Baritone 7 build - first full build

[CD1221]

Looking good!

Brass frets?!?

 

[Bill Stickers]

I'm going with brass frets because I like the spank they produce on my Warwick, so I figure it'll sound nice. I also find them easier to work with as a starter thing. I've yet to invest in more expensive tools like diamond crowning files. I have also refretted a another bass and a tele with brass frets. I liked the tone and also I plan in treating this like a Brian May red special; my step dad and I will build it and cherish it forever... Or put it back on the fireplace if it plays awful xD

 

[sabreguitars]

UK Customs charges only apply to items worth £135 and over, you only get charged VAT, and they even waive that if it comes to less than £9.00

 

[Bill Stickers]

Well the less than £9 is news to me. Sounds like they've lowered the threshold since I last checked. But regardless, Royal Mail does slap on an additional "handling fee" on top of any VAT. It seems completely wrong and thus I don't pay them, so the item(s) have to go back. Whether Royal Mail has been caught out on this yet, I don't know, I haven't checked. But I am unsettled at the prospect of paying VAT + £8 handling to Royal Mail as it eats into the money I "saved" through the exchange rate.

My most recent imports from America were LSR nuts and some bass strings. All of which would have been liable for VAT. Each one one arrived at my local sorting office and I was sent a "sorry you were out" card saying there are "customs charges" totalling about £11 for each one. All of these items, if I had proceeded to pay RM would've have left me a miserly saving of a couple of quid. I might as well of bought them all online in the UK.
Royal Mail, hands down have made it too troublesome for me to import stuff.
I'll check to see if my facts are still straight though. I know others have experienced the same arbitrary charge, perhaps I'll see if they have changed there tactics.

 

[sabreguitars]

Why don't you just get LSR nuts from Allparts UK? They have loads. No need to go elsewhere and not expensive considering this is a one-off.

 

[Bill Stickers]

Well this was like a year ago now. I haven't imported anything since.
I got a LSR previously for under £20 and ideally I'd like to get the same deal. But currently it's not necessary as I've made do without installing them in my other 2 instruments. My Strat that I got the first LSR for works lovely and is unique in my collection. A friend of mine considers Strats to be "toylike", mine was the first that felt like a serious piece of kit to him. So I can make do

Allparts doesn't have the best price UK. Axesrus.com has the best.

 

[Bill Stickers]

 

[Bill Stickers]

These are the pics from a couple of weeks back. We've got the fingerboard blank cut. I've roughly marked the holes for the heads using my template. I reckon the fingerboard needs to be thinner, it's currently 8mm and most blanks are like 6mm. I've been investigating an idea I had with bass bridges...

4-string EMG style soapbar pickups have near identical dimensions as 7 string soapbars. As 5-string soapbars also do 8 string soapbars. So I wondered if perhaps the bridges were the same, seeming as the widths seem to near match. Upon comparison, I was correct, 7 guitar saddles do indeed fit on a bass bridge. I may be able to drill more holes without weakening the structure, or reinforce it using a piece of metal that would be pre-drilled to double as a guide. My reason to going to such effort is the prospect of having a "hi mass" chunky bridge for a 7 string for about £20. So I ordered a black bass bridge that I like the look of to adapt for my purposes. If it can't get past the concept stage, I'll just give the bridge to a dear friend who needs a nice new bridge for a bass of his.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Badass and way to make it your own.....I'm a complete klutz when it comes to stuff like that, so it's always cool to see guys do this kinda stuff.

Lame on the taxes for the Hipshot.....and too bad you're doing a 7.....I have a 6 I would have flipped ya for postage just because I'm not using it and it'd be cool to see it on a build.

Subscribed! Keep it going, man!

 

[Bill Stickers]

Yeah Royal Mail seem to be kinda dickish in some instances these days. If I weren't currently convinced that they were going to charge me arbitrarily then I'd be all over Hipshot. But alas, seems there's some sort of conspiracy lol

 

[Bill Stickers]

 

[Bill Stickers]

So finally, an update!
We cut the neck pocket today and test fitted the neck. Nice and tight, needs a tiny tweak as I reckon it's about 0.5mm out or where I marked the pups and bridge is. I'm not 100% sure as this happened about an hour ago and i had to rush off before finishing. But as a test fit it's pretty good.

