Building a twin neck guitar - part 6: Placing the "bits"

I finally got around to placing the "bits" of the guitar on the body to make sure everything fits and is OK. I had thought about it before but had kept putting it off. This was prompted when a friend asked if I had checked that things were OK and fit as expected before making changes to the necks ....cheers Alan :)

Anyway ... the bits fit. I'm not happy how the pickups look (or rather, will look) but that will be a temporary thing.

Here we go! Looks pretty cool in my opinion.

The chrome parts work really well in terms of aesthetics. The bridges are surprisingly good and will stay. The only issue I have here is the pickups. Covered pickups would look better. If you disagree let me know ;)

That wiring is going to be TIGHT! The switches don't fit right for me. As they sit now (as in the only way they fit), they go neck to bridge, and that just doesn't work. I'll need to route out the body out a bit so that the switches can sit so they work top to bottom (as they sit when you play).

I have a feeling this may be a wee bit of a challenge ;)
This is the cavity where I want to put the potential third switch as it's the one in the middle of the two necks. When I can get the switch in at the preferred angle it would mean that I could get a new switch in with a little routing, BUT there will be quite a few wires going in there.

But this one will be easier :)

Random input pic. Just making sure it fits.

Hopefully I can get the paint in the next week and can get started .... just trying to find the right wiring diagram. I don't want to paint until all the right holes are in place.

Building a twin neck guitar - part 5: Fixing the Neck Cavities

One of the biggest surprises, and indeed disappointments I found when the kit arrived was the fact the neck cavities were ... and pardon my French ...shit. (I've never understood that phrase. What's French got to do with profanity?)

The angle on the cavity was shocking. Here's one of the pics from the un-boxing ...

I swear it feels like I've spent as much time on these bloody cavities as I did the shaping of the headstocks.

Anyway, after shaving away with the shiny new chisels I bought I've finally got them level. The necks aren't perfect and the cavities still have some space at the top edge, but that's hide/fixable. I lightly screwed the necks in place to see how it sits. Two screws out of the four, just screwed in enough to hold the necks in place.

Just a flash-less shot to show the pickup cavities a wee bit better.

You can see here the gaps at the top. No great biggie as long as the screws are tight in and I've "tweaked" the cavities enough. I'ts such a soft wood that it'll take a wee bit more time to get it right ... even then it won't be 100%.

NEXT!

OK, so there's a few things to do now. First up I've decided to skip the graphic for now. I was always going to do a base colour on the whole body before adding the graphic. I'm going to paint the whole thing in a dark night blue colour. I'll add the graphic later and do another lacquer layer afterwards.

So, I need to wait for some good days to hang the body out back to paint it. Will take a few layers ... BUT FIRST! ..... I need to find the right wiring diagram.

The electrics that came are enough to get the guitar working but there's a bit missing for me. There's one volume, one tone and one pickup selector for each neck, which for the most part is fine. Not for me though. I want a third selector switch. Just a simple two way switch so I can select which neck is active. Problem is the wiring is already going to be tight in the space available, so I need to lay everything out and decide where to route a wee bit of space to add the third switch in the middle of the body. Will need to add a new backing too, but that's OK.

Slow going, but I can't wait to get this bad boy up and running!

So! To Maplin to buy electronics stuff and to Halfords to buy Automotive Spray Paint!