SwedishLuthier Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 Swedish Luthier -- Me, Scott, and Carl will drive over to see you on this faery tale trip I am devising. Then we will swim down and catch the mad Irishman Paulie for some brews. I suspect that is were the trip will end though and the lot of you will have to make your own way home. All kidding is now done. Just give me time to put some brews in the cooler and you are all welcome. NO kidding! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 It's not too difficult to make up a hot wire to carve out the foam. Hey....once we're set up and I'm not longer a student Peter, I would look forward to coming to popping across on the ferry. I know for certain that anybody who has a love of making instruments can while away many a long hour over many brews. Generally for far too long, extending beyond the initial scope of brew purchasing. 5am sunrise sans brew stock is a known and much lamented fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 It's not too difficult to make up a hot wire to carve out the foam.I must be crazy. Because a crazy person just read my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 27, 2013 Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 I only thought about it because hot wire foam cutting was one of the applications of CNC I listed on an exam a short while back. Seemed appropriate. Lando: Having trouble with your droid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 I have a story to tell. Most of you should know it well. So I finished wiring up the prototype Multiscale (RedStar II) and strung it up. I was excited to hear the multiscale pickups for myself. I have built around 10 sets but never been able to use them in a multiscale guitar. (The pickup mule is a 6 string) Upon plugging up the guitar I get sound and microphonic feedback. And I am thinking great I F'd up the pickups and I am going to have to build a new set... let me check the cable first. Grabbed my 25 year old 23' Pro-Co Excaliber (used to be 25' but had to fix it a time or two over the years). Still making noise... not as bad but still. Maybe it is the wireless headphones and the RP-150 running into the mixing board. Over to the ADA-MP1 and the vintage AKG 240s. Quieter but still noise... Cartoon Network Adult Swim NTSF:SD:SUV comes on in the background. I wished it was Auqua Teen Hunger Force but whatever I have to figure this thing out. Disconnect the pickups from the switches one wire at a time hoping this thing will all the sudden shut up. I get them all disconnected and it shuts up. Of course it shut up because no load... I touch the ground on the switch and NOISE. It must be a bad switch. I had grabbed this one from somewhere I don't remember. Prototypes are built from spare parts. I disconnect the switch with a pair of side cutters. I have now successfully ruined a beautiful wiring job. By now the second episode of NTSF:SD:SUV is playing on the TV and I still can't watch as I am seriously befuddled by what is the actual problem. Wondering if the ground that runs to the bridges is bad I cut it loose. Noise continues. The only thing left hooked up to the input jack is the Bourns push/pull pot. It was brand new. I have never had one of these go bad. I do have a customer who is crazy and says they get scratchy after a while but he is just obsessive about volume swells. I touch the volume pot on its ground wire and there is NOISE. It must be a bad volume pot. I proceed to remove it from the chain with side cutters and the noise stops. Now at this point had I any brains I would have checked the input jack. Instead I decided to use alligator clips and run the pickups straight of the tip of the Pro-Co cable. Mainly because I really needed to hear this thing and I wanted to make sure it wasn't the pickups. Great news it wasn't the pickups. The thing sounds great except the pickups are too low and the prototype HBs have tabs that are too small and screws that are too short. I will fix that later. It isn't the pickups. Still haven't checked the input jack. Eagle Heart is playing on the TV. What a silly show full of retards. Since I have the alligator clips out I decide to put the volume pot back in the signal chain. It is easier to use the wires from the input jack than to alligator clip straight to the cable so I twist the volume pot wires to the input jack leads and alligator clip the bridge pickup back in. NOISE!!! Horrible mind numbing microphonic noise... I tap on the switch and it gets worse, I turn it up and down all effecting the tone of the NOISE but not eliminating it. Feeling pretty frustrated and not really getting the "Your pretty face is going to hell" show I finally check the input jack. Accidentally. I hooked the input leads to the pickup without anything else in the chain and the NOISE is horrific. Finger nails on a chalk board. Now I pull the input jack out, hook it to the Pro-Co outside the guitar and alligator clip the leads to the pickup and NOISE. It was a brand new switchcraft 1/4" input. I am using the Electrosocket jackplate on this one and plain 1/4" input jacks. A $1.25 part was killing me. Never would have suspected the part with the least amount of mechanics in it to cause so much noise. I didn't even fix it. I just went to bed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 I only thought about it because hot wire foam cutting was one of the applications of CNC I listed on an exam a short while back. Seemed appropriate. Lando: Having trouble with your droid? I thought of it because in the 90s I was an commercial electrician. And the residential guys wired a house made of concrete. They sent me out there to help them because residential guys don't run conduit, drill through concrete walls, and generally have a bad go of it. Well all the walls had 1" of styrofoam sheeting on them. We had purchased special hot wire guns to cut channels in the foam for all the wiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supplebanana Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 I have a story to tell. Most of you should know it well. ..... ...... I didn't even fix it. I just went to bed. I am only laughing because you have just written my biography! This happens to me all the time & it makes me so fing and .... it's even more frustrating because I am, by trade, a DIAGNOSTIC Electronics Technician so I'm supposed to be good at this fault-finding **** - right? So with guitars, why does it take me forever to find the fault? Give me a hi-tech Millimetre Wave High Modulation-Rate Mobile Phone Base-station Transceiver & I can find the fault in a crack - give me a faulty guitar....... And it's always the part that you look at and say "It can't be that!" so you start looking at what you "hope" it's not.... The worst one was a Daisy Rock guitar of my neice's - it had intermittent drop outs - ie sound one minute - nothing the next, completely random, either pick-up, any volume or tone position, could work fine for a day & then do it 3x in 5 mins. I changed out everything over a six-month period - even tried different pups - in the end I just gave her it back..... . Apparently to add insult to injury it just stopped happening a couple of months later..... if only I'd hung on a little longer I could have told her "I'd fixed it!