Just completed

[Andy Bounsall]

It's been a while since I posted anything new. Here's my latest build, just finished. Still a few tweaks to be made, but my initial reaction is that it plays beautifully and sounds great.

The semi-hollow body is African mahogany with a curly redwood cap. Neck is Spanish cedar. Fretboard is ebony. Bindings are African blackwood. The P-90's are from Guitar Fetish. The guitar also has a Graphtech Ghost system with piezo pickups in the saddles. The bottom volume control is for "acoustic" volume level. The mini switch selects between piezo, magnetic, or both. A stereo output jack allows the piezo and magnetic outputs to be routed independently, or plug in a mono cable to combine them together.

Time for some pictures...

[Bob Francis]

I really like that guitar but wonder how did you nail the control cover so well?

nice job!
Bob

[Andy Bounsall]

Bob, I sliced the back off. The cover was cut out of the back with the scroll saw. The body was hollowed out and then the back and glued on again.

[Mark Swanson]

Looks great Andy, you always do top notch work! good to see you post again too.

[Andy Bounsall]

Thanks Mark.

[Bob Francis]

Really Nice!

[Gordon Bellerose]

Very nice work Andy. I like the dark binding on that color guitar.
How do you like the GFS pickups?

[Andy Bounsall]

Haven't played it much yet, but so far I'm happy with the pickups. They sound decent and weren't overly expensive.

[Matthew Lau]

Looks real nice

[Gordon Bellerose]

What brand of piezo bridge saddle pickups did you use, and how do they sound?

OOPS! Just re-read the original post. Graphtech Ghost system.

What was the price, installation and wiring for them like?

[Andy Bounsall]

Wiring and installation of the ghost/ acoustiphonic system is straight forward. Lots of wires but most of it plugs together. You do have to solder up the connections for magnetic pickups, the output jack, etc. The connectors are very tiny and the plugs are not polarized so you have to be a bit careful to get everything correctly oriented and plugged in the right place.

The "acoustic" sound is quite good. Actually better than I had expected. For the player, you obviously don't get the acoustic sound coming directly from the guitar, but the amplified piezo output sounds, to me, like a good amplified acoustic guitar...which does sound different from an actual un-amplified acoustic guitar. What I really like is the ability to use both the magnetic and piezo outputs, blend them, and send them to separate amps. Opens up a whole new realm of tonal possibilities.

Out of the box, one of my ghost saddles has significantly lower output level than the other five. I'm in contact with Graphtech customer support who have indicated that a replacement saddle may be required. Hope to get that sorted out quickly.

[Gordon Bellerose]

I once owned an Epiphone Les Paul that had a piezo pickup installed right at the base of the neck.
It also had two output jacks, one a stereo jack that could output both sets of pickups; the other for separating them into separate amps.

I liked the sound options, but the system was horribly unreliable. The small circuit board kept having solder connection issues.
I am considering using the Ghost system in a build in the near future, but am a bit skittish.

[Rick Ward]

Really nice work Andy.. that couldn't have been easy to build. I'm still doing solid body's only for the moment. I'm contemplated trying a semi.. but little margin for error on those for sure.
I hope she sounds and plays as nicely as it looks.
Every time I finish a guitar, I feel like I've raised a child and need to let it go.. but sad in doing it even though I know it's for the best.. sigh

[Dennis Salvage]

Sweet!

[Andy Bounsall]

Thanks Dennis.

Rick, I know that feeling. I'm keeping this one around for a while though.

To follow up on the saddle with lower output...I contacted Graphtech, explained the problem and provided a copy of my receipt. They sent out TWO replacement saddles immediately. No questions. No hassles. Great customer support and, best of all, they're Canadian! You've got to love companies like that.

[Gerry Beckles]

Andy,
That matching control cover and that headstock shape really appeal to me. Excellent job!

[Andy Bounsall]

Thanks Gerry.