biliousfrog Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Grimzors, don't take this to heart but I really think that you're trying to run before you can walk. From your other posts it seems that you have absolutely no experience with woodworking, guitar repair or electronics yet you want to build a custom guitar with an LED fingerboard. I strongly suggest that you buy both Melvin Hiscock's "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" & "Guitar Electronics for Musicians" by Donald Brosnac. They will give you all the basic's of electric guitar building & how they work....then you will be able to better understand some of the simple terms discussed on these forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 OK, here's one way to do it. You'll need: 10 3mm Red LEDs 10 470 ohm 1/4 watt resistors 2 AA batteries 1 series battery box for the above wire, solder, any other necessary tools Assembly: Solder a long wire to one end of each resistor (make it plenty long, you'll trim it to length later) Solder the other end of each resistor to the positive end (anode) of a single LED Solder another long wire to the negative terminal (cathode) of each LED Mount the LEDs, rout the wires, connecting all the resitor side wires together and all the LED side wires together, and run a single wire from each side out the bottom of the board - don't forget to mark these wires so you know which is which later Re-install the board. Drill a hole from the neck pocket to wherever you're mounting your battery box. Place the neck in the pocket and pull the wires through the hole - trim to length and hook up the resistor side wire to the positive (+) terminal of the (empty) battery box. Hook up the other wire to the negative (-) pole of the battery box - if you're going to use a switch, put in between the second wire and the negative side of the battery box. Finish the fretboard and install batteries. Stand back and bask in the glow of your new lighted fretboard. Obviously, I've glossed over some of the necessary operations, but basically that's all there is to it. You'll probably find that several of those steps aren't nearly as easy as they sound. Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Thanks sounds good to me, i might not know all about wood work and all that but once i got my head set on a project i cant just leave it, cut me some slack huh?, but yea im not sure what color i wanna use i think maybe blue? and im riding my bike up to radioshack today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 I'm not having a go at you just suggesting that you buy those books, especially Hiscock's. It is considered THE guitar making reference book & will most likely save you more money than it costs..which is not much at all. You can ask as many questions as you like & the people on here can hold your hand through the whole process but if you don't know WHY you're doing what you've been told to do then you won't have learned anything other than how to follow instructions...& that's part of the fun, making YOUR instrument based on YOUR informed choices. That's all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 mhmm thanks, i will try to get that book soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Oh...if it is for an LED fretboard, you may wish to consider fibre optics... Run a fibre optic (looks like fishing line) and shine an LED into the end of it, the light comes out the end... Just a thought...I am sure there are some tutorials and such on LED fretboards and such here...check your search function... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A different Brian. Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Thanks, Garth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted November 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 So i think i may have this figured out, please correct me if im wrong with a better diagram to route/channel the wires, i saw one like this but it looks impractical, i made this one on my own kinda sucks but let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiotrib Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 (edited) I'm intrigued. I'm sure I've misunderstood things I've used as background reading, so please forgive a dumb question but ... If a standard LED has a Vf of around 3 to 3.3 volts, ans 2 AAs in series have a nominal voltage of 3V (more likely 2.8), why would you need series resistors to pull the voltage down in a parallel array? Surely the 3V is good to go already ?? I just tried it with a short array of 3 3mm red LEDs, and no resistors, and it seemed OK. It's particularly interesting to me because I just recently bought a fretless bass with the side dots in the "wrong" place (betweeen the fret positions instead of on them) so I was thinking of going LED at the same time as I sort out the dot positions. (OTOH - The foptic solution sounds like fun ....) Edited November 23, 2006 by Radiotrib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 OK, Grimzors, one more time, using the same color code you used above: Does that help? Radiotrib, a standard red LED has a Vf of 1.7-2.1 volts - using a 3 volt supply without a limiting resistor may work for a while, but it's not safe to rely on the battery's internal resistance to limit the current. Blue LEDs, with a forward voltage of 3.3-3.6 volts, won't even light with a 3 volt supply. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiotrib Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 (edited) Radiotrib, a standard red LED has a Vf of 1.7-2.1 volts - using a 3 volt supply without a limiting resistor may work for a while, but it's not safe to rely on the battery's internal resistance to limit the current. Blue LEDs, with a forward voltage of 3.3-3.6 volts, won't even light with a 3 volt supply. HTH Thanks Lovecraft .. in less than 15 minutes you saved me hours Edited November 23, 2006 by Radiotrib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizzar_Guitars Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 No problem A different Brian. I'm glad there's someone who could make use of it. Ciao, Garth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted November 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 Oh i see lovekraft, i wasnt thinking about lining up the LED's that way, you dont think it will get crushed at all? youre smart, thanks alot man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 This might look a bit messy now, but I merged this 2 topics because they were started by the same person asking the same question, and there are some good point on both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted November 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 oh im sorry maiden :'( i was a noob when i 1st posted, i know better now, sorry about that, but i think this topic is very hot now and days, someone with a real good tutorial should post it up for good t ostay, pics on the forum, no links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimzors Posted December 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 I forgot to ask one thing, how do i know what side is the positive side of the light bulb? and resistor goes on the positive side right? i just got my LED's today blue ones 3 mm, it came with some free resistors 1/4 W and its value is 510 ohm, someone told me to get 1k resistors, or are these free ones included ok? oh and the power source will be....either a 9v or 4 AA's, what do you guys think ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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