Avalon

Hello everyone, just been reading through some of the last few pages here after a long absence from the thread, its great to see plenty of ppl still experiementing, building and developing, I've not really done anything on my sustaining work since i was last here unfortunately, alot of things going on in other areas of life. On the plus side of things, my original fullsize humbucker driver is still in my Blue Floyd rose, still working well, maybe later in the year when things hopefully start returning to normality i'll be able to pickup where i left off. In the meantime happy sustaining everyone, and i hope you're all well

Hello everyone, just thought i'd stop by and say hi again, got a few things going on atm, and not alot of time to do much in, but once i do i'll be back on the development, and my brother has just bought an Ibanez S series (22Fret HSH format) which im hoping i can twist his arm into Sustaining up lol, once i get the time anyhow. Hope you're all doing well and happy sustaining

Hiya everyone, sorry i've not been about, not getting anything done atm, its one of those months, but i've been reading everything thats going on and great to see it still progressing nicely, great stuff When i get a minute im going to skip straight to Cols circuit and test it on my installed driver to see how that works, i'll let you know how that go's as and when it happens. Also Happy 200 pages, its testiment to an excellent thread, project and developers, everyone who's taken part give yourself a good pat on the back, some amazing work has been done here

It looks excellent mate, keep up the great work

My only concern with the fins would be them being steel, screening is usually done with non-ferris metal, Aluminum or Copper for instance, im no expert in most thing electrical, but i would be more inclined to use Aluminum fins. Thats not to say the blades won't work well as shielding though, like i said, im no expert lol. No...these are not proposed to cut RF signals and interferance of an electro radio / noise type (this is not a sensor) rather, they are "Magnetic Shields", that is metal placed so that stray magnetic forces will use these to pass through from one pole to another, rather than through the core of the coil which is creating a magnetic signal...our EMI... Perhaps I am giving in to my tendancy to over complicate, because I can... It's hard to K.I.S.S!! As for the aluminium covering strip on the top of the coils...hmmm I am just testing the two blades to see if there is an electrical connection...interesting...there is a resistance of over 20 ohms...touching the alloy strip itself has no resistance. The blades are insulated from the strip by a thin layer of epoxy and are joined magnetically (but not electrically) by the ceramic magnets below...very interesting...perhaps this is the kind of effect exploited by Lace's aliminitone, coiless pickups from similar materials...hmmm I did reason...though I must say the final reasoning was largely aesthetic and structual...that had I used alnico magnets, the blades would be connected through the magnets so is there really any difference in me doing this...plus it looks cool and makes the thing very strong and robust? I am starting to waver against the fins...I don't know... Hehe, thats why i'm not the brains behind any of this lol Im starting to get ichy fingers myself again, i might wind a new DR over the weekend to get the ball rolling again, and then start on Cols board design.

My only concern with the fins would be them being steel, screening is usually done with non-ferris metal, Aluminum or Copper for instance, im no expert in most thing electrical, but i would be more inclined to use Aluminum fins. Thats not to say the blades won't work well as shielding though, like i said, im no expert lol.

Well i use Steel cores, i bought a strip of flat 2mm x 12mm x 1 meter piece of steel from B&Q (local hardware store) and i cut of a piece as and when i need it, then attach an external magnet to the steel.

Hard to say if im honest mate, i've only had the fullsize hum installed, and that is working excellent, the dual rail is the prototype of that really, and worked very well in testing, but its very hard to compair them in performence without testing them both fixed in the guitar. Outside of the guitar they were pretty even though, with 0.2 wire, i'd be tempted to go for a 13.5 coil, mainly based on the size, but if you're confident in getting them nice and slim, 16ohms will work well too. I honestly can't say one is better then the other at this stage though.

