DIY Thread - post your guitar DIYs and ask your DIY questions here

[argentum]

So, after ten years I got the itch to play guitar again, I picked up a vintage Morris MD-502 dreadnought in pcpark Makati square and played a couple of familiar tunes. It called to me, it was like my hands were measured for the dimensions when they made this guitar's neck, it just felt so nice to play it. I felt like I had owned it before in another time haha.. I then proceeded to check the body, neck, frets, machine heads and everything in between, a fair assessment would be 91% mint condition, there was only a total of 6 dings on the body and they were something I could fix myself. The finish was unbelievably shiny and mint for a guitar of this age. It had a solid spruce top with mahogany back and sides and sported a nato neck. Really didn't need much convincing at that point haha.. And so, the guitarist and DIY'er in me opened the wallet and forked over a fair amount for this lovely vintage guitar.

And then the DIY story begins! 

I decided to update this baby just because she felt so special to me. I had never done any previous modification or repair work on guitars but I'm an avid DIY hobbyist with years of experience in building. Plus it doesn't hurt to come from Don Bosco Makati where music and technical training are a part of the everyday scene, except that my shop was Industrial Drafting hahaha!!! But really, the education and technical training from that school is still something that I apply everyday. Really great! Here we go!



Adding a pickup:

Firstly, I looked up some info on acoustic pickups and found some interesting reads on both piezo and magnetic types. I spent a lot of enjoyable hours on youtube watching demos for both. I finally decided to go with internal mounted piezo pickups because I like the vibration activated concept, seemed appropriate for an acoustic guitar, and it was mounted and hidden away underneath the soundboard away from view.

I did my homework on the simple construction concept of piezo pickups and also found nice examples online (youtube is a very good source). Piezos are fairly easy to work with, you just have to be careful when soldering the white side because it burns easily. You'll find them locally and very nicely priced and available at Deeco Quiapo, 3rd floor, ask for transducers.

I have built a lot of cables for my other hobby which is hifi audio and chose to use, based on experience, 100% double shielded, fpe insulated, very low capacitance and high bandwidth belden brilliance series, small gauge solid core coaxial cable to wire it up.

And finally, I sourced out a nicely priced and attractive, modern-looking, very shiny endpin jack locally from guitar salon, great guys there and nice selection of DIY parts! 

Here's what my piezo pickup looks like fully assembled:




Here is the inside of the body looking to the back of the MD-502:




Here are the piezos mounted with blu-tack below the bridge:



And this is the mounted endpin jack:






DIY Saddle and Nut

Second on my list was to upgrade these two parts, the saddle and the nut. I read that these two components contribute significantly to a guitar's overall tone signature and performance.

I can attest to that claim. Upgrading these two parts brought forth so much richness to the tone, beautiful harmonics, overlapping textures and so much more sustain and openness to the sound.

My cousins and some friends who heard this guitar before the mods were so pleasantly surprised at the change, they said it was like unwrapping the real tone of the guitar for the first time. I really have to agree with that, it really is a worthy and true upgrade wether you'd like to DIY it or have a luthier do it for you.

Now some pictures, a DIY nut and saddle isn't an easy project, and that's the truth.. But I've been DIY'ing stuff from cars to cues and almost everything in between. I love doing it! And this was a worthy challenge haha!!:

The old nut was made of bone, previous owner must have upgraded this long ago, oh well time to let the old dog get the bone (nut)  :




Next, carefully cleaned the slot of old adhesive:





G10

I chose to use G10, I make a lot of knife scales for a client so I had these. They are, without a doubt, one of the best modern-day synthetics that have a multitude of applications for anything and everything. They possess superb vibration transfer properties so I thought it would be perfect to try out, but it is not a material that's easy to cut and tool. Fair warning, it'll kill your files and sanding discs fairly quick when you work with it as much as I do. The masochist/guitarist builder in me says...Perfect! 




