Old Black

WezV

Well that is the scary bit done.

I routed the channel in the back using a 1/4" router.  Nice and easy since its a straight line on a flat surface.

The neck was trickier.  Firstly because i have lost my dremel  and after weeks of looking decided to just buy a new one.   Then yesterday i realised it must have my up cut inlay bit in it, so needed to order some more of them.  Thankfully i still have my stew-mac dtemel base.   No doubt the old dremel will turn up soon, but i can always use a spare.

Anyway, neck channel was scored eitherside with a  sharp fine blade.   Then i freehand routed the channel in the neck.  The up cut bits mean you can tell when you are at your line as it pulls up cleanly where you have scored... but i was only confident doing this on the flat areas.  For the trickier bits i only routed the center of the channel to set my depth, and hand cut the rest with knives and chisels.

But its done.  

paulnb57

Wow, impressive skills Wez….looks great, will it be epoxied?

Rocker

The original is an awful looking wreck of a guitar. Good luck in recreating it on the Tokai 

WezV

If you don't like the look of the original, you certainly won't like this    

paulnb57 said:

Wow, impressive skills Wez….looks great, will it be epoxied?

Yeah, i think so.  Just have to bend it round the heel and get it all fitting in place nicely first.

Philly_Q

Impressive - and patient! - work cutting that neck channel Wez!  I should follow more of these build threads, they're great.

roberty

So far so good. I am enjoying these updates

PhilKing

Hi Wez, I didn't find the Schallers yet but I do have an older set of Gotoh in a Schaller style, if they will be any good.  I know that they are going to be like your Dremel and will turn up somewhere, but for now I've checked everywhere I can think of. 

WezV

PhilKing said:

Hi Wez, I didn't find the Schallers yet but I do have an older set of Gotoh in a Schaller style, if they will be any good.  I know that they are going to be like your Dremel and will turn up somewhere, but for now I've checked everywhere I can think of. 

That would be good.   Get that MandoSG posted over too amd i eill start converting that

ICBM

I think I might have a set of Schallers - I'll have to sort through my collection of random heads, but there are a lot of Schallers in there... a complete set is not out of the question!

WezV

If you have some, let me know.

It would be good to get a set with some natutal wear, just something that doesnt look brand new.  Ageing tuners is always less fun than other hardware

ICBM

WezV said:

If you have some, let me know.

Damn, I've just been through them and there are far fewer Schallers than I thought - apart from the black nylon ones, I do actually have a full set of those! But of standard M6s, just one chrome and one gold. A couple of minis too... I think what this means is that they break much less than other machineheads, since these are left-overs from repairs and I have a lot more Grovers etc. (Although still very few full sets.)

I did definitely have a full set of chrome M6s at one time since they were on my '61 J-45 when I bought it - and of course removed immediately! - but I must have sold them at some point.

cathodyne

Just seen this thread, love what you’re doing WezV!

I do not know what the 'pin-striping' on the back of the neck is, but I always wondered if it might be aluminium because of the buzz (single coils) you can get that goes away when your hand touches an earthed bridge.  Having an earthed strip along the neck could achieve the same.  Also other parts like the switch backplates were made from aluminium.

I have often puzzled what might be under the B7, and wonder if it might be a strip of sheet metal to raise the B7 up (or reinforce something).  B7 Bigsbys on a Les Paul have a string angle behind the bridge that does not help tuning stability.  On other guitars they are usually farther away from the bridge thus having a shallower angle.  For this reason, a B7 on a ’53 Les Paul makes more sense as these very early models had less neck angle, thus requiring a lower bridge (look how low it is on Old Black!), and thus have a shallower angle behind the bridge that will help the tuning stability a little bit.

I have a ’56 goldtop reissue and use a Vibramate to get a shallower angle behind the bridge, as it has a "modern" neck angle.  I have watched videos of people resetting necks - but that is a serious project!

BTW: I have seen pictures of Old Black with a B6 before it had the B7.

WezV

If it was due to a buzz, it would no longer work since it's missing from 2/3rds of the body.   I actually think the plates were chromed brass, the same as the pickguard, but will be remaking them in aluminium here.  I think it's most likely it was all done as an aesthetic choice. 

One interesting thing on the guard is the weird worn through patch where you can see a brassy colour underneath.  This wear has been there since Neil had the guitar, and has hardly changed since despite the excessive wear everywhere else.  I don't think it is natural play wear.... does that make it the first ever relic, or more likely an error in plating the custom pickguard ?


This pic is from 1969, with the old Bigsby, dynasonic pickup and worn pickguard, but note how shiny the black is at this point, with reflections of pickguard and bigsby arm. 

I think a B3 is more likely than a B6 due to the length.    The B3 is shorter, pretty much a B7 without the tension bar.  The B3 would have given a shallower break angle than the B7, but was swapped out at some point.  I assume the B7 was needed for extra break angle on thr shaved down bridge

I won't be resetting the neck or shaving the tune-o-matic, a Bigsby will work reasonably well on a normal LP, although i will have to dismantle and rebuild it once ageing is finished to keep it running smooth

cathodyne

Yes, B3 not B6 sorry! That looks right.
Yes, if an aluminium strip was earthed at the central round cover it certainly wouldn't be working now!  That’s just my random guess to explain why it might have been installed in the first place.
I remember a photo from the Ducks era, with the Santa Cruz sticker, and Old Black still had a really shiny finish.  How things have changed! :-)

Not sure how you feel about authenticity levels, but if you rebuild the B7 you might like the Callaham string shaft for stringing convenience.  It's not essential at all, but I have been pleased with mine: https://www.callahamguitars.com/bigsby_bridge_mainstringshaft_catalog.htm

WezV

Pickup arrived



So we can have a mock up.


The bridge pickup fits into the route i made really nicely, so i can proceed with the black paint soon.

Oh, and here is the stripe installed.  A little messy here as i lost some amber coats levelling it off, but none of that will impact the final look.

Kittyfrisk

Hi Wez. Been following this project with interest. Impressive skills as ever  
I take it as a given that you have seen this project ? http://www.pisotones.com/Alfonso/OldBlack/OldBlack_En.htm

Also, if it is of any use to you, I have an old-ish set of made in West Germany 3x3 Schaller's with 90º screw lugs in chrome.
I'll dig them out & send you photo's if you like?

WezV

Yeah.  I have seen that one.

Like the one i posted at the start it seems to mainly be based on those 2 lousy pics, and again has some bits which dont seem to be there on other high res pics.

Mainly the  the stripe  I have not tapered mine because the high res images show a consitent channel width where most make it thinner on the body. But dirt and/or  paint gathered in the channel change the way it looks.   Also, its clearly not wood.

Another thing is the cut off pickup cover.  On the high res pics the guard looks like it fits badly round a complete cover.   I have cut down a cover.  Still not sure if i will use it or not

Yes please.  Send pics if you find them

Creed_Clicks

I've just gone through this thread. Amazing work. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Kittyfrisk

OK, crappy photo's are here.
iPhones don't really do macro 

WezV

the next step is some very important masking.   I'm using standard low tack masking tape for the binding and neck section that won't see any black. 

I'm using some smooth washi tape for the strip and basic wear patterns.  This is tape wilkos used to sell, I wish I could still get it as it's perfect for this.  I am not going for hokey template wear, just using it for a basic outline as a starter for manual wear.   

The good thing about the pink washi tape is you can peel and restick as many times as you want and it still adheres well whilst being low tack, and it leaves really clean lines.  i actually moved the wear between the pickups after the pic below as it was getting too close to the bridge pickup



I will be overspraying the strip slightly where it appears narrower in pics, you can see this most on the headstock