The Tyson Project

[Kevan]

Well, it's complete and out the door, headed to the NAMM floor (site updates this week on who and where).

Bowser- sorry man, no springs on the front anymore. I wasn't happy with that design, and it turned out not to work very well either.

After doing a little mind-meld with LGM, I came up with this idea:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010001.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010002.JPG

It's a Schaller SureClaw that's been modified. It now works as a vertical-mount, sliding lock nut. There are 6 holes drilled to the face of the sliding block: 3 for strings to pass thru; 3 threaded holes for the clamping part of the lock nut. I used the 'bottom' of a plain claw, and Dremel'd out clearance slots for the slots, and drilled clearance holes for the screws to go thru. Man, did it clamp down on the strings! In those first two pics, all the strings are .050's. :-)

Here's a shot of it installed.

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010003.JPG

String gauges are (Low E to High E): .050, .026, .018, .015, .035 and .050. I'm not trying to tune it, so I went with a nice and thick, even-spread setup.

Alex- the trem does float, but only about 1 full step of pitch raise is available with the setup I did. You can see how it's setup here:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010004.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010011.JPG

Vintage trems don't have a lot of travel, so if I take too much away from the 'dive' movement, you don't get as dramatic of movement when watching from the back. Most people will "get it" when they see it function during a dive.

Here are some other shots, with the cover still off:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010005.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010006.JPG

Here's a shot with the cover installed but unpainted:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010007.JPG

Here are the finished project pics:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010008.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010009.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010010.JPG

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/tysonproject/P1010012.JPG

Is it Driskill perfect? Nah, but then again I did this whole thing in less than 2 weeks, with no prior design to work from and lots custom fabrication (and one failed attempt). I'd say all-in-all, not too bad. No one's going to be looking at the front of the guitar anyway. :-)

I hope you guys enjoyed this.

I did.

Kyle- you might want to check this thread:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=4337

To answer a couple of your questions quick:

-Schaller= no interest/no reply.

-Gotoh= in contact with (doubtful for production though).

-F.Rose= no interest/no reply.

-Patents= oh yeah. 4 or 5 on the way. Should be here any day now.

[crafty]

Kevan,

That looks like you put a lot of time and effort into rigging up that display model, but quite honestly, I would have made a cover to fit over the entire top of the body. I also really liked the first design much better.

Here's where my old marketing background comes into play. If I set something up on my table at a trade show that looked like it was rigged up with duct tape and bailing wire, I'd never sell a single unit. I think the engineering and design you put into the setup is admirable, but completely unneccesary.

I would have simply grabbed an old neck, sawed it off at the twelfth fret (right at the tip of the upper horn on a Strat), ran the strings through the bridge at the correct spacing over the pickups and stub neck, and secured them over the end of the stub neck using some kind of fastener. It would look less jury-rigged and more like a display built by a professional modeler.

I know nobody's probably going to see the top side at the show, but it would just look a little cleaner. Less complication also helps when the people you're training get their first look at the model setup. Just food for thought. Good luck with NAMM and your potential licensee.

[Kevan]

Kevan,

That looks like you put a lot of time and effort into rigging up that display model, but quite honestly, I would have made a cover to fit over the entire top of the body. I also really liked the first design much better.

Here's where my old marketing background comes into play. If I set something up on my table at a trade show that looked like it was rigged up with duct tape and bailing wire, I'd never sell a single unit. I think the engineering and design you put into the setup is admirable, but completely unneccesary.

Well, fortunately there's no duct tape or bailing wire. Also, the owner of the company DISPLAYING (not selling, yet) the body loves the 2nd design. He's writing the check- so to speak- so if he loves it, that's what counts.

I would have simply grabbed an old neck, sawed it off at the twelfth fret (right at the tip of the upper horn on a Strat), ran the strings through the bridge at the correct spacing over the pickups and stub neck, and secured them over the end of the stub neck using some kind of fastener. It would look less jury-rigged and more like a display built by a professional modeler.

Not a bad idea, but:

1. I don't have an old neck.

2. They sent a body and a trem. That's it.

3. The owner of the company said, "No neck."

Hey, if you've got a better way to do it, I'd love to see it. Oh, and you've only got 10 days to do it, from inception to shipping.

I know nobody's probably going to see the top side at the show, but it would just look a little cleaner. Less complication also helps when the people you're training get their first look at the model setup. Just food for thought. Good luck with NAMM and your potential licensee.

True, a full frontal cover would have looked cleaner, but it would also look less like a Strat. Someone here made a good point- "That cover makes it look like you're hiding something"; a full frontal cover would have the same effect. Also, the top can't be covered- I need the trem to fully actuate.

The bottom line is: 99.44% of the people attending the NAMM show are going to see this:

http://www.tremol-no.com/images/nostringsa...attached034.JPG

They won't see the other stuff.

Plus, who doesn't like color-matched neck screw heads?

[jer7440]

I think your new design looks 10Xs better than the first. Nice job.

[bigdguitars]

freaking sweet nice job!!!!

[Kevan]

Thanks guys!

The one thing I forgot to mention is the budget for this project.

Total expenses were about $10 (1 pack of strings and a few singles).

Now labor time, well...that's a different story.