Congratulations! It's a Turtle!

[MikeW]

So the new band is doing a lot of surf stuff. Really fun, but everything I have is either a bit too cool or way too hot for that stinging clean tone that surf is known for. I'd also been wanting to build something with Pao Ferro and had ordered a neck last year. It'd been sitting while I collected parts for a bit and I was finally able to finish it off thanks to the big sale.

Here's the specs:
Neck:
Pao Ferro/PaoFerro
Wizard Profile
Sperzel staggered locking tuners
stainless threaded inserts
LSR roller nut
SS6150 frets

Body:
Alder HSH rout
Wilkinson bridge
Tortioseshell pickguard
Daphne blue

Pickups:
DiMarzio The Chopper in the neck
DiMarzio Steve's Special in the bridge
Super 5-way switch
1. Bridge Humbucker
2. North Bridge Coil
3. South Neck Coil + North Bridge Coil (the inside coils)
4. North Neck Coil
5. Neck Humbucker

I had actually wired the pickguard a few weeks ago when I was stuck inside during a rainy weekend. It went into the 8-Ball for some testing.

I love threaded inserts in the neck. It's a pain getting them installed, but once you do them you'll never go back. You can draw the neck into the pocket much tighter with the machine screws than you can with any wood screws.

Pao Ferro is interesting to work with too. It's sooo hard, but almost brittle in a way. Instead of making dust with very small particulate like Maple or Alder or Ash, Pao Ferro breaks down into flakes. If you look closely at the edges of the holes, you can see where the wood basically flaked apart as I was drilling the holes for the inserts and countersink for the tap.

Sperzel tuners installed and ready to go.

Here's the big pieces, ready for assembly.

I had dropped the pickguard into place and wired the jack in. I took this shot with the neck laying in the pocket as a check for fit.

And Viola! I'll try to get a better picture in the light tomorrow.

I'm calling it the Turtle for a couple reasons. I've now got a guitar for each of my kids, and this one is going to be for my youngest son. His nickname is Turtle. That and the Tortoiseshell pickguard and the sea/surf theme all go together I think.

 

[adked]

I can almost hear "Walk, Don't Run" just looking at that.  Love the dots!

 

[Surf n Music]

WOW! That neck and body go together so well. Love the blue accents on that neck. Beautiful!

 

[bagman67]

 

[MikeW]

Thanks fellahs! Strangely enough, Walk Don't Run was the second song I played on it. Had to do Frankenstein first. LOL

We've got a gig coming up on the 29th and I'm planning on using Turtle as my #1. I'll try to get some vid posted after that so you all can hear it. I will say this though, the Chopper is a great pickup for surf stuff. Top-endy enough but with just a bit of bite to it. It's got that edge-of breakup tone all over it.

 

[DocNrock]

Awesome build, Mike!  What are the inlays made of?  Those are cool!  Agreed on the Chopper.  Great neck pickup.  I have one in one of my builds.  How do you like the Steve's Special?  I love mine.  Very fat and spacious sounding, all in one. 

Congrats on a fine build.  :icon_thumright:

 

[fdesalvo]

Super clean and I love the contrast of the neck against the body.  Also DIG the control layout!  So full of win.

 

[MikeW]

Awesome build, Mike!  What are the inlays made of?  Those are cool!  Agreed on the Chopper.  Great neck pickup.  I have one in one of my builds.  How do you like the Steve's Special?  I love mine.  Very fat and spacious sounding, all in one. 

Thanks Doc. The inlays are the Arizona turquoise that the Big W is offering when you get a custom build. I haven't seen many of them in the showcase, but with Kisekae it really looked nice, so when I was ordering the neck I had those put in too.

I really really like the Chopper. For the surf stuff it's the perfect pickup. Clean but just enough growl and hiss to it that it still sounds like a single coil, but has the punch of a humbucker. It's really perfect for getting over the top of the mix in the surf solo sections.

I like the Steve's Special too. I think it's a good compliment to the Chopper since it's just a bit cooler than the JB in the Sunburst. It's interesting because the JB is so full of punchy midrange and the SS is cooler and cleaner and has that spacious top end. Really nice for the hard rock stuff in our sets but different sounding. It's going to be interesting to see how they work out in a live setting and I'm thinking I may have to EQ the amp again since it's such a different tone. The first gig with it is on the 29th so ... XXX - crossed fingers.

Super clean and I love the contrast of the neck against the body.  Also DIG the control layout!  So full of win.

Thanks Frank. I really how it has just enough knobs and switches. LOL Seriously though, I'm so busy on stage that I really like having the simplicity of one volume and one switch. Set it and forget it. I can concentrate on the playing instead of fiddling with the knobs.

The contrast between the Pao Ferro and the turquoise came out really well. I'm a little disappointed that there's so much 'red' in the tortoiseshell though. Not that it detracts from the look, but I was hoping to have a bit more 'brown' to it to match the neck. All good though. I'm still really stoked on the look.

