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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Thread Started on Apr 17, 2005, 11:06am »

Nothing happens on this board, so I figured I'd keep myself entertained. Mike isn't the only one that can talk to himself. Here's my newest project. For those keeping score at home, this will be the 3rd guitar I've built.

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All of this stuff came in today. Plus

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For

« Last Edit: Apr 17, 2005, 11:10am by Phil »

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #1 on Apr 17, 2005, 11:07am »

Okay, here is the pickup swap I did.

[image]

Here it is, a basic LTD EXP-200. Normal "Duncan Designed" POS pickups. Not very spiffy, it didn't sound bad, but it sure didn't sound good. So I decided to put in the obligitory EMG 60/81 set so I could pretend I'm James Hetfield too!

[image]

First thing to do is to remove the strings and control knobs. I took the bridge and stop bar off too because they're a pain to deal with. I'll set the guitar and intonation some time later. (If I had been thinking harder, I would have bought new saddles for the bridge cause they're baddly corroded.)

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Then flip the guitar and remove the control plate. If I was someone else, I would have drawn the way everything was connected, but I'm not really that smart.

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Here is everything removed from the cavity and strung out. It's sort of like intestines except not as gross and twice as confusing.

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The pots are both fried in this guitar, so I'm trashing them along with the jack (the EMGs come with them). Here is how I desoldered the connections. I don't really want to ever use them again, but I'll save the pickups anyway. I'll desolder them so I have a shot at them being long enough to connect in another guitar.

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Now that everything is disconnected, I unscrewed the pickup rings and set them and the pickups aside.

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Here's all of the stuff that comes with a EMG pickup.

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First thing to do is throw the instructions out.

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Okay, now that that's taken care of, we move onto threading the new "quick connect" (or whatever EMG calls it) cables and new jack into the control cavity.

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The power part of the active pickups are controlled by the red wire. Since there are 2 pickups, solder the 2 red pickup wires to the red wire connected to the battery thingy and jack.

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Each EMG comes with 2 pots, conviently wired together, and labeled for tone and volume. Well, tone controls are over rated, so I'm doing 2 volumes. (If there were three holes, I would use a tone, I have them in all of the rest of my guitars (except the JH-1), so tone knob freaks don't flame me.)

[image]

Skipping all of the soldering parts (none of the pix came out, and there are sites that explain this better than I could anyway), here are the pots and switch with output and ground (common or earth for you European types) wires connected. This is as far as you can go without getting into the cavity.

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Here is the pots and switch with the pickup wires connected. The EMGs are nice because they don't have all of those damn wires that let you do coil-tapping and phase and stuff. I mean all of that is cool, but you need a PHD in annoying little wires to keep your sanity doing that. Not to mention Seymore Duncan and Dimarzio and all of them use different color schemes (fukkers).

Getting back on track, the ground and the lead are in the same coaxial cable, so it keeps the cavity cleaner. Some people trim their wires to keep it neat and clean. Well that's great for them. I like keeping them long in case I ever decide to swap them into another guitar.

[image]

It's tough to see, but here is everything connected including:

both pickups
3 way switch
output jack
ground wire to bridge and stop bar

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I removed the old pickups from the rings, and need to set up the EMGs in the rings. Here is the stuff that you use.

[image]

This is the damned hardest part of the install. Getting the damn screw into the hole on the pickup with the spring is a beyotch. Then you have to do it a second time (and then another pickup).

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The EMGs have that quick connect, so you can easily swap (to another active EMG) by removing the pickup and connecting another. Here is how the pickup connects to the wiring. Except less blurry.

[image]

I connected a battery to the circuit (no flames, that's a good sign) and connected the guitar to my Marshall stack. I tapped the top of each pickup to make sure I hear something, and to test the switch (so I have the right pickup on each position) and the volume knobs.

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Everything worked out good, so I cut the padding the pickups came in, and rubber banded it to the battery. Then I just shoved the stuff back in (use a hammer if you are experiencing problems).

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With everything still apart, it's a great time to clean the guitar, so I did that. I put everything back together and used new screws in the pickup rings because the old ones were rusted. I also realized that the bridge is pretty bad. I'll have to fix that next time.

