Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

[ImmortalSix]

As some of you know, I'm expecting a son in October.

As I have alluded, I am building a guitar for him, to be given to him when the time is right. Hopefully, this will blow his little mind.

The idea of the guitar is to distill all of my guitar experience and preferences into one guitar. I'll take my favorite body shape, my favorite finish, my favorite pickup configuration, my favorite control schema, my favorite neck profile, my favorite headstock, etcetera, and put them all in one guitar.

It might be terrible, it might be glorious, but it will certainly be cool.

So, I'm soliciting your input to fine-tune my big-picture decisions.

Whenever you see bold, red text, that's me asking you for advice! Please respond!

Let's get started:

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Body:

I had originally conceived an approximately Stratocaster shaped body, but I now realize that I was forcing it - a Telecaster shaped body is my true favorite.

​

My idea originally was to have a Strat shaped body, routed for TSH (Telecaster bridge, Strat-sized single coil middle, and humbucker neck), but I have since decided that the true shape of my preference, from my experience, is the Telecaster shape.

You can see my (now-abandoned) initial mockups below:

So I have now decided to go with a Telecaster shape, routed for TSH (as described above).

Upon extensive research, playing Joe Walsh riffs in my basement, I have elected to include a tummy cut on this Telecaster body. I appreciate the vintage designs, and the "Leo got it right" mentality, but this guitar exists to exhibit the best of the best, from sound to feel to comfort, and I choose a tummy cut for comfort.

New plan will look more like this: a Telecaster body with a tummy cut, a standard Telecaster bridge rout, and a swimming pool middle and neck rout.

-Hunter

 

[ravendouglas]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

i will have to get back to you on this,i am way to busy drooling over yer geetars, right now.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Pickups:

Let's get this out of the way: Yeah, it's going to be awful similar to a Valley Arts Brent Mason Signature. I know. The whole point of my build is to put it together myself, so I won't be saving my time and money and buying a Brent Mason Signature. I am making these design choices independently, condensing my favorite guitar setups into a physical manifestation. Nothing I can say will capture my thoughts as eloquently as this.

I want a Telecaster bridge pickup rout, a Telecaster bridge, and a Telecaster bridge pickup. I want the fattest, meatiest Tele pickup that exists on earth. Please advise.

I want a Stratocaster style single coil middle pickup. Ideally, it will be stealth-mounted, below the pickguard. Anybody have experience with doing that? If so, tell me what it takes. I know I'll need a very strong pickup - please advise.

I want a humbucker-sized P90 pickup in the neck. I have decided to go with a GFS Mean 90, it's my favorite P90 sound. I'm making it a swimming pool rout, and not a P90 rout or a humbucker rout so I can put whatever I want in there, and my son, if he decides he's a regular Tele guy, or a humbucker guy or a P90 guy can put whatever he wants in there.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Electronics:

I don't feel confident in my ability to design an elegant and minimal wiring schema for what I want, so please let me know if you think you could imagine how to work all this onto a Telecaster control plate:

Here's my wishlist:

Master Volume
Neck Tone
Bridge Tone
Middle Pickup Blender Pot (basically a volume pot to bring the middle pickup in or out, independent from all the other controls)
Gibson-style 3 way toggle (neck-both-bridge)


My best guess so far is to have the control plate laid out like this. I like my master volume down near the jack, in case you thought that was a mistake.

Any better ideas to make it less busy?

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

^i actually really like the control scheme you came up with, though i would switch the stacked tone pot with the master volume.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Finish:

This has been tough for me. Really tough.

I know I don't want a burst of any kind. I know I don't want black, red, green, purple, etc.

I have considered the following most heavily:

"Mary Kay" (translucent white)
Daphne Blue
Natural (clear nitro over Swamp Ash)

My wife likes White and she likes Daphne Blue. I like white, but I keep wanting it to be "Mary Kay," to see a little grain. I love a natural ash Telecaster, and I love natural finish Stratocasters and Precisions, too. It just looks good to me. Daphne Blue is cool to me, the coolest opaque finish, I think, but I wish I could get a Daphne Blue "Mary Kay" if you know what I mean.

