komodo Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Watch around 2:25 or so . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 (edited) That was kind of cool. I wonder how you would replace an LED that burned out on something like that, though! Or a fret for that matter... Edited July 31, 2008 by Paul Marossy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 diagram is pretty self-explanatory, but would be curious to see how he actually wired it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thats so cool! Yeah I wonder how he wired it with the fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thats so cool! Yeah I wonder how he wired it with the fret. I think he must have a switch that connects all the frets to ground and disconnects the ground from the bridge so when you touch the strings onto the frets, it completes the circuit and they light up. So, I guess there must be like a "ground bar" that runs under the frets that is physically touching them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 I guess there must be like a "ground bar" that runs under the frets that is physically touching them. Yeah maybe. But then wouldn't it make them all light up? Maybe thats what the diodes are for? I'm not good with electronics so I dunno. Here's the diagram he gave: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 (edited) I've often thought this would be possible but your next one should use leds on each fret maybe red and green for the marked ones that would be very cool! if you watch the video you can see what he's doing to attache the frets and the wiring at about 0.33 Edited July 31, 2008 by joshvegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Maybe thats what the diodes are for? I'm not good with electronics so I dunno. Yep, I think that must be the purpose of the diodes. I see how he did that, it just completes the circuit when the string touches the fret instead of breaking the connection to ground like I initially thought. Pretty clever, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 Who's a clever boy then! That is pretty clever and original, plus a great clip...I could watch it without it stoping every 2 seconds to reload... Whereever you are...hats off to you... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 OK, I've never been much for LEDs but I may just have to try this one. The tricky part (seems to me) is threading some wire into the fret slots and through the board so that your frets are sure to make contact and stay in contact with the rest of the circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 couple of drops of conductive paint syringed in and then whack the fret in immediately? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 After further thought (read: more coffee) and watching the video, this would be quite possible by running a wire down the truss rod channel and having a small diode lie in the channel for each fret that would make each fret ground. In the on position, each string is "hot" and when connected to the fret closes the circuit. Forgive the crude drawing, but something like this.... _________@_________ (Where @ is the fret) | - diode connector [] - diode | - diode connector =============== - truss rod | \ - wire through neck to body switch (active) The diode connects the fret wire through the fretboard to a wire that runs the neck to the switch, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 (edited) I'm just wondering about how he attaches the frets into the LED circuitry. It has to be some kind of method where the frets are making contact with some kind of conductive material, and that material needs to be durable enough to withstand a fret being pressed into it. I don't think that it's wires soldered directly to the fret, but who knows, maybe it is and the wires are inserted thru a small hole to the back of the fretboard. EDIT: You know, I think it's really simple (after watching the entire video ). It appears that all he did was drill some small holes thru the fretboard, insert a wire in the fret slot and then bend it over so that the wire is in the bottom of the fret slot. Then you press the fret in and it makes contact with the wire. Simple, huh? Edited August 1, 2008 by Paul Marossy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Kind of where I was going - unless there is a simple "blade" style connection under each fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 See edit to my post above, I think I figured it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 So... the inevitable question here is, who's going to replicate this and post pics for all to learn from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 yeah! who? did anyone see the light up guitar that was shown on the right hand side panel of related videos? combine the two together and you have instant micheal jackson light up pavement effect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoenB Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 And what do we have here, a topic about my little project A guy on youtube sent me a message about this thread going on on this forum, so I decided to sign up. My name is Koen, almost 19 years old, student Mechanical Engineering, and a complete guitar addict. I'm from Holland, so excuse me if I make mistakes in my English I see you got pretty much everything figured out about my LED system. Well, lets confirm a few things to make you guys all happy: - Diodes: The diodes are there to make switching between the two modes possible. Diodes conduct electricity in just one way (the way the arrowhead is pointing). If you would switch the circuit into touch-mode and fret a string without diodes, then all the leds would light up. Try to 'walk' throught the circuit and let the diodes act as one way streets. It should make sense - Connection with frets: It is very easy. I grabbed a