discussion about the pickguard positioning.  I had noticed that most of the fixing screws were squiffy and, when I took it off, while it is clearly a genuinely old pickguard, I had wondered if it had been replaced at some stage - especially as the P pickup was also at an angle, as with the bridge and bridge pickup.  Could it be shrinkage of the original, @ped speculated?

 

Also, as fitted, there was a gap - and uneven at that - between the pickguard and the controls plate.  And so, was the control plate original (especially there's an 'extra' screw hole underneath when you lift it off)? 

 

Whatever, there was a choice: leave it with squiffy screws; butt it up to the heel; butt it up to the control plate.

 

And it was that last option that @ped decided - leave a larger gap at the heel end but butt it up to the fitted jack plate:

 

And only two holes lined up...the rest each being around 2mm out.  And guess which those two were?  The two were the ones next to the control plate    And so @ped was absolutely right.  Almost certainly this is the original scratchplate AND controls plate and the scratch plate has indeed shrunk that much.  But what about the squiffy P-pickup?  Well... the wood underneath isn't squiffy - almost certainly that angle has resulted from the same problem.  This was further supported by the fact that the P pair was hard against the plastic when I tried to lift the pickguard off. 

 

Everything else supports it - the pink stains on the back of the scratch plate, the original non-yellowed pearl where the original thumb rest was.

 

All the screw holes except two were plugged with B-B-Q skewers (no need for with-grain large plugs here) and re-drilled and screws re-fitted nice and straight. 

 

And then I could position the neck pickup ring.  It covers most of the P-pickup hole, except for the wedges left by that twist.  Position was checked against the centre line of the fretboard dots...   

 

 

...and couple of fixing screws fitted so I don't lose the position.  Finally, the chamber shape marked for cutting out with the scroll saw in the morning

 

    

[ezbass]

The excitement mounts and it’s not even my bass!

[Beedster]

54 minutes ago, ezbass said:

The excitement mounts and it’s not even my bass!

 

It feels like the bass belongs to us all mate  

[ped]

14 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

It feels like the bass belongs to us all mate  

I don’t remember any of you lot paying for it 😂

[ped]

…but I’m happy you’re all as excited as I am 🥰

[atsampson]

Would it be possible to use the offcuts from the pickguard to fill the "wedges"? I don't know if it's the right type of plastic to do an low-visibility join with solvent...

[Hellzero]

Will you play Mustang Sally with it @ped ? 🤔🤪

[ped]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Will you play Mustang Sally with it @ped ? 🤔🤪

suppose I’ll have to. It’ll be called the mustangthunderbacker 

[Andyjr1515]

18 hours ago, atsampson said:

Would it be possible to use the offcuts from the pickguard to fill the "wedges"? I don't know if it's the right type of plastic to do an low-visibility join with solvent...

Yes - that's a decent thing to try.  It is such a small gap it might be 'just enough'.  I will try that but if the glue line shows pretty much as much as the gap, then I can always revert to the original thought of a couple of mm skirt underneath the pickup ring. 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Out came the scrollsaw and off came the excess pickguard:

 

Unfortunately, @atsampson , I don't think the offcuts are quite long enough to completely fill the narrow, but long gaps.

 

After doing this sort of thing a few times, one is relatively relaxed hitting a 56 year old icon with a Forstner bit...well, definitely relatively    

 

And, again using chisels and mallet, the chamber is cut:

 

 

And it fits!  (Big phew!)

 

 

[ped]

Fantastic news. I didn’t doubt you for a second! Lots of shiny bits on the bass now. Any thoughts re the switch location?

[PaulThePlug]

Do without a Tone and go Vol / Blend?

[ped]

Just now, PaulThePlug said:

Do without a Tone and go Vol / Blend?

I’ve previously had it changed to blend and no-load tone which is great. There’s a switch to add though as the thunderbird pickup can be split 

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, ped said:

Fantastic news. I didn’t doubt you for a second! Lots of shiny bits on the bass now. Any thoughts re the switch location?

Not yet.  If it was a slide switch on the scratch plate, it would make sense for it to be close to the volume knob.  I'll have a ponder tomorrow

 

[PaulThePlug]

Pull Pot?