r0r0
New Member
Posts: 11 
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Post by r0r0 on Oct 12, 2009 21:22:48 GMT -5
So I've changed around a little bit and since I'm trying to make this a sort of an HM Ultra with the ebony board - I've got a Lace Sensor Red Dually pickup for the bridge and the Hot Golds below for vintage Stratocaster sounds clean, and screaming sounds under gain. This should sound great... I'm a big fan of the lace sensors, and have a set ( red/[m] silver/[n] blue) in my favorite Strat (which was built from parts.)
The dually reds should totally smoke.
I'm really impressed with what you're doing... thanks for sharing with us.
-Rich
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Post by heem6 on Oct 12, 2009 22:39:51 GMT -5
Thanks, Rich. It's taking me forever on this one, but hopefully it'll be worth it.
I appreciate your comments on the Lace Sensor pickups. It's a bit of a shot in the dark for me, but I've read GREAT reviews on them.
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Post by heem6 on Oct 25, 2009 23:06:40 GMT -5
Borrowed my friend's drill press this weekend.
After two trips to Home Depot, I got the inlays installed in the neck of the HM Horror, got the pickup cavities routed to the right depth on the Vandenberg, and got the top-mount cavity for the Floyd roughed out on the HM Horror pt. 2.
At the very end of the neck inlays, I put the 17th fret inlay in with the glue and it went in crooked. Couldn't get it out so I figured I'd drill thru the inlay and put another one in there. Somehow the drill ended up chewing up a small part of the fretboard between the inlay and the fret slot. Going to see if I can ask my friend to glue up some ebony dust that I saved and fill that in for me. Hopefully it won't ruin the fretboard. I've put a lot of work into it already!
If that works, next step is to order Dunlop 6150 frets and a Floyd Rose R9 locknut.
The most amazing part is that I have everything cleaned up and put away already!   
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Post by rickblacker on Oct 25, 2009 23:55:12 GMT -5
Why are you drilling into that body with your pup dangling out of it? How are you going to clean up those drill holes? You have a set of chisels?
Inlays look good!
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Post by heem6 on Oct 26, 2009 1:27:55 GMT -5
Thanks, man.
The pickup wasn't in the way because I was drilling out the Floyd cavity. Don't know what the next step will be as far as that routing. The drill press was a way to get 90% of that cavity routed pretty quickly, though.
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Post by nickwellings on Oct 26, 2009 12:46:51 GMT -5
Yup, chisels or a proper router + template's in order to clean that all up Jim!
Sorry to hear about the 17th fret inlay, but a good repairman can usually make things like that totally invisible. My blue HM fretboard had band fingertip/nail gouges, but the guy I took it to made them invisible. Good thing you saved that dust! But your neighbours must be wondering WTF is going on inside your apartment!!
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Post by heem6 on Oct 26, 2009 22:04:33 GMT -5
Haha! I was amazed that the drill press didn't really make that much noise. Probably less than a hand held drill.
I was thinking about what you said Nick, and I called up a repairman that my friend at work gave me the business card of. Said he could do the repair easily and it wouldn't cost much. So I took it to him after work. Said ebony was the easiest wood to repair seamlessly. For $25, he's going to remove the rest of the old inlay, lay down new ebony and drill and install another inlay. We got to talking and he measured the radius and it is over 20".
So for another $25 he's going to fill in any little edgings along the inlays so they all look professional and then radius the fretboard to 16". I figured it's no use having a 21" radius if I have a 16" bridge!
I'll probably get one of those fretboard radius blocks from StewMac like you suggested - to level the frets when I get to that.
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Post by halo71 on Oct 28, 2009 16:09:50 GMT -5
Man....you REALLY need a workshop! And a router!
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Post by heem6 on Oct 28, 2009 22:00:44 GMT -5
Hey - I'll trade you my Blackheart Amp for your workshop!
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Post by heem6 on Oct 28, 2009 22:02:34 GMT -5
Also, I just got the decal of my dog printed today in the Document Center at work. I am just now starting to get a really good feeling about this project!
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Post by heem6 on Oct 29, 2009 23:36:11 GMT -5
My friend at work just brought in the StewMac fretwire he had left over from his guitar projects. Amazingly, it's the right size for my HM!
.100" wide and .50" tall. That's a little taller than I would like, but I'll just shave a little extra off while I'm doing the fret leveling.
Sweet!
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Post by rickblacker on Oct 30, 2009 0:09:05 GMT -5
have you used that height before?
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Post by nickwellings on Oct 30, 2009 7:34:44 GMT -5
All coming together Jim! Really exciting. Will you change the basecoat when you put the decal on/refinish before putting decal on?
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Post by heem6 on Oct 30, 2009 8:16:39 GMT -5
Well, this is what it looks like right now. Gary painted it and put clear coat on. So I'm just waiting for him to ship it to me and then I will take it to the shop, where I'll have them apply the decal and put one more clearcoat on top of that.
This decal printed looking kind of flat, but i remember that from the last one, too. Once the guy sprayed lacquer on the front - before applying, to keep the decal together - it really boosted the contrast and made it "pop."
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Post by nickwellings on Oct 30, 2009 20:46:22 GMT -5
NICE. They'll be like two peas in a pod when they're done. I'm still wickedly jealoud that you'll have about 5 HMs when you're done!
How's the black sparkle holding up though? I know you had some wiring frustrations.
I think with an Ebony neck, The Doggie/The Horror will sound really nice.
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