I haven’t started doing anything yet, but regarding the How, I got a rather good idea. From measurements, it was already clear that two additional Burns Tri-Sonic pickups would fit into the Mini May’s body. Here‘s a layout that should work quite nicely; the red lines are the additional routings that have to be done to the body. Still missing depth information, but otherwise complete. Continue reading »
Billy Nvlay’s sonic capabilities should match Brian Mays “Red Special” relatively closely. But the Red Special has 24 frets and a 24″ scale length, whereas the Stratocaster kit has 21 frets and a 25.5″ scale length. Maybe I’m overcomplicating things, but I think that the pickups should be in similar positions below the strings to produce a similar result. So how might that work? Continue reading »
If you ever searched for “Brian May Guitar” on Aliexpress, you might have noticed the strange text “Bill Nvlay” that’s part of most descriptions. It meant quite a lot of head scratching until I found out what that’s supposed to mean: on the head of the guitars, there’s a faked “Brian May” signature. For the first copyist, the signature must have looked like “bill nvlay”, and since then it’s used that way 🙂
Since I just acquired a Stratocaster DIY kit without any hardware, I’ll outfit it with the circuit of Brian May’s Red Special – three Burns Tri-Sonic pickups in series, each of which can be switched in or out of phase. And since the Chinese text amuses me endlessly, I’ll call it “Billy Nvlay”. But I won’t apply Dr. May’s faked signature 🙂 Continue reading »
Since some time, I’m owner of a BMG Mini May.
(Picture: Brian May Guitars)
A great little travel guitar. Just very limited with the single pickup. I plan to change that; that’s the idea 🙂 … and since I’m going to tinker with the little beauty, let’s call her “Tinkerbelle”. Continue reading »
Since desaster stroke, I got to cut a new nut.Well, bone nuts are on their way, some post partner will surely deliver them when I am not at home, and I’ll have to fetch them from some obscure and remote place again … until then I can think about how the nut should look. Continue reading »
The neck is straight. The frets are set properly. What now? Level them! Continue reading »
The guitar kit came with a fretted neck – but a completely unleveled one. A fret job needs to be done! Continue reading »
I’ve already had the plan for the 12-string guitar’s headstock for some time:
… now I’m finally doing it! Continue reading »
As already written, I have to modify the pickguard a bit. OK, so how do the holes in an original Fender pickguard look? … ah. The potentiometer holes would, in theory, have to be widened to 9.525 mm, as Fender thinks imperialistic and uses inch units. 3/8 ” naturally sounds more natural than 9.525 mm, but drills in inch formats are hard to get in Austria; in most areas of normal life, the metric system is the norm here. Continue reading »
I had planned to replace the electronics in my guitar kit with those from a Stratocaster. It looks like this is not going to be as easy as planned… Continue reading »