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curtisa

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Everything posted by curtisa

  1. I don't post on here nearly as much as I should, but just wanted to note that this is a fascinating build, Andy. I have to constantly remind myself to look for references in your photos to verify that this thing is about the size of a box of matches. The little person is certainly lucky to be inheriting such an exquisite gift.
  2. Here you go - (inspired by) the Fender Paranormal Super-sonic: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SupSonParBS--squier-paranormal-super-sonic-electric-guitar-blue-sparkle-with-pearloid-pickguard
  3. Where was it downloaded from? I suspect it's more of a mish-mash of various ideas rather than a template of a genuine Fender product.
  4. On second thought, that wouldn't work anyway. To flip the saddle around means that the 'mirror' axis that the saddle flips around is the screw hole that the intonation adjuster passes through. To get normal Gibson spacing on the saddles each notch needs to be directly above the screw hole, but doing so means that the spacing will not change if you flip it around 180 degrees. If you offset the saddle notch slightly to one side of the screw adjuster hole you can then get your wider spacing by flipping the saddle, but at the expense of then making the un-flipped notch narrower than the regular Gibson spacing. The only way to get the un-flipped saddle to sit in the correct position for Gibson spacing with an offset notch is to machine a custom Tune-o-matic frame that has all the intonation screws at slightly offset spacings, which is kinda defeating the purpose of the simplicity of your proposal. No - the only way this can work is to either use un-notched saddles and notch the required string spacing in them yourself, or invest in a adjustable roller bridge like the Schaller STM.
  5. Maybe your personal experience differs, but I can't find a lot of evidence of people complaining that the roller saddles move unexpectedly on the Schaller STM bridge when tuning or using a vibrato? I guess the other drawback with the adjustable string spacing STM bridge is that as you widen the spacing you're also increasing the string radius. Shop Solo Pro Nashville Style Tune-o-matic Bridge With Un-notched Saddles Online (solomusicgear.com) Guitar Bridge (Unnotched) - Grover Trophy (grotro.com) Except that if you do need to eke a little more intonation adjustment range out of the saddles you can no longer do so by flipping the saddle around because you'd change the string spacing. Plus as a builder you only get two fixed string spacings to choose from. Maybe the demand for it isn't there? Guitarists are a fickle bunch and will generally balk at messing with their favourite recipes for traditional designs. A lot of people may consider a Tune-o-matic bridge with an esoteric, non-standard string spacing as kinda heretical As you say, the easiest option is to use a Tune-o-matic bridge with un-notched saddles (or make your own?) and notch them with the spacing you want - see links above, but I'm sure there are other options out there.
  6. Are you wiring it up as per EMGs original outline? Note that this is not the typical way a standard humbucker is connected (from the Electrosmash website): Note that the midpoint of the two humbucker coils are connected to ground, which is unusual for a normal humbucker in a typical (passive) guitar. Not shown in the diagram, but the polarity of the coils is important as well, as it relies on the two outputs of each coil to be in anti-phase with each other. You may have to experiment with the wiring of your pickup to get the right polarity for each coil.
  7. The bulk of the noise cancellation in the EMGs will be largely due to the differential configuration of the integrated opamp. You should see similar noise immunity just by building your version of the preamp. You can experiment with additional shielding if you want but I suspect the difference won't be as much compared to the inherent noise rejection of the preamp. It certainly wont make it worse. Whatever shielding you do chose to experiment with, connect it to ground.
  8. Another approach you can take if front/back alignment is an issue is to avoid trying to do it in the first place. When you think about it, there's only a handful of machining operations you actually need to do on the rear of a solid body guitar - the control cavity, the spring cavity for a trem (if present) and the belly cut. 75% of the work is entirely from the front. You could do the pickup cavities, neck pocket, pot/switch holes, bridge holes/cavity and body outline to a depth of 10mm or so from the front, cut away the half-machined body from the blank using a bandsaw and then use a bearing bit on the router table to remove the remainder of the body outline manually. Alignment of the body edges from front to back would then be a non-issue. The rear operations can then be done separately without having to worry about getting alignment perfect - It probably isn't a huge issue if the control cavity is off by 1/8" compared to the front, and the belly cut could be done entirely by hand using a rasp if you really wanted.
  9. Given you say the amp cut out the moment you stepped on the Metal Zone, I'd be focussing more on the pedal or the leads as the issue first.
