Explorer Kit

[SwedishLuthier]

When re-reading the thread i saw this.

So when you get to the electric violin we should talk about pickups...

o'rly?

I have done one electric violin and one electric cello (=by no mean an expert) and I have experimented with a few different variations of magnetic pickups for a customer with an electric violin. I say, forget it! It doesn't work. The way the string moves means that you need to have the pickup parallel to the movement of the bow. Trying to fit pickups between the strings i do-able but my experience is that it still sound like crap. I ended up using a bridge-integrated pickup from Rich Barbera for both instruments. Great stuff, great sound and its high impedance so you can plug it directly into an amp for overdriven tones too. The cello player have just been enrolled to a metal band so I'm looking forward to see her in action with a totally fuzzed out cello together with guitars and drums.

The highjacking keep going on...

[RestorationAD]

When re-reading the thread i saw this.

So when you get to the electric violin we should talk about pickups...

o'rly?

I have done one electric violin and one electric cello (=by no mean an expert) and I have experimented with a few different variations of magnetic pickups for a customer with an electric violin. I say, forget it! It doesn't work. The way the string moves means that you need to have the pickup parallel to the movement of the bow. Trying to fit pickups between the strings i do-able but my experience is that it still sound like crap. I ended up using a bridge-integrated pickup from Rich Barbera for both instruments. Great stuff, great sound and its high impedance so you can plug it directly into an amp for overdriven tones too. The cello player have just been enrolled to a metal band so I'm looking forward to see her in action with a totally fuzzed out cello together with guitars and drums.

The highjacking keep going on...

That is what i was afraid of. Thanks for the info. Good thing I bailed on the last request to make some.

[SwedishLuthier]

OTOH if you manage to create something that a bit of out-of-the-box thinking can come up with there are a currently un-serviced market that might, or might not, be huge.

[FireFly]

I figured it'd be a bridge mounted pickup like all the others. I never even thought about a pickup like a guitar's that picks up the vibration without a bridge transferring the signal...

Anywho, on this project!

I had it going pretty well. I was going to update it once I got all the hardware replaced with the proper stuff... Then I routed for the bridge, and strung it up...

See, the original Kahler bridge was made to directly replace a TOM. I purchased a flat mounted bridge instead. It wasn't until after I set the neck angle that I realized my mistake.

So yeah, I don't know how to break a wood glue join. I'm scrapping the project.

I'll probably try again once I get another hundred or so to blow. This was a lot of fun to work on!

[eddiewarlock]

for kahler you need some neck angle, not too much. Maybe with the stud mount kahler it can still work.

What's your neck angle?

[eddiewarlock]

and to break a glue joint all you need is steam and a putty knife...

[RestorationAD]

If your neck angle is too shallow recess the kahler.

If your neck angle is too much make a riser plate from an old pickguard and raise the kahler a hair.

If your neck angle is so wak that neither of those ideas work burn it in a trash can and youtube it.

[FireFly]

I'll do thw steam with a putty knife for practice, then burn it in a trash can

Hey, the parts in the guitar alone are worth the cost!

[eddiewarlock]

i wouldn't chuck that guitar in the bin

If you manage to break the joint, it's something else you have learnt. you can, afterwards reset the neck angle.

[demonx]

Just recess the Kahler as RAD suggested.

Another thing to make note of with the Kahler is you want a little bit more angle than minimum, otherwise your strings will hit the adjustment screws behind the saddles

[FireFly]

The neck angle is too far back. Recessing the trem will only make the problem worse.

[demonx]

Either put the angle back into the heel or shim the kahler.

Get some plastic sheet the same color as the kahler and route the cavity into it, then cut around it in the profile of the base plate. It'll be nearly invisable. They sell them off the shelf but the price is rediculous.

I had to do this once when I messed up the wing lamination on a flying V (slipped down as I used **** clamps) and had to hand plane the top back a couple mm further than I had planned to, so I simply lifted the kahler 2mm to take the difference. It was virtually un-noticable and the playing height was still decent, as in probably still less than a TOM bridge.

The kahler saddles have quite a range in height adjustment, so look what you have there before you go messing around.

[FireFly]

I did. Its very effed lol. It was a really stupid mistake on my part to apply neck angle before fitting the bridge in place. The neck is practically welded in place, so I'm gonna cut the neck out, make a new body out of a new blank, and go from there.

[ScottR]

Now yer talkin'

SR