henderson is go's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

Ok so I was able to save the finish... I'm thinking this will be my first and last tdpri challenge build :grin:

Hey dude.... I've been watching a few, including Roger's... and it's inspired me to work my tail off in my own building..

And MAAAAYYYYEEBEEEEE enter next year myself.... :grin:

What Roger said!

Maybe you can try to clear your schedule a little before the next challenge. I'm thinking that I should order an acoustic from you before you're famous and charge more than I could afford!!

I have really enjoyed and learned from your build thread.

Thanks for the support, I'll just have to see what's going on next year.

finally some progress. I sanded the finish, hand buffed then did a little bit of relicing. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics


http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/fd2d474e.jpg?t=1336777037
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/24a26036.jpg?t=1336777061

Also installed the tuners

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/f7e69356.jpg?t=1336777093

Hey Brian,

Love the styling of this! Finish up brother. We want you over the line!

Rob

Hey Brian,

Love the styling of this! Finish up brother. We want you over the line!

Rob

Yep what he said...wait is there a difference between over the line and crossing the line? You listen up Brian, no crossing the line with me, you hear? :mrgreen:

I'm guessing a lot of people want to hear this thing, take full advantage of your energetic youth and finish this thing up Brian. You'll hold the record for youngest build challenge finisher :mrgreen:. I hope you are prepared for the fanfare once the tabloids and press find out.

Hey thanks! I definietaly plan on stringing it up tomorrow, I really hope I can get the electronics to work :lol:

Here are a few more pics, I still have some relicing to do though

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/a3392244.jpg?t=1336777066
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/84867a89.jpg?t=1336777069
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/b5eec5a0.jpg?t=1336777072
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/b47abcec.jpg?t=1336777076
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/c7206076.jpg?t=1336777083
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/ffe8dd56.jpg?t=1336777085
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/468fe1d0.jpg?t=1336777097

Hey thanks! I definietaly plan on stringing it up tomorrow, I really hope I can get the electronics to work :lol:

Here are a few more pics, I still have some relicing to do though



Brian,

Sorry if this comes off like your father, but I am one. Honestly, relicing at this point in the build is wasting your time. Get all the standard finish and functional stuff done first. Remember, you have to shoot a video too and all by noon. Do the important stuff first. We all want to see you finish. And there is nothing to stop you after the competition of posting updates on the build in the DIY forum. We'd all love to see your final vision for this beautiful guitar. Go Brian!

Rob

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes, yes, yes.

I'm confused: I've never wired anything before, let alone a guitar. I dont know what to do, I really hope I can figure it out :oops: Now I'm going to crawl back to my acoustics that don't involve wiring...

Bump! The control opening is small. Do you plan on using only 2 pots and no switch?

Like I said before, I've never done this before and my fear of it not working has been confirmed. I plugged it in to an amp and immediately a horrible feedback esque sound (I was 5 feet away from the amp btw). When I tap on the pickup, there is a faint tapping sound from the amp, but it's really just that feedback-esque sound. Please tell me what I did wrong, I followed Herb's diagram in his snakehead thread and it looked like it would work. Is it because my solders are fugly????

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/4411334a.jpg?t=1336860180
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/f972b9ed.jpg?t=1336860187
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/b280e16c.jpg?t=1336860190
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/174fa208.jpg?t=1336860195

Brian , looks like you have the ground and hot soldered to the same contact tab on the jack , ground should go to the tab you have nothing soldered too if I am seeing it right , see pic I added

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz246/adirondak50/IMAG2458-1.jpg?t=1336861593

Herb, I have the ground wire soldered to the big jack and the other one to the small jack... I take it this is incorrect...

Yes , if you look closely at how you have it wired you have hot and ground on the same part of the jack where only the hot should be , check the pic I just added to my previous post.

The two tabs with the holes in them connect to the hot and lead. The bottom one (I think) Goes to the spring/lever thing that connects to the tip of the cable and is the hot part. The other one is then the ground and connects to the outside of the jack. If you hear really loud buzzing when you plug it in, it's backwards.

The outer lug of one pot which has the capacitor soldered to it, shouldn't that also go to ground (pot casing)?

The outer lug of one pot which has the capacitor soldered to it, shouldn't that also go to ground (pot casing)?

Yup , you are right Glen , I didn't notice that .Solder a jumper from that outer lug with the cap. to the back of the pot also Brian

Thanks for the advice. I'm not too sure what you mean by the outer lug though, herb.

The outer lug is shown by an arrow. Solder a wire from there to the casing of the pot.

Thanks glen, do you mean solder the wire to the same pot the lug is attached to?

Yes.

You can do it!

Some good news and bad news...

Good news: It looks good, plays well, and the intonation is good.