  10. If all the axis does is move forwards and backwards between the same two points all you'll likely see is that the overall motion will be shorter than expected by the backlash amount. A tool moving in a 1" square pattern might come out with 0.98" edges for example. But of course we do all sorts of weird curvy motions when CNC-ing a guitar body, so it gets weirderer quickly. Depending on the software it might be able to enter backlash compensation values if you know how sloppy the machine might be. The software will then add extra steps to each change of direction to pick up the missing slack in the background. But you have to know what that slack is to begin with, which may be non-trivial to establish if you can't get your hands on the equipment to measure it with.
  11. Only that a shallower hole from each side runs less risk of being out of square than a single deep hole all the way through. I should add that when I make the holes for the locating pins they're only 10mm or so deep. The pins are more like short nubs sticking up out of the fixture board.
  12. Not suggesting there's anything wrong with adding limit switches to improve accuracy - it certainly does just that. But there may be some confusion as to what a repeatable home position actually does compared to backlash. Backlash is primarily what happens when an axis reverses direction and there's a dead spot in the rotation of the stepper motor before the axis starts moving in response to the stepper's rotation. Imagine the tool is at X=0. The software tells the machine to go to X=1. The axis motor turns, but because theres a bit of slop somewhere (loose coupling, stretchy belts, slogged-out leadscrews etc) the first couple of rotational steps of the motor does nothing to the axis until the slop takes up, and only then the axis starts moving. It eventually only makes it to X=0.98 but the software thinks it's at X=1. Depending on how bad the backlash is, including if it's asymmetric, the error can compound the further the tool moves from the starting position. Adding home/limit switches makes home consistent, but doesn't help once the tool needs to move away from home.
  13. Limit switches will only provide a relative reference for your machine for all subsequent operations. There are a lot of other ways for a front/back operation to fall out of alignment that limit switches alone will not correct: Backlash on axes (if any) cannot be compensated using limit switches and may result in the tool being further away from the commanded position than the CNC software thinks it is, which will translate to misalignment from front to back when the workpiece is flipped over. If the north-south travel (Y) is not perfectly perpendicular to the east-west (X) travel you'll see misalignment. Same problem will exist if the Z-axis is not perfectly perpendicular to the CNC bed. Rigidity of the CNC frame and components (and any flex in the tool, particularly if it's long and sticks out a long way from the spindle) will upset front/back alignment You don't mention which kind of Shapeoko you're using, but I wouldn't trust any of the versions that use belts to be extremely reliable for this kind of work. Belts may stretch over time which will ruin repeatability and hence front/back alignment. Ball screws will yield more accurate, repeatable results for this kind of work. etc... Many ways to skin the cat, but here's how I do it (assuming I've dialed in as much perpendicularity, rigidity and squareness into the machine before starting): I use a dedicated fixture board that is rigidly bolted to the bed such that it cannot move. A simple G-code is used to machine four locating holes into the board at each corner outside the perimeter of the body that will be machined, plus a centre line is machined into the fixture board (MDF is OK). This only needs to be done once. Using a sharp vee bit (60deg tip angle) I align the CNC tool tip with the bottom of the centre line on the fixture board and touch off X and Y axes as accurately as I can. Do not power-off or reset the machine. Take body blank (assuming it's already as flat as possible with front/back faces as co-planar as possible) and mark a centre line. Extend the ends of the centre line down the edges too. Remove the vee bit from the machine and clamp body blank on table, lining up the centre line marked on the blank with the centre line on the fixture board. Install bit into spindle and touch off Z axis on the body blank. Using the same code that generated the four locating pins in the fixture board (step 1) machine four matching locating holes into the body blank. Remove the body blank from the CNC and install four pins (eg dowells, steel pins etc) into the four locating holes and align them with the four holes in the fixture board. They need to be a snug fit. Run the same code that made the four pin holes in step 6 on the other side of the body blank. Machine the body blank using your required tools and operations (can be either front or back - take your pick). Once done flip the blank over, install the four pins on the other side and clamp to fixture board. Machine the opposite side of the body blank using your appropriate tools and operations. Using the above method I've been able to achieve alignment to within half a mm or less from front to back.
  14. Maybe there's something stuffed into the head of the nut that's preventing the key from engaging properly - some grime or general flotsam?
