What Is Goin' On Here?

[axxion]

This is the R480... taking after the Rickenbacker with the same model number:

You know, this is one of the few Zacharies I could actually see myself wanting.

But anyways, here's my question. Take a look at the control cavity:

What the heck is going on with all those components? Is that some kind of fancy cyclindrical capacitor? There's definately a resistor in there too...

Maybe some kind of high/low pass filter methinks... taken after the BMP tone control?

Hmm....

Site says that the controls are just 3 way selector and coil tap switch... see The R450 Page

Hmm... anyone know the standard controls on a Ric 480? It's not on the Ric site and google doesn't help...

[SwedishLuthier]

My guess:

A big fat over sized, over prized fancy tone capasitor and a treble bleed on the volume pot

[Rick500]

Cavities are probably shaped that way because it was easier to drill four big holes than haul out the router.

Edited April 2, 2009 by Rick500

[axxion]

My guess:

A big fat over sized, over prized fancy tone capasitor and a treble bleed on the volume pot

Treble bleed with a resistor? Isn't a .001uf cap usually used?

[borge]

My guess:

A big fat over sized, over prized fancy tone capasitor and a treble bleed on the volume pot

Treble bleed with a resistor? Isn't a .001uf cap usually used?

you can tell what value the treble bleed cap is???

[Donovan]

It says 0, 022, 10% right on it.

[borge]

thats the tone cap not the treble bleed cap...

[Tim37]

Cavities are probably shaped that way because it was easier to drill four big holes than haul out the router.

No keeping the cavities small like that adds mass to the guitar there for letting the tone ring though. hell any guitar builder knows that PRS uses big cavities so that monkeys can wire there guitars and save they save money that way.

i love reading his site its better than edromans

Edited April 3, 2009 by Tim37

[Donovan]

thats the tone cap not the treble bleed cap...

Oops... sorry, my bad. I confused the question with SwedishLuthier's comment about the tone cap.

[SwedishLuthier]

My guess:

A big fat over sized, over prized fancy tone capasitor and a treble bleed on the volume pot

Treble bleed with a resistor? Isn't a .001uf cap usually used?

I see both a resistor (bumble bee lookalike) and a cap (slightly larger, black under the resistor) in there. I have seen a circuit, no memory of were, that also incorporated a resistor for a treble bleed circuit

[j. pierce]

http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/4Conductor.pdf

Dimarzio documents using a treble bleed cap with a 300 Ohm resistor in parallel in the documentation that comes with their pickups.

It was the first place I ran into the concept of a treble bleed cap, and how I've been doing it when I use it.

[Donovan]

The PG main site also has a nice tutorial article on it that explains the cap and resistor in both series and parallel configurations.

[ToddW]

The treble "bleed" is just the cap when they are parallel. The resistor is changing the slope of the volume pot's curve to make it less abrupt at the extremes. Easier than finding custom log pots! With the resistor in line with the cap, you're changing how much treble can bypass the pot's resistance at any point other than full volume.

But I don't consider it a treble bleed, because it's doing the opposite. It's preventing the pots resistance from filtering/stopping some of the higher frequencies, and instead shunting them right to the amp.

Todd

[psw]

There you go...half way down are three variations....

Various Pot mods Link

Generally a very, very small cap on the volume control will make things brighter as you turn down instead of darker as it allows the highs to "bleed" through rather than becoming muffled by the pot loading down the his without it.

I generally only use the cap...last example...and good for HB guitars where the sound is already a bit darker (it can sound a bit like a coil split in lower volumes on some installations).

I didn't add anything to my tele as it is a bright guitar already, so getting a slightly darker tone when turned down a little works well...then full up is very bright. So, use to taste!

This of course has nothing to do with using multiple volumes the thing is to study how a guitar like an LP add the controls to the pickups before the selector so they effect each pickup.

pete

[axxion]

Cavities are probably shaped that way because it was easier to drill four big holes than haul out the router.

No keeping the cavities small like that adds mass to the guitar there for letting the tone ring though. hell any guitar builder knows that PRS uses big cavities so that monkeys can wire there guitars and save they save money that way.

i love reading his site its better than edromans

!!!!

Psh... they do it so you can have options. If you wanted to install stuff or tinker around.