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Nice strat.  I like the Steve's Special but it seems a little bright on the high strings (which I think might just be the (swamp ash/Wenge/Ebony) guitar I have it in.)  Still, it has a very single-coil-ish sound for a humbucker, so I see it totally working for surf.

 

[Great Ape]

COOL GUITAR, MAN!! I love it!

 

[DangerousR6]

:headbang1:

 

[MikeW]

Thanks guys.

... I like the Steve's Special but it seems a little bright on the high strings (which I think might just be the (swamp ash/Wenge/Ebony) guitar I have it in.)  Still, it has a very single-coil-ish sound for a humbucker, so I see it totally working for surf.

This exactly is what I was thinking when I bought it. It's got that great singly-coil sound but still puts out humbucker output. Perfect for the surf stuff in our sets.

COOL GUITAR, MAN!! I love it!

Thanks Ape. Coming from you that's a huge compliment!

 

[Cagey]

Very nice! I'm envious! I sold my only Pau Ferro neck guitar, and I still miss it. But, it would have been even better (and I've have missed it more) had it been Daphne Blue. Just beautiful!

Maybe it's time for another Strat. Inventory is getting low...

 

[MikeW]

So an update on the Turtle. Played the first gig with it last Friday and it sounded great! Alder and Pao Ferro are a great mix for a Strat. Clean and bright and tons of sustain. I'm really pleased with the weight too. Turtle was the only guitar I played that night.

The Chopper is great for the surf stuff like I'd hoped. It gets that edge of breakup sound just by pushing the volume up and drives the amp just enough. Perfect for the surf stuff. Stinging and clean.

I did get a very nice surprise with the Steve's Special too. I usually use the bridge for the high-gain stuff in the sets and was nicely surprised by how well the SS cut through the mix. It's got just the right amount of top end to cut through, but not so much to make the gain grainy or too edgy with presence. It's a little higher in the mix since it's a bit brighter where the JB would have more punch to it but be a bit buried in the midrange.

I sent it off to have the frets dressed though. I managed to cut the high E on one of the edges of the frets during a song a couple days before the gig so I decided then that the fret dressing was required.

The Turtle in action:

Unfortunately we had an incident with the video (operator oopsie with an alcoholic beverage...) and lost the vids that we took. I'll try to get some audio or video from a practice soon and post it.

Edit: Fixed pic link

 

[DocNrock]

Very cool, Mike!  Too bad about the video...

 

[sixstringsamurai]

Dammit...

That gives me.....

G.A.S.....

:rock-on:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Nice.

A volume knob + a p/u switch = the truth.

 

[MikeW]

Very cool, Mike!  Too bad about the video...

Ha! Too bad about my camera really. Turns out that Pacifico at that bar winds up costing right around $150.
:icon_biggrin:

A volume knob + a p/u switch = the truth.

Exactly! Well said Tony. Focus on the playing and not on the effects or the switches, knobs, toggles, etc. In full disclosure, I really got the layout idea from the new Charvels. I really liked the San Dimas control layout, but they're just using a 3 position toggle. The 5 way Strat switch is so much more versatile. It was easy to lay it out the same way.

 

[Fat Pete]

Very cool guitar Mike. What excuse can I come up with for another build? I really need something with a tortoiseshell pickguard.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Very cool, Mike!  Too bad about the video...

Ha! Too bad about my camera really. Turns out that Pacifico at that bar winds up costing right around $150.
:icon_biggrin:

A volume knob + a p/u switch = the truth.

Exactly! Well said Tony. Focus on the playing and not on the effects or the switches, knobs, toggles, etc. In full disclosure, I really got the layout idea from the new Charvels. I really liked the San Dimas control layout, but they're just using a 3 position toggle. The 5 way Strat switch is so much more versatile. It was easy to lay it out the same way.

I like the San Dimas models too, just wish they'd do a model with 24 frets and a SC sized route in the neck p/u slot.
Even though I use a POD HD500X, I have a simple stock clean tone, a tweed with a boost, and a crunch/lead where I can turn a mod effect ie; chorus/phaser on/off, Harmonizer on/off, and the lead does a boost with a DDL.  That's it.  My music doesn't need much more than that, and if it does, I tend to handle it with the synth.  I write/record/perform with a 2 guitarist setup old school like the British wave of Heavy Metal, so I just have the one rhythm part on one side, an alternate part on the other side, and the lead(s) set out appropriately.  One rhythm side is always dry, the other side has effects like the chorus/phaser and occasional wah on/off as needed.

I like the feel of the 3 way toggle over the blade switch, and since I don't use all of those "in between" settings like 2 & 4, I just don't bother anymore.

Sweet shred-stik ya got going there, mad props :headbang1: