Drak Build: The Sonic Crayon

[Prostheta]

I don't think that things like that are very strong in compression. Lauri at Hydraulic Press Channel has crushed all kinds of stones, rocks and similar materials to porcelain and they just crumble.

This said, ceramics like silicon nitride (Si3N4) is used in ceramic ball bearings such as those in high speed turbos. That would be unique....but would cost many thousands to produce an OFR base and saddles. I think you should do that. 

[Drak]

Personally, I would put the emphasis on the word 'white' over the word 'porcelain'.

I don't think a white Floyd would be Satchel-approved, but a zebra-weed arm, yeah, he'd be down with that.

 

 

[Drak]

No pics, but always more work.

I routed the rear cavity ledge <pinching fingers this much> too deep. So I'm gluing a piece of veneer onto the back of the cover to make up the difference.

I also made a 25K No-Load pot for the Spin-A-Split. On another forum, someone who's been down this road told me a 25K or 50K worked much better than a 250K or up pot. And that I had to make it a No-Load pot. So I took one of my EMG pots (25K) and No-Loaded it last night, tested it (good, working) and ready to mount up.

Also am switching out the normal volume pot for a specialty adjustable Treble-Bypass pot I bought awhile back.

And drilling the body for the EMG VMC control.

Getting ready to grab the gun, the last clearcoats should be going on the neck and body today. Finally...I'm really done shooting this, I so really am done pointing a spraygun at this thing.

I need to drill the screwholes for the truss rod cover too, you haven't seen that yet.

Tomorrow I should be able to pull tape from the neck and see those sharks teeth again, its been a long time since I've seen them last.

That is yet another 'disparate design entity particle' to add to the overall mix, which I haven't been able to see yet.

[Prostheta]

Spin a split? Ahhhh. A semi coil tap. I'm not so sure about the value. 25k is better I guess, so the EMG preamp has low output impedance. Parallel load might be a thing as well. I'd be interested in how this works out.

[Drak]

2 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Spin a split? Ahhhh. A semi coil tap. I'm not so sure about the value. 25k is better I guess, so the EMG preamp has low output impedance. Parallel load might be a thing as well. I'd be interested in how this works out.

Totally f'in hilarious you asked that exact specific question as that is exactly what I've been processing for the past two hours.

I think the S-A-S is dead in the water as an idea.

Why? Because I'm using a Schaller 'P' model Megaswitch (PRS). I didn't think things out thoroughly enough ahead of time.

The switch needs every wire from both pickups dedicated to it to get all the switching options, with the volume coming after the switch.

So: Pickups>Switch>Volume (Tone)>VMC>Output Jack.

The S-A-S would need to go in front of the switch and it needs the two inner wires from the neck pkp.

And I don't see any way to make that happen and give the 5-way switch the wire assignments it needs to get all the options.

So I think, as they say, 'that fish, no swim'.

I was bummed and pissed for a little bit but not for the reason you might think.

The PRS switch should give me all the tonal variations I need, so it rendered the S-A-S a rather moot point I could just forget about.

My initial concern was that the Fred would be a little too high output in the neck, but I have other ways of dealing with that.

So that led to me being freaked out of what to do with the 3rd hole in the CUSTOM pickguard I just made, that's what skippered my jibby.

AND I had drilled the hole in the body today for the VMC. There was No back door exit sign for me.

There wasn't any assignment I could think of to make the hole useful, until 5 minutes ago I figured it out (finally)

Another EMG active tone pot.

I have both an SPC and an RPC here, so it's down to which one would I consider most useful.

And I can use the blue knob on either of those. So I found safe harbor.

The RPC would be the closest rendering of what a S-A-S does, and I don't think this guitar needs an SPC, its hot enough already.

So the S-A-S is out, the RPC is in. That was a close call.

And I have plenty of room to run an EMG dual-9V setup, which I've never run before, but probably will in this one.

Now it's down to what makes the most logical sense of what goes in front of the other.

Should the RPC go in front of the VMC, or vice-versa.

Kind of a 'do you put your chorus in front of your dirt or your dirt in front of your chorus' kind of thing.

Which now means I don't really need the treble bypass volume pot either, the RPC will take care of that too.

So, nearly everything just got changed...