[image]

Time to string it back up and rock out.

The inital play test was very satisfying. I've got a bunch of other guitars with the EMGs. Strangely enough, the KH-2 just doesn't crunch as hard as the others. There are subtle difference between the guitars, but this does sound very similar to the first project explorer I did. I'll be happy if the KL project sounds as good.

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #2 on Apr 17, 2005, 11:08am »

Okay, in the last two weeks (which have been a pain because of work schedules) here's what I've done on the explorer build:

[image]

The body was pretty much done when I got it. The guitar was fairly smoothe, except for the bevelled edges. I've sanded the body using from 400 grit all the way up to 1500 (for no other reason besides I wanted to go that high). I also drilled the holes for the neck.

[image]

After I finished sanding (and most every time I finish for the day), I used compressed air to get rid of sawdust and other stuff. Then I clean the body using Napthla (basically paint thinner). It helps remove the oils from touching it, and it doesn't cause the grain of the wood to rise.

[image]

I taped the fretboard of the guitar (all of the rosewood, including the sides). It looks like tomorrow will be a good day to oil the body.

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #3 on Apr 17, 2005, 11:09am »

Here is the first coat:

[image]

Here is everything taped off and ready to go. Normally, I'd tape the pickup, bridge, and other holes in the body, but since it's an oil finish, I'm not too worried about the holes filling in too much. If I was painting and clear coating, I would have.

[image]

First coat. It's still wet, but when it dries, it will be "blotchy". That will get fixed with the second coat, and the wax stage.

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #4 on Sept 15, 2005, 10:09pm »

Okay, after a "brief" waylay on this project, I've finally gotten back to finishing this project.

I tried to refinish the guitar, but I think the alder body adds to the blotchyness. I've decided that it's fine for now. So on to the tuners:

[image]

The guide holes are drilled into the headstock. I also had to drill out the holes for the Spertzels which are bigger.

[image]

Okay, the addition of the tuners starts adding some weight to this guitar. Seems like now is a good time to put neck to body:

[image]

There is a possibility I'll be playing this guitar by the end of the weekend, but probably not until sometime next week.

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #5 on Sept 16, 2005, 9:54pm »

Whelp, today I thought I'd get it wired and maybe even strung up.

Didn't happen.

[image]

I bought the tall switches that I use for my Les Pauls for this guitar because I think the right angled switches aren't quite as good quality wise. Well the tall switches are too tall to fit into the guitar!! It sticks out of the back and I can't cover it.

[image]

I got the thing wired up (minus the switch), so I moved onto the hardware.

It ends up that I need to make the holes for the stop bar bigger, so I'll have to drill that out tomorrow anyway. I also tried to be slick and buy metal pickup rings because I break the plastic ones after a year or so. The metal ones are too damn heavy, it probably adds 1.5 pounds to the guitar. So here it sits today:

[image]

Things left to do (that I remember/know about):

1) Get and install new switch.

2) Get new pickup rings.

3) Drill out holes for pickup ring screws & install.

4) Drill out holes for jack plate & install.

5) Drill out holes for stop bar & install.

6) Drill out holes for truss rod cover & install.

7) Drill out holes for strap locks & install.

8 ) Test electronics.

9) Setup stop bar and bridge.

10) String guitar.

11) Set intonation and action.

Ta Da!

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #6 on Sept 21, 2005, 8:46pm »

So when last I left the explorer, a lot of little things needed to be done. I'm happy to report that all of those little things have been done (almost), and there is a new shorter list of little things that need to be done!!

I was going to wait until my parts got here, but tomorrow is my birthday, so fuck that. I instead decided to raid my Gibson Explorer project that is (still) waiting to be refretted. So I've got the pickups from that guitar, and also the switch!

Anyway, first thing on today's list was drilling out a lot of holes. I used my trusty drill press for most of it, but the jack plate and straplock pieces needed to be freehand drilled.

[image]

So I setup in my makeshift rig for that. It's basically a table mounted vice with a towel to keep it from marking the body. I don't tighten it down very tight, just enough that using the drill won't knock it down.

