James May Builds A Custom Electric Guitar | The Reassembler | S1E03 | James May Series
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- James May Builds A Custom Electric Guitar | The Reassembler | S1E03 | James May Series | James May Top Gear | James May The Grand Tour | James May The Reassembler Series
James concludes his quest to truly understand everyday objects by putting them back together piece by piece with an electric guitar.
This film is under license from Hat Trick. All rights reserved
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Peak dad content. Watched it all the way through and absolutely loved it.
Same here even tho i'm not a dad but at least I'm old.
I'm 24 and these just feel really real. I love these types of videos and shows. Just makes me feel like someone is talking to me. Makes me want to mail James May lol
I squeezed my eyes to see the brand and it's a Tokai. That's one great Japanese guitar maker.
So THAT's why Japs' eyes are squinty: to read their language.
A pretty old Tokai, I think 80ties
@larsv701 wth is 80 ties? 80s?
im pretty sure its 70s
I would say same quality as vintera fender
As a James May fan and guitar owner, this was great to watch. It even helped my figure out what was wrong with my pickup selector switch
As a child, I loved disassembling various electrical appliances. The reassembly was a different matter though.
Same - terrible - but it's one way of learning
Well I did watches!!!
I cannot believe I watched an old guy put a guitar together. And I liked it. James May has some true wizardly-appeal talent.
5 persons to film an old man assemble a guitar. I love it.
The guitar is a magical instrument, sometimes you seem to have done everything right but it doesn’t sound, and sometimes everything goes wrong, everything is clumsy, on your knee, and in the end you hear it and think, damn, Magic!
For a moment there I thought James was a good guitar player :D
Tbh,, when he mentioned 'Mark KnoPfler' near the start, I knew he wasn't. He's pretty good with a piano/keyboard though.
No, but his brother Brian is really good with a guitar!
Captain Slowhand.
I'm working on three guitars this weekend, pity I don't have a film crew to document my endeavors: putting new tuners on my Danelectro U2 56/96 ; installing a "Hot for Tele" pickup set in my Fender Telecaster Player II, and installing a Seymour Duncan Bridge pickup in my Harley Benton TE 70 Paisley. So I just needed to watch this. Gotta love James May. Still not drinking that mustard flavored gin, though. I'd go for the London Drizzle, instead. Peace, brothers.
While I've been playing electric guitar for almost 40 years now and actually have a guitar looking exactly like this one (it only being a real Fender, although Tokai are known to be the best knock-offs) it was still very satisfying to watch. AND I learned about JIS screws and the use of long screw drivers!
Not every fender shape is a knock off. You can't expect for every guitar to have a different shape. Is your acoustic a knock off of some old 1560 lute? Don't think so.
@@wayzUX No, but this one is a perfect copy.
@@wayzUX lol ok ?
Calling a Tokai a knock off on a James May video wont make the Tokais any cheaper. But good try.
@@dundun8640 I didn't mean it in a derogatory way. I'm not a native English speaker, I may not have gauged the sentiment of that expression correctly. I know Tokais are very good guitars. Having said that, I don't like people simply copying and selling other people's ideas.
I love James May more and more each day
Well blow me down and call me Popeye, I’m 73 years old, I was and aircraft maint splst in the US Air Force, and I’ve rebuilt MG’s, Triumph and my share of American cars, So I’m experienced with tools and guitars, and I’ve never heard of a JIS screwdriver. I just got off of EBAY where I ordered a set for my tool set. Thank you for teaching an old geezer something new, you fantastic Titwillow,!
Well I for one have learned a new word, titwillow is wonderfully whimsical, thanks!
James and his explanations - Master Class😀
lovely guitar and v relaxing video.
the difference between ppl who find soldering relaxing and those who feel a bit stressed when they need to solder is essentially soldering flux. :)
soldering is problematic in two conditions: not enough heat and too much oxidation. in both cases the solder doesn't want to wet and flow onto the metals...
modern solder does contain flux but it tends to evaporate rather quickly from the soldering tip thus failing to protect the bare metals from oxidation before solder has a chance to flow... for that reason using supplemental flux is guaranteed to improve the 'soldering experience' drastically.
simply apply a tiny amount of flux on the cable's end, load solder to the soldering tip and watch it flow... this also frees one hand that otherwise needs to feed in the solder wire. it is not the 'correct soldering procedure' but it's the best way of getting a sense of how things should proceed -and the results are proper.
on soldering irons like the one shown in the video, one can somewhat control the tip's temp by sliding it in and out of the heating element. a shorter tip will get hotter. in general if a joint doesn't melt in say 5 seconds max, a hotter tip or better thermal contact is needed. dwelling for longer increases the danger of melting unwanted parts, such as cable insulation, etc.
in short, components get hotter when soldering w/ a 'cold' tip (or oxidized parts) because there's more time to transfer that heat... a hotter tip goes in and out much quicker transferring less heat into the components; 2-3 seconds is great.
happy holidays and soldering everyone.
