So, about 2-3 years ago, after a few years of looking, I bought a mojo shell and a refined artist shell.
I initially had plans of experimenting with electronics and paint. The seller didn't know much about them, and I bought "as is," so there was a little risk that the truss rod or something might not be right.
Once I got the mojo, it turns out that the reason it was a factory reject was because the pickup routes were off center. There was also a crack near the bridge, but that was probably just from poor handling as this was intended for scrap.
I knew I had to patch the pickup routes, reroute, and maybe repaint.
Because some of the bridge parts are hard to find, and I had easy access to a cnc router at the time, I decided I would fill in the trem cavity and route for a tune-o-matic style bridge.
However, at the time I developed some complications with eye allergies which prevented me from doing much shop work. Then I changed jobs, and moving back to my home town delayed all this and other projects quite a bit. Getting settled, starting a business, and some family health issues further delayed things, and I also wasn't sure where I could find a CNC router around here.
Doing all this by hand with templates is certainly possible but the lack of a flat surface on the top complicates things quite a bit. Additionally, the flat neck angle means a TOM needs to be recessed. Not quite back to
the drawing board, but I also decided to update the design of the mods to accommodate deeper pups like the EVOs. People said it couldn't be done, but I was pretty sure it could.
Fortunately I recently discovered a local maker space where I could use a home built CNC router. And then I realized that it was going to be hard get the shell in alignment with the three axis of the machine.
So, I designed a fixture to be routed on the machine. This allowed me to square everything up relative to the table, and clamp the shell down.
Next, I machined a bigger pocket at the trem to fit the filler block. I did a pocket instead of a hole to avoid cutting the carbon fiber on the rear, and also mechanically, I felt it was a better joint than just going straight through.
(I thought about making two fill blocks (one top, one bottom) to avoid cutting up the shell, but at the end of the day, it seemed better to have a solid piece, especially going with string thru.)
Then I routed the new pup locations, crossing my fingers that I wouldn't blow thru the back at the neck pup. Its really close, though I probably went deeper than I needed, and I extended the route to allow mounting using the pup ears vs traditional fly polepiece mounting. I did this primarily because I wanted to try the evo pups and the back plate is solid- the pole pieces don't protrude through.
It's not perfect. One thing I didn't notice at the time is that the back side of the body is not in the same plane as the fretboard- the horn side is a bit shallower. I really lucked out since there was nothing critical about
being a few degrees off parallel on this plane. I used dowels to fill the bushing holes. (Not sure why I didn't just make the pocket and fill block a little wider... maybe because I didn't route clear through the back and this seemed easier.)
Then I used two sided machining to make a filler block of mahogany, leaving it 0 .25mm proud top and bottom. I don't have the actual surfaces in CAD of the shell, so I estimated the surface based on a few measurements at the pocket's corners. The extra material allows for sanding flush.
It turns out I probably could've just machined at actual height, my CAD surfaces were pretty accurate and the router was too. I made a slight inset shoulder to help hide the edge with epoxy, but I think I need to go a bit more aggressive so I can feather the epoxy out better.
Once I glued the block in and sanded flush, I routed the new holes and pocket for the TOM. I put things together just enough to see how pups and bridge fits. The nut is quite high and I'll have to work on that. But the bridge and pups worked out better than I hoped, it needs very little in the way of intonation adjustments.
There's a little paint chipping around the edge where the shell was cracked on the face, and some "extra" routing between pups where I didn't allow enough clearance height in CAM, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
I'm not sure how much I like the EVO pups, but I have only played this at low volume. I think they will really come alive with more volume. I am a little disappointed that the pole pieces are mismatched between neck and bridge, I'm hoping DiMarzio will allow me to buy some or I can source elsewhere so I can get them to match.
Next steps are to drill holes for ferrules on top and bottom. Also, I had the TOM pocket off center to account for the intonation screws, but I think I will enlarge the pocket a little so its centered relative to the bushings. There will be a bigger gap around the tail but I think it will look better. I dremeled a little out on the treble side to get a sense of things.
I'll also dremel a slightly wider depression on the top and bottom seams to allow filling with epoxy and help avoid any transmission of the seams through the paint.
Once all that is complete, I will take it all apart and prep for paint. Not sure what I will do in terms of paint, but I have a few ideas I'm playing with. It will be a little while before I can paint anyway, unless I can get access to a paint booth locally.
I realize some of you will probably consider me a heretic spitting into the wind, but the guitar is light, resonant, and plays pretty well even with a really high nut.
The other day was thinking that the original fly prototype has a TOM? I really like the graphtech bridge, but I may swap this for one with piezos.
A shame that this shell almost ended up in a landfill. One man's trash...
I'm still on the fence about doing a similar thing with the artist shell, though if I do I won't change the pup routes. It had different issues that I'll post about in a different thread sometime in the future, but I think it will also be a great guitar when put together.
So, to be continued..! Questions or comments welcome; I will answer to the best of my ability.
(edited for punctuation and line breaks)
