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My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:13 am
by Dom
I couldn’t wait until it was done to post something...I picked up a super cheap Washburn Idol shaped Hannah Montana guitar for my daughter & lo, found that with new tuners, setup & strings it was pretty fun to play. Naturally I needed one too with the intent of a simple refinished tele style couch guitar. Things got out of hand. I’d always thought the Idol was a blatant Combo 600/800 ripoff so I proved it.

The proportions are close, just slightly squashed. I did not do a full deep German carve with a spoon plane, just a 3/4” panel cove rout that’s rounded over by hand. My headstock looks god awful...not a big enough headstock to pull it off. I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, I’m not done yet, it works & I have plenty of time to make it look worse after our recording in five days. Yikes.

You’ve probably ignored my post about the res-o-glass built with my Electro lap steel’s pickup about as much as I have because it didn’t work well. My initial thought building a guitar for slide was to have a neck similar to my main guitars, 24 frets & the same scale length but slide is just easier with short scales. The reso also had too little sustain for what I’m trying to achieve. The lap steel had string through so I tested an aftermarket ric bridge & raised the neck by simply using the neck plate. Bingo, sustain that just rang & rang.

I’m using rattle can Ford Cayman Green which is teal & impossible to photograph. Color is done. Several more coats of clear tomorrow. Buff & polish later. The goal is to be working by Friday because we record the next day. Going to start with 500k pots,V,T & 3 way N/N+B/B .50 tone cap & OOP & would like to have series too. Neck pickup was necessary because it was already routed. Found one picture of a 2 pickup 800 & went for that look. Using a fiber top higain which has less output than the steel pickup. Eventually will have a gold guard shaped like the 850’s. Not sure if I want to try the real combo wiring 9 tone deal. Pics soon as I can figure out Imgur...

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:44 am
by Dom

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:08 pm
by Dom
https://imgur.com/gallery/rUzcW

I can’t believe how fun this thing is. That steel bridge pickup is the most articulate pickup I’v ever encountered. The HiGain is really dark in comparison. I know Ric pickups are very sensitive to placement, but this is night & day. The two blend well & the neck pickup adds growl. Neck is 6k bridge is 8. Twangs like a tele should and jangles...twangles if you will. Really rings and sustains. I used it on the scratch tracks for our album this weekend. It has some serious attitude!

Looking for better tuners now. The black pick guard is temp...vintage gold guard in the works as is the phase push pull switch. It has earned the name Tiny Rick.

Ok,now I’m sold on short scales...probably need to tack down a 1996 at some point.

My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:12 pm
by 8mileshigher
Looks cool in the photos, Dom !

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:33 pm
by jch
That turned out pretty well sir!

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:04 am
by Dom
Cheers gents, thanks! This one has beaten my expectations. I honestly didn’t think it would work out and would end up as a wall hanging or be a wearable lap steel. Going from a tele bridge to a Ric bridge, I thought that was lunacy until I gave it a shot. The bridge rest covers the goofy string through setup nicely...ever ***** your finger pushing a string through the body of a a tele or Strat? Not here. What really trips me out is how completely different it sounds now.

This is the pickup that replaced the horseshoe...had this one 21 years now & I still know next to nothing about it. It sounded so nice in the lap steel that I needed to find a way to use it with frets. Bright and airy but no shred of ice pick. C6 sounds great. I’d love to try a toaster with it.

I’ve been playing it so much I haven’t finished it. Out of phase on the volume knob and It needs tuners desperately. Strung with 11’s, on this they bend like 9’s.

Yes, pretty never means it sounds good & all this is meaningless without audio... soon.

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:34 am
by Dom
Snagged another body on the cheap. This one has no damage on the sides (1st I’ve seen) so I can actually shape it like a Combo 850 & get the carve correct. This 850 style body will be vintage turquoise with the correct metal pickup surround & gold guard. Even with such a tiny guitar just that little bit more cutaway = much better. Maybe this will satiate my Combo 850 German carve lust a bit and I can get back to reality on my 350.

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:22 pm
by Dom
https://youtu.be/pWpW2U-ZZkM[/youtube]

Here’s a little clip of this little guy in action...the guitar I mean.

Re: My 3/4 scale mini Combo 800

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:53 am
by jdogric12
Very cool!