Gibson Ultratone Build

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Hello, longtime lurker, amateur luthier, and music teacher. I was playing some fiddle on a session last month and it really could have used some sort of steel. I have dabbled with an acoustic with a nut riser tuned in G, and I have had a lot of fun learning a few tunes. I really heard an electric steel in my head (pedal, or lap with benders), but there aren't many players around me. So I started looking around for a project to build. I like the looks and sounds of the old school lap steels, and that brought me to the Gibson Ultratones. I thought they looked silly at first, but the design really grew on me.

So that is my first lap steel quest, I am going to build an Ultratone. I am hoping to get some help, since there isn't much in the way of plans or physical instruments near me. I am learning to use fusion to make models to 3d print, and I think I have the basics down for the plastic bridge and headstock covers. I don't know how tall they are though, so there is a bit of guesswork on some of the measurements. I also have a basic pdf plan that I made using the scale length as reference, so it should be fairly accurate.

Any other measurements, such as the thickness of the fretboard or the size of the roundovers, etc, would be great! I am also wondering if anyone knew how the marks on the fretboard were made (inlayed, printed sheet, paint, etc.). I know I will have to find my way around a lot of this. I will be winding my own P-90 for this project as well, can't wait to start cutting!

Anyway, if anyone has some measurement details (or knows someone who does) for the covers so I can make them more accurate please let me know if you are willing to share. I will be happy to post all plans and 3d files here for anyone who wants them as well, if that is permissible.

Thanks in advance!

Mark

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Headstock Cover 3d Model.png

Bridge Cover 3d Model.png

[Mark Frederick Jr]

I printed the test plan and 3d prints. The headstock cover came out pretty well, the bridge cover had a little damage because of the direction in which it was printed. As with any print, I can make it more refined, but it will need filling and sanding, as well as paint, to make it look shiny and perfect. The drawing looks really good, but I think it needs to be scaled up a percent or two. When I get a better idea of the more obscure measurements I will redo all of this in one drawing so everything will match up perfectly.

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[Jack Hanson]

Those covers are very impressive, especially considering they're your initial prototypes. The original fretboards were clear acrylic, with the frets and dots etched into the underside of the material, and all of the painting was also on the underside. All of the dots were white with the exception of the octaves, which were red. The twelfth fret markers are screw nails with their tops painted red. The Ultratones were gold with white frets, and the similar Centuries were blue with white frets. Personally, I prefer the earlier styles, with silver backing and black frets. The gold/white combo on the newer Ultratones looks cool, but in certain lighting is quite difficult to see.

Sorry for how the pix loaded. Obviously, I haven't figured out this new format. On the Ultratone below, the red paint has worn off the screw nails on the twelfth fret. The refinished Century Deluxe shows the repainted replacement screw nails.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Thanks for the reply, those are some excellent and well defined close-up shots, and lots of great info to work with!

[Mark Frederick Jr]

I started a new bridge cover before I went to bed last night, changed some settings and it did come out much better than the first one. Still needs some tweaking at the printer end. I have some strange artifacts coming up, but I think these are all printer issues, nothing design-related. I think this would be functional as-is, but I still want the dimensions to be as accurate as possible. I may try contacting a seller out there, maybe they can give me some measurements. I made the cover 1 inch in height, but that may be too high, tough to say.

Anyway, bridge cover rev 2:

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[Mark Frederick Jr]

If anyone would like to try and print these and see how your printer does please feel free. I would love feedback, especially from anyone who has handled an original. Just keep in mind these are draft examples, I do plan on refining the items quite a bit.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19lAkP_ ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ulDZva ... sp=sharing

[Jack Hanson]

I measure my Ultratone's headstock cover's height at approximately 3/4 inches, and its bridge/pickup cover's height at approximately 15/16 inches. Hope this helps.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Yes, thank you!!! That is exactly what I was looking for! Can you tell me the thickness of the fretboard as well? This is great, very exciting!

[Jack Hanson]

I measured the gold-backed fretboard on one of my Ultratones at approximately .21 inches thick (a tad under a quarter-inch).
It's about 19-3/8" long overall, 2-3/16" at the nut, tapering out to about 4-1/8" down by the pickup.

Hope this helps.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

This is perfect, thank you again! I think I have enough info to make a full plan and refine the 3d print files, I may pick your brain again if I run into an issue (if that is alright). I'm getting started on the plan now, very cool of you!!