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 No offence RAD. But When things things like that happen to builders like you it makes me smile. Just to know that you get it wrong even once is a comfort. It lessens the hell all of those supposidly simple wiring jobs I cant even begin to understand. As far as im concerned, if its not right when I wire it up I blame it on the invisable vampire midget ninja's that are running round my workshop (koz it couldnt possibly be my fault ). strip it all out & start again 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 that Daisyrock issue has raised its ugly head in my brother inlaws Fender strat. Intermittant faults are a total pain, Im at a complete loss as to where the problem is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 I thought you guys might like that. Usually I throw all the parts in some spring clamps, solder up all the lead wires, heatshrink everything, stick the parts in the guitar, and make final connections and it just works. Even with selectors, push/pull taps and phase switches. All that while having a drink and watching tv. I rebuilt the friggin spindle control board on my CNC with some stuff I had laying around under my desk. I am usually the guy who walks up to something and says "Did you check this" and walks away. I had to write it up to make sure it didn't happen again (the exact same way). I am not even looking forward to cleaning up the mess I made with the side cutters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 that Daisyrock issue has raised its ugly head in my brother inlaws Fender strat. Intermittant faults are a total pain, Im at a complete loss as to where the problem is. Fire is the answer. Guitar is cursed... or something is grounding out to the shielding when you stuff the spaghetti mess of wires back in the hole and hold it down while you put the pickguard screws.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 For a while there, in that story, I was sure you were going to say it was the TV programing in the background. **turned the TV off and SILENCE** SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 For a while there, in that story, I was sure you were going to say it was the TV programing in the background. **turned the TV off and SILENCE** SR Well for a while there I thought it was all the F*ing computers and TVs I have upstairs. But it is not. I do it the same way every guitar... no this was different. And while I suspected It was really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 Isn't that the thing Marvin the Martian uses to transmogrify the earth? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 They make an earth-shattering kaboom when you plug them in anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 Hmmmm. fire would be my first choice here actualy. But he likes the damned thing. It plays realy nice, but has emg singles in it that just dont do it for me. hate the thing. one minit its got sound, then nothing. or it randomly volume swells up & down for no reason. or there is noise like low gain on a clean chanel, then its gone, then its back again. or it looses all its top end & turns into a bass. But as soon as you go to take a look at it - its perfect. Anyway, What did that wenge beast finaly weigh in at ? I am sending out an Alpha today that tips the scales at 3.75 lbs, which is fairly light. & I taught " I bet that Wenge slab wots-iz-face is buildin doesnt weigh this little" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 ..>> Battery powered pickups suck. Anyway, What did that wenge beast finaly weigh in at ? I am sending out an Alpha today that tips the scales at 3.75 lbs, which is fairly light. & I taught " I bet that Wenge slab wots-iz-face is buildin doesnt weigh this little" 3.75 is feather weight. Are you sure that is not 3.75 stones I know you island dwellers like to make your own sh*t up? It is still sitting in the garage with its finish curing so I don't know yet. You can bet it will not be 3.75 lbs. I am thinking it is going to hit around 7lbs but that is a random guess. I will let you guys know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 If not stones, perhaps kilos? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 3.75 kilo would make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted June 29, 2013 Report Share Posted June 29, 2013 ..>> Battery powered pickups suck. Anyway, What did that wenge beast finaly weigh in at ? I am sending out an Alpha today that tips the scales at 3.75 lbs, which is fairly light. & I taught " I bet that Wenge slab wots-iz-face is buildin doesnt weigh this little" 3.75 is feather weight. Are you sure that is not 3.75 stones I know you island dwellers like to make your own sh*t up? It is still sitting in the garage with its finish curing so I don't know yet. You can bet it will not be 3.75 lbs. I am thinking it is going to hit around 7lbs but that is a random guess. I will let you guys know. Nope. she be light as a fookin feather. But then its made of poplar with an ash neck, so there is nothing realy heavy in there to start with. the Alpha body style might look like a normal sized gitir but the amount of carving on it reduces the actual volume of timber massivly. The entire top edge is only 16mm diameter & it tapers a fair way down the body front. gets even more carved up on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Fixed the Multiscale Prototype. Pictures tomorrow.More coats of oil and some of my usual final coat tricks for the 4 in the garage.Played the Multiscale Prototype through the Mark IV tonight. Wife is out with friends, kid is with X, just me and the dogs and we are all deaf now. You have no idea how loud a Mark IV on 3 is through a sealed 4x12 loaded with EVs. My neighbours do. The new blades sound awesome to my ears. Bone crushing lows when you chug the B.I am not sure about this Multiscale thing though. It always takes me a second to eval where I am come solo time. Honestly at 25.5-27 if you use standard tunings I am not sure it is more ergonomic at all. I find myself stretching more to do triads a step apart on the low E and B. Maybe normal people don't actually try that.Anyway hope everyone is having a killer Saturday night. Me and the dogs are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted June 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Oh thought I would add... Drop tuning the low B to A on the 27" scale is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Holds A pretty well, huh? I'll keep that in mind. I have been meaning to make a bari in my new explorer shape. That is actually what i designed it for. You think 27 over 27.5 would be any more beneficial? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maull Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 (edited) Hehe. . My wife had some minor surgery on Thursday so she has pretty much been sleeping about 80% of the time since. I kinda like the quiet to do what I want to do. That might sound worse than I mean it but I find it hard to get "me" time very often. Edited June 30, 2013 by maull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 That's why I don't worry about cleaning my garage.......that wife hates to come in after me. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.