More 430 Hijinks.....

[teb]

Then again.....if you're into cool wood (and I am) body number one is pretty hard to ignore, even though the top hasn't been flattened and buffed out yet. Gloss top and headstock face, satin sides, back and neck.

[cjj]

Yeah, I am into cool wood, and that's just gorgeous, even if not finished! I just love maple with black...

[ken_j]

...I noticed that the poles on the modern high gain are a little bit farther apart than those on the original plastic-topped neck pickup. I don't know about the bridge pickup as it was gone when I bought the guitar. ...

Are you aware that the neck and bridge high gain polepieces are spaced different? I have the measurements somewhere if you need them.

[teb]

Yes, I now actually have three spacings to choose from. The original 430 neck pickup is slightly closer than the neck high-gain that I have, and the bridge high-gain is slightly wider still. I figure I'll wait until I get the nut and bridge slots cut and then use whichever pair fits best. I found a big block of epoxy/graphite out in the garage the other day, so I'll probably cut a new graphite nut to give myself as much finger room as possible and then slot the bridge saddles.

[JakeK]

Glad to see the projects coming along, Todd. When you put the butterscotch finish on it, I actually thought it didn't look good. Have you thought about bright white for a finish?

[paologregorio]

Anybody got a spare neck sitting around in their parts box?

I think Kenny Howes does. . . or did. He had some 430 bits, including a neck, for sale last week, IIRC.

[teb]

Kenny sold his. He needed to get more out of his stuff to break even than I wanted to pay for a neck with no fingerboard, and I believe he got it. I only paid $460 for the whole guitar, which wasn't pretty, but had everything but the bridge pickup and worked. I suppose I could build a neck, but I've never tried it and would have to study up on how the rods are supposed to work, etc. I build mostly by using the "monkey see, monkey do" principle.

Jake, white is still leading the pack for the re-cut original body. I'm waiting for some pearl powder and metalflake to arrive for the final paint tests before I make a decision. I noticed that the guy on eBay that I bought them from has a pretty bad track record with slow shipping being noted way too often in his feedback, so it may be a while before they arrive. So, the natural wood body will probably be the first one that actually gets assembled and is playable.

In the mean time, I'm watching varnish dry. Spent the morning tightening up the baggy grille cloth on one of my Vox Mini-Stacks and I have a couple of sails to build for customers as soon as the fabric arrives. Life in the fast lane....

[IHeartRics]

So, the natural wood body will probably be the first one that actually gets assembled and is playable.

Todd, my vote would be just that - put the neck on the 350 style body. The flame on the headstock goes well with the flame on the 350 body. I'd wait for a different neck since you're going with a solid color on the 430 mod bod. In fact, on the next neck you could also paint the top of the headstock to match the body. That might look cool. Also, what if you dropped a Tele-like neck on the 430 mod bod in the interim until you find another Ric neck?

[jcreasy]

Todd,

Really cool work on both bodies. I like what you did to the old 430... I also like the 381Style Guard, but note that the upper guard follows that contour onto the horn. I think yours kept the tear drop shape. Are you changing that? I would.

Colors? Clover Field Green, Desert Gold, Shoreline Gold... I'd put something on there that harkens back to the 50's finishes on the 800's and Combos.

Neat, neat work and thanks for sharing.

JKC

My 2 Cents.

[teb]

I built two upper guards, one with the full 381-style shape and one that's just a shark-fin to see what I liked. I think the full shaped one will be the one I use.

[jcreasy]

Well, really cool work. Had me hunting for an old 430!

Take it easy and looking forward to the PICs when painted.

JKC

[jdawe]

Wow. Both look great. I'd probably go with your new 350-style body, but it's a close call.

Have you considered going with a trapeze instead of the original 430 bridge/tailpiece combo thing?

[Ivan3000]

Got the binding on today and it's looking good. The red and white pigments arrived yesterday and I made a couple samples on scrap maple. Both are quite nice. I'm still waiting on the mini-metalflakes for the red and the pearl powder for the white before the final tests and decision are made. I'm leaning toward the white, unless the red metalflake just knocks my sox off (I would also obviously have to figure in the cost of a matching vintage Kustom amp if I go with the red flake). Still a fair bit of sanding and sealing to do, but it's getting closer to the paint stage.

I noticed that the poles on the modern high gain are a little bit farther apart than those on the original plastic-topped neck pickup. I don't know about the bridge pickup as it was gone when I bought the guitar. I may eventually chop off the buttons on the two high-gains I have and stick toaster covers on them anyway, but in the mean time I managed to peel the plastic cover off of the original neck pickup, grind the bobbin down just a bit, add a grounding lug and fit it into a modern, metal high-gain cover. It looks an awful lot better than that dirty old plastic cover did.

The other body I built (sort of 350 shape from figured maple and bubinga) is varnished and has to dry for about a week before I can finish sand and polish it. It's an awfully nice bit of wood, but I tend to favor the shape of this re-worked original body. It will be a tough choice when they're both done. Anybody got a spare neck sitting around in their parts box? Maybe I should contact our good buddy at Gibson Dependable and have him destroy a perfectly good 430 for me.....

That is SOOOO nice! Leave it as is! I love the shape of the pickguard!

[teb]

Trapeze? Yes, I thought about it, but when the original cleaned up so well it seemed like a needless expense. I'm trying to do this one on the cheap as much as possible. I'm a lousy six-string player and that's not likely to change any time soon, but once in a while I need one for recording. Twelve-string and bass aren't a problem, but my brain just doesn't think in terms of six-string lead guitar phrasing. Lucky for me, I farm it out to our old lead player when needed and he'll stick something incredible on the track for me and e-mail it back. He's got pretty good references

http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/cred ... nda/476681

The 350-style body seems to be one of those "two-steps forward, one step back" propositions. At about coat #10 of the gloss top spraying I started to get some tiny little fish-eyes (little round spots where the varnish wasn't wanting to cover properly). It parts like the Red Sea and leaves a little depression. These are usually caused by some sort of contamination. I couldn't find any obvious cause (water in the line, solvents, fingerprints. etc.) so the next day I sanded the surface back to flat, removing all the fish-eyed spots, washed it with windex and sprayed five more coats, which also fish-eyed, but in different spots. That night, I sanded a little bit and then drop-filled all the little spots. After drying for a few days, yesterday I started by block-sanding the top and all the little drop filled spots flat with 320 grit. Then I went through the grits (400, 600, 800, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,400, 3,200, 4,000, 6,000, 8,000, 12,000 wet sanding) and finally buffed it by hand with a diaper and Finnesse It (I don't have a buffer). Once that was done, I started drilling holes for the hardware and it was looking pretty nice. Then I happened to catch a glimpse at one specific angle to the light and all those little fills showed up. Made my day..... They aren't depressions or bumps as the top is nicely flat, but they're some kind of optical, witness line-type visual distortion. A lot of people would never notice them, but I do and if I left them, they would always bug me. So, I'll take it apart, grind the top back down to bare wood and varnish it again when I am ready to clear-coat the other body. In the mean time, hopefully I can figure out what caused the fish-eyes and fix it.

[ken_j]

Silicone (liquid, as in a spray) is a common cause of fish eyes. Any neighbors working on a car?