Personally I think that big cavities have no detriment or addition to Tone. Look at strats... for god's sake they have bigger volume of wood routed out than Gibson's.

Ok.. rant over.

[westhemann]

Tim was being facetious....

[psw]

Zach's work is getting neater I'll give him that, but these ideas, like the headstock seem to me to be blatantly intended to make his life easier and cheaper while generally hyping the "features" with no reduction in price for the sacrifices.

The headstocks for instance can be built with a single straight piece of wood. Not one, not two, but three string trees to provide the downward pressure over the nut, two tuners mounted backwards and wound from the outside to make it work (yet still not provide straight string pull). Fender of course had similar ideas, except he achieved most of the desired requirements for manufacturing and use.

This kind of thing falls in the same bag...drilling holes and not putting recessed cavity covers is so much easier and cheaper...but then that is not reflected in the price. Ironically I can see a way in which those holes could be plugged effectively, but he doesn't feel the need to bother with that...hahaha...possibly a feature...but boy is that going to look messy after a short time and the pots start to fail and become noisy.

Nothing special about the electronics BTW...a caps a cap...resistors are often used in treble bleed circuits on the volume control...

Here, the holes are nice and neat...but if ever there was a candidate for a guitar accumulating navel fluff in the control cavities, this is it!

pete

[Keegan]

Sacrifices? He probably paid 5 whole dollars for that fancy NOS Russian capacitor. That shows a dedication to quality that you rarely see these days, with these silly "precision" and "hi-fi" electronics.

The open cavity is a feature, it lets the pots breathe, therefore letting more "free tone" from the atmosphere into the guitar. Or maybe just dust and air in that will corrode the pots, it could go either way really.

[Tim37]

Cavities are probably shaped that way because it was easier to drill four big holes than haul out the router.

No keeping the cavities small like that adds mass to the guitar there for letting the tone ring though. hell any guitar builder knows that PRS uses big cavities so that monkeys can wire there guitars and save they save money that way.

i love reading his site its better than edromans

!!!!

Psh... they do it so you can have options. If you wanted to install stuff or tinker around.

Personally I think that big cavities have no detriment or addition to Tone. Look at strats... for god's sake they have bigger volume of wood routed out than Gibson's.

Ok.. rant over.

umm do some reading http://www.zacharyguitars.com/ZachPerspective.htm

[Keegan]

"I have always maintained that I was guided by divine powers[to build guitars]."

[dugg]

I dig Zachary. I love his style, and I think he's correct in calling himself the worlds greatest guitar maker. I've been looking at boutique builders since the web was invented, and by my standards, no one compares to Zach. He's the only builder out there that I have any desire to emulate, at all. My main criticism of him is that his prices are too low for handbuilt instruments, even if he has found many ways to decrease cost and labor. But, it was the price of that PRS that he bought early on that inspired him to try and make instruments so inexpensive in the first place. It's almost like his low prices and the methods he uses to achieve them are an artistic statement. Also, for those of you who don't understand Celts, he's not bragging, he's boasting. There's a difference.

[Rick500]

Had me going for a couple of sentences there.

[dugg]

Sometimes you got to look past the trees to see the forest....

[Dean]

I tried to buy one of his guitars ,but he said I was not worthy...I tried to tip him $10.00 when paying,it made him mad that I would over pay for such quality work at a low price.I cried ,but he would not change his mind.Oh what am I to do? I feel violated,but thank whoever there is China so I can still get a guitar in a custom handmade price range.

[ToddW]

OK, you made me look. And I agree his site is a riot and that many of his claims are a bit silly. But it looks like he does nice clean work, and his prices aren't THAT extreme for a handmade instrument. So if you want a simple, lightweight, handmade guitar . . . his seem like a viable option.

That said, did you notice that he's only built 136 guitars, but racked up over 20 glowing reviews on HarmonyCentral. OK, there was one review by a guy who said it was a really nice guitar, but returned it. And there was one guy that mentioned buying the guitar on ebay for $850. But if you do the math, almost 20% of Zachary guitar owners write long reviews on HarmonyCentral that rate everything as wonderful. Even the "features" of the guitars, clearly designed to be simple, get rated as 8, 9, or 10. It obviously makes you wonder, but . . . who cares? Caveat Emptor, right?