Brian, loved your work with Queen
Honestly, he did a pretty good job and I don't think I expected it to sound as good as it does so I'm impressed. You did good, Captain Slow
I canister imagine Clarkson waiting for him to finish so he could play it, shouting May, just get on with it! I love the way James goes about it with fine detail 😊
I love guitars and I love James May 🙌🙌🙌
And he pronounces solder correctly
He forgot about the saddle adjustments after stringing. The action and intonation would have been all over the place, Unforgivable Mr. May.....unforgivable.
Joking aside I loved this video, even if James is yet to recognize the ability for a clean and beautiful tone which lends itself well to contemporary jazz performances on the electric guitar instead of associating it with crudity as he does throughout the video. Someone get this man a Julian Lage record.
The historical tidbits and understanding of the working of the smaller components shows the appreciation for the design and working of the instrument if nothing else and I am a huge nerd of particularly that, maybe even more so than owning and playing them.
I love Julian Lage
I love the way you show pride and satisfaction for using the right tool for all the task :)
I could watch James May shop at Tesco’s for 2 hours and I would be beaming.
this is exactly what my adhd needs.
Relaxing video to enjoy…. Kinda of a ASMR video
BIM approves, BIM loves Japanese Guitars. Cheers James!!
The ukulele comment made me laugh out loud!! Well said XD. Love strats no matter the manufacturer. I have Squire myself and love it. Saving for an american vintage...
Bro just get a player 2. Surprisingly great quality. I'ved played everyday since I got it and it's all I can think about
@@jakesinclair7051 yes but have you seen that fiesta red?
That is very interesting. I did not know that about the Phillips screwdriver. Thank you for that mate.
Gag at the end made this worth watching 😂 thanks James
It's a lot fun to see James work on one of these. His eye for minute details and love of talking about them had me discovering that not all cross-headed screws are Philips heads. Gonna be useful knowledge one day.
James makes the guitar seem like a rather delicate instrument and for the most part they, however not this one. When Leo Fender set out to design the Stratocaster (which this is a cost reduced clone of) and its predecessor the Telecaster, he fixated on making sure the instrument would be able to withstand the harshness of a tour. These things bump into things, get wet, hot, cold and on occasion are used as a bludgeoning tool. And they survive it all. Until they end up in the hands of Pete Townsend and he smashes them into bits.
70's and 80's tokai strats are fantastic! Springy, goldstar and silverstar lines were the good ones.
james may king crimson fan confirmed
Japanese Industry Standard….never heard of that so thanks for the info. As a guitar “owner” the Japanese still make some of the best instruments on the planet. They have guitar gravitas. That is one silly tool box😂 25:40
This is my therapy
I would pay good money for a May, Hammond, Nash & Clarkson Album & Tour! 🤘
Wow, never expected James to reference Motörhead!!
a nice little video.. i played it for my engineering students :)
"Japanese screwdrivers are so hard to get a hold of in Europe. I have three of them." Peak lore
James May and the Stratocaster, a great combination👍👍 👍
1:48 ayo what are yoing with your hand james 🤨
It appears you still have one of your camera operators from "Our Man In..." Great to see James. Cheers.
never thought I would live enough to see captain slow assemble a Strat
Had me surprised for a few seconds at the end, till I saw the guy behind him.
oh james is actually quite good at the blues noodling :)
I'm here for it...
8:39 ''...and than that comes out as Motorhead''
hahahahaha
what a legend
Just imagining Jeremy and Richard's face as James explains the differences between screwdrivers.
now just waiting for brian may to build a car on video 🌝
For a moment I was like "Woah, James May plays amazing" and then, "oh....yeah, not James May"
I didn't know that James May knew this much about electric guitars
James know everything about everything.
He doesnt, he has played guitar before, but he is not much of a player
love the old man heavy breathing asmr.
Would like to see more of the detailed work. And see it more clearly too😍
One day James is gonna reassemble a full-size church organ over 5 years and tbh,,, I'm probably gonna be there to watch every episode of it.
They call him Captain Slow Hand!
More like tone hands
With the information in this video you are halfway to a playable instrument. 😆
The setup to get a vintage-style Strat to play in-tune and stay there requires another 45 minute video with many more Pythagorean references.
I ant a Tokai, those things are aparently fantastic.
James, let's see you set up the action on a Floyd Rose
I want to see him lower a floyd with the strings tuned to E standard, and explain why that was a bad idea
Just a small Comment James for nextime we used the long screws on the outside so that the Trem could pivot on the outside edges so that the Trem would only pivot on 2 screws which gave a smoother vibrato action.
I'm not even five minutes into this show and it's already WAYYY better than Top Gear 😄
wow!