I'm leaning towards Mary Kay translucent white over Swamp Ash.

What say ye?

 

[woemoejack]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

tele bridge pickup: http://store.guitarfetish.com/alfaovpotebr.html

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

tele bridge pickup: http://store.guitarfetish.com/alfaovpotebr.html

Thanks for the recommendation, I will look at some YouTubes of those.

I think they're really ugly.

I am curious about the sound, though!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

cool project ... i gotta chuckle taht you are building a guitar for a son not yet born let alone a known guitarist ... i remember thinking about something like this when my sons were born ... they both play violin now

when you say gibson style 3 way, do you want it mounted on the guitar body somewhere like gibson does? or do you want it on the tele control plate? .. your pic depicts a fender style 3 way lever switch, so i wanted to be sure ... my thought is this .... if you put it on the body, a la gibson, you will have room on the control plate for the blender pot, a master volume, and the stacked tone pots ...

also, i am a little confused by your use of 'master volume' and 'basically a volume pot to bring the middle pickup in or out, independent from all the other controls' ... so is the master truly the master? or is it only the master of the b/n ?

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

cool project ... i gotta chuckle taht you are building a guitar for a son not yet born let alone a known guitarist ... i remember thinking about something like this when my sons were born ... they both play violin now

when you say gibson style 3 way, do you want it mounted on the guitar body somewhere like gibson does? or do you want it on the tele control plate? .. your pic depicts a fender style 3 way lever switch, so i wanted to be sure ... my thought is this .... if you put it on the body, a la gibson, you will have room on the control plate for the blender pot, a master volume, and the stacked tone pots ...

also, i am a little confused by your use of 'master volume' and 'basically a volume pot to bring the middle pickup in or out, independent from all the other controls' ... so is the master truly the master? or is it only the master of the b/n ?

Original post edited for clarity: this will not be a standard Telecaster layout.

Ideally, I would like the Middle Blender Pot to be slaved to the Master Volume, so I could dial in the amount of middle pickup that I want, then adjust the volume of the guitar as a whole, while that proportion remains.

Example: With the Master Volume full up, I select the neck pickup, I dial in about 50% of the middle pickup, then I can adjust the Master Volume of the guitar with that "full on neck pickup + 50% of middle pickup" proportion remaining congruent.

Also, I would be able to roll one knob to mute the guitar. If it were a Middle Volume Pot, not slaved to the Master Volume, I assume that when I roll the "Master" Volume down to 0, the middle pickup would still be on, and the guitar would not be fully muted.

It is my understanding that the distinction of "Blender Pot" vs. "Volume Pot" follows this.

Oh, and if the kid hates guitar, I guess it becomes dad's guitar. I really, sincerely intend to enable him to do whatever he wants to do --- if he's a natural born pianist, so be it. If he can't carry a tune in a bucket, hey, I'll end up with a sweet custom guitar with my son's name on the headstock. But he'll be coming from about 10 generations of guitar players, so hopefully he will be awesome at guitar. You never can tell!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

gotcha - makes total sense ... not sure how it gets wired to work that way, but seems completely doable ... probably just wire the output of the middle blender pot in parallel to the output of the 3 way switch in parallel at the input tab of the master volume pot


i think all 3 colors are cool ... i gotta say the daphne blue just seems fitting given you are building this for a baby boy (who will obviously be more grown up when he gets to play it)

sorry - no experience on the kinda pickup you are after - my tele pickup set of choice is the vintage stack set - definitely cool but nowhere near what you are looking for

how about a forearm cut to go with the tummy cut? .... i knew a guy who bought a warmoth with those two cuts and it was a very cool tele