Then mine and yours will be the first ones.... uh boy, pressure -- better get it right then. -MRJSTUDIOS The Fullsize Humbucker is 2mm high made with 0.16 guage (SWG38), 2x16ohm coils, in parallel. My Dual Rail driver is 3mm high, made with 0.20 (SWG36), 2x13.5ohm coils in parallel. My next DR will probably be 3mm high but with the 0.16, should make a very compact driver. Good to see alot of things happening too, keep up the good work guys

Well there are two problems with this guage of wire mate, obviously its thicker, so it takes up a good bit more space to start with, but thicker wire has less Ohms per foot, here's a little example. 100 feet of 0.20 guage (AWG32/SWG36) is 17 ohms 100 feet of 0.16 guage (AWG34/SWG38 which is used on my full size humbucker) is 27 ohms 100 feet of 0.25 guage (AWG30/SWG33) is 11 ohms So you would need half as much wire again over the 32 guage, and about 2.5 times more then the SWG38, then add the fact that its thicker too. While we are on the subject of guages, my Fullsize Humbucker is made from 0.16mm wire (SWG38), not 0.18mm as i've stated previous, this is what happens when you try thinking with the flu lol, and one of the reasons i've not been working on it much (im mistake prone with the flu).

Well my Dual Rail has just the one magnet, 1 pole on the top core, 1 on the bottom, my fullsize humbucker has two magnets though, but still both cores on opposite poles, which is quite important, i tested them on the same pole, and they're not as effective.

Yes, here another pic of my dual rail next to a 9v battery (which i should have had in the pic in the first place lol): This was made with 2mm cores, and 0.20mm wire (SWG 36, AWG 32), it doesn't quite fit in my single coil cover, but its more then small enough to actually fit in a single coil size hole on a guitar. My next version is going to be bobbinless, on 2mm cores, with 0.18 guage wire (SWG 38, not sure what AWG that is), but the 0.18mm wire reduces the mass of the coil, and lowers the amount of turns needed, which together saves alot of space and has already been fully tested on my fullsize humbucker, that is working brilliantly. You can see from the pic its already quite compact, and that one is a bit of a butchers job, the mark 2 will be far neater, smaller, and as effective, the real trick will be getting it to work in my AV-1 guitar mid position, which may as yet prove near impossible, but on a strat type guitar, i think its a good design. Edit:Should also just add that my dual rail is 2x13.5ohm (3mm high)coils wired in parallel, where as my fullsize humbucker driver, is 2x16ohm (2mm high) coils wired in parallel, and that the Fullsize humbucker coils are still smaller then the DR.

Well the dual rail has always been in my mind as the mid driver, and the parallel designs seem far quieter then the serials, all my single coil size drivers have been tested in the mid position of my test guitar too, the parallel designs are the ones of mine that drove the strings and got anywhere near the bridge pickup at the same time. As for the dual rails construction, my first attempt was wound with 36 guage, but my full size humbucker is working great on the 38 guage, so im almost certainly going to use this on my dual rail, the difference in size alone is big, and so far it seems to be performing as well too. The biggest shame for me now is, to do any futher testing i have to open my test guitar back up, but i don't think i'll be touching the newly installed parts from now, i might even mod it slightly so i can test new designs without even opening it up, maybe add a stereo jack, make a special guitar lead up especially for sustainer & guitar signal output, might be an idea. Anyway, hopefully i can get a few things done this week too, im starting to feel back in my right mind again these last couple of days after a bad bit of flu, so time permiting, a few things to be doing

Great stuff mate, it looks beautiful, is it built from scratch? or a repaint?, either way stella work though, looks awesome

Well i had abit of trouble with a small speaker on my board, i think it was impedence related, so i switched to headphones, earphones and computer speakers, which it worked perfectly with, so that might be worth a shot if you have any of the above. As for the pots, i know what you mean, half a milimeter in the middle seems to account for 2v, which isn't that handy, but for basic testing (especially as a pre-amp) the voltage isn't quite as important, in the ball park will do until its driver time, it just added/reduced some of the gain added to my guitar signal. Hopefully it will come to life for you before much longer, i'll keep my fingers crossed for you