On other notes...
I had a Edge Lo Pro 7 bridge lying about on it's own and had a thought. What if I can use that as a hardtail? I'd done such a conversion with a cheap FR 7 copy successfully but I had presumed a stud wouldn't fit on the Lo Pro. Out of curiosity I measured the Lo Pro and lo and behold, I was wrong, there was enough space. So I removed the arm holder and tried out a locking stud. Perfect fit!
So I've decided to have myself a Lo Pro 7 FX

I still plan on making a chunky 7 string bridge out of a bass bridge, as I have a RG7321 that's being restored and pimped. They'll be another thread on that in the future.

I need to cut the fret slots deeper before starting on profiling the fingerboard, which will also get rid of the marks I made that were wrong fret placements. But I've checked and double checked and I shouldn't make anymore mistakes provided I dont' lose the slots when planing lol.

I picked up some Les Paul backplates for convenience, which I plan on reshaping slightly. But the plan is to go with a toggle down by the lower horn like a RGD or JP. The controls will be whatever is convenient with our backplate and control rout, however, it is likely the Volume control will be in between the bridge pup and the bridge itself. It's looking to feel a lot like an M8M/M80M in terms of ergonomics. I'm going to handcarve some contours for the higher frets on the back at some point, it seems to require a hands on approach rather than designing something.

Controls should be 500k master Volume, 250k Tone just for the neck and a 3 way toggle selector. I'm considering recessing the Tone control in case I add a push/push pot in the future, that way it'll be set so that the knob sits at regular height when popped up.

I do have a concern with the output of the Sinner pickup... Can anyone compare it to a DiMarzio model? I'd hate to be surprised by it having more output than my D Sonic...


...also I really need to clean those water marks off the front >.<

 

[pondman]

Well the less than £9 is news to me. Sounds like they've lowered the threshold since I last checked. But regardless, Royal Mail does slap on an additional "handling fee" on top of any VAT. It seems completely wrong and thus I don't pay them, so the item(s) have to go back. Whether Royal Mail has been caught out on this yet, I don't know, I haven't checked. But I am unsettled at the prospect of paying VAT + £8 handling to Royal Mail as it eats into the money I "saved" through the exchange rate.

My most recent imports from America were LSR nuts and some bass strings. All of which would have been liable for VAT. Each one one arrived at my local sorting office and I was sent a "sorry you were out" card saying there are "customs charges" totalling about £11 for each one. All of these items, if I had proceeded to pay RM would've have left me a miserly saving of a couple of quid. I might as well of bought them all online in the UK.
Royal Mail, hands down have made it too troublesome for me to import stuff.
I'll check to see if my facts are still straight though. I know others have experienced the same arbitrary charge, perhaps I'll see if they have changed there tactics.

I totally agree with the loathsome handling charge on top of already crippling vat. Lots of people have disputed this handling charge with Royal Mail/Parcel Farce and won but what a long drawn out pain that is.
Looks great so far and I love the idea of recycled wood , I used that on all my first builds.

 

[Bill Stickers]

Thank you . Good to know that someone else knows the story. Maybe one day we can lead the uprising against the Royal Mail xD lol

 

[-Dave]

This has REALLY come along since the first grainy pictures you showed me back at KCC.

 

[Bill Stickers]

Why thank you "stranger"

I should really get the DSLR out when it starts to get really pretty. I absolutely need to give the front a light sanding, as the marks are making me look bad xD

 

[-Dave]

Would be interested to see the top after it's seen an alcohol spray. ;D

 

[Bill Stickers]

I shall see about making a "grainteaser" shot....
The veneers we have are generally sex xD

 

[Bill Stickers]

Minor Update...
So I finally got back into the workshop to cut the fret slots deeper and.... the fret saw is missing. Damn.
I took this pics with the DSLR and omg I need to relearn how to do photography.



The other RG7 is an RG7321 we've been working on. Tasty Burl Walnut veneer.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Looking good, man!