Te quiero mucho James May
There needs to be some flux on your joints before you solder, It makes the solder flow and ball up instead of creating those spikes as the iron is pulled away. Even regular hardware store plumbing solder would make soldering much more enjoyable.
I use this to fall asleep.
What was that amp. I loved the sound it produced
Hine Amps - Big Knob 30w
Hi James, a quick obsessive compulsive tip as i imagine you can appreciate.
When placing the strings, you dont want to tension them from lowest to highest.
The will apply forces to a single side of the neck momentarily. Enough to undo precise work done previously to the truss rod.
There are many ways to do it right.
For example, tensioning each string bit by bit until you reach the desired tuning.
Or, the way i do it, start with the high E, B and G
And move on to the low E.
Then quicking doing D and A quickly.
This way bringing an equilibrium to the neck quickly.
You put those springs in the hard way ;P
For a moment reading the title of the video i was like - WHAT!?
2:20 :) thats why I like JAmes so much :P
watching this as a luthier is an experiance to say the least
Thats why you watch James May. To hear the difference between US and Japanese spec screws
23:46 WARNING: for those that get bumpy like a full-on goose from "nails on a chalkboard scratching" noises, SKIP to 24:12
you're welcome! 🙈
James. You have a friend here. I promise I won’t be weird about it. I like to put things together too.
You need that other May for custom guitars! 🙂
Tokai guitars are amazing. Recommend it to everyone for your first or second guitar
Electric guitar? check, May? check. Hold on, it's not Brian May, it's James May
Good to see another May associating himself with the electric guitar.
So many people forget that Brian May's Red Special was designed and built by both Harold May and Brian May. Father and son worked together to produce one of the most unique and special electric guitars in all of history. For sure, we all identify the Red Special with Brian, but kudos to his dear father Harold for setting him on the right path.
A lot of Clapton influence on show here ... Look provided by James, Jamming provided by Malcolm!
Now, just need to see Clarkson, Hammond and James have a guitar battle.
"plague of ukuleles" lmao
"It is amplified by tbe big stack of Marshalls (other amplifier types are available) and then that comes out as... Motorhead!"
🤣🤣🤣
13:00 I thought James would personally solder them
16:29 You can wrap a little wet cloth around it to help protect it.
The real question is When was this shot, capt.slow looks quite young .
James would be a great university professor 😁
James all those Cameras are not enough? We used less on the Original Happy Gilmore Where is the Drone? By the way the JIS screw driver info is important. I learned about JIS when I rode a factory Yamaha and had a factory Yamaha Mechanic Mr. Abe Wantanabe. Cheers Happy Christmas.
Why don't you have a Reassembler Playlist if it's a series???
Если бы James May собирал Гитары Это были лучшие гитары на земле С Уважением!!!
The video we need, but we don't deserve
Had no idea Japanese Philips heads were different, I've mashed an unfortunate amount of them because of that. Specifically on the crankcases of old bikes lol. At least I know now.
Love these videos. Most terrible soldering job I have ever seen 🤣
He played bette then I expected 😄
0:50 😂😂🤣🤣
and out comes Motorhead....
if someone from the crew had stolen that pick that was left alone while May was plugging the cable, it'd be incredible
No need to squint - there's a full-screen shot of the headstock at 31:44
Should have mentioned that Leo Fender single handed designed this guitar, first released in 1954
Yup, he single handedly designed it with George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares!
and that Leo Fender didn't know how to play the guitar.
@@Foul_Quince That was the cool thing about it. But he let guitar players test it and took their recommendations. I believe Leo Fender was a radio repairman originally.
@@larsv701 indeed he was!
He designed it with one hand? :O
Where is the back cover? The cover for the trem block
In the bin where it belongs
This was done several years ago. Why is it being re-hashed now?
Just reuploaded to the proper owners channel, probably.
i shall now call all my guitars "Lucifer's Lutes"
I hate soldering too. Because I'm bad at it.
Hi Becca :) Just received my first set of guitar strings. How far past the nut should I cut the string? Bit chicken and all I've done is tuned this used electric guitar.
Watch videos by Dave's World of Fun Stuff for how to install strings and set-up your guitar.
usually, i cut them about 1 and a half tuners after the one you are putting it into. as in, with the low E string, i would pull it taught at the third tuner and cut it between the second and third tuner
As Sylvester said, it's best to cut the nut around 1 and 1/2 tuners away from the tuner the string is supposed to go into. Any much shorter and you won't have enough string to wind around safely, and any much longer and the string will dangle around and poke you
You might think your talk on screws and screwdrivers boring but I found it interesting. Wish I'd known about the JSS decades ago.
The guitar is standard not custom.
The unnecessary, abrupt camera panning is extremely annoying.
looks like a 50s reissue japan dakota red strat too me,great guitars.