New Woody

[automan]

Hi all, I just wanted to show my progress on making wooden pickups. I think I finally formalized all the specs on this one. It's a wooden P-90. If any of you remember the prototype, it was made out of Cocobola. This one, #1, is made from Zebrawood. It really took a lot of trial and error to find woods that can stand up to the stress and coil pressure without snapping or buckling, but I think I finally have it.

Let me know what you guys think. They sound amazing like most all dialed in hand wound pickups we all make.



Forgive the picture in packaging. My camera died so my brother-in-law just snapped a quick pic with his phone.

[Mark Hammer]

Nice work. Pretty. (And the camera does a nice job too!)

The thing I wonder about is the sheer difficulty of finding an aesthetic match between any given pickup cover and its grain, and the guitar one wants to stick it on. If the instrument itself is a solid colour, without any discernible grain, it may be easy, but what if the grain on a stained (rather than painted) guitar "clashes" with the grain on the cover? I respect the effort and craftsmanship you put into it, but as marketable products go, its the sort of things that would need to be sold on the basis of hi-res photos for each and every pickup. Either that or be prepared to sell only to locals who can hold the pickup over the body, or expect a lot of returns and unwanted shipping charges.

In short, fabulous brushwork, but I think you've painted yourself into a commercial corner. That's just one guy's opinion, though, and the orld of guitar players is vast enough that there will be plenty of people for whom the aesthetics of the pickup in itself will motivate them to buy, in complete disregard of whether it enhances the visual appeal of the overall instrument.

[automan]

Nice work. Pretty. (And the camera does a nice job too!)

The thing I wonder about is the sheer difficulty of finding an aesthetic match between any given pickup cover and its grain, and the guitar one wants to stick it on. If the instrument itself is a solid colour, without any discernible grain, it may be easy, but what if the grain on a stained (rather than painted) guitar "clashes" with the grain on the cover? I respect the effort and craftsmanship you put into it, but as marketable products go, its the sort of things that would need to be sold on the basis of hi-res photos for each and every pickup. Either that or be prepared to sell only to locals who can hold the pickup over the body, or expect a lot of returns and unwanted shipping charges.

In short, fabulous brushwork, but I think you've painted yourself into a commercial corner. That's just one guy's opinion, though, and the orld of guitar players is vast enough that there will be plenty of people for whom the aesthetics of the pickup in itself will motivate them to buy, in complete disregard of whether it enhances the visual appeal of the overall instrument.

I thought the same thing too, but it seems to work 99.99% of the time. The key is to choose a lighter Woody for a darker guitar or a darker Woody for a lighter guitar. When you have the color in a different spectrum, it doesn't seem to matter if the grains don't match. So the zebrawood pickup above would go great in a cherry Les Paul or Melody Maker that sports a P-90. If you have a lighter colored or natural finished guitar, I would choose something more like a cocobola pickup. For things in between, I find purpleheart works with most everything since it doesnt have a strong grain pattern, just beautiful color.

You said something about brushwork. I don't know what that means. This is Zebrawood, finished with 15 coats of Cyanoacrylate, sanded smooth, and buffed to look like glass. I find that CA holds up much better against pick scratches.

[automan]

Never mind on the brushwork... i now realize it was a setup for the "paint into corner" reference.

:facepalm:

[David King]

Ca is ridiculously time consuming and tricky. It's also not very scratch resistant in my experience.
Have you tried some of the "doming" epoxies yet? You might like those for sheer simplicity.
If you have a respirator and an exhaust fan to the outdoors you might consider straight up polyester finishing resin. It's dirt cheap and so much harder than other finishes. You could be done in two coats with no shrinkage, the only downside besides the stink is the extra effort in buffing.
I do a LOT of wooden guitar accessories and finishing is the major impediment to making money. CA has it's place and a very long tradition but I think a lot of guys assume that it's the ultimate finish without being open to alternatives. I've spent the last couple of years researching and I've been very impressed with some advancements from other fields like rod makers, automotive, beauty supply etc.

[David Schwab]

I agree with David. I use a lot of CA, but except for touch ups, don't use it as a finish. It's not any harder than acrylic lacquer or urethane.

[automan]

Nothing beats CA for ease and time... not without spending some serious cash on a UV setup. I can start with a wooden pickup and have it completely finished in less than 15 minutes with absolutely no drying time. I have found it to be VERY durable. Would I finish this way if I have more than a handful to do a week, probably not. I would set up spray racks so I could coat 30 at a time, but for what I am doing I am very happy with it.

I even use it when making wooden knobs on the lathe. You can apply while the piece is spinning then basically it just needs a little sanding and polishing and look amazing.

[Mark Hammer]

You said something about brushwork. I don't know what that means.

Ignore it. I was using the analogy of painting one's self into a corner, and trying to convey that one canbe masterful in one's technique yet still be painted into a corner.

Sometimes the prose works, and sometimes it doesn't.

[automan]

Yeah, check the post directly after where I said that

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

I haven't made any wooden pickups (yet) but I've used CA for many similar things. It soaks in and offers a rigidity especially along the grain of lots of woods that might otherwise be unsuited for those applications. Zebrawood in particular I've found is weak along the grain, though very strong in other ways. It is like turning a wood into a plastic. I don't think anything that is sprayed is going to do that for you. Works great if you are making your own picks, too. Great thing to do with scrap veneer!

If it doesn't come out hard enough for you folks, are you accelerating it too quickly? A little hobby airbrush with zipkicker works great. The stuff with a regular pump or pressure spray works waaay too fast. Introducing air into the glue as it is drying will always soften it.

Great looking pickup by the way! As long as you don't make them crazy expensive, I'm sure you can find a nice market for that.

[David King]

Most of the newer UV monomers will cure in strong sunlight in just a few minutes. In the winter that's pretty hopeless where I'm at so I bought a little 36W 365nm curing station that works very well in under 5 minutes (under $50). The stuff works out cheaper than CA because there is no shrinkage and no sanding or buffing needed.

No doubt that thin CA is amazingly useful stuff. I'd still be using it if I could get anything else to stick to it. So far no luck there.

[automan]

What brand of UV monomer finish do you recommend. Does it use a standard spray gun? Where my shop is, it'll be a while before I could add an exhaust to the outside and even if I could, OSIA might be a bitch to deal with.

What are your thoughts?

[David King]

These monomers are one-part epoxies. Nearly 100% solids, no solvents. This is a self-leveling goop so you need a flat, level surface. You squeeze it out of the bottle and let it settle then cure it. It won't work on a knob for instance but for flatwork it's great. The maker is epoxies.com but you can get it from several resellers. I buy it from buttons.com, that's where I got the curing lamp too.

Why would OSHA have anything to do with you? Do you work out of a factory?
The only people who care about what you do in your own home are your neighbors, your insurance co and the fire warden. Keep them happy in that order and you're all set. Me thinks you listen to too much talk radio?

[automan]

I don't think that would work for me. I've received other samples from epoxies.com and ended up using them to fill EMG style humbuckers. My woodies have round overs along the edges so this would just run off.

I have to deal with OSHA for anything like this. I have a public shop that I build and repair out of in Nashville, TN. I don't do anything out of my home.

[David King]

Aye there's the rub. You might be OK using a large canister carbon filter with a small spraybooth. There's a place that sells them on ebay. The carbon will trap 99% of the smell and you can then exhaust indoors or out a window if you are only doing small surfaces. The CA is already pretty bad.
Don't round the edges-let the doming effect take care of it, that's why they call it doming epoxy.