Darren's Magical Intrepid Modification Day

[canuck brian]

OK, nothing magical.

So Darren came over this morning and we modded up his Intrepid with another humbucker cavity, 2 push/pull 500k audio and linear taper pots and a 3 way toggle. The toggle is 100% black and the only place i've ever seen sell these is Guitarpartsdepot.com.

Anyways - here be pics.

My 8 string humbucker template was a little different from his bridge pickup so we made a copy of it (hence all the tape) and did up the neck pickup. It's got a little bit of distance between the end of the fretboard and the cavity. Looks nice.

If anyone else locally that can drive out to my place needs work done, drop me a line.

Darren knows the other thing that is about to be done tonight. Oh my.

 

[eleven59]

Looks awesome man!

Any interest in building basses, or bass necks? As I may be in the market for a new bass in the next year, but want a longer-scale 5-string Jazz Bass (with some possible modifications, different headstock for sure) and no one makes one.

 

[budda]

lookin good dude!

Make me a singlecut 7 for not too much $$?

man i REALLY need a job

 

[yevetz]

 

[lctdmf]

guitarfetish also sells pure black switches.

Nice mods.

 

[eegor]

Fantastic work. Looks great.

 

[canuck brian]

Looks awesome man!

Any interest in building basses, or bass necks? As I may be in the market for a new bass in the next year, but want a longer-scale 5-string Jazz Bass (with some possible modifications, different headstock for sure) and no one makes one.

Check mah sig! 4 string bass already in the works. If you wanted a 5 string, wouldn't be an issue. It would have to be next year though like ya asked - no local shop yet....goddamned housing market.

Budda - you know it bro! We'll talk - you gotta wait until the new year though.

 

[budda]

which gives me time to save

 

[lefty robb]

You guys are really not making this 4 month wait easy...

 

[darren]

I can't say enough about Brian and his work. He was absolutely patient and meticulous, didn't rush at all, and has an exacting eye for detail and precision. I'm really happy with the way it came out... now i'm going to spend most of the rest of the evening slaving over a hot soldering iron to get everything back together.

Brian was also kind enough to loan me a pair of Nordstrand pickups he has waiting for his own 8-string that's already in progress. It won't be ready for a few more months, so he offered them to me to try out, as he hasn't even heard them yet. So i'm dropping those in for now instead of the Agile pickups.

 

[Kronpox]

I'd ask this in a PM, but other people might be interested- Brian, are you able to make a long-scale bass? I'm thinking like the 39.5" Quake basses. It would be basic specs other than the scale length, what do you think?

The last picture fills me with all kinds of horrible ideas for things to get you to do to my 8. Would you be able to put in an inlay that spans 3 frets?



dammit now I have luthier gas. The worst kind of gas!

 

[eegor]

Brian was also kind enough to loan me a pair of Nordstrand pickups he has waiting for his own 8-string that's already in progress. It won't be ready for a few more months, so he offered them to me to try out, as he hasn't even heard them yet. So i'm dropping those in for now instead of the Agile pickups.

Nice! I don't know about anyone else, but I think a sound clip is in order.

 

[budda]

yes darren, we need a clip!

and I need more of those clayton spikes...

anyway! Brian really does seem to know what he's doing, and I hope to purchase a guitar from him in the future as well

 

[eleven59]

I'd ask this in a PM, but other people might be interested- Brian, are you able to make a long-scale bass? I'm thinking like the 39.5" Quake basses. It would be basic specs other than the scale length, what do you think?

That's what I was thinking, though I was going to go for some kind of middle ground, like 36" or so, basically add another two frets, and adjust the body shape a bit to balance it a little.

I've tried tuning my 34"-scale Jazz Bass V to F# with a 130-guage string, and it worked, though it was wobbly, so I figure a heavier string and slightly longer scale would be all I needed. I wouldn't be able to handle a 39.5"-scale bass, especially not with the riffs my guitarists write

 

[Shawn]

Looks awesome. Nice work!

 

[TomAwesome]

I like! That solid black toggle seems like such a minor detail, but it really is slick.

 

[canuck brian]

I'd ask this in a PM, but other people might be interested- Brian, are you able to make a long-scale bass? I'm thinking like the 39.5" Quake basses. It would be basic specs other than the scale length, what do you think?

The last picture fills me with all kinds of horrible ideas for things to get you to do to my 8. Would you be able to put in an inlay that spans 3 frets?

Find me the strings and I'll do a 45 inch bass. I won't be doing full instruments until the new year though but I'd love to take a crack at a long scale bass!

The inlay really wouldn't be a problem - i'd just need to see it ahead of time to see if it's doable.

Once again - thanks for checking out my work guys and thanks again for the kudos!

 

[somn]

darren any pics of it put together? is that all the mods your going to do

 

[SnowfaLL]

Id like to say Brian is a crazy awesome dude! I hope to do some work with him very soon, I just need money, and to figure out whats going on with Chris Woods and my project I paid for in Aug 07 that hasnt been started yet..

But I recommend Brian to anyone, esp up here in Canada, great guy to deal with.

 

[darren]

Bummer #1: The Nordstrand pickups have DiMarzio-style triangular mounting ears, and they're a tiny bit too wide for the stock pickup cavities, so i can't try out Brian's built-to-order pickups. They're really nice pieces, though... immaculately made. I may order a custom 7-string Nordstrand to go in the bridge position of my Strat VII.

Bummer #2: I don't have any wood screws suitable for mounting the neck pickup. I've placed an order with StewMac, so hopefully should have some later this week and will be able to put this puppy back together.

In the mean time, i've got plenty of other wiring projects to do... more on those soon.