Friday, May 31, 2013

Long Overdue Post - Red Special

So, it's been almost a year since my last blog posting. I have been working (very slowly) on a few different projects. There have been set backs and mistakes. Mostly problems with finishes.
But I am finally putting the finishing touches on the Red Special. The body has been assembled.



























The wiring is a little complicated. The Red Special has three On/Off switches and three phase reversal switches. I used six On/On DPDT switches. After doing a little online research, I've begun to wonder if this could have been accomplished with three On/Off/On DPDT switches instead. At some point in the future I may give it a try.

Instead of working inside the guitar, I used a piece of card board to work on. This way I was able to avoid damaging the back of the body. This also gave me better access to the small terminals on the DPDT switches.




















After placing the wiring in the Red Special, and plugging it in, I discovered that I had two bad switches - the phase switch for the neck pickup and the on off for the bridge pickup. Unfortunately, no one local carries these particular DPDT switches. So now I just have to wait until next week for an internet order comes in.