  15. Isn't it just an allen key? It will either be an imperial or metric-sized one.
  16. They started in the early 60s - the factory was actually all the way down here, about 20 mins drive from where I live. It ceased production about 20 years ago. I think Stanley also had factories in Canada too?
  17. Nice job on the restoration. Satisfying, isn't it? Vintage Stanley handplanes can be a real mixed bag. The history behind the US-made ones is documented very well, making dating them fairly easy. The UK and Australian ones less so.
  18. Not unless you bought two separate preamps. The Pro Z is a mono preamp, so you can't re-extract the two stereo channels after sending both pickups through it. You could replace/re-wire the installed single output jack as a stereo socket and send the two pickup signals through separate external processing if that's acceptable?
  19. Also, use the shortest drill you can reasonably get away with. Rivet drills are ideal, as the fluted section is quite short compared to the overall length. The stiffer the drill, the less likely it is to flex and wander once it's knee-deep in the timber.
  20. Only if you're comfortable with the bridge and middle pickup positions appearing at odd locations on the switch. If you swap the leads of the bridge and middle pickups on a standard Strat switch it will yield: 1. Middle 2. Middle + bridge 3. Bridge 4. Bridge + neck 5. Neck This is the same outcome as physically swapping the middle and bridge pickups in the scratchplate. The scheme I provided uses an Oak Grigsby-style Super Switch which should be relatively easy to get from the usual suppliers, including cheaper knock-offs. As @Alex M. indicates there's at least one other product branded as 'Super Switch' out there that might be able to do it - I think it's made by Schaller, but it's a slightly more complicated beast with its own unique switching pattern. I haven't looked in to whether it would do the job.
  21. Except that the bridge and middle pickups then end up swapped relative to the switch positions, which @Crusader wanted to avoid. The following will make the 4th position on the switch 'bridge + neck' using a Super Switch, while retaining the logical standard switching pattern on a Strat for the remaining switch positions. Just drop it in place of your standard Strat wiring diagram:
  22. Pretty sure I'm not. Flip it on its head for a sec - should Stewmac replace sandpaper they sell if it becomes clogged? After all, it's also covered by their Limited Lifetime Warranty.
  23. I read that as them saying, 'you're welcome to return the blade for us to assess', but they do not say they will replace it without question. The decision as to whether or not to do so is entirely theirs, and would likely be based on the date it was purchased, how many times it was used, how it was used, what it was used in etc. The warranty expressly states that their products are warranted '...to be free from defects in materials and workmanship, under normal use and maintenance, for the lifetime of the product... (emphasis mine). That means that the warranty only applies for the duration that the product is expected to last under normal, reasonable use. It can also mean for the duration the product is available in its current form. So if Stewmac release a revision to the blade design and retire the previous version from sale, they have no obligation to replace the old version with the new if it fails in some way. Saw blades wear out over time and would have a finite lifespan that both Stewmac and their customers would accept as reasonable, so it's unlikely that they would replace that blade into perpetuity every time it becomes blunt at their own cost. The use of ...'lifetime of the product...' in the warranty explicitly gives them this escape route. Note, it's entirely possible that Stewmac would replace the blade for you as a one-off as an act of good faith. Many people speak highly of their post-sales service, so I wouldn't put it past them to do a replacement to keep everyone happy.
  24. I think buying Stewmacs product once and expecting them to replace them for you indefinitely might be a little optimistic. The warranty says '...for the life of the tool', not '...for life'. If Stewmac has determined that the saw blade will give acceptable performance for 1000 cuts (or whatever) then 'the life of the tool' is 1000 cuts, after which it's their decision as to whether or not to replace the tool at their expense. The warranty is limited, not unlimited.
  25. Make more use of shielded wire. Yes, it's more of a fiddle to put together, but depending on the electronics you're using you have the potential to wire the entire thing without even reaching for the shielding paint or copper/foil. If I were building a twin humbucker guitar I probably wouldn't bother with shielding and just use shielded wire instead. Or if building something like a Strat, use shielded wire in a more targeted fashion - the bullet jack cavity for example doesn't need it if you run a shielded wire from the jack to the volume pot. If the pickups come already fitted with shielded wire there's no reason to also shield the pickup cavities or the wiring channels from the pickup cavities to the control cavity. ...or just make your cavities bigger so that nothing has a chance to touch a grounded portion.
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