[Prostheta]

Can the SAS simply sit before the switch? You're essentially working with a hum in the neck, a single in the centre and two singles grouped as a bucker at the bridge. One coil of which has its own volume pot like a jazz bass.

edit: I think that a semi coil tap is still a great idea since you could assign it to coils 2 and 4 out of the five total if you consider HSH to be SSSSS, especially if you're able to use a dual gang pot. That would dial out both coils of each humbucker simultaneously. Very cool if you have a pickup option with HH active. I've known people use a capacitor in combination with the pot to make a tone control that rolls off the coil rather than cuts it like a volume pot. I would imagine that to be much smoother and more musical than a harsh volume cancellation arrangement.

I guess that a 10-way Free Way isn't an option?

[Drak]

8 hours ago, Prostheta said:

I think that a semi coil tap is still a great idea since you could assign it to coils 2 and 4 out of the five total

For one, I actually detest overly-complicated overly-optioned switching guitars.

There is effective and useful, and then there is superfluous and stupid.

This is just a 2 HB, (HH), not H/S/H. Technically speaking, there may be a way to put a 'coil dimmer' switch in front of the 5-way, that's slightly above my pay grade and I would need to ask a higher authority about it.

However, if you take 3 steps backwards, back to the primary intention of the S-A-S to begin with, back to the 'root cause and intention', that has been solved for by using a different approach. Therefore, the S-A-S now becomes irrelevant.

The new challenge is choosing two EMG pots that work well together and are both beneficial to the instrument at hand.

I looked up the specs on the VMC and that device requires 18V straight-up, not an option, where the other pots are 9V normal, 18V optional.

So I may just wind up using an RPC and the SPC, which would be 'straight-up right in my boathouse', since that is nearly my normal EMG layout I'm used to already.

Actually better with 2 HB's, as the RPC doesn't enhance lows, only highs, where the EXG (its counterpart in SC guitars) enhances lows and highs and cuts mids.

The RPC enhances highs and cuts lows, perfect for a hot 2-HB situation where an EXG would create a 'boomy' low end situation.

So an RPC/SPC is a perfect combination for a 2-HB 'hot wind' guitar with various coil attachment options available.

The S-A-S and the VMC will just have to sit this one out.

[Prostheta]

Duh....of course it is! Confusing me with this silly 5-way idea.

[Drak]

So I flipped the magnet in the Fred to reverse the polarity (you have to do that to make the switch hum-cancel in all positions)

That was a royal PITA compared to a Duncan, which is easy-peasy, 5 minutes in and out.

Got the Schaller 'P' (PRS) 5-way megaswitch wired and checked all positions with a multimeter hooked to the volume pot output.

Everything's working A-OK exactly as it should. All coil options working perfect.

Installed the RPC on the guard.

I can't really go any further until I finish the finish on the body.

Then I can mount the guard, then mount the SPC on the body, and finish the wiring.

This RPC has been sitting (new) in a box for years upon years.

Based on the PC board, its a very old one, I think maybe from the very first version they ever manufactured.

If you look at any EMG tone pot made now, they're encased in black plastic with the connector clips for easy install.

But I've been using these things for probably 25 years, I've seen at least 3, maybe 4, different versions over the years.

I'm pretty certain this one, with the little PC board, was from the very first production run.

[Drak]

The EMG tone pots get wired in series, they each have an 'in', and an 'out' signal path wire.

So you have to decide which one you want 'in front' of the other.

When I use them in my typical config, I nearly never have them on together at the same time.

If I'm using the EXG, the SPC is off, and vice-versa.

So, although they get wired in series and you have to decide which you want in front of the other...

It usually just doesn't matter to me as I don't use them together.

EMG recommends putting the EXG or RPC first, then the SPC, so that's the way I usually wire them.

[Prostheta]

Good that you know what you need....otherwise it could easily end up in that paralysing situation of too many controls and not enough playing!

[Drak]

It actually took a turn into very familiar territory now.

Its now reasonably close to my other EMG builds but with a Floyd and hotter pickups.

The VMC would have been a bit of a different fish, but not by that much.

I decided with its range of 80Hz to 800Hz, it would be better suited to enhancing a SC pickup type guitar than a hot HB'ered job.

The RPC is a better match for hot HB's than my usual EXG would be.

So, everything's' actually working out quite well, it will all be familiar territory.