Here I've cut a small blank to size with the original nut:




Now it's time to size it to the slot:




Took my time to file it down to size and finished of with ascending grits of sandpaper:




Compared it often to the old nut to make sure I was on track:




Final shaping and sanding along with initial slotting using some thin files and sandpaper, and a light buffing to bring out the G10 pattern:




Nuts!:




G10 nut mounted and strung up:




Moving on to the saddle, the stock saddle was just a cheap strip of soft plastic, really bad. Here, I've cut out a similarly dimensioned blank from the same G10 material of the nut:




I used some small files and sandpaper to shape the saddle. When I finished making everything I strung up the guitar, pulled out my chromatic tuner and did the compensation on the saddle. Here's the new saddle:




Here's another shot:




Nice and snug fit, strung up. I also changed to black colored d'andrea bridge pins to highlight the orange saddle, the original cream colored bridge pins clashed with it. I might upgrade these to brass or carbon fiber rods when I find the time to make them. But I'm happy for now.





The two of them together:




Love 'em!






A New Pickguard

The original black pickguard looked old and dated, I wanted to change the asthetics to give this guitar a more modern look. I chose to use a semi-transparent sheet of polyethylene so that it also hid the discoloration of the finish left by the old pickguard, but would still be transparent enough to put the rosette into full view, I like that:




Another view:






Upgraded and updated Morris MD-502 Dreadnought

The guitar sounds so nice and alive now! I can play it straight as an acoustic or plug it into an equalizer and amplifier combo and have even more fun with friends! I love the subtle but noticeable facelift and so does everyone else who's seen and played it Enjoy the pics. Happy building! -Les

[argentum]

Happy New Year! Here's my latest guitar mod, a DIY aftermarket soundport! Just the thing to get the creative juices flowing and to start a new year, right? 

A lot of nice custom guitars have this feature built in as an option, I found it looked odd at first glance but nonetheless interesting enough to warrant further investigation. There are so many opinions as to the hows and whys of multi ported guitars. A lot of pros, some cons, and a lot of "how does it sound?" queries. I'm not into flagging people to one side of the fence, so I'm just gonna best describe the personal experience for me and show you some pics along the way.

Here is the guitar, my vintage Morris MD-502 dreadnought with the side port installed:






Here's a good question:

How does it sound at the player's position unplugged?

Here is my best answer:

I can hear the instrument better from my perspective. There is a definite increase in the dispersion pattern of the guitar's sound as I play it, I can hear the played notes better than before, and grasp their decay length more than having no side port. The added sonic and acoustic information benefit from the side port has introduced me into a much more relaxed playing situation. My timing is now much better while playing.

Sound volume is perceivably increased also, but the dispersion effect is more useful than the volume increase IMHO.

I now have a better grasp of my guitar's sound. 


Another question:

How does it sound from the listener position?

Here is a polled answer from friends and family:

"It sounds better, not necessarily louder per se, but clearer and more pleasing to listen to."

I'd guess the increased radiation pattern created by the added port contributes to a more stable stereo image.





Here's how I did it:















My father was the late Maj. Lawrence S. Dulawan (Airforce), formerly of the country's elite Blue Diamonds aerobatic squad. They were the ones who did those spectacular aerial maneuvers during independence day celebrations in the 1960's-1970's. Their insignia was a "golden-winged, blue diamond" proudly located on the sides of the F-86 sabre jets that they piloted with pride.

I take my design inspiration from their proud name and sign.





Happy new year and happy modding!

[free2rock]

Very interested in that G10 you used as nut and saddle material... Awesome work

Sent from my O+ 8.37 Android using Tapatalk

[mikko21ganja]

Was bored this morning so I made this haha. DIY wood guitar rack   

[tam_guitar]

would anyone here know where I could get these?


not necessarily brass pero yung ganyang latch?

i bought mine at audiophile years back

[mikko21ganja]

Made a mistake with my rack 

screws moved to top:



Anyway did the finishing touches:

stainless steel support screws


added soft side velcro to the divider


my name lol


and varnished 

[j.escueta]

San nakakabili ng headstock string trees?

[Gunslinger]

Any tips on how to bring back the luster of cosmo black hardware?

[mikko21ganja]

San nakakabili ng headstock string trees?

Music source 

[tam_guitar]

Any tips on how to bring back the luster of cosmo black hardware?

Toothpaste

[yekoz]

Any tips on how to bring back the luster of cosmo black hardware?

Use small buff e.g. Dremel (without removing the strings and bridge)

[mother_earth!]

Guys help..