Bad news: I still can't get the electronics to work. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/76f9094e.jpg?t=1336873942
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/664155de.jpg?t=1336873946
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/6eec5ee8.jpg?t=1336873952
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/1075f5f8.jpg?t=1336873953
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/fe157d6e.jpg?t=1336873956
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/9d637857.jpg?t=1336873959
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/a59782c2.jpg?t=1336873963
http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/2a326e7e.jpg?t=1336873966

That's a sweet cool guitar, Brian. I'm sure you'll be able to get the wiring to work if you just take your time. I'd offer advice, but unfortunately, I'm terrible with wiring myself. I have to print of the schematic and take one wire at a time like a road map.

One thing I will add, though-- spend a few minutes looking at soldering/wiring tutorials on Youtube. I think that will help as well because it really helped me.

That's a sweet cool guitar, Brian. I'm sure you'll be able to get the wiring to work if you just take your time. I'd offer advice, but unfortunately, I'm terrible with wiring myself. I have to print of the schematic and take one wire at a time like a road map.

One thing I will add, though-- spend a few minutes looking at soldering/wiring tutorials on Youtube. I think that will help as well because it really helped me.

+1. Good luck. I always feel that, if my wiring works at the end of the build, it's only due to the grace of God.

Nice pics; the guitar came out nicely. That's a good-looking bench behind it, too; is that mahogany?

Fabulous looking, Brian, nice job. I'm gonna go see if I can find a wiring diagram for one pickup, tone and volume control.

That's great advise from Roger. One wire at a time. Fantastic looking guitar :grin:

Here ya go dude:

http://api.ning.com/files/SxAQY43AYBpq539jTeGqQDGltJNWyzBp1GipKBVKrWy0nvxwnY 7TXXOE08qix7udp3ZzCvjkxsT4caO3ndgcNW*DNXbVNLzI/1singlecoil_1vol_1tone.jpg

Brian, see if this diagram helps. It's drawn as though you're looking at the back of the control plate. The wire that comes out of the right side of the jack and to the tone pot's case is the ground, the one that comes from the bottom left of the jack is the hot wire for the jack.

http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/1pickup1vol1tone.pdf

I checked the Stew-Mac site for Golden Age pickup wiring, and this is based on that. Ignore earlier diagram I sent you. I like this one better for a couple of reasons~~


http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j383/rickspeir/May%2012%20Challenge%202012/IMG_5408.jpg

Brian, I apologize for the crappy drawing, but I've been trying to get a good look at the wiring on your guitar to see what might be wrong.

The main thing I think is that the jack is not wired properly. As noted above, unsolder the white plastic-coated wire from the side of the contact (J-shaped thing that contacts your cord plug tip), and solder it to the terminal on your jack that does not have anything now soldered to it. That alone might be the problem.

Also, it looks like you've soldered another black wire to the metal plate on the bottom of your pickup. You don't really need that, Tele bridge pickups ground adequately through the bridge, because they're mounted to the bridge with metal screws. The extra black wire may be confusing you, although it looks like you've got it soldered to the case of the volume pot, which should be OK. (but again, unnecessary.)

Also, it looks like you used a piece of shielded wire to hook up one side of your jack. Is there a reason for that? Unless the outer sheath is grounded, it won't provide any benefit, and the loose wires that always seem to stick out of the shielding seem to get in the way, and sometimes ground out things you don't want them to. If you can, I'd recommend that you replace it with a piece of regular wire.

It looks to me like you've got the pickup wires hooked up backwards, which may or may not cause you some problems, but I'd recommend you do it "by the book" to help ease any further trouble shooting that may be necessary..

REFERRING TO MY DRAWING, HERE'S A RUNDOWN ON EACH TERMINAL, WIRE, ETC.

1. Volume and Tone pots are both 250K ohm, yes? Cases are steel, not aluminum, yes? (test with magnet to be sure).

2. Pickup wires- Black one is soldered to the Vol. pot case.
White wire goes to Terminal 3 on the Volume Pot.

3. Volume Pot Case-- Case is soldered to black wire from pickup, also to jumper soldered to Volume Pot. terminal 1, and (black) wire running from the Ground ("ring") terminal from the jack.

4. Volume Pot Terminal 1--Soldered to jumper which runs from Volume Pot Case. Also one lead of the tone capacitor, (either end is OK.) which then runs to Tone Pot terminal 2.

5. Volume Pot Terminal 2--Soldered to white wire running from "Tip" (Hot) terminal on Jack.

6. Volume Pot Terminal 3--Soldered to white cloth wire from pickup. Also soldered to wire running to Tone Pot terminal 3.

7. Tone Pot Case--Not used.

8. Tone Pot Terminal 1--Not used

9. Tone Pot Terminal 2--Soldered to the other lead of the tone capacitor that runs from Volume Pot Terminal 1

10. Tone Pot Terminal 3--Soldered to wire that runs from Volume Pot 3.

11. Jack Terminal "Ring" (Ground)--soldered to black wire that is soldered to volume pot case.

12. Jack Terminal "Tip" (hot)--soldered to white wire that runs to Volume Pot terminal 2.

Work your way through slowly and carefully, use sandpaper to rough up the pot. cases before soldering to them.