[image]

Once that was out of the way, I wired the switch in, and tested the electronics. I hooked it up to an amp, and tapped on the pickups. That way I can test the switch (I've wired them backwards before ::)

) and also the volume pots.

[image]

Next up was putting all of the pieces in and getting ready to wire it up.

[image]

So strings are on it, and it's now ready to plug into an amp and play!

And I did just that, except that's when I started noticing problems. The major one being that the action is absolutely terrible on it. The pix of the action didn't turn out, but suffice to say, I could play open strings, but it's difficult to play anything worth recording for you guys. The problem is with the neck joint to the guitar. I have the bridge on the body of the guitar, and the action is a full quarter of an inch!

Simple fix really, I just need to shim the neck. The neck pocket on the guitar is flat, but if you look at many (most) guitars, the neck isn't straight, it's angled back slightly. I'll create a < shaped shim to bring the butt part of the neck up. That will create an angle for the neck, and make the action even over the whole of the neck.

The other silly thing I noticed about the guitar is how the tuners are located on the headstock. They aren't comfortable to use (granted you don't spend tons of time tuning), and the D string tuner is so close to the little horn thingy that you hit your finger every time you turn it. I also need a smaller bridge pickup ring. But they work on the Gibson project, so I'll just give them back.

I'm sure the Ken Lawrence guitars are thousands of times better than this, but I have this for a quarter of what I could buy one of his for (used!).

I'll keep you updated when it's further along.

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Phil
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Hi I'm Phil.

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Posts: 89

Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #7 on Sept 24, 2005, 12:56pm »

Sorry guys, no pix today, they didn't come out.

I was about to take the neck off, when I realized that the neck was REALLY bowed. So I started adjusting the truss rod (severe adjustment needed). I put about a turn and a half into the neck and that helped part of the problem with the action (it was even across the neck now, but not low enough to play).

I took the neck off, and tried a few shims before finding the correct one. I started with a shim that was about 3/16" at the back, and that was way too big. I moved down to 1/8", that was usable, but the bridge was pretty high off the body. So I finally settled for 3/32". It doesn't seem like much, but over the 19 or so inches of the neck, it makes a big difference.

As I started stringing it back up again, I noticed that the threaded parts of the stopbar were getting pulled out of their holes by the tension of the strings. So I glued them in place (I didn't want to, because it makes removing it a lot harder, but I think I'm close enough to done to leave them in now.)

Looks like it should be done tomorrow.

BTW, here is a good page that describes how and why to adjust your trussrod.

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Adolfo Salazar Pavisic
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ESP EX from Chile!!!
« Reply #8 on Feb 1, 2006, 10:28pm »

hi!!! my name is Adolfo Salazar. I live in Chile and I try to built my ESP Explorer... but I have a real problem... I need a draw with the real measures of the guitar... please.. Can you help me? Can you send me this draw? I looked for all internet, but I have nothing... please answer me to... cucharamaffioso@hotmail.com
Thanks for all...
Adolfo

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rrrrrrrrrr
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hhhhhhhhhhhhh
« Reply #9 on May 25, 2006, 9:19am »

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max
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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #10 on Aug 10, 2006, 5:11pm »

hi dude

iam from germany and ive got the same problem like the guy from chile
i hope you can hlep me .... my email: maxtheflex@web.de

please help me ... thanx

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Jim
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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #11 on Dec 30, 2006, 8:37pm »

Just meandered over here from Project Guitar.com Hey would you care to check out the marquetry work that I do on guitars? I've done two for the Gibson Custom Shop www.macdonald-marquetry.com I'm going to have a booth at an upcoming vintage guitar show in California in a couple of weeks. Jim

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darren george
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Re: Phil's Guitar Fun and Excitement (my new axe)
« Reply #12 on Feb 24, 2008, 1:56am »

hi im soo wondering about the same thing as all the others, the exact "draw out" of the explorer, with the headstock, or if theres a place where I can get these already made, any help will be good!, thanks....email.....died79us@yahoo.com

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