dude

I'm a huge fan of the Schecter Avenger shape. Very cool. Very comfortable.

Recently I've become very interested in the KAOSS mod that's been floating around for the past few years. I think it stems originally from Matt Bellamy's famous Manson-made KAOSS guitar(s). While I admit I am a Muse fan, I have to say the pad's capabilities intrigue me beyond the ability to make me sound "just like Matt." If you're not familiar with KAOSS Pads, they are a line of DJ effect tools with many built-in digital effects which are controlled by an x-y midi pad. Essentially, you use a touchpad to mess with your guitar's sound (or your turntable's sound if we're being proper). If you're not familiar with the mod, it's basically a transplant of the pad portion of a KORG KAOSS Pad (and a button or two) into the body of a guitar so that the player can control the pad's effects on the guitar while playing. A cable is run back to the KAOSS unit with the leads for the pad and buttons. The result is very similar to the Manson KAOSS guitars (with the exception that Manson's guitars use an actual midi connection rather than an extension of the original pad's circuit). It functions the same, anyway. A very helpful man named Phil put together a tutorial and a few demo videos a while back (links below). He may have come up with the cannibalization mod, too. If you haven't seen them before, I highly recommend checking out his demo vids - they're pretty cool. Phil's tutorial (with demo video links right at the top. You can't miss them, I swear): http://www.unmaintained.com/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=43 Anyway, on to business. I am considering trying out this mod, but I'm a little hesitant to drop $150 on a used KP-2 without knowing more. Basically, what I'd like to know is if anyone has ever used, built, or otherwise experienced a KAOSS guitar (or a guitar with a KAOSS pad. I understand the mini-KP is a bit more guitarist-friendly)? Any and all of your thoughts on this topic are deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance! -dude

Cool, that makes sense. Think I'll give it a try. edit: Just did the mod. It works perfectly. Thanks for the help PSW.

Hi everyone, I've decided to add a phase switching option to my H-S-S strat knock-off. Right now it has a standard 5-way selector switch with the usual wiring, on which I never use the bridge-middle position. I am thinking about switching the hot and ground wires of the middle and bridge pickups (running the grounding wires to the switch and the hot wires to the ground). I assume that this would effectively leave all positions unchanged except for what used to be the middle-bridge position, which would then put the middle and bridge pickups out of phase with each other. Does anybody know if (or how well) this will work? Better ideas?

This sounds almost like this Manson that Matt Bellamy has: ...Rivets and chrome and whatnot. He styled it after a fighter/bomber/plane, I believe I once read. cool look though. Can't wait to see the finished project. (edit) fixed information

Wow...that looks great!

What's your idea? (or is it a surprise?)

A few months back, I bought a Fullerton Brand Fat-Strat-Knock-Off for about $65 (US). According to the site I got it from (Woodwind and Brasswind), it usually retails for something like $350. Naturally, I was a bit sceptical, but it seemed like a pretty good deal anyway, so I got it. Here's what its got going for it: Rosewood Fretboard (its even level! No buzz that I can detect) Liscenced Floyd Rose (with a nut, of course) Unnamed pickups of some sort: Two strat-style single-coils and a humbucker No pickguard. Front-mounted pups and a rear-routed control cavity. Unknown body wood (its painted "metallic blue"), but I can faintly see that its in 4 pieces (a slight wave in the finish) One tone knob, one volume knob, one standard 5-way strat-style switch. Bolt-on maple neck (strat-style) Side-mounted jack (not strat-style) I wish I could tell you what it is specifically, other than "a Fullerton Brand Fat-Strat-Knock-Off," but I appear to have lost the literature that came with it. Anyway, I don't have a lot of experience with different guitars, but this one seems to be pretty good. Especially for $65. What do you folks think? Was it a good deal?

Looks great. I love the shape...classic with a more modern twist. Nice!

A guitar-builder in a lute shop? That sounds almost like how Parker started out.

Yeah, I'd try to do a body more based on the headstock shape. Maybe a cross between the Ibanez RG and the LGM Leviathan. Continuing the bevels onto the body sounds like a good idea, too. That's just me, though. It's your guitar, after all.

I like the body shape. Classic, yet with significant Rockage. Nice.

Wow. I'm diggin' Graham Green and the Happy Sinners. Cool sound. You guys got any kind of album?

I can't get over what an amazing body shape that is. Nice work!

A short scale bass...That's a cool concept.

How many truss rods did you use?

Couldn't you just split the hot wire on the Pup and run each end to a separate volume pot, and then run each output from those to one of the outside lugs on a simple on/on toggle? The center lug would then go to the output jack and then to ground. The toggle would pick which one of the volume pots you were using. Your double-volume idea is an interesting one. I hope it goes well.

I switched the input jack. There's almost no buzz now. Thanks for the help! CMA, I'm really not the person to ask how it sounds. It sounds good to me, but my experience in this area is extremely lacking (I've never owned an amp before). It was a fun project, though. Good way to kill an afternoon.

Thanks. I did notice that there was less buzz downstairs, so Samba is probably right. As for JoeAArthur's hypothesis, I'm going to try that, too, though it doesn't make sense to me. I thought the signal coming from a guitar was an alternating current, and therefore it shouldn't matter which contact goes where. But, You undoubtedly know a lot more about this than I do, and it really isn't any trouble to try your solution, so I'll go for it. Thanks! (Edited a spelling error)

I just built a ruby amp the other day (go to http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html for a schematic) and it works well save for a LOT of buzz. I imagine if I ground the metal box I've got it in it will help, and also the pot cases, but I'm not sure that's it. For one thing, the buzz gets louder when I touch the strings or anything else connected to the ground in the circuit. Anybody know what to do to fix it?

A hollowbody/chambered strat? Cool.

If it doesn't look right to you, just change it to suit your taste. It's your guitar, right?

I realize this is doubtlessly answered repeatedly throughout this thread, but seeing as how there are 191 pages, I hope you'll forgive me. So, here goes: What is the advantage of using multiple cores on a sustainer?

Thanks for the help.

switchable