[spot the obscure Led Zeppelin reference - answers on a postcard please]
So, another Sunday comes and goes with no assessment, have I given up entirely you’re all [not] wondering. Well no, thing is I’ve been travelling which has made regular practice something of a problem (although I did find a creative solution – more on that in a later post prhaps).
However the point of today’s missive is to update you on the progress of the ghettocaster, which has been sadly neglected of late, although still oft in my thoughts. I took the opportunity while in the US to visit a couple of guitar shops, and taking advantage of the exchange rate, purchased myself a nice little Seymour Duncan Telecaster bridge pickup. And here it is mounted in the Wilkinson bridge.
The pickup doesn’t need to be mounted directly to the guitar – see how it hangs off the bridge:
This means the bridge vibrations are transmitted to the pickup directly and so adding to that trademark twangy Tele sound.
But it does require a hole to accommodate that depth behind the bridge unit. And now the die is cast, I do have to whack out a little hole to put it in. So again out with the chisels (A router would probably be much quicker, but I don’t have one and am somewhat wary of losing a finger learning how to use one).
Anyway, before putting the pickup in the bridge unit, I carefully traced an outline on the body.
And then tap, tap tap…
…for about 45 minutes, until.
Ta. Da.
Well its a bit rough, I’m sure a router would have done a much better job, but the price was right, and the pickup fits. Most of the messy edges are going to be covered by copper shielding and the bridge pickup anyway so I’m satisfied.
Next issue is how to route the wire (that big black one in the picture above) out of the hole and into the cavity where all the controls will live. I can’t find my drill right now, so that will be an exercise for another day.
So. there we are, another small but significant step forward.
Oh and by the way I am practising still, if you recall the game-plan was to learn ‘Dee’ by Randy Rhoads; well I can just about play it all the way through now, but there are some tricky little changes in there, and its not that smooth. So I’m still working on it again all this week. Next week I’ll be getting back to the formal book plan.
So, thats it, keep on twanging,
Sean.