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[Jack Hanson]

Always more than happy to oblige. Please keep us all posted on your progress with this interesting and important project.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Alright, made some good progress today! I managed to make an accurate plan of the instrument from the top, which will be enough for me to actually start cutting wood this week. The instrument picture I worked off of is nice, but the instrument itself wasn't perfectly lined up (the bridge was off center, leaning the strings towards the bass side a bit). To be fair, the pickup on that particular instrument was also skewed towards the bass strings, so they were probably just lining things up to the pole pieces. I corrected all of that on the instrument, as well as some surprisingly off-center dots (the double dots in particular). I'll link that preliminary plan here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tnnxp5 ... sp=sharing

If you open this in a program that can tile or poster print, you can do what I did. I would love to have access to a big plotter printer someday, but tape works just fine.

I took down the previous 3d print files, the new ones will be up this week. Now I have a standard model to work from, so I can make those parts perfect in relation to the plans. The plan linked above is the body and the fretboard. I marked the dots on full size, but I also included small center dots to make it easier to line up a punch or brad point bit.

I am happy to report that the scale length lines up perfectly to 22.5". I kept the bridge outline vague, it was based off of the rectangular bridge with the bridge cover screw incorporated into the bridge plate. However, all you really need is the 22.5" line for the scale length and the hole for the cover, you can put any bridge you want there as long as those two components are set.

I need to add centerlines, that is what I forgot so far.. Shoot. First time doing this, I am a CAD newb and I am learning as I go. It is a lot of fun, but there are so many esoteric details to the software! I'll keep adding as I go, hopefully someone else will want to use all this someday. If you see anything I missed please don't be shy, I want to get this right.

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[Mark Frederick Jr]

Well, I have some wood to ponder. I have some Ash, some African Mahogany, and this really neat chunk of figured walnut. I also have a ton of local poplar, and all sorts of cherry, maple, and birch scraps with which I could make a cutting board body.

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Right now I am torn between a painted body or a fancy walnut body. I would go clear with the walnut, I would probably do the blue finish if I painted it. Here is an example of what the walnut would look like. It is a clear grain filler, dark shellac undercoat, and crystallac clear. I could go with a few 70's shades of tan and brown for the covers. Hmmm.....

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My little shop is in dire need of a good cleaning, I am definitely the 'work on a project until all surfaces are completely covered' rather than a 'clean as you go' type. It is endlessly frustrating.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Alright, my apologies if nobody wants to see every little detail, but building this plan is like the actual build for me. I have never been able to do anything like this in a cad program before, so it has been extremely exciting as everything is starting to make a bit more sense. I know I am still at the surface level with this, but the intimidation of learning cad is diminished.

I added a centerline, punch dots for all pots and screws, and the side view. The pickup cavity is a bit of a mystery as far as the measurements go. I see a raised spot in all the pickup cavity pics in the middle for the screws to enter the wood, but I am not sure how deep everything goes. I will research that more, but if anyone has the measurements please let me know.

Attached is the newest plan for your perusal. As always, please let me know if I have made an error or can correct anything. More to come, I feel like this will be mostly done this week but I don't want to let myself get overly optimistic..

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SGoxBc ... sp=sharing

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Ok, I think at this point the plan is almost done. I need to figure out three things before I can finish it:

1. Size and depth of the hole for the output jack
2. Depth of the control cavity
3. Depth and dimensions of the pickup cavity, especially the center 'shelf'

These aren't really critical measurements, so I will probably just go with an experienced guess based on other Gibson instruments. If you are up to it, take a look at the plan so far and let me know if I am missing anything. I added templates for the control cavity, control cavity cover, and control cavity cover recess, as well as a p-90 routing template with centerline. On to the revised cover models...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nLJq1B ... sp=sharing

[Mark Frederick Jr]

I have finished up a scale-correct bridge cover model to print. I am going to try printing it upright this time, in the hope that it comes out cleaner than the last version. I also tweaked some other parameters, but I may also have to recalibrate my printer. I have had it for about a year, and have learned that it isn't always like a paper printer. There is always a little trial and error with a new untested print. If you see something I can do better please chime in, I am no expert at this stuff. Very excited to learn though, this is a very fun journey.

So for the new model I researched some more pics and estimated a few measurements differently. I decreased the top radius from 1/2" to 1/4", which looks much closer to me. I also raised the opening where the strings exit. I kept everything 1/8" thick, I am not sure how thick the originals were.

