5150 build.

Here is a picture of 5150 as close to new as I can find;IMG_1785.jpg
And it points out that my brain fell out when I did the black, I missed one of the stripes. Fixing it tomorrow !
It really does point out that if you want to do this accurately the projector is absolutely the way to go. Doing it by hand and eye is very hard if you want all the shapes and angles to be right. One of the things that throughs stuff off is that not many of the lines are actually straight and when you put the tape on straight the polygons don't work out the same. It's been a fun project. Could I do it better if I did it again? certainly and It almost makes me want to do it over using what I learned from this one, but I'm not trying to make a Suhr or something like that I am trying to build a guitar that plays as well as anything out there, sound's exactly like the original and is essentially constructionally the same ( aside from the strat head conversion) and painted like the original ( with all it's flaws) and I guess it succeeds on most of this. Is this guitar better than Ed's back up from 1984 I worked on recently? yes. Is it better than the original 5150? Only if Ed was here to play it.
 
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This is the 5150 guitar, before the stars and space-tape. A few days ago, i saw a picture of the early 1984 guitar. There are no stars and space-tape on this guitar, too. I painted my 5150 guitar twice, but i never got it 100% right. Like you said, without a projector it´s hard to get the stripes all correct. i removed the old paint from my first build and will start next year with a new try. I spent many month with studying different pictures of the 5150 guitar, where to set the stripes on the right places. I hope, it will be more an accurate build then.
 
Peter W. said:
This is the 5150 guitar, before the stars and space-tape. A few days ago, i saw a picture of the early 1984 guitar. There are no stars and space-tape on this guitar, too. I painted my 5150 guitar twice, but i never got it 100% right. Like you said, without a projector it´s hard to get the stripes all correct. i removed the old paint from my first build and will start next year with a new try. I spent many month with studying different pictures of the 5150 guitar, where to set the stripes on the right places. I hope, it will be more an accurate build then.
Click to expand...
Yours is very good almost too neat for me, I was trying to get the vibe of the original a bit more with the very thin paint and slightly home made look. In truth the original is pretty rough and the paint job is actually not very good at all. This is why I'm pretty sure Ed did it. If you look at the back ups that we know Ed didn't do they are far neater and the red is different. They are also entirely ESP parts with basswood bodies.
The misinformation about this guitar is rife mostly because people haven't seen it up close. Nobody who held it and looked at the wood on the back would think it was swamp ash and the beginning of this thread proves that poplar has the same grain structure if cut this way. Basswood is also not the right colour( again you needed to hold it ). This guitar was no custom special one off it was a combination of parts laying around the assembly shop( production pacer IS poplar) and a mod to an ESP strat neck to look like Eds Destroyer and they couldn't even get that right ( it even had finish on it already which was only half scratched off the fingerboard.) Ed put it together as well. Why would someone who does this for a living put the string guide on wonky and need to add a string tree? Also why are the people who supposedly built it incapable of remembering any details about it? wood pickup etc. If Ed asked me to build him a guitar I'd sure as hell remember what I did.
 
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GiRa said:
Everyone is probably already aware of this, but I found this video today and there are a few seconds of 5150 here:
Click to expand...

Listening to EVH talk, you would've thought he was another tone genius from 'Jersey!

For someone born in the Netherlands and lived in California, he sure seemed to have picked up a New Jersey-ish accent.
 
Stripe added;IMG_1794.jpg
You really can spend too long looking at something. You just stop seeing it.
While it was apart I took the opportunity to bevel the underside leading edge of the Floyd baseplate;
IMG_1795.jpg
Not sure it shows well in the pick but it has added just enough clearance to not touch the body with this setup.
Newer floyds actually have the knife edges cut at different angels to facilitate smooth clunk free travel across the typical range of movement but this being one of Schaller's first production it required a tweak or two.
I don't seem to be able to just leave this one alone and just play it. The danger for me is the more I look at it the more I want to strip it and try again.
 
Us mere mortals can only marvel at your skills.
TalkativeMarvelousIsabellineshrike-size_restricted.gif


If you're not happy, I'll gladly take it of your hands :p
 
Peter W. said:
Body is from Chris Locke. Neck is really from Musikraft. The only reason why i put clearcoat on, is the Kramer waterslide decal. With clear the decal is protect from damage. The vinyl stickers, too. The string-tree are made from a member of our Facebook group. They are all sold, but you can get it at:
rscustommachine.com
I know, many 5150 lovers like their replicas relicted, but not me. I want my guitar looks like new.
Click to expand...
On the Locke body is the neck deep set with an angle in the pocket?
 
Andy Eagle said:
Stripe added;View attachment 86883
You really can spend too long looking at something. You just stop seeing it.
While it was apart I took the opportunity to bevel the underside leading edge of the Floyd baseplate;
View attachment 86884
Not sure it shows well in the pick but it has added just enough clearance to not touch the body with this setup.
Newer floyds actually have the knife edges cut at different angels to facilitate smooth clunk free travel across the typical range of movement but this being one of Schaller's first production it required a tweak or two.
I don't seem to be able to just leave this one alone and just play it. The danger for me is the more I look at it the more I want to strip it and try again.
Click to expand...
GETMO
Good Enough To Move On

Or not if it bugs you too much.
 
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