Swift II - loved again

Andyjr1515

So, my first task from my 2014 project list (see @Jez6345789 Planned Projects for 2014 thread) is pretty much complete: modding rather than chucking the first own-design I did.  

Here it is with the new neck - a modded strat-type V-ish profile in a very nice figured maple - designed to be much more comfortable (at least for my ancient bones) than the previous super-slim Yamaha neck it previously had.

I've got some string trees on order to stop the E string popping out of the nut (the velcro wire-tie is there just temporarily there to stop the harp-like ring!)

I had to remove, plug and reposition the bridge due to the different neck length and it took a lot of tweaking to get the pick-up balances right, especially to regain the strat sounds with the p/ups now being effectively all 5mm further up the string length.  But, eventually I have a guitar that still feels great on the strap, sounds good and, now for me, has a playable neck :-)

Talking about sounds, the controls have everything except the kitchen sink...the P-Rails have the standard SD 4 options, switchable by the two micro switches, between: Series P90+Rail; Parallel P90+Rail; P90 only; Rail Only.  The 6-way rotary gives me the 5 strat positions, with the middle SD Vintage Rails coming into play of: Bridge only / Bridge+Middle/ Middle only / Middle+Neck / Neck only, plus the final position of Neck and Bridge.  It's not a tele, but with the P-Rails switched to P90, this position is the closest I have personally heard to the tele 'country' brightness.

  

I am thinking of making an alternative body - this was always deliberately narrow but was originally meant to have a longer top horn more along a bass-guitar shape - here was the first 'draft' :

The reason I shortened it was a dose of inexperience - I had not even thought that there is a set ratio of where the horn belt strap button sits in relationship to the fretboard - not for balance but to 'sit' the fretboard in the right position.  Nor did I think to simply put a button at the back of the horn...yes, quite :-)  So I shortened the horn which made it look even odder than before.

What I'm tempted to do is enlarge the top horn a SMALL amount (half way between what it is now and what it originally was, above) to let some more room for a nice curve, then reduce the small horn a little to hint at a Jag-type offset.

What do you reckon?  (and please do feed back whether you like it or think it's pig-ugly...I'm undecided personally although it is very comfortable to play) 

Andy :-)

 

ThePrettyDamned

I really like it! Cool shape.

TTony

Looks like a lot of top carving gone on there.

I like it. 

I'm guessing that the relatively small body keeps the weight down too.

Pretty good for you first ever design, IMHO.

Andyjr1515

TTony said:

Looks like a lot of top carving gone on there.

I like it. 

I'm guessing that the relatively small body keeps the weight down too.

Hi @TTony

Yes - it has the gravitas of the solid mahogany but not the back-breaking mass 

It weighs in at around 3.5 kg / 7.5 lb

ThePrettyDamned

Don't suppose you could post a picture of the profile of the neck? I've often wondered what a soft 'v' is, I've only ever seen pretty hard V's...

What's the duncan P90 bucker things like?  Heard many, many good things about them.

stickyfiddle

Neat! 

I was also going to ask how you find the P-rails? I'm sorely tempted to build a rawk monster with at least one.

And what is the bridge? I don't recognise it, which is rare for me!

Andyjr1515

ThePrettyDamned said:

Don't suppose you could post a picture of the profile of the neck? I've often wondered what a soft 'v' is, I've only ever seen pretty hard V's...

What's the duncan P90 bucker things like?  Heard many, many good things about them.

Hi @ThePrettyDamned ;

It's subtle to the eye but like chalk and cheese in the hand: 

The top one is the soft V.  The bottom one is a flattish C.  On the top one you will see that the treble side (RHS in picture) has the curve flattened off in the middle between the top and fretboard.  The bass side (LHS in picture) is still curved but is a shallower curve than a standard C.  To be honest, the LHS will probably be sanded a little flatter still as I fit it to my perfect shape.  If you get it right, you should be able to wrap your hand around to do a 'lazy' thumb 6 string without the neck getting in the way and feel that it is a slim neck for lead breaks but you still have the full depth as you slide your thumb round the back to do bar chords.  It is by far the most comfortable shape for me...don't know why it dropped out of fashion.

The P-Rails are, to me, superb.  Got them on two guitars and probably will standardise on them from now on.  The parallel settings and rail only settings are limited unless you are amping up for true single coil volume and tone, but the P90 and Series Humbucker sounds are stupendous.  I will try to put some sound clips down this weekend.

@stickyfiddle - thanks.  I'll look up the bridge this eve...can't remember if it's a Schaller or someone elses

 

ChrisMusic

Hey Andy, good to see it getting some love.  I like the original horns, bit late to say that I know.

Thanks for posting the neck profiles, they are always very educational.

It is amazing how subtle our sense of touch is, there are tiny differences between some neck profiles and widths, and yet one feels like a foreign land and another just feels like coming home.

The bridge is a Gotoh one, Mr DDLooping of this very parish fitted one on the PRS SE Soapbar II I bought from him a while back, really great player and sounds fantastic too.  It makes a very comfortable palm rest as well.  Great bridge IMO.

Link to Gotoh sites page for this bridge for reference  ~  http://www.g-gotoh.com/international/?btp_product=510ub

Still to try P-Rails, so looking forward to the clips  

ThePrettyDamned

Cool. At the moment, I'm getting a couple of oil city pickups for a build, but I might consider one of these in the neck position of my Ltd. Probably not if I want to sell it though. Not heard many bad reviews!

Andyjr1515

Thanks @ChrisMusic - you are right..the bridge is a Gotoh 510-UB

Andyjr1515

ChrisMusic said:

Hey Andy, good to see it getting some love.  I like the original horns, bit late to say that I know.

Don't worry - I do too.  I changed the top horn when I first made it, over 2 years ago, simply to get it (as I thought at the time) playable.  I'm older (definitely) and wiser (not so definite) now and know that it can be made playable whatever the geometry of the horn which is why I am thinking of doing a Mk2 version.  It would return to the 'bass' shape, probably be a few mm wider at the top half and maybe something fancy done with the bottom horn.  

This was my follow-up build, the Swift III, which, while it is very pretty because of the wood (and I know some folk understandably hate this kind of thing), the shape is just a little too conventional...I am looking to do something not too outrageous but distinctly different to the run-of-the-mill.

Andyjr1515

I've done some soundclips but Soundcloud is down at the moment.  I'll post as soon as it's back up and running. 

Jez6345789

Hi

This is really a nice build, I liked it when you posted it before good to its going to get evolved further.

Looking forward to hearing how it sounds, Prails are a really useful pickup they cover a lot of ground.

nice

Jez

Andyjr1515

Never know if I get SoundCloud right!

So, here's the guitar:

 

...and here SHOULD be the soundclips

https://soundcloud.com/andy-rogers-6/sets/swift-ii

The clips are just the P-Rails, complete with rubbish playing, played clean through my tatty little Vox Valvetronix, recorded on a Zoom handheld recorder.

You will first hear the Neck / Both / Bridge, first with full series humbucking, immediately followed by the same p/up on the P90 setting.  Then you will hear the Neck / Both / Bridge just for the full series humbucking settings.  Hopefully, the recording gives some idea of the tonal differences.  In real life they are all very distinctively different to each other.

Andy