Okay, I’ll admit, I’m am somewhat of a tool geek. Not the kind you buy in stores (although I like them too). I’m talking about the ones that I have made myself. I love making tools almost as much as I like building guitars.

Not too long ago, I posted about some of my homemade tools. And now, I’d like to share a couple of my latest efforts: A fret press and a simple miterbox. Both were made from scrap wood and are really just prototypes as I’d like to make some in the future out of really nice wood. I’m talking heirloom quality that I could hand down to my son. Right now, my father has a few of the old tools from my great grandfather. Holding those tools makes me feel close to the great man who originally used them.

Anyway, Enjoy the photos. Next, I plan to make a really cool guitar building table. Stay tuned!

This will help me keep my frets straight!

A fret press is better than using a hammer in that the wire doesn't get dented and lumpy.

The business end of the fret press. Scrap Pine, Purpleheart and brass.

A smooth installation means less fret dressing later on.

This past weekend, I soldered up the pickups to the controls, installed the nut and added the strings. I still need to refine the nut to get the action they way it needs to be, but I had the chance to test out the sound by plugging into my practice amp. The results were a very pleasant surprise. Since I wound the pickups for low power and wide ranging tone, I got totally clean notes even with the volume and gain cranked. Also, the bridge pup, which was wound to 9.4k Ohms of DC resistance, produced a very warm and full tone. The neck, on the other hand, was wound to 6.4k Ohms of DCR, which produces a nice, contrasting bright tone. Together, they sound amazing, with both warmth and brightness blending together perfectly.

I think this guitar would make a very nice studio instrument where wide ranging tone would happen automatically without having to be added in during post processing.  To get distortion, I played through a digital effect pedal, using several of my own custom presets. I got the crunchy sounds I’m used to, but the tone was much fuller than I’m accustomed to with my other guitars.

You may have noticed that I stated the bridge pup is warmer than the neck pup. This is the opposite from what most mass production guitars are designed to do. The reason is the low DCR with the neck pup. As you drop below 7k Ohms, the sound brightens up. And because the strings are vibrating more over the neck pup than they do over the bridge pup, the signal is a bit stronger and therefore louder from the neck. This is great for players who like their solos to jump above the rhythm.

As soon as I get things buttoned down a bit tighter, I’ll record some samples to give you a taste. Stay tuned!

Okay, so I’m being a little dramatic. There’s no saga really, but I thought the title sounded catchy. Today, I sanded off the lacquer from the neck. The reason I did this is I didn’t like the feel. Even though it was polished to a mirror finish, my hands wouldn’t slide smoothly up and down the neck. I like the feel of an unfinished neck much better. After lightly sanding up to 600 grit, I wiped on a coat of boiled linseed oil.

Next, I drilled two small holes in each pickup pocket to mount the humbuckers. Since I’m not using a mounting ring, the pups will have to be mounted directly to the wood. Supposedly, this will improve tone. After I installed the two pups, I decided to remove the bridge pup and add some small washers under the baseplate flanges. This will raise the pickup to a height closer to the strings. Here’s a shot of the neck pup in place:

The Legato got it’s bridge and tailpiece today. After final polishing yesterday, I hammered in the studs and screwed in the posts. Then I attached the chrome tailpiece followed by the tune-o-matic bridge. I had hoped to do more, but I was distracted by the Broncos loss to the Ravens. I’ll have to go back and do some minor repairs since today’s effort produced a few shallow dings in the topcoat. Here are some photos:

Notice how the bridge and tailpiece are slightly recessed into the body. This allows the neck to sit flat with the fretboard flush to the top, which achieves a much cleaner look IMO.