Listen... seriously.. just use the diagram I posted a link to....


Everyone's making it harder than it should be... :roll:


I'm no wiring guru... but this is an easy to follow diagram.





....

Listen... seriously.. just use the diagram I posted a link to....


Everyone's making it harder than it should be... :roll:


I'm no wiring guru... but this is an easy to follow diagram.





....



They all are if you know electronics.

The diagram and instructions I posted are most nearly to what Brian now has, and are based on the manufacturer's instructions.

There are a lot of details that people with some electronics experience automatically understand, but that confuse people with no such experience.
Some of those people get their experience (and a successful project) by following paint-by-numbers instructions that came with kits.

I think Brian already has a diagram, and is now asking for additional help, not another diagram.

Listen... seriously.. just use the diagram I posted a link to....


Everyone's making it harder than it should be... :roll:


I'm no wiring guru... but this is an easy to follow diagram.





....

They all are if you know electronics.

The diagram and instructions I posted are most nearly to what Brian now has, and are based on the manufacturer's instructions.

There are a lot of details that people with some electronics experience automatically understand, but that confuse people with no such experience.
Some of those people get their experience (and a successful project) by following paint-by-numbers instructions that came with kits.

I think Brian already has a diagram, and is now asking for additional help, not another diagram.

+1 Rick , the diagram Brian used was my hand drawn diagram based on the one that was posted , ie , the same diagram , I think it's just an issue of getting the wires to the right contact points , and seeing Brian's work for a while now I am sure he will get it done :smile:

It works!!!! Thank you to everyone who helped me, and especially R stratenstien for the incredibly detailed instructions and help. I had mixed up some wires and a few solder joints weren't very good and had to be redone, etc. But now it works and sounds really cool: kind of raw, almost like the 56 (or 57 I don't remember) esquire I played at retrofret a while ago. I would still be staring at my guitar trying to figure out why nothing works.

thanks, picton. The bench is actually the halfway finished sapele mantel in the living room of my house.

That's great Brian , I knew you would get it right. Can't wait to hear it :smile:

Congratulations! :grin:

BTW, a great deal of acoustics have pickups of some kind these days, and I'm sure you will have customers who will request them. When you get the chance, take a DC Electronics course from a local community college. It's just 3 hours a week for roughly six months. Yes, a lot of it you'll never use, but getting the basics down pat is the point, and you'll use that the rest of your life :wink:



Dave

Wow Brian!

It looks fantastic! Can't wait to hear it. The flame in that neck is really fine.

Rob

Glad to hear it. Come to think of it, can't wait to hear it. (In the video, I mean :lol:) Way to go, Brian, you've got a real winner there!

Cool... just trying to help...

Glad it worked out....

And here is the video. It was put together quickly, the humidity caused my guitar to go out of tune, and I don't play electrics often so it wasn't very good, but it gets the point across.

CUtJNyDnTuY

And [B]the[B] pic

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/76f9094e.jpg?t=1336873942

Great job Brian, I knew you would make it! The guitar looks and sounds awesome! Next year you will be the first one done :-)

Beautiful job Brian!

I'm pretty sure you need to have the picture and video in the same post. Also, even if you played poorly (which you did not at all), it would be hard to notice because of how extremely beautiful that guitar is.

Hey Brian

If I were one of your parents, I would be immensely proud of you and the result of your efforts here. As a matter of fact I would probably "borrow" it and lock myself in the bathroom to play it for hours. Uh-hem, just saying I think its beautiful. Really well done. You have a bright future sir!

Rob

Great job Brian , congrats :)

Thanks everyone :grin:

Excellent job Brian. That turned out awesome.

Great work, dude, and it sounds great too! I was a little worried you were going to swing the headstock into the cabinet doors and smash all the good china, though. :wink:

I can't wait to see more of what you do, I'm with the other guys who say "one day we'll be able to say we knew Brian when he was a young builder".

Lovely idea and execution. Looks fantastic.

Thanks,

Kwerk, Thanks; I think my parents were worried about the same thing :lol:

Definitely not doing this again next year

.......

Definitely not doing this again next year

I see we are gonna need to work on you, Brian. :wink::mrgreen:

I see we are gonna need to work on you, Brian. :wink::mrgreen:

The time deadline drives me crazy :lol:

The time deadline drives me crazy :lol:

Yea , I hear ya Brian , I go tunnel vision under deadlines , it can be stressful , but you've got this one under your belt now , with a little planning the next one should be a breeze :smile:

The case finally came in

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hendersonisgo/18232da8.jpg?t=1337874462

Love that case. I've got that exact one for my strat, and it's just so classy.

Awesome project.