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

gotcha - makes total sense ... not sure how it gets wired to work that way, but seems completely doable ... probably just wire the output of the middle blender pot in parallel to the output of the 3 way switch in parallel at the input tab of the master volume pot


i think all 3 colors are cool ... i gotta say the daphne blue just seems fitting given you are building this for a baby boy (who will obviously be more grown up when he gets to play it)

sorry - no experience on the kinda pickup you are after - my tele pickup set of choice is the vintage stack set - definitely cool but nowhere near what you are looking for

how about a forearm cut to go with the tummy cut? .... i knew a guy who bought a warmoth with those two cuts and it was a very cool tele

One vote for Daphne Blue! If I do Daphne Blue, I will probably do a matching headstock, because I think old classic Fender colors look awesome on headstocks.

I don't want a forearm carve --- I like the fat feeling of the Tele there, but I like having a little of the back cut out. Anybody notice tonal changes with a cut Telecaster?

 

[bard2dbone]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Original post edited for clarity: this will not be a standard Telecaster layout.

Ideally, I would like the Middle Blender Pot to be slaved to the Master Volume, so I could dial in the amount of middle pickup that I want, then adjust the volume of the guitar as a whole, while that proportion remains.

Example: With the Master Volume full up, I select the neck pickup, I dial in about 50% of the middle pickup, then I can adjust the Master Volume of the guitar with that "full on neck pickup + 50% of middle pickup" proportion remaining congruent.

Also, I would be able to roll one knob to mute the guitar. If it were a Middle Volume Pot, not slaved to the Master Volume, I assume that when I roll the "Master" Volume down to 0, the middle pickup would still be on, and the guitar would not be fully muted.

It is my understanding that the distinction of "Blender Pot" vs. "Volume Pot" follows this.

Oh, and if the kid hates guitar, I guess it becomes dad's guitar. I really, sincerely intend to enable him to do whatever he wants to do --- if he's a natural born pianist, so be it. If he can't carry a tune in a bucket, hey, I'll end up with a sweet custom guitar with my son's name on the headstock. But he'll be coming from about 10 generations of guitar players, so hopefully he will be awesome at guitar. You never can tell!

If that held water, my daughter would be a killin' swing jazz guitar player. My grampa was Cleo 'Flash' Bagwell. And my wife's coolest and most interesting cousin is Slim Richey.

She's not interested in guitar.

Makes me sad.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

hey Immortal 6.

For the bridge pup, why not a duncan quarter pound,

the middle: an SSL-6

The neck: a SH-2 Jazz?

Jason

 

[The Dali]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

I was going to suggest a SSL5 or 6 myself - nice!

Why not just get a real P-90 for the neck instead of a humbucker-sized one?

I second the daphne blue.

Love the project!!

 

[j9fd3s]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

re; the stuff you asked about.

i like the mary kay type, its white that the wife likes, but it shows grain like you like, win win?

the other idea might be a mary kay daphne blue, if its even possible.

re the stuff you didn't. the back contour is a good idea, think of a strat body not as a new design, but as one that takes the tele, and adds some comfort features, like the front and back cuts. from that stand point its evolution, not a new design.

no clue about any of the other stuff like pickups, my tele stock pickups are good?

mike

 

[beandip]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Hunter, here's my input:

The Quarter Pounder for Tele is the fattest aftermarket tele pickup I've used that isn't going to break the wallet.

I advised Butch on the same thing with a stealth coil. While I have no personal experience, I have a friend who used a high output Lace Sensor directly under the pickguard to make a stealth tex-mex tele like Butch was going for. He says it works great, and he has no issues running two standard passives along with it.

Mary Kay FTW.

 

[mrturtle_91]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

As for the bridge pickup I'd go with the QP like beandip said, but I'd go with the tapped version. I love the tap because I can get fat, humbucker like tones as well as chimey single coil tones. As for the finish, I'd go with the natural one. I love the control setup, I have my volume and tone switched around from what you'd normally find on a tele and much prefer it that way.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Babycaster Thread I: Design Choices

Just faxed my order to USACG

Waiting now to see if they can do what I want to do...