small drill bit (1 mm, yes we use the metric system here) and drilled right through the fret slot. I put the negative led lead through it, and pushed it into the slot. Because the led lead is pretty flexible, it acts as a spring system. Once the fret is tapped in, the lead gets pushed down further into the slot, but it keeps touching the fret because it wants to spring back in its previous position. There is no glue or conductive stuff used at all. - Replacing burned out leds You don't. Leds hardly ever burn out, because they are constructed in a much simpeler and more reliable way than light bulbs. And if they burn out... then you're screwed basicly Any further questions are welcome of course. But don't expect a quick reply. I'm going on a 2 week holiday in a few hours ^^ at psw: thanks for the hats off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Hey, welcome to the forum. - Replacing burned out leds You don't. Leds hardly ever burn out, because they are constructed in a much simpeler and more reliable way than light bulbs. And if they burn out... then you're screwed basicly Yeah, it would be tough. You would have to remove the fretboard to do your surgery... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Thanks, and welcome. Any pics you have of that process would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 at psw: thanks for the hats off No problem...great thinking on that...if ever you feel like applying this talent to a sustainer, you are more than welcome! I particularly liked the effect of the tapping demo...very effective. I once saw an April fools joke that kind of looked as if it were real. A revolutionary practice device sending up the fretlight system of displaying scales I guess. In this device, the frets are wired to give you a shock if you fret the wrong note!!!! Thanks for coming down and giving a heads up on it... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axemannate Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 So, I assume that since the strings are carrying current, the bridge ground will be disconnected. Does this mean that there is no way to use passive pups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 So, I assume that since the strings are carrying current, the bridge ground will be disconnected. Does this mean that there is no way to use passive pups? Not necessarily at all. The current in the strings shouldn't be enough to interfere with the magnetic field of passives - it may alter some eddys ??? (psw, speak up here) but unless I'm completely out of caffiene at the moment - I don't see a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 I guess there must be like a "ground bar" that runs under the frets that is physically touching them. Yeah maybe. But then wouldn't it make them all light up? Maybe thats what the diodes are for? I'm not good with electronics so I dunno. Here's the diagram he gave: I was surprised to see and hear that there wasn't any noise, or perhaps there is but it is slight and hidden by the attack of the notes. In mode one (all on) the strings are not connected to anything (so there is no problem), in mode 3 where the frets are activated, the strings are connected to the ground/negative of the battery. It still means that electricity is running through the strings, but very little current is required to power an LED...still it surprises me that there isn't apparently an on off click every time they turn off and on. The thing that really causes noise is an alternating current. This is DC (not pulsing) but it will when the notes are going off and on. Perhaps what saves it most is that there is little current draw in an LED and very low voltage (otherwise you would feel a tingle ) and with every fret you are switching between one lit LED and another so not really changing the load and creating a pulse that might be heard in the strings. People often find for instance that if they use a clock circuit to run a "light show" kind of effect (say that sequentially ran the lights up and down the neck or changed colors by reversing currents and such) that you do get noise, even if not connected to the strings. Still, it seems to work out ok and it is similar to the fretlight so perhaps it isn't the problem it would at first appear. Personally, I am a bit old for the "light show" thing, but I imagine there was a time when such things appeal. In the sustainer thing, I was always adding LED's so the driver or something would light up when activated and there was a thread here that installed lights into the poles of a pickup with some success as well. I kind of feel a little embarrassed by my original sustainer guitar as the LED gives off a pretty powerful light (and probably wastes valuable power. Still, it is fun to watch and very cleverly done! pete PS...it may be possible to rejig this project to eliminate a lot of these resistors, perhaps use a single master pull down resistor or a regulator. The extra special part of this is the additional diodes on each fret which allows for the individual light thing to work...stroke of genius. If you wanted to get a little strange with it, you could use bicolor LED's that operate in both voltage directions to create different colours...perhaps there is a way to have all on but the colours change on the fretted LED's...hmmm...LED's are fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 (edited) KPcrash I found it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZl8sYqJZgg...758&index=7 Obviously it's not the most pretty piece of luthiery (i'd love to see the flatness of the screwed down perspex fret board after he tightens the trussrod!) but I think you could do some fun stuff with the concept! Not sure if this constitutes a thread hijack.... Edited August 2, 2008 by joshvegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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