SE EG Project - Blackie

justmund

Plank Spanker
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Down under, down under
So have finally accumulated the bits and pieces for my SE EG project - Blackie (I think I watched too much Twin Peaks leading up to this, plus CRs is called "Snowy" so...). Got a bit of cutting done on the CNC today...

Take 1 - a bit rough, needed to be offset from the edge of the sheet a bit. I'll take it home tonight and work out where the pots need to go (plus a bit of routing in the body...) then make a final file for a good one, either leave it as aluminium (aluminum) or out of black pearloid blank.

Basically I scanned the old pickguard, my partner drew over it in Illustrator, exported as pdf, imported into Rhino, exported into AutoCAD where I drew the pickup cut outs and screw holes. A couple of the outside screw holes are a little bit out (but should still work) but I'll fix those on take 2.

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]-[ @ n $ 0 |v| a T ! ©;23984 said:
Wow, that look great. Why not leave the guard aluminum (aluminium)? ;)

You know what, I dummied it in the guitar last night and it looks fantastic against the black. It'll save on shielding tape/paint too! Didn't quite get the middle pickup slot in the right place, a couple of mm out. Turns out a NF is a very tight fit into the original SC route. Back to the drawing board (literally) since I'd rather change the guard than remove more wood than I need too...
 
+1 vote to keep it like that. The chrome harware on black like this Tom Morello's is the only combination that makes me crave a guitar with a pickguard.

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Thanks for the feedback people!

Here's a quick snap from this morning, if I didn't have to work today (Saturday) I'd be getting stuck into locating the pots and changing the nut/trem/tuners.

You can see how it's about 2-3mm too far "South", and not 100% sure if the trem will clear it either. Only one way to find out...! Can easily trim back the guard though of course.

Oh and the switching system is going to have a neat feature, I'm not going to give everything away just yet (even tho 90% of the cat is out of the proverbial!)

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Looks great man! One thing I would suggest, polish that aluminum, it'll look even better if it's shiny.

Thanks dude! I'm up in the air about the aluminum, I know shiny will look cool, and would be homage to my bike I built - which got traded last night *sniff*, here she is in a similar state of build...

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but I wonder how it would last in a gig situation? I've already put a gouge in it from trying to put the 59/09 in with the springs (it's ok, this one is a dummy run). Anyone got any handy hints for getting the springs compressed, lined up, and screwed in? (short of growing an extra pair of hands)
 
Ok well he's pretty much finished (I've decided to call him "Bob" now, "Blackie" is just too obvious!).

Dummy up of the where the knobs will go:

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Because this needs to fit in there...

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Kinda like this

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A bit of spade bit to get it started (and the centre point for the pot)

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Then get the trusty Dremel out:

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About 1/2 way though

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Pretty much done, with only a little tidying up to do (not that it matters because it's behind the pickguard. Had to go as deep as the hole for the jack lead!)

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The spaghetti system... Kept all the leads long "just in case"

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It's in (just)

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Finished!

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A couple of scratches in the guard but I'm not fussed, this guy was built to gig!

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Moons

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Just needs a "Bob" TRC now...

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Ok those who are wondering what was going on with all those bits inside, and the extra tone knob... Well the middle tone knob is a push-push, when popped out it coil taps the bridge (59/09), as you wind it to "1", it mixes in the neck PU in parallel. Read more about it here:

http://test.kinman.com/guitar-pickups/pdf/K9-H Function.pdf (but my middle pot is the mix pot)

Makes for some really interesting tone combos, I can't comment on the usefulness yet as I'm yet to test these out in a gig situation...

How does it sound? Freaking awesome, I love the NFs, they do exactly what PRSh set out to do! The 59/09 I think is a great match for the NFs, clear, punchy and a bit more aggressive, making this one very versatile axe.

I'm also very impressed with how it plays, the quality is certainly there with the Korean models and if I had to pick differences I'd say they don't feel as "solid" or "complete" as a US model. I think this is largely down to the premium materials found in the US models (wood, components) and maybe even some of the special sauce tweaks they do. Hard to put my finger(s) on it...
 
Nicely done!
Thanks man, that means a lot!

Looks Great! We need a video demo of that knob system in action.
I know! I'll try and get to it this week, got a lot on my plate at the moment with a baby on the way!

Looks great dude!!
Cheers, and thanks for your help wiring in the 59/09, you know what they say about assumptions!

Bangin' I gotta get an EG!
You do, they're awesome. I want a stoptail now! Rare here in Aus but keeping an eye out...

Very cool! Probably a stupid question, but where did you get the narrowfields?
Thanks, and not a stupid question! I got them off a guy here in Aus, who got them off a guy in the US (eBay) who pulled them out of a McCarty NF (wtf!). They're rare, that much I can tell you! I pretty much bought the pickups without knowing what I was going to do with them (turns out he had this EG too).
 
Thanks, and not a stupid question! I got them off a guy here in Aus, who got them off a guy in the US (eBay) who pulled them out of a McCarty NF (wtf!). They're rare, that much I can tell you! I pretty much bought the pickups without knowing what I was going to do with them (turns out he had this EG too).

Haha pulled them out of a McCarty NF? WTF indeed! I feel like buying a PRS with narrowfields is pretty much buying the guitar FOR the narrowfields. But it worked out well for you! I can't blame you for buying them without really knowing what to do with them, that's one of those things you just have to jump on - now you have one of the most unique axes around!
 
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