JR Super-Sonic

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:00 am

I started this project yesterday.
(Sorry for the large picture)

It still needs a Les Paul knob, a different bridge (ordered) and a stop bar tailpiece (ready to mount), but it is well on its way. I've been planning this for years.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 2:25 pm

Are you planning on filling in the tremolo cavity?

Looks good so far and it'll be awesome to see how it turns out.

Good luck!

James · Post by **James** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:52 pm

I can't believe how good that looks. Great job so far.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:07 pm

That's fuckin awesome. Mosrite shapes have often reminded me of upside-down Fenders anyway.

I don't know if anyone still has the pic but back in the earlier days of JS there was a guy's design floating around, he took a JS body shape, reversed it and made a mosrite-influenced design out of it. I was just thinking about that one recently.

James · Post by **James** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:58 pm

I love this so much I came back to look at it again, and then figured while I was here I'd resize the image a couple of times to show it off in a different view. I've wanted a super-sonic ever since I played sublimedo's white one, but now I want one even more.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:15 pm

Awesome!

Any sneak peek/info on the tort SS you got going on too?

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:25 pm

Thanks, guys. Especially James for the re-sizing.
The plans for hardtailing are pretty cool, if I do say so my damned self. I have a chrome stop tail that will be mounted about four inches behind the bridge. The solution for the swap out of the strat trem is to take a Wilkinson Tele bridge, cut off the pickup part, and drill five new holes for the six strat trem pivot points. The sixth hole is actually the tele pickup mounting hole. On the back, I will use two or more of the through-body string holes that would normally be for, well, the strings, to screw into the body. The Wilkinson tele bridges are also top-mount - so they have string holes through the back so that I can have the strings go all the way back to the stop tail. I hope that makes sense.
There will be one piece of wood directly behind the bridge, but I'm not planning to fill the whole cavity.
I wired it myself over the course of about five hours (first time). Two volumes, like a Super-Sonic, with the pots reversed. Both pots are push pulls for splitting coils. The neck pickup is actually a stacked YJM Dimarzio, and the bridge pickup is a GFS Mini Crunchy (what I had from other projects). There is also a momentary button just below the bridge pickup. Les Paul knob will go on the other pot once it arrives.
The next project will be my black Super-Sonic's overhaul. It is getting a tortoiseshell guard, and white humbuckers with SD Triple-Shot mounting rings. If that goes well, My silver one will get Triple Shots for its P-Rails and a new pickguard.

Here's what the five looked like before disassembly.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:31 pm

Joey wrote:Awesome!

Any sneak peek/info on the tort SS you got going on too?

Joey - As I said above, the tort guard is probably going on the black one. Joey made me two one-piece SS guards recently. I actually haven't used either of them yet, as the black one on this JR SS is from my black one (which was made six years ago).
Or I could put black on the black and tort on the silver?

Super-Sonics are cool, and rising in value, but to me they have always been for modifying. I'm not worrying about re-sale.

If they ever come down in price again, I'll get #6 and put Filter'Trons in one.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 1:53 am

I sorted out all the electronics and the pickguard shielding and the three pickguard screws that had to be moved. She's all sealed up.
Now I just have to wait for the bridge to arrive for the hardtailing project. Some metalworking and a bit of woodworking, and relocating the ground wire from the trem claw to under the bridge. I will add the weight of the stop-tail piece, but lose the weight of the block, the springs, the trem claw. It will be a lot of work for no functional improvements. Merely aesthetic Johnny Ramone tribute / worship.

Oh - I should add how it actually works. It has a stacked YJM (bridge) strat pickup with its own volume knob (closest to bridge, like a Super-Sonic) that is push / pull for coil splitting. When it splits from humbucking to single coil, it actually gets a bit brighter. Both settings are strat-ty. The neck pickup is a GFS Mini Crunchy that came with my Xavier telemaster. It is pretty darned cool. A nice, smooth neck-position humbucker. It also has its own volume knob and push / pulls for splitting. The output drops a bit for the split-coil position. The pickups' relative output was balanced by raising the strat pickup closer to the strings and dropping the mini-humbucker away from the strings. There is a 3-way to choose pickups (obviously), and a momentary button under the bridge pickup for stuttering effects. All works very well. A bit proud, as it was my first major wiring job.

I had to route out the lower bout 3-Way position and drill a hole from the neck pickup cavity. And route for the momentary button. All done in the kitchen with a Dremel tool in one hand and the vacuum hose in the other.

The next sketchy kitchen / Dremel maneuver will be mounting the tailpiece without a proper drill or bits, and re-working a telecaster bridge.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:01 pm

Bridge is cut / modified for its purpose. The next step is a big one though: installing the hardtail Tele bridge, shaping and installing a block of wood to sit behind the bridge, putting two little screw holes in the body through the string-through holes on the bridge, and the biggest no-going back maneuver: installing the stop bar piece (drilling two holes in the body for the thimbles.

I'm hesitating. It's not done, but is it good enough?

Feedback?

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:04 am

I did it. Pictures tomorrow. (Waiting for glue to dry before I string it up.)

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:57 am

Eager to see the pics on this. You've done solid work in the past with these that I'm sure it'll be awesome.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:50 pm

Here it is. Not sure I'm happy with the look of the bridge, but it is functional.

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:56 pm

Pens wrote:Eager to see the pics on this. You've done solid work in the past with these that I'm sure it'll be awesome.

This is not very "complete & total dickface". Thanks.

Wait 'til you see what I'm going to do to my black one: tort guard, covered humbuckers, Triple-Shot switching rings, and I may even try to wire it as a Les Paul With four knobs.

BTW - it is minus 40C in Winnipeg today, and I have a fever.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:26 am

Is that a pushbutton killswitch next to the bridge pickup?

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:53 am

Momentary stutter button, yes. Right where I like it.

duosonic · Post by **duosonic** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:34 am

Those Tele and Strat mods look great!

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:40 am

Joey wrote:Awesome!

Any sneak peek/info on the tort SS you got going on too?

I will post proper photos of this project soon, but I wanted you to see your tort guard ASAP.

Dual covered humbuckers - Dimarzios (Tone Zone and PAF), Dual Triple Shot switches, hardtailed it with a cut-off tele bridge, Volume, tone, momentary kill button.

Tort guard by Joey!

(I hope this posts small)

Awstin · Post by **Awstin** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:49 pm

How about all back to stock? That would be the tits!

wadeaminute · Post by **wadeaminute** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:42 pm

Punkacc9 wrote:How about all back to stock? That would be the tits!

Stock is no fun at all.
That being said, I might get a sixth one and leave it stock.
I do have a whole bunch of original SS parts that I'm not using.