5150 build.

darkknight91 said:
Early on, Ed used Fender 150 .009 strings that were 9-40. I used the same ones, too. That’s why those early 5150 strings were the same gauge.
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Funny... I ultimately ended up playing the Fender 150XLs after the 5150s as I preferred the pure nickel and I couldn't find others in that gauge.

I used them for probably 20 years until they stopped making them and I couldn't find them anywhere.

Now I use the 9-42 Fender Super 250 strings.
 
unix-guy said:
Funny... I ultimately ended up playing the Fender 150XLs after the 5150s as I preferred the pure nickel and I couldn't find others in that gauge.

I used them for probably 20 years until they stopped making them and I couldn't find them anywhere.

Now I use the 9-42 Fender Super 250 strings.
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Sweetwater has 150L’s on their site. It says they’re the original 150’s but gauged 9-42. I haven’t played them since the mid 80’s. I ought to give them a try again.
 
darkknight91 said:
Early on, Ed used Fender 150 .009 strings that were 9-40. I used the same ones, too. That’s why those early 5150 strings were the same gauge.


Wasn’t the original EB prototype that Ed used to finish the F.U.C.K. album a solid unfinished basswood without the maple top? I seem to remember that from an interview. Your point makes sense. Your work is top notch, btw. Thanks for sharing your journey of this.
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Yes that's right. The guitar had an Axis neck and an original Floyd and for at least some time a custom custom in the neck position.
 
State of Epicicity said:
Hell, I only started listening to Van Halen a few years ago; the band was so ubiquitous when I was growing up it weirdly made me want to ignore them. It’s only recently I realized what I missing, to my own detriment!
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Isn't it strange how things like that happen? I hated hearing Roth's screams when I was in high school and therefore never listened to their music other than what happened to come on the radio or get played on a jukebox in various places I was. I didn't get into them until a few years out of high school. Then I started really digging into Ed's guitar playing and loved it. I came to appreciate Roth's screams. I can't explain it but I took a similar path...
 
A bit more on the basswood question.
What would happen if you cut a body trying to copy the cut position from the tree too as far as is possible replicate the gain naturally ? And then you also selected it for weight to end up just over 3lb. Then you may even be lucky enough to get the spalt look as you cut a shallow angle across the annual rings . You would also get a very similar grain on the back.
279878180_4965496470238206_2397680169298313203_n.jpg
You would probably end up with this.
279929850_4965922573528929_7108577836528886158_n.jpg
Note the grain on the back is exactly the same character.
 
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Then you could copy the mistakes in the original too;
IMG_2419.JPG
The rout lines in the cavity for instance;
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And it weighs 3lb 3oz.
This body is for the neck at the beginning of this thread. I was going to make a NOS version to go with the relic and sell the Musikraft body because I am not making another one. I will just sell the original body. I wanted this to sound exactly right because the ash one is brighter than the real one (not in a bad way but not the same.) Is the original basswood ? I just can't say with certainty but this ticks all the visual and weight boxes and I already know a light basswood body sounds correct. The other thing is the original neck (Musikraft) is a vintage single rod so it is lighter and will sound right. I can hear the effect of a double acting truss rod on the acoustic tone. (more metal). The CCJ pickup in the original is going in the Ash version with all the vintage hardware and the Wolfgang can go in here.
 
This body was to replace the one in the first build since it is far more accurate;
280044677_4973521796102340_6385538852415903777_n.jpg
I think this body is practically a clone of the original and this puts a burden on how I proceed . It was just going to be a new version painted in 2k super thin for tone (2k for durability) but now I am obliged to make this as much a clone as I can. BUT I have new hardware on this build and was going to put a Wolfgang pickup from the other in it and the vintage CCJ in the relic. I know now where to get a perfect replica FRT5 trem but no nut and together with a vintage nut we would be in over £1K just for the Floyd.
 
I have now stripped the paint off the neck and primed it in 2k primer ready for the white. I was going to do the body in the same primer but now I am thinking that I at least out to try to replicate the original process to allow the paint to soak in to the contour and swell to achieve the look of the original naturally. This wasn't an option before as the grain wasn't the same as 5150 and I was trying to engineer the look with carving and careful use of fillers to create the appearance . This new body has the potential to look right just by painting it straight on with absolutely no preparation . ( that sounds far more like the Kramer I know.) The only problem is that if the look doesn't work how I want it too ( and I won't be able to control it or see how it will look without doing it ) I will be left having to flat it and paint over. This would just look like a brand new guitar with a perfect modern finish ( not at all what I am going for.)IMG_2595.jpg
At least the neck isn't a problem.
 
How to paint this ?
The issue is because this body is pretty close to the original, the option of trying to paint it how it was or looks in light of assuming it is basswood.
Making that assumption it would be probably painted directly on the body with no preparation at all . I was going to do this NOS but now I have this super close body I am going to paint it direct with no sealer or primer. This will ( hopefully ) pull out the grain on the contour.
I did this yesterday and being 2k it is ready:
IMG_2604.jpg
The choice now is do I tweak this to be like the original or leave it as this is real? If I tweak it it will need a couple more coats of white.
I also meed to make some much better templates for the stripe positions before I tape it.
 
Back to the basswood (clone) body. I tried to make templates for the stripes by printing out full-size images of the original on to tracing paper but there are too many distortions in the images. This is fraught with issues as well as you need to remove the template to place every tape. I finally decided to get hold of an old data projector from an office equipment liquidator (very cheap). This would be used to project the image on to the white body to position the stripes. This and I could manipulate the image to try and correct for the distortion.
This took all day to get the tape correctly positioned on the guitar and neck . I then took advantage of the weather and sprayed the red outside as it is 2k and I would not spray this any other way. This stuff is pretty toxic and you need an air fed respirator which I don't have. I am reduced to a full face filtered mask and retreating from the work after I can't hold my breath any longer. The advantage of this paint is it dries very hard and it is durable and good sounding.
I will post pictures as soon as I can take them.
I do however have a fantastic replica neck plate.
This is not the horrible aluminium one or a poor quality engraved plate.
It is an exact reproduction done with the same process and materials
IMG_2616.JPG
The one without the sn is an NOS original and B4129 is the sn that is on 5150. This repro is so good that it could affect the value of original plates.
 
Andy Eagle said:
How to paint this ?
The issue is because this body is pretty close to the original, the option of trying to paint it how it was or looks in light of assuming it is basswood.
Making that assumption it would be probably painted directly on the body with no preparation at all . I was going to do this NOS but now I have this super close body I am going to paint it direct with no sealer or primer. This will ( hopefully ) pull out the grain on the contour.
I did this yesterday and being 2k it is ready:
View attachment 101707
The choice now is do I tweak this to be like the original or leave it as this is real? If I tweak it it will need a couple more coats of white.
I also meed to make some much better templates for the stripe positions before I tape it.
Click to expand...
I like how the wood grain is standing out better on this iteration. The previous version seemed too heavy-handed IMO.

I think this is going to be the winner once you layer the next colors on then apply some wear and tear.

This has been the best reality show ever! :)
 
Pics with the red on:
IMG_2618.jpg
IMG_2619.jpg
Stripe placement is done this time with a projector and a CAD drawing of the body corrected for distortion . This is a close as you can get with tape. The only way to get closer would be a full laser cut mask made from the corrected image.
as you can see this is the original Musikraft neck repainted in the new paint
 
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