Well IC's can sometimes be troublesome, but the LM386 doesn't seem to be one of those kind (or as far as i've found so far anyway). As for the F/R itself, with the power bias control on full, squealing will be the only thing it should be doing tbh, it wants to be 4.5v, to set this you'll need the multimeter on the board, one contract on the ground (with a croc clip if you have one with it) and the other contact at the Collector/Drain leg of the transitor, with the Meter set to DCV - 20 (thats the setting on mine atleast). Now im not sure how everyone else go's about the next part, but i bias it to 4.5v (as close as i can get) with no input or output connected, this seems the best way to me so far. Have you tested your F/R as a pre-amp?, i put a stereo headphone socket the output (which i plugged my computer speakers into) and a jack socket on the in to test mine with, it really is the best way, because you can find pretty much any prob with it like this. The others are the slightly obvious things, capacitors being the right way around, no short circuits (get the meter out again), chip is seated correctly, and the right way around, the transitor pins to the right place. I would definately get it into pre-amp mode mate, and remember, even if you hear your guitar, it might not be quite right, take notice of how the volume control reacts and the power bias, as this will give you clues to what might not be fully functional. If it doesn't work at all, then something is definately very wrong, best of luck mate.

Sounds great mate, and i can honestly see it working well in that guitar, the extra distance you have available between the bridge and neck (over my guitars atleast) i think will be more then enough to have a working mid driver there, the tests i did with my dual rail were very good up until about 10mm away from the bridge pickup, when it started to interfear with the bridge, and it looks like you have twice as much room to work in. As for the board, i just about fitted the F/R in my cavity with no alterations (the two previously installed switches did help with that though), the board itself is atouch bigger then a 9v battery in width and height, and not as deep. My control cavity looks does look atouch wider, but it definately looks ig enough for the job to me, best of luck with its construction mate and i'll look forward to seeing its progress Again i've not got much to report on my own progress, still just been enjoying the mark 1 installation in what little time i've had the last couple of weeks, but im sure to start work on it again real soon.

Thats where im abit luckier, i have a little electronic shop down the road from me that sells most things other then IC's and J-FET's, although they do stock alot of 2n's/BC's and fortunately for me the MPF102's, otherwise i'd be in the same position you are. I would order about 10 of them to make it worth well (and see if they have anything else useful while you're looking), £5 is alot for postage so you might aswell get your moneys worth out of it. Best of luck with the driver in the meantime though

Well alot of transitors have different pin arrangements, so i would get a data sheet on that 2n and find the pins, i believe the 2n's are Source, Gate, Drain, left to right as you look at the flat side, where as my MPF102 is Drain, Source, Gate, Left to Right. But even if the pins are right, i don't know if it will work im afraid. A couple of pages back Col put up some links for places that sell the J201's, they might also sell the alternatives too, i would definately try to get one of them if pos.

Thanks Col for the updated info & Schematics, its appreciated Hopefully by the end of the week, i'll have this built, plus a new & improved Dual Rail to test with it, time permitting anyway, i'll let you know how it go's as and when it does Thanks again mate

I'm sure we'll all be pleased to see how you go with col's circuit. I am sure you could patch it in in front of the F/R circuit in place of the lm386 one, if you wanted to test it out on this guitar BTW. I think the mid driver is just a matter of construction, you look like the best candidate to make it happen in the short term. so go for it!!! Other than this, and the endless refinement of the device, I guess the remote box idea comes back as a possibility. One of the main problems with the box idea was that it required a lot of wires to and from the controls and the driver in installation. Most of this associated with the bypassing of other pickups. A mid driver or single pickup guitar removes this necessity and the box could provide some with the potential to try this without drilling holes for switches and providing space for circuitry and easy battery access...if it could be built as cool as some of Tim's designs (back in the page 30's), it could even be a preferable solution... Oh yes, and the bass sustainer, oh and the seven string sustainer, oh and the ultra small/thin surface mounted sustainer... pete Well i have everything i need to start on Cols circuit now (bar the lm386 side of the circuit), so that along with dual rails will be my focus for now, but im also going to be testing with another F/R circuit too, so i have plenty of options (and can test the drivers seperate to the new circuit if needed). A working Mid Driver would be excellent, but failing that, a neck driver with pickups incorperated might be a good second (although that probably has its issues aswell). So many options, and so little time

