Thanks, Scott, for Saving the Morley Volume Pedal for Me

Or, "They're all retarded."

Morley makes expression pedals, like volume pedals and wahs. In fact, Steve Vai has a signature volume, the Little Alligator, and a wah, the Bad Horsie. The difference is that they're optical. They don't use pots with moving parts to wear out. Evidently, Mark Knopfler is using the same Morley volume pedal he started using back in the "Sultans of Swing" era 30 years ago. So, you'd think that it's a no-brainer that folks that really do volume swells a lot, country twangers, would absolutely be all over this.

But you'd be wrong. Go to the product reviews on Musician's Friend, for example, and you'll see folks saying that it's fine as a glorified mute pedal, but if you want to get your swell on, avoid Morley like the plague. Starting at 6:30 on the video, Scott explains why. Basically, it's as close to a perfect representation of almost no tone, almost no change, from 1-8, and 9 and 10 being wide open. Unless you carve the hole out with a screwdriver.

Also, he points out something. They use the same LED they use for the optical circuit stuff as a "pedal on" indicator. That's what one might call a neat hack. Especially if you're using it in a normally-lit indoor venue. But evidently, if you're playing a bright mid-day show, the light bleeds in and makes it always on. Not good, but fixable with electrical tape.

So, now I want one again.

Observe my main guitar.

It's in a state.

I have removed the bridge. I have placed a black cover on the neck pickup. I have Fender 250K volume and tone pots (the tone pot being a no-load) and a 4-position switch. The jack is wired in and installed. Since this is a top-loader (if you look closely, you'll notice), I haven't pulled the strings when I pulled the bridge, and I don't want to deal with the neck yet. Otherwise, I could probably put the bridge back on, winding the bridge ground around a screw.

But I'm confused about wiring. There's the Fender schematic and the Seymour Duncan schematic, and while I've started doing the SD schematic, I don't understand switches enough to translate.

So, this is where it will stay for now.

First Step

I have the jack cup in. I have the black control plate on so I can put it all together there. It is well and truly coming together, and until everything comes around, it remains in a playable state.

Wondering to what extent I should start the pickup work while I remain without the pots to go with.

The Package Is Here! The Package is Here!

This is my care package from Guitar Parts Resource. That's a Switchcraft jack, a black jack cup, a black replacement Tele neck pickup cover, some wire, an orange-drop cap, a Fender 4-way switch, a 250K solid shaft pot for volume and a 250K solid shaft No-Load pot for tone.

My goals for the project are: get the guitar as black as possible, with a black instead of chromed pickup cover and a black jack cup; learn guitar wiring enough to be able to help others; to try to get part of that Esquire butt-kicking with the no-load tone pot getting out of the way, and getting most of the benefit of the Baja wiring. I might get a push-pull to get the phase reversal later, but series/parallel seemed like the greater win.
  


But I can't really put this in the win column yet.

What you see to the right are the volume and tone knobs sitting on top of the guitar, trying in vain to fit through the holes in the control plate. And my knobs don't fit, either.

Yeah, I seem to have bought the wrong pots. I guess I should've gone for split-shaft pots instead. I guest I MUST go for split shaft. Live and learn, right? I was planning on putting the old stuff in place on my old control plate and keeping them like that, but as I don't think I can just get replacement pots quick, I thought I might do what I can -- change the pickup cover, jack, switch, etc -- and finish the rest when I get the 2nd set of pots.

What Fender guitar are solid-shaft pots in anyway?

TDPRI has good posts on seating a jack cup, which is good because the clip and cup are too far for the jack right yet. I intellectually understand the steps for the cover -- remove the pickup, unsolder the tabs, bend them out and away from the windings, remove (heating to loosen wax if necessary), carefully put new cover on, bend tabs into place, solder new ground. Thanks to friend-of-the-blog Patrick for his gift of soldering iron and solder. I'll say more as this job progresses.

Woolgathering

Pearl dots made me think of pearl buttons.

Pearl buttons made me think of pearl buttons.

The tentative name for the beast is "Satellite". The instrument I am leaning toward emulating with this one on has two banjo tuners on it, to get a quick and easy transition to D and G. At least when Clarence played it. Now that Marty has it, he has them on the E strings and just goes to drop-D.

Pearl dots? $7 for 10, plus shipping.

Pearl buttoned tuners? $25 for a set.

Pearl buttoned banjo tuners? $80 for a set of 2.

Plus of course $200 or so for the Hipshot B-Bender that I'll need to catch the flavor.

I won't hit this all at once, but by Crom, I shall have it.

No Pictures Today

The non-orange of the maple is apparent now. The first four buttons are now totally gone. I went to Hobby Lobby today, hoping to find the right kind of dowel to fit in there and replace the buttons, but guess what? Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday. I also need them for the logo.

StewMac also has buttons. Lots and lots and lots of buttons. I don't know if pearl or abalone buttons will show up on a maple neck that well, but that's how I'm leaning.

I showed the neck to a friend who works with wood on occasion, and he suggested hitting the fretboard (and the fretboard only) with another blast of stripper, because there's filler or something fairly thick on there.

