Dig it! Zappa SG project on the cheap
- Thread starter smurfco
- Start date
Guitar Heel
Demented Trick
Hell yeah.
Chicken Man
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Didn't Zappa play Hendrix's burned strat for a while? Now you're playing smurfco's drowned SG.
jp_nyc
Kick Henry Jackassowski
That’s what he claimed. There’s no provenance and historians have called bullshit.
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
Got a chance to do a little more work on this one tonight installing the tail piece.I got a “tablespoon” style arm for the Maestro unit to match the original. I also got what I thought were better screws because when I took the tail piece off, originally the cheap metal screw heads got boogered up. But apparently these are cheap as well because I sheared the head off of one. Pissed me off but at least it will be covered by the plate, and with Five other screws total on the tail piece. I don’t think it will be structurally unsound. Cookie I’m trying to type something.
I also put the mini switches onto the guard to see if it would fit and everything lines up with room to spare! Nothing is wired yet, but here’s how it looks with today’s work completed.
I also put the mini switches onto the guard to see if it would fit and everything lines up with room to spare! Nothing is wired yet, but here’s how it looks with today’s work completed.
Guitar Heel
Demented Trick
Cookie I’m trying to type something.
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
Cookie I’m trying to type something.
Haha oops. Was dictating my post and she was headbutting my arm for attention
Guitar Heel
Demented Trick
Bob411
thrumming with potential
Waiting for the pickups to arrive since one of the bobbins was busted on the set i was going to use. In the meantime I did more dry fitting (no wiring yet but everything fits!)
"I did more dry humping (no wiring yet but everything fits!)"
FIFY Also, can't say I blame you.
DinoMikeSr
I have the box
tiger roach
Urban Bovine Knievel
What pickups did you order for it?
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
Guitar Heel
Demented Trick
those are so sweet.
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
Picture-free update: A frustrating evening last night but could have been worse. Soooo instead of using a pre-wired harness I figured the uniqueness of this meant I should wire everything up myself. So I ordered the pots, switch, etc. (the ones that I "dry humped" in the last post) and when the pickups arrived last night I got to work.
Once you get past the mini switches the main guitar controls are actually wired up normal. All the funky stuff happens at the mini switches. This will be important later.
So I wire it all up and... the bridge pickup works except the tone knob is working backwards. But the mini-switch to split the pickup is working. The neck pickup however, there is no sound,. And the neck pickup is the one that has both the coil split and the phase thing going on. So of course my first thought is "well I must have wired the mini switch wrong" so I redid the phase inverter switch and still nothing from the neck pickup. So out comes the multimeter and everything looks right until I get to the neck volume pot. I think either it was bad or I fried it because when I took the output from the neck pickup and wired it directly to the jack everything worked as expected (even the phase switch).
So long story short I actually DID wire the mini switches correctly and rather than try and swap out parts and troubleshoot any more I just went to Gunstreet and ordered a standard SG prewired harness. When it arrives I should be able to just hook the output from the mini switches up and be good to go. Then it's strings, a setup, and a demo video!
Once you get past the mini switches the main guitar controls are actually wired up normal. All the funky stuff happens at the mini switches. This will be important later.
So I wire it all up and... the bridge pickup works except the tone knob is working backwards. But the mini-switch to split the pickup is working. The neck pickup however, there is no sound,. And the neck pickup is the one that has both the coil split and the phase thing going on. So of course my first thought is "well I must have wired the mini switch wrong" so I redid the phase inverter switch and still nothing from the neck pickup. So out comes the multimeter and everything looks right until I get to the neck volume pot. I think either it was bad or I fried it because when I took the output from the neck pickup and wired it directly to the jack everything worked as expected (even the phase switch).
So long story short I actually DID wire the mini switches correctly and rather than try and swap out parts and troubleshoot any more I just went to Gunstreet and ordered a standard SG prewired harness. When it arrives I should be able to just hook the output from the mini switches up and be good to go. Then it's strings, a setup, and a demo video!
smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
It’s done! And it works!
I’ll try to get some tones recorded tomorrow. It really sounds great! I think the switches might be upside down compared to the real deal but I don’t have enough play to turn them around and I don’t want to risk screwing something up by re-soldering so it’s fine like this. What a cool little guitar this turned out to be!
I’ll try to get some tones recorded tomorrow. It really sounds great! I think the switches might be upside down compared to the real deal but I don’t have enough play to turn them around and I don’t want to risk screwing something up by re-soldering so it’s fine like this. What a cool little guitar this turned out to be!
DinoMikeSr
I have the box
Nice. Extremely nice.
where did you find the Zappa wiring diagram?
where did you find the Zappa wiring diagram?