After selling my MXR 10band EQ i realized na ang nipis ng tunog ng bridge humbucker ko and its too bright. Ano po ba nag pwedeng gawin aside from replacing the pickup para pakapalin yun tunog and mabawasan ng konti yung highs? The pickup that Im using is Entwistle HDN bridge....

Thank you in advance!

[free2rock]

Any tips on how to bring back the luster of cosmo black hardware?

Is that supposed to be black? I've seen black chrome plating services if that's what you're looking for.

[shoegaze geezer]

Nice thread.

Posted this in another thread. Just thought I might share it here also.

My Squier VM Jaguar has Microphonic Pickups...so it is D.I.Y. time.

1. Melting some Paraffin Wax


2. Detaching the Pickups from the guitar




3. Paraffin Wax fully melted and ready


4. Getting ready to be Hanged and Dipped


5. Wax Dipping Time


6. Drying, Cleaning and Cooling Off


7. Pickups Re-installation


8. Rak En Rol! 

[modmod]

Guys help..

After selling my MXR 10band EQ i realized na ang nipis ng tunog ng bridge humbucker ko and its too bright. Ano po ba nag pwedeng gawin aside from replacing the pickup para pakapalin yun tunog and mabawasan ng konti yung highs? The pickup that Im using is Entwistle HDN bridge....

Thank you in advance!

Try fuzz

[Gunslinger]

Toothpaste

Really? Natry mo na? How did it go and what toothpaste did you use?

Use small buff e.g. Dremel (without removing the strings and bridge)

Don't have power tools eh. I'll try to borrow one though. Pano yun, ano yung nasa dulo ng dremel?

Is that supposed to be black? I've seen black chrome plating services if that's what you're looking for.

It's called Cosmo Black. It's like chrome, only darker. Check mo yung knob sa photo. Ganun yung color. Problem sa plating, kakapal yung bridge diba? Pati screw holes and string groove, madadamay.

[free2rock]

Really? Natry mo na? How did it go and what toothpaste did you use?

Don't have power tools eh. I'll try to borrow one though. Pano yun, ano yung nasa dulo ng dremel?

It's called Cosmo Black. It's like chrome, only darker. Check mo yung knob sa photo. Ganun yung color. Problem sa plating, kakapal yung bridge diba? Pati screw holes and string groove, madadamay.

Black Chrome. Some gun shops have that service available. You can ask if they have sandblasting services. Not sure if that can be done with small parts

[Gunslinger]

Black Chrome. Some gun shops have that service available. You can ask if they have sandblasting services. Not sure if that can be done with small parts

Hindi ba masstrip yung bridge pag nisandblast?

[free2rock]

Hindi ba masstrip yung bridge pag nisandblast?

Yep it should. Then have it replated. Just a note, I haven't tried that yet. Hehe

[mother_earth!]

Try fuzz

Thank you sir

[argentum]

Nice thread.

Posted this in another thread. Just thought I might share it here also.

My Squier VM Jaguar has Microphonic Pickups...so it is D.I.Y. time.

1. Melting some Paraffin Wax


2. Detaching the Pickups from the guitar




3. Paraffin Wax fully melted and ready


4. Getting ready to be Hanged and Dipped


5. Wax Dipping Time


6. Drying, Cleaning and Cooling Off


7. Pickups Re-installation


8. Rak En Rol! 

Hi, did you also use any beeswax in your mixture?

[shoegaze geezer]

Hi, did you also use any beeswax in your mixture?

hi bro. nope, i did not mixed bee's wax during the session. (it is supposed to be 20% from the whole mixture.)

[free2rock]

I had a productive Saturday morning. This is how I made a custom pickguard DIY style hehe

Taped the part where I want to up the guard.



Penciled then markered.



Traced it on a piece of paper. I used bond paper. Didn't have tracing paper--that would have been a lot easier.



Stuck it to the pickguard blank.



Cut. Sand. Sand. Sand. Sand. Sand. And some more sanding until it fit and all transitions were smoothened out.

[j-sonic]

very nice!

[judas.cradle]

goodDay boss, ask ko lang how to install a TrussRod sa Neck ng Generic Strat ko?
wla kase syang TrussRod e.
mas mura ba qng bibili nlng ako ng neck o bili ako trusRod tapos iInstall ko nlng? salamat.