Hi Darren

I'm not ready for printing yet, I've been distracted by my practice build that iv'e drawn on paper. I'll add the 1000mm x 100mm rectangle and export a pdf of what iv'e got and send you a file to check if it's suitable for your printer.

Robin.

The best pickup combination I have done though if your feeling flush...are bare knuckle pickups.

HPS90 (p90 in a humbucker case) Stockholm - neck

Humbucker miracle man - bridge..

Around £300 but in the middle selection it’s the sweetest I’ve heard in any made or bought guitar. Wished I’d kept them for myself. The owner loves em....

Being played live

Sounds awesome and looks fantastic!

I’m hoping to have a live gig video of my own to post on Sunday.....

Sounds really good.

What is the venue?

On Saturday afternoon/evening in my village, Rushden Herts, there is being held 'Rushfest' (not the Scottish one). Organised by one of my neighbours, George McGuire (Olivier Award Winner for his portrayal of Dave Davies in the Kinks musical) and his wife Rachel, who also works in musical theatre.  When George wasn't on the West End stage he filled in time doing musical tours on cruise ships and Rachel was just about to start playing Sandy's slutty friend in the tour of 'Grease, The Musical' when lock down was announced. You can imagine how their lives and incomes have been turned upside down in recent months so they decided that they needed to do something to satisfy their creating urges.

Rushfest will only be about 120 people spread out in a large field with a couple of gazebos as the stage but it's live music so who cares!! Anyway, I have managed to get George to agree to play a couple of songs on my 'first born' so I'll be taking a video camera along with me to capture the event. Just hope it doesn't rain!

Anyway, I have managed to get George to agree to play a couple of songs on my 'first born' so I'll be taking a video camera along with me to capture the event.

So you've already got an endorsement deal ... for you first guitar?? !!!

Awesome I look forward to the post(s)...

The venue was just a local pub, although the band have been on BBC introducing and I was hoping they would get signed. The guitarist and singer is the son of one of my mates from school (and the lad (Ashton) was in the same year as my daughter at school ...Now theres a coincidence!). 

Both have guitars I’ve made...sort of dad and son Deej guitars

The  band in the clip is called Aviso and I think they have singles on ITunes.

They’ve played some great well known venues in Manchester and it was great to see my creation being played in front of a large  tough Manc crowd....it makes it worthwhile why you put your heart and soul into the builds...

Darren I think your idea is great, personally I like the self torture of making my own templates as it’s part of the fun but I think there is definitely a market especially for things like pickup routes or electric cavities and covers.

One off guitar build templates would be great also.

once you launch your new website and even though I like sorting my own templates I’m sure I will be tempted to purchase one or two items ?...I just can’t help myself...

@tv1010101 I know, cool huh?!

@robin I have no idea what NGC is. I think autocorrect has been at it again. It should have said PDF!

Good morning folks,

Knobs! Sorry to be so blunt but there's no other way of saying it!

I have looked through a lot of photos of everyones amazing electric guitar builds and I just wondered what the thought process is that determines whether a two pickup guitar has two knobs, three knobs or four knobs? I am guessing that these would be 1 x V/1 x T, 1 x V/2xT and 2 x V/2x T. Does it really matter whether I have independent volume controls for each pick up or even separate tone controls?

@darrenking  No problem, I ignored the NCG bit, I assumed it was somè modern technology that iv'e missed out on.

Think master tone as opposed to two?

That said two tones on a Strat but with one for bridge and one shared for neck and middle just to be able to tame the knife edge from the bridge at times....

Some of the Freeway Switch diagrams give a no control (ie pickup direct to socket) option as well.   

The bits I have ready to be my pickup tester guitar may be used to do some experiments with knobs.......

My first home build (almost a Bandsman) only has vol, tone and Freeway Switch and that works and I don’t get confused driving it!

I have looked through a lot of photos of everyones amazing electric guitar builds and I just wondered what the thought process is that determines whether a two pickup guitar has two knobs, three knobs or four knobs?

It really depends on how you (or, in your case, your endorsees ? ) play the guitar!

Do you switch a lot between different pickups to give different sounds - eg switching over the bridge pickup for a bit of extra cut-through for the solos - or do you tend to use pedals instead for that sort of thing?  If the former, then separate vol controls are obviously handy.

Some people just put the tone control on 10, and then forget that it's even there.  Sometimes that's because they've got shit tone controls that aren't wired properly, so there's little effect of changing it much.  Personally, I don't use it a lot, so I tend to stick to the one vol.

Generally, I design mine partly for function and partly for the aesthetics!

You know what I'm going to say...

...KISS

More knobs = more potential for trouble and added weight...

just like life really:

Always aim for the least number of knobs to get the job done.

interpret that however you like 🙂

So is that knobs on a guitar or knobs on the forum?

I like simplicity, so I'm going with one volume, one tone and a two or three way switch. Is it essential to have a 'both pick ups at once' option? I have a couple of hundred beautiful little stainless steel flush mount push button switches which could be used to switch from one to the other but I'd need to fit two of them to give a third pick up option. I might also use one as a mute switch next to the cable socket to prevent PA thump! Anybody else do something similar?

BTW Rushfest was great and offered a fantastic, much missed, live music experience with a really mix of talent on show. Everything from a spine tinglingly good female opera singer, Kimberly Blake, a Take That tribute act and George and Rachel with their band The Lonesome Frets. A few songs can be found on here https://www.rushdenhertfordshire.com and once I download the video from my camera I'll post the highlight of the show (for me at least) featuring 'The Snail No1'!!

Is it essential to have a 'both pick ups at once' option?

Not essential by any means - and I rarely use the "both at once" option on my guitars - but would it be unnecessarily limiting if you didn't have the option?

Or retro-fit it if you find you need it?

I've not used a mute switch before.  I have used mini-toggles to work as a blower switch.  Which is probably about the opposite of a mute switch!  Can see a mute being handy in real-life live situations, so could be a good call.

Congrats on Rushfest  ?  Could be the way of the future ... outdoor festivals rather than indoor gigs.

I think I used to drive close by fairly regularly, in the days before the A14 had been built and became the main route between the NW and East Anglia!    I think that's why I remember "Higham Ferrars" anyway.