It's worth it to order a set of StewMac buttons, I think, because I'll have to end up getting a new nut anyway, and that'll just add $7 to the order.

Cat Power and the Raconteurs on WFYI's feed of Austin City Limits this evening. It makes crazy sense to me for the Raconteurs to play ACL, as there's a lot of Jack Black (Correction: Jack White) stuff that sounds to me like it could easily be 13th Floor Elevators.

The worship leader is leading a band for National Day of Prayer, and has asked me to play at noon. I'm unsure, as I'll be working at noon. I can probably arrange something. The biggest amp I have is a Frontman 25R, which is not big enough to play out with. Most of the time, I play going DI. But I think I'd enjoy it, and should I really say no when people give me a chance to play out. So, I'll see.

And tomorrow, I will try to first saw up and second take pictures of the thing I hope/plan to make into my first home-made instrument. Well, it'll still be homemade if I order the pickups from Guitar Fetish or something, right?

Do Guitar Necks Grow On Trees?

For those considering getting an SX from Rondo and using it as a modification platform, I have a few words of warning.

The stripper will not take off the SX label.

The stripper will do a number on the nut, so pull that first, or expect to replace it with a bone nut or something at a later date.

And the stripper will do a number on your position dots. A couple of mine are now about half-gone.

But it looks good, doesn't it? Now it'll air out some, then it'll get sanded down some, then I'll go with tru-oil or tung oil. Don't really know which at the moment. But it's coming together.

Shopping is done

I have a can of stripper, gloves, sandpaper in 100, 220 and 320 varieties, and tung oil. You can have a good night in Dallas with all that stuff! But I won't be enjoying Dallas, I'll be refinishing the neck. I figure that Friday night or Saturday will be the day to strip, leaving some scraping and airing until Sunday. The initial sanding will proceed through the weekend, and hopefully I'll oil my neck at least once next week. Getting it in playable condition is too much to ask for Wednesday, but a week from? It should be sweet.

I don't have the necessary waterslide paper, either. I'll need it for this.



Won't that look cool?

Then?

Saddles.

4-way wiring.

Strap locks.

B-Bender.

While The Neck Is In Limbo....

This is the body. The pickguard came from my #1. It had that white pearloid (MOTS) pickguard on black. I think it looks better on vintage white, myself.

I still have to figure out how to mount the neck pickup. The holes in the bobbin are threaded, so do I mount on the pickguard, drilling new holes in it? Or do I strip them out so I can mount to the body? I'll probably mod the pickguard. Still, sharp, eh?

ETA: Bit the bullet. Drilled the hole. Pickup is mounted. Pictures when I get the neck added.

She Hasn't Got A Bone Through Her Nose....

But, maybe, while I'm putting together an order, she'll get a bone nut.

The After picture for the Before part, the Before picture for the After part

Not quite perfect, but pretty good for now. Some more work with the Dremel and a wood block and it'll look good. Then I'll strip it, then finish it. Then the rest of my dreams will come true.

I have a soldering gun now (Thank you, Patrick!) and I plan to combine the 4-way switch and the push/pull phase switch , which should get me a Jerry Donahue/Baja wiring. Plus a no-load. And yes, I keep repeating that. I guess the more I repeat it, the more I will it into being.

No-Load Tone Pot
Push/Pull Volume Pot
4-way Switch
1/4" Jack

$45 of parts (above), a little solder and the pickups and you got yourself a a nice guitar.

Couldn't Find The Coping Saw

So I went with the Skil saw.

It is rough. My it is rough. But I will have sandpaper to smooth it out. And Dremel.

You know, I think that Blogspot uploaded those pictures backwards....

And this one is JUST RIGHT!

Or so it seems. I will have to go home and do work on the thing to be sure. And, beyond the headstock cutting, I have a VHS tape to extract from a TV/VCR. VCRs are dead to me. Dead to most of the rest of the world, too, but I guess not my library or my wife.

Anyway, more pics later. Speaking of pics, anyone have a pointer to a good free (and Free as in Open Source is great!) Windows-based webcam pic or video taker? The built-in tools suck.

Dark-Haired Goldilocks

In the rear, the first print, which was too large.

In the front, the second print, which I fear is too small. It comes to 6 inches, and I think the butter zone is seven.

Not like there's a time limit to this. Better to do it right.

Speaking of doing it right, My son has a First Act StratoTele (tremolo, no upper bout) with a six-per-side Les Paul style headstock. I know that the guy who made Randy Rhoads' polka-dot Flying V used old Danelectro necks, adding to them as necessary. If this modification works, I might have to give him a funky cool headstock.

Nipped In The Bud

This is my headstock, the headstock of my SX STL-50.

This is my headstock before a printout of a Tele headstock.

This is my headstock before a printout of a Tele headstock that is scaled too large to be useful.

I don't have money for stripper and sandpaper and nitrocellulose and tung oil and gun stock oil or whatever I will use to finish this thing. I cannot proceed with those evil plans, but I have a Dremel and a coping saw. I can cut the headstock down. But only if I have the right guide.

So, this is how my headstock remains. I will attempt to print it out and try again tomorrow.