Oh, and my 7th grade eldest child saw my project stuff out (I am playing guitar with her middle school jazz band for an upcoming concert, so we were practicing in my little shop), and asked what I was going to make. I showed her, she told me it looked pretty but weird. And she emphatically voted for the blue instrument. So I will either make a blue one (have to choose the body wood still), or one in blue and one in walnut. I could make one with a humbucker, I have a few spares just sitting around. Hmm...

As always, feel free to chime in. If anyone wants to play with this version of the cover on your printer let me know, otherwise I will wait until the final version to post.

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[Raybob Bowman]

I have an UltraTone body and original case if you are interested PM or email me. I got it 20 years ago but life got in the way. I lost most hardware and plastic covers and fretboard in moves over the years but know I still have the case and body..

[Jack Hanson]

Mark,

I could supply the missing measurements, but would need to rip a completed instrument apart to do so, and don't really have the time or the inclination to do so at the present time. I would recommend that you make Raybob an offer that he can't refuse, which would yield an original case (they don't grow on trees) and a body to copy and rescue, which you could sell to recoup much if not all of your investment.

Good luck!

[Mark Frederick Jr]

I have an UltraTone body and original case if you are interested PM or email me. I got it 20 years ago but life got in the way. I lost most hardware and plastic covers and fretboard in moves over the years but know I still have the case and body..

That's really cool of you to reach out, i'll be in touch!

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Mark,

I could supply the missing measurements, but would need to rip a completed instrument apart to do so, and don't really have the time or the inclination to do so at the present time. I would recommend that you make Raybob an offer that he can't refuse, which would yield an original case (they don't grow on trees) and a body to copy and rescue, which you could sell to recoup much if not all of your investment.

Good luck!

I appreciate all the help you have offered, and completely understand where you are coming from!

[Mark Frederick Jr]

Overnight print went well, the changes in orientation and some other tweaks really helped. The back where it contacts the bed will need some work, but otherwise this came out really nicely. Looks like a perfect fit as well! Unfortunately I must have saved a version where I didn't round-over both sides of the opening, so I will have to correct that and do it again. But in general I think this is the one. On to the headstock cover, and I also have to go pick out paint!

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[Mark Frederick Jr]

One mystery I am looking to solve is the hardware I cannot make. On the fretboard, it looks like they used 'mirror screws', which have a small flat cap. The smallest I can find is a 10mm diameter cap. It looks like it is closer to 8mm, or about .3", based on the perspective in the pics. The other mystery is the decorative cap nuts that hold the covers down. Looks like it may just be some sort of lamp hardware. Anyone have any leads or ideas? I am googling, but nothing that seems just right yet.

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[Mark Frederick Jr]

I think I have the final version of the headstock cover, at least as it pertains to this particular model. I will give it a print when I get home and see how it fits. I also will reprint the bridge overnight for that one darned curve I missed, but then I should be able to start the fill/sand/finish process.

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Now I just have a few tweaks to the plan to figure out, but I have more than enough to make a complete instrument. I think I will start with templates, since I may make more than one of these.

[Jack Hanson]

For the markers at the twelfth fret, I've used No. 8 half-inch long screw nails from McMaster Carr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/nails/screw-nails~/

They come with a domed top. I insert them about 1/4" into a piece of wood scrap, and grind the domed tops until they're semi-flat on my disc sander. Then I paint the tops with dark red Testors plastic model enamel. That's what's shown in the photo of my Century Deluxe refin above. They're difficult to differentiate from the originals.

For the round brass nuts that hold down the covers, I have yet to find exact replacements. Knurled round decorative brass nuts with threads to match the threaded studs will work.

[Mark Frederick Jr]

For the markers at the twelfth fret, I've used No. 8 half-inch long screw nails from McMaster Carr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/nails/screw-nails~/

They come with a domed top. I insert them about 1/4" into a piece of wood scrap, and grind the domed tops until they're semi-flat on my disc sander. Then I paint the tops with dark red Testors plastic model enamel. That's what's shown in the photo of my Century Deluxe refin above. They're difficult to differentiate from the originals.

For the round brass nuts that hold down the covers, I have yet to find exact replacements. Knurled round decorative brass nuts with threads to match the threaded studs will work.

Awesome, thanks for the tip! Did you use the same for the other flat metal ones?