Well i've been having a ball with it this afternoon, im currently working on a track called "Rockin In The Free World" (G3 style version) with a few friends, and its just excellent, its working better now then it did in testing too. Between standard and Harmonic mode, there are no dead spots at all, the harmonic mode is working on 5 of the 6 strings now too (it didn't work that well at all in testing), its just the G string which it doesn't fully work on (open to 14th fret'ish) in harmonic mode, but i can certainly live with that. As for its construction, the cores are 2mm x 56mm steel cores, 2 x 16 ohm coils wired in parallel, made with 0.16 guage wire (38 SWG), made basically as two 16ohm single coil drivers, then i joined them together after winding. The bobbings are a top and bottom made from 1mm plastic, slotted to size and length of the core (quite a nice tight fit), then glued to the core with super glue, leaving a nice 2mm tall gap for the coil to be wound in. Once they were wound (set nicely, and fully tested), i sprayed them Black, sanded the paint back off the blades once it was dry (more for visual effect then anything), then mounted it on a bent up piece of aluminum sheet, which forms the backing plate & mounting plate, and was basically the same as the plate on the pickup that came out of it, and it uses the old pickups springs and screws. To fix the magnets to the cores, and the driver to the backing plate, i used Evo stick, which seems to have done the job nicely. Final results are very pleasing indeed As for the mid drivers, im not sure i'll have a great deal of sucess on my main guitar, as the pickups are very close together, and seem to be very sencitive the drivers (its fitted with Dimarzio Fred & Paf Pro), where as the other guitar is fitted with a HS3 and a YJM, in the bridge and neck, has alot of spare room inbetween, and don't seem to mind the drivers half as much. So this is where the real fun begins , but with Cols circuit and some decently wound Dual Rails, who knows, maybe its possible.

Hi guys, not done much new as far as coils and circuits go's yet, not had the time, but i have installed my first sustainer, its the 2x16ohm parallel wired fullsize humbucker, running on the Ruby/Fet (with the two extra mods from Petes circuit). Here's how it looks : And: The two Switches on the body used to be coil spliters for the pickups, but i never used them, so they are now and on/off switch and Standard/Harmonic switch for the Sustainer. Im really pleased with it, and its going to be put straight to use in some music projects too. A big thanks to everyone who's working on this project, for making this possible, you all rock , and this is by no means the end of my building either, now my attentions are going to be turned to a mid driver for my other guitars.

Well i have to mail order to Maplin, but usually if you order monday-friday, in in your door the next morning, so other then the Pigme bulb, i haven't many complaints, but like you say, they only stock what sells, which isn't that handy. I do have a shop local to me which stocks alot of electronics, but other then the MPF102, they don't stock many JFETs, but i'll check out the above links, most of the circuits seem to use the J201, so it might be worth getting a few instock.

Not Maplin in UK them? Did you order the exact type of Jfet 'J201' ? thats important - also might be wise to get a few of them as they can vary so much - the tolerances are very wide. If you want the latest version of the schematic or layout, just holler Yeah, Maplin in the UK, i have to order all the chips from them, as they are the only ppl who stock them. The J201's practically don't exist in the uk, or atleast as far as i can find, i'll probably have to use an MPF102 in its place as i did on the Ruby/Fet and see how it go's (not alot of choice really). As for the latest version of the schematic and layout, any info is greatfully received, but if its alot of hassle, its nps for now mate