New Gil Yaron Bone Build -- with progress pics!

[Dr Zaius]

Drying after painting. Mine is the one in the left rear.

 

[mxk116]

Not glued yet, just posing for a quick photo.

Beautiful choice; the Eye of Sauron!

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[Dr Zaius]

More shots of the top.

 

[Kojack19]

Think you chose the right piece of wood now for sure! Looks awesome and know it will continue to look better and better as the process unfolds.

 

[Jazzandmore]

The cool thing is how the horizontal and vertical patterns pop from different angles

 

[56Tweed]

No bad choices... looks great!

 

[AD]

Here's how I decided to spec mine (fully optioned):

• Bone 59H (solid lightweight old growth Mahogany body shell)
• Pre-1970 CITES certified BRRW board
• ABR-1 wraparound bridge
• Classic Crème plastics
• Trapezoid fretboard inlays
• Thin Nitrocellulose finish
• Single ply neck binding
• PIO Custom caps (0.020MFD $ 0.013MFD)
• NOS 50's harness and PU lead wires
• Private stock maple top
• GY 8.3k and 7.3k custom PAFs
• "Typical" 59 LP neck carve
• Color: Antique cherry
• Jumbo frets 0.110“ x 0.055”
• Kluson Keystone Tuners

that’s pretty much the specs of my Bone H. I also had a ‘59 model this year and much prefer the H - it feels “lighter” than its 7.5lbs and compared to other guitars with the same weight. The weight distribution is perfect.

given the lighter weight of the guitar, one thing to consider is going with an ABR-1 tune-o-matic. Discuss w/ Gil and get his views on this.

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[Dr Zaius]

Also worth mentioning are some changes Gil has incorporated into these newer Bone designs. First is a double action trussrod which doesn't change the vintage tone, being the same material and weight of the old single action rod.

Second is the zero finish back, which Gil discusses in this thread:

New Design Proto Build - Lyra

Great looking design. How about a P90 version? Thanks. Yes.. PAF, AirGap-3 HB's, P90's, AirGap P90's and the new Lyra PU's are all optional.

www.tdpri.com

 

[Dr Zaius]

What are you guys thinking for hardware? Here are some shots of a Lyra with different types of plastics and knobs. Kind of interesting to see just how much these choices alter the visual character of a guitar.

Not sure what Gil's preferences are here. Perhaps he'll jump in with some pics or thoughts of his own.

New Design Proto Build - Lyra

ok, from now on it's purely guessing ;-) ( and I love it) these bobbins are wound with two magnet-wires in parallel at the same time, so the number of turns will be around 2.500. Doing only one pickup on the three-throw- switch, the coils will be in series, thus beeing a "normal" PAF. Combining...

www.tdpri.com

 

[preeb]

What are you guys thinking for hardware? Here are some shots of a Lyra with different types of plastics and knobs. Kind of interesting to see just how much these choices alter the visual character of a guitar.

Not sure what Gil's preferences are here. Perhaps he'll jump in with some pics or thoughts of his own.

New Design Proto Build - Lyra

ok, from now on it's purely guessing ;-) ( and I love it) these bobbins are wound with two magnet-wires in parallel at the same time, so the number of turns will be around 2.500. Doing only one pickup on the three-throw- switch, the coils will be in series, thus beeing a "normal" PAF. Combining...

www.tdpri.com

Antique-Cherry and Honey-Drop color schemes were created to complement the 59 classic hardware and plastics.
I also love it with exposed double cream PAF's.. it is such a winning combination... why fight it (-;
On my website there are photos of the last two Bone-59H's sold (scroll down bellow the two Lyras). Both are as above...
Click here

As far as tuners, both the Kluson Deluxe Keystones and the Gotoh open backs (Nickel Kidneys) are great looking in that scheme, but the Gotohs are obviously better mechanically having a tighter modern gear tolerance.

Definitely my 50's STP and ABR-1 bridge. I used the longer STP inserts for added mass at the STP. This improves the low frequency response and tightness to balance the low mass of the body. I believe this H combo is an improvement over the classic 59 being both lightweight and richer sounding (Bass, throat and bloom).

For the PU's I recommend the early type PAF's with Alnico 2 bridge @ 8.3K and Alnico 5L @ 7.3K Both with 30° off axis Flux. This set is tailored for the Bone-59H with exposed bobbins. Zebra or/and DblWht of coarse.

New for 2020 we are making a new type of encapsulated PIO capacitor which is identical internaly to the original resin version but much better sealed in an aluminum barrel.
This will prevent the capacitance value from drifting keeping the oil inside practically forever.
The other improvement is a small gap between the case and the foil creating a more musical microphonic "double tone" in high volumes which we love so much on the old PIO's.
Also, there has been another small update to the Bone-59H and Lyra potentiometers giving a smoother taper between 7-10 for "happier" volume and tone roll off in that range. R Values are also a bit higher to allow the richer highs of those models to pass.

I think you will find all those little design attributes to work very well together. I have been spending the last 7 years improving this model to a sweet spot that is very hard to beat (at least by myself). 2019-2020 especially introduced a big jump with the new 'Zero Finish' back, Double Action vintage type rod, pots and caps.
I wouldn't mess with this recipe (-;

Nice thread and thank you for posting it. Great to know people that are interested not only in playing, but in the build process too.

Shabat shalom to you all and may we have a healthier stable future...

 

[Dr Zaius]

Speak of the devil and he appears.

Yeah, the Bone 59H in the pics your shared (the one with the double creams) is exactly what I had in mind when we started this build. That's just a beautiful guitar and I think the one you're working on is going to rival it.

The Antique Cherry color scheme was created to complement the 59 classic hardware and plastics.
I also love it with exposed double cream PAF's.. it is such a winning combination... why fight it (-;

I know. That looks so good I just can't see doing anything else.

As far as tuners, both the Kluson Deluxe Keystones and the Gotoh open backs (Nickel Kidneys) are great looking in that scheme, but the Gotohs are obviously better mechanically having a tighter modern gear tolerance.

I think we had decided on the Keystones the last time we talked, but I'll leave the final decision up to you.

Definitely my 50's STP and ABR-1 bridge.

Definitely.

For the PU's I recommend the early type PAF's with Alnico 2 bridge @ 8.3K and Alnico 5L @ 7.3K Both with 30° off axis Flux. This set is tailored for the Bone-59H with exposed bobbins. Zebra or/and DblWht of coarse.

You're reading my mind.

Nice thread and thank you for posting it. Great to know people that are interested not only in playing, but in the build process too.

Thanks for replying, Gil. I know there are tons of people here who are admirers of your work and interested in these builds.

 

[jiml]

Would love to check out those new caps! @preeb any chance you sell them?

 

[preeb]

Would love to check out those new caps! @preeb any chance you sell them?

I don't think so... they are a PITA to make and we have no time to make extras at the moment.
Maybe in the future. If so they will be on the website

 

[Dr Zaius]

I updated one of the early posts in this thread to show a pic of the wood we started with.

 

[Dr Zaius]

And here are some additional progress pics from Gil.

Note the last two are outdoors and show the true color better.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Guitar is complete.

 

[56Tweed]

I'm sure you expected nothing less than perfection, but that is just stellar looking. I'm sure it sounds even better!

 

[Dr Zaius]

When it arrives, it’s getting plugged into the Wizard. Can’t think of a better combination.

 

[paintguy]

Really nice, congrats!

 

[Jazzandmore]

I absolutely love when you can see the grain in both the horizontal and vertical, that is HOT!!!!