LightninMike Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 (edited) So I've been posting here for a while and it struck me that i might come across as another guy who never shares his work.... enough of that... Around 11 years ago, i heard the difference between two guitars at a show... I sat down at set break with each one on a knee... long story short, the only difference was that the one had a unity gain buffer on board.... Soooo, i set out the next day and bought the Anderson DIY guitar projects book and designed my own on board preamp I got together with Pat up at Resurrection Guitars and was just going to buy a neck and leave... a few hours later, we had designed my neck.... I too the neck up to Ohio to my Father's workshop and we built the body around the neck.... All in all, it was a very adventurous project for someone who didn't even know how to TUNE a guitar, let alone PLAY one.... some things i would do completely different, but i would not change how i went about it in the slightest The body is made of Cocobolo, Red Oak and Kingwood.... The neck is Maple and Mahogany laminates with a Pau Ferro fingerboard and Rosewood taken from an old opium bed (for the fans of Jerry Garcia's Cripe guitars, this is from the same stock Stephen had) on the headstock the four knobs are for Straight guitar volume, Effects Loop volume, Treble tone and Bass Tone the 5 switches are for on/off of each pickup and then coil splitters(taps) for the humbuckers the pickups are Dimarzio Super 2's and an SDS-1 Edited November 18, 2011 by LightninMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 And the two out puts are for the Effects loop - stereo plug; and the main output Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Well, that certainly isn't your average 'first build' ! Congrats - Looks like a great player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Thank you, and no she isn't a usual first build.... i tend to grade high on the curve..... part of the inspiration for this build was coming from a sound man's perspective.... i see guys have a great tone that gets lost in the gear.... or they have to switch guitars to get a subtle nuance.... enough! make a guitar that accomplishes a wide variety of tones that a player can wear all night.... you want a tele, you got it ....you want a strat, you got it.... you want a rick, sg, acoustic overtones, mandolin chunk and bell ring... it's all there at your hands..... the preamp allows the signal to come out at line level and run into a DI before the amp and then you can run house gear efficiently with no tonal coloration..... I still have to build the rig for this guitar, the layout is in to a preamp section of a rig then split going to 2 true 20 watt amps with a set eq on each side with a "W" curve on one side and an "M" curve on the other....this then goes into a 10" and 12" on each side.... 2 mics, one on the left one on the right.... mic the 10 on one side and the 12 on the other.... now you have a single line guitar producing spatial effects without gear introducing it.... yeah, i think a little bit too much sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 You mean that all those switches and dials turn down the rest of the band? Genius. Love the colours and shapes in this one. Really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 (edited) Thanks.... those knobs and switches only control this guitar, not the whole band.... the first guy to play her was Jim Hamilton.... he sat with her plugged straight into a Clean Soldano head and 4-12 cabinet.... the more he played, the more she showed him what she could do... and so on, for about 30 minutes.... when you watch a guy who builds for a living get lost in your creation, it makes it all worth while.... he handed her back and asked me to play for a bit and i replied "i don't play, yet" he then asked how many guitars i'd built "this is my first".... after he scraped his jaw off the floor, he stated his 50th guitar didn't sound this good.... Sometimes we find out the gifts in us when we just try to see what will happen.... I think i was given a gift, and intend to build another guitar having taken the lesson from this one... a lot simpler setup and simpler body style, but truth be told, i do like the horns "'cuz it's the Devil's music".... my little inside joke built in Edited November 19, 2011 by LightninMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 Nice work, Mike. It's a build to be proud of. We should talk. I could really use some help or advice on a preamp I'm thinking through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightninMike Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 (edited) Thanks...here's a simple breakdown of the unit i built with a friend back in 2000.... the diagram i can't get sized right so i'll describe it better... starting in the upper left of the picture in from the switching (on/off of each pickup) into a buffer then into the tone controls (designed around the mids) into a summing amp then either: a) out to the straight guitar volume to final summing amp and then the output out to another buffer then into a stereo plug (tip send, ring return and sleeve ground) back into the effect level volume then into the final summing amp this pre basically pulls line impedance out of the circuit so there is no tone suck by the gear, and in reality, the gear always sees full input so you don't have level driven influences on the effect Edited November 19, 2011 by LightninMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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