Categories
Guitars Jazz Bass

Jazz Bass Upgrade

My bass player friend in my band has a cool Spector Bass with EMG pickups.  I think I wanna play some bass in the band so he can play harmonica.  I want my bass to sound cool like his, so time for some upgrades.

My bass started out life as a Squire Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass.  This is a wicked bass for the money and has very few things that need upgrading.

Back in 2021-ish I did some work on it.  Ilin addition to TLC, I swapped the bridge out for a high mass Hipshot Kickass bridge.  I also replaced the shitty Squire tuning machines for some Chinesium Guyker ones from Amazon that are actually really nice.

Fast forward to 2025 and I decided to do some more work to it.  Follow along with me as I…

  • Swap the pickups for a set of EMG PJ pickups.
  • Add a battery box for the pickups.
  • Make a new pick guard that works with the Precision Bass pickup.
  • Relocate the output jack to the side of the bass.
  • Add a kill switch
  • Change the tuning machines for ones that fit better.
  • Paint the body and headstock a cool color

That’s a big list!

Categories
Funkenstein

New Guitar Project

So, when I last talked I was planning to make a new neck for my pink telecaster. Now I have a better idea. Make a new body to go with the neck.

I think this will be a Tele style body as well. I want to hollow some of the body out like a thinline Tele. I’ll prolly make the body from ash.

I want to go straight up the middle with 2 single coil pickups like a traditional Tele. This is something I kinda need since all my guitars have high output humbuckers. Having a guitar that’s super good at clean stuff will be great.

Sounds kinda boring, right? Here is where it gets fun lol

I really liked the way my friend’s Purple guitar turned out (metallic purple with purple glitter on top) so I wanna do that, except green.

The neck will be like I described before. A strat style inverted headstock with an ebony fingerboard. I got some locking staggered Hipshot tuners for it. Prolly paint the headstock to match the body.

I want to put some sort of LED inside the body that lights it up from the inside.

Toggle switch in the top like a Les Paul or Tele deluxe.

Kill switch cause why not.

Categories
Guitars stuff

POD Go – “Cover Band” Preset

I use a POD Go amp when I play guitar its super awesome, portable, customizable, and sounds great. It let’s me have all the sounds wherever I go (home, school of rock, or band practice) without lugging a heavy amp or pedalboard.

Anywho, Line6 just put out a video demonstrating a preset designed for a cover band. It uses one amp with a bunch of different pedals and uses the “snapshot mode” to totally change the sound of the amp with one button press. Snapshots are essentially changing a bunch of knobs on the amp and pedals all at the same time. This gives a bunch of different tones that have a lot of variation.

The video and a link to download are below. Also below, are the settings they used (read more).
Download from Line6 here: https://uk.line6.com/customtone/tone/6106966/

Categories
Funkenstein Sex Panther Tele

New Neck

Ripped straight from the “can’t leave well enough alone” file…

I am super happy with how the neck on Sex Panther feels and plays and the quality of the build!, But…

I’m not really happy with the finish I put on the neck of Sex Panther. I also want a bigger headstock to display the beautiful (large) logo I made.

I have planned all along to strip the finish off and re-do it. I have also considered chopping up the headstock and gluing on some extra wood to make a bigger headstock.

I really want one of those big goofy 1970s strat headstocks. Like the bottom one in this photo.

Big goofy headstocks have a lot in common with me. I am big and goofy too.

I also have wanted to build my own neck. You can see where this is heading.

Why not make a new neck!?! And if I’m gonna make a new neck, might as well be goofier too and make the headstock inverted!

My beautiful wife design consultant and I decided to go with;

  • Maple neck, satin finish
  • Inverted big goofy strat style headstock. Painted black of course. Finished glossy
  • Ebony fretboard, natural finish
  • Dual action truss rod in the heel with a wheel on it
  • I’ll re-use the tuners

Off to StewMac! Here is my haul

I downloaded some neck and headstock designs from the interwebs and printed them full size. After some creativity with scissors and tape we can see the neck shape.

Categories
Guitars music stuff

Paul Gilbert – Holy Diver

Paul Gilbert making his guitar sing like Dio!

Categories
Guitars

How To Make Guitar Cable

Now I want to make cables lol

Categories
Guitars

Brian May’s Guitar

Watch Brian May talk about his guitar that he built.

Categories
Sex Panther Tele

Bits Of Real Panther

Something was missing from the Sex Panther. One of the reasons you know it works is because of the bits of real panther. My Sex Panther has no real bits. My friend suggested a way to ameriolate that and as soon as he said it, I was all in!

Internet to the rescue! I ordered a bag of panther teeth from the internet. Then I modified one to act as a tip for my toggle switch.

Bits of real panther teeth

I wanted a way to thread the tooth onto the switch. I had to make a threaded insert for the tooth with an M4 thread. Home Depot does not carry M5 threaded inserts for panther teeth so I had to make one.

I started with the smallest brass nut I could find. Then I drilled out the hole in the nut until I got to 3.3mm and used an M4 tap to cut new threads. Then I filed the nut down until it was round and the outside was 1/4″ diameter.

The OG brass nut (left) and my DIY panther tooth insert (right).

I drilled a hole in the tooth to accept the post from the toggle switch. Then I drilled a 1/4″ counter bore to accept the threaded insert. I had to orient the insert in the tooth so the tooth would point down. Then I glued the insert into the tooth with CA glue.

Panther tooth with an M4 threaded insert.

After the glue dried I filed the sharp corners, sanded, and polished the tooth. It looks super awesome!

Lol, this is sooo dumb.

Categories
Sex Panther Tele

Sex Panther Assembly

Now that the finish is done on the body and neck, it’s time to assemble. Holes are drilled in the control plate, pots and a 3-way toggle installed, strings, solder, and away we go!

The guitar is cool as shit! It’s super light, but not neckdivey (even with locking tuners). The whole look is awesome with the pink black and wood. I’m suuuuuuuuuler happy with it.

I did install a Floyd rose style string retainer bar. It really gets a good break angle for the strings.

There is one more surprise thing to do before it’s complete.

Categories
Sex Panther Tele

Telecaster Final Mockup

I’m at the point where final polishing starts, and parts start to go on.  Now is the most convenient time to check things out and give myself one more opportunity for surgery.

The neck required some tweaking because of the finish. I had to sand off some of it at the heel so it fit the pocket good. Also a couple of the tuner holes needed opening up (also because of the clear coat).

Everything else fit good, and it gave me the opportunity to see the overall look.

Yeah, that’s a cool fucking guitar.

Now it’s time to polish. The headstock and neck should be pretty easy, but the fretboard will be a PITA.

While texting with my friend, I came up with a way to describe the “vibe” I am going for.

It’s like a barn, an upscale barn, but the barn has a dark side. The kind of barn where the cows wear a monacle and speak with a British accent. But also the kind of barn where the cow is going to hit on your wife before the night is over and you should worry about her taking him up on it. The kind of barn where things that don’t make sense, make sense. The kind of barn where the guitar player in the band plays a Telecaster with a humbucker in the bridge.

I think if I said that, you could pick this guitar out of a lineup.

2 hours later…. I needed to do a couple things.

The hole for the neck pickup wire was a bit weird. The wire kept interfering with the plate for the pickup. I had to lower the opening for the wire so it could stay under the pickup.

This neck has a truss rod adjustment wheel in the heel area. When I put the wheel on, it wouldn’t fit. I had to open the area up a bit and took the opportunity to paint everything black.

No fitsky
All bettersky