New nut on Wolf

 

Merry Christmas.  Looking to wrap up this project in the next couple of months.  Just need to solder in the switches and pickups.  Wonder if the bridge pickup was a mistake as it appears on youtube to be mostly for metal.  

 pic note: replacement nut has same string spacing and neck width as original.

Changed the nut out today with a graphtech drop in replacement.  One of the selling points of the wolf was the bone nut.  Unfortunately they filed the high E too low and there has always been a buzz at the 1st fret when played open.  I had to file out a minute worth of debris on both the nut(manufacturing artifact) and the guitar(old glue) to get it to seat flush on the wood..  High E no longer carries the phantom noise of that light fret buzz.  

I wonder how much sustain this guitar will have once I plug it in...  Will find out once I can get my soldering iron out to work. 

Mounting parts together after finish

 Stained the body several times to arrive at the base coat.  Used nitrocellulose tobacco brown lacquer to sunburst the edges.  At that point I should have clear coated it with nitrocellulose lacquer but I went wrong.  Used Solarez "I can't believe its not lacquer."  This product DISSOLVES nitrocellulose!!!   Watched my sunburst fade until I activated the epoxy resin with UV to stop the process.  Otherwise I could have wiped off the whole and started over.  That would mean losing a month of effort.  Decided to just roll with it.  Now I have a relic after the finishing process and an additional run over with 1200p wet sand paper to really finish it.  Polish wasn't such a great effect.  Used to boield linseed oil to add lustre to the finish.  Too much going on these days to really geek out of this project.  Will solder in the electronics when the mood comes over me (hopefully next weekend).

Will the Kluson bridge or tonepro tailpiece make a difference?  So far I don't feel a night and day difference.  Perhaps once I plug into an amp the tone may offer a consolation prize for ever thinking this project was worth it.  Go seymour duncan go...

tobacco sunburst / natural w400 sold out

Watching some YT vids concerning Harley Benson guitars, I found a british git instructor(John Robson Guitarist) that had a couple HB gits reviewed.  Although he likes his HB guitars several years into ownership he finds the flashy colors to be too loud and now prefers a more traditional look.

tobacco sunburst

Maybe I should consider something similar as well?

I noticed that the natural colored W400 is now sold out on the allinone website.

Can't wait to begin filming the transformation on yt...

wolf natural finish w400 order is on order!

Just checked the website and they are no longer on pre-order but in stock!

 Shipping could happen soon....

Treble Bleed Mod

Watching John Robson Guitaist's channel on youtube and learned about the treble bleed mod for the volume knob.  Apparently treble only works at the correct mixed in levels at full volume.  When not fully dimed the treble falls out off the mix and gets muddy.  The fix is the treble bleed mod on the volume potentiometer.

courtesy of http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/dox/trebleBleed_tip.pdf

I could install a spdt on/on switch to use either the "seymour duncan" mod for single coil/tapped pickups and switch to lone capacitor mod for humbuckers.

Replaced out the fake bone bridge on the acoustic today and wow, what a difference.  It took some filing to get the bone cut bridge down to playable action.  I could file a little more but will wait to see how everything settles.  Wish I'd done this along time ago.  Really changed the tone of the guitar from muddy to vibrant,

SPDT switches to date, treble bleed and two coil taps , if the guitar goes this route.

W400 DELAYED now ships in July

I've been under the impression I was receiving the guitar at the end of June.  Today I found out that there is a delay of of a month (and counting...)  Maybe this s normal for pre-order guitars.  Once enough people are aboard, they pull the trigger..  It could be a long wait...

Watched a video today of a 35 anniversary standard PRS and noticed that the controls setup nice...

Volume, Tone and P/U selector seemed more intuitive today.  I suppose adding in the two DPDT switches for coil tapping gets the job done.

Is there enough wood on the veneer to stain a decent color over the top?  Well I have another month to ponder. 

Found an older wolf w200 model on YT

 I found a green/blu stained w200 on YT.   Looks like black base with a secondary color.  I think anyone that picked up one of these scored 2.5 years ago.  It has more character than the natural finish that I'll be receiving...

specs of wolf w400 guitar and the mission

 

This is an upgraded version of our W200(ebony fretboard) with a

 Bone Nut and Rosewood Fingerboard! 

Specs

Body
 Body shape:Double cutaway
 Body type:Solid body
 Body material:Mahogany
Orientation: Right handed
Top:AAA frame maple

Neck
Neck wood: Mahogany
 Joint: Set-in
 Scale length: 25"
 Truss rod: Standard

Nut
Nut width : 1.11/16"
Nut Material : Bone nut

Fingerboard

Material : Rosewood

Radius: 12"
Fret size:Medium

Number of Fret : 24

Pickups
 Configuration: HH
 Brand:Destiny CNC Wound
 Active or passive pickups: Passive
 Controls
 Control layout: Volume 1, tone 1
 Pickup switch: 3-way


 Hardware
 Bridge type: Fixed
 Bridge design: Tune-o-matic

 Tuning machines: Grover

Weight : 6.5lbs



The mission: 

The guitar nearly looks white in color and the grain is

 apparent only on close inspection.Remove the finish on the top, 

stain guitar, refinish, add aftermarket

parts (nickel colored).  Volume knob stays but tone knob is

removed to make room for the coil tap on the neck pickup.