Garrett's Cheapskate Mod Shop: If You Love Some One, Part II

They're 500k pots. For the One with volume only, you may still like the 280k or a 250k because that's closer to the load that the Paul's would have with the tone control all the way up.


Good to know! Thanks again. I bought the other PG treble so that I can help a buddy of mine turn one of his DC3's or his NF3 into a SuperStrat :D
 
Finally got parts in yesterday.

A set of black Paul's Guitar pickup rings. 0.033uf Orange Drop caps.

Was supposed to get a couple of Bourns push/pull pots (I always buy extras), but Guitar Electronics goofed and sent me the CTS full size push/pulls instead. I was bummed for a sec, given that it took USPS a week and a half to get the parts delivered. I mocked up the CTS and it fit, so I said what the heck and went with it. The switches on these things are huge, but they feel fantastic. The knob is harder to turn, but that's fine because it will be easier to work the push/pull without messing up my tone setting.

I wired up a spare PRS pot for volume as well as the tone circuit portion of the CTS push/pull pot. A previous owner had hacked up the output wires for some reason, so I also ran new wires to the jack.

I mocked up the Mason pickup with the ring. It is going to work out nicely. The original pickup rout is just deep enough to accommodate the Mason with a max of about 4-5 mm of distance from the strings, which is just enough to be able to fine tune the pickup height. The ring will completely cover the original P-90 rout.

The pickup mounting screws were too long, and I don't have a good way to cut them down, so I used the trusty drill and put a couple of 3/8" wide holes about 1/2" deep at the ends of the rout. Did the trick.

I will need to glue in some wood in the corners of the rout to give the mounting rings something to connect to. Lucky for me I have most of a 3/8" poplar dowel just waiting for a use.

Sorry for no pics this time. Photographing a black guitar without natural light is beyond a pain! Will get some more snaps soon.
 
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Is that "particle board" I see in there?
 
Progress!

Since the P-90 rout is just a rectangle, it needed something to mount the pickup ring to. So I chopped up a section of 3/8" poplar dowel:
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Glued 'em up with the trusty Elmer's wood glue. I did the bass side corners last night and sanded them mostly flat this morning. I wanted to make sure it worked alright before doing the other side. Seems to be holding up nicely. You can see the extra holes I drilled for the pickup mounting screws. None of it looks all that pretty, but it's functional and will be covered anyway.
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The 'Merican pots do not play well with the metric speed knobs, so I slapped on a set of Tele Deluxe knobs for now. They look okay, but a pair of lampshades will definitely be in my future.

This weekend's plan is to sand the treble side corners and re-drill the wiring channel. If that goes well, I will move on to mounting the pickup, finishing the wiring, and making some noises!
 
And the home stretch...

Treble side posts glued, wiring hole drilled.
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I lined up the pickup, marked the mounting screw positions, and drilled pilot holes.
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Finished up the wiring. The eyelets on the switch soldered up easily. The CTS push/pull pot is very well designed.
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The plastic plug was a bit too deep for the pot to clear, so I chopped off the bottom and super glued it to the pickguard. Took a little tweaking to get everything to settle in to the rout, but in the end it all fit together nicely.
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IT LIVES!
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Terrible weather today, so it was tough to get decent pics. Lampshades are in the mail, so I'll take some better pics once I get them on.

Anyway, I'll talk about tone and stuff later, but for now I am glad to report that it sounds as badass as it looks!
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