rubber314chicken

Could be something as simple as a dry solder joint. Anything that you soldered I'd again with a soldering iron to make sure the joints are all good.

There are 4 ways that you could could coil split a humbucker:

• center leads shorting one coil to ground
  
• center leads shorting one coil to hot
  
• one of the leads disconnected from the coil (so the center set is connected instead of the hot, or instead of the ground)
  
• removing both ends of the coil from the connection (so only one of the coils is connected at all)
  

Now, unless my electronics knowledge is wrong, from an ideal analysis view, those 4 methods yield the same result, and it is possible to select either coil with one of those methods. The issue comes into play that the real world is far from ideal. Our shielding isn't always perfect, wires are actually small value resistors, and so forth and so forth. This means that each of these configurations could have different effects on the sound, in that the unused coil could still be adding a bit of signal/noise.

Is there a preferred method of the 4, or one that is generally to be avoided?

I'm looking to make a setup similar to the petrucci wiring. I've got a 2 humbucker guitar, and I want a 3 way switch that has (neck humbucker)-(inner coils)-(bridge humbucker) as the function of the 3 way. Then, the tone pot is a push-pull that only works in the middle position. It is a series-parallel switch for the two inner coils. Problem is, I'm not seeing at all how those connections would work. Has anyone done something like this?

I've just finish a guitar with the Norton Humbucker, and I'll agree that it does like to respond to noise a bit, but personally I like the sound. I've got in in the bridge position, with a Fred at the neck. If I had a way to record that would accurately capture the sound I would, unfortunatly I do not.

I'm in the finishing stages of a build. I'm doing a 1 vol, 1 tone, and rotary setup, ala PRS. I've got no problem with securing the knobs on the volume and tone (the pots are split shaft so I've lined up the set screw with the slot.) The rotary switch, on the other hand, is a pain in the butt. I'll tighten the knob down, its nice and tight, but after moving the switch around a few times it becomes lose. In looking closely at the switch/knob, the knob has some movement, not axially, but it rocks, like a poorly built 4 legged stool. This rocking it whats loosening the knob. And ideas on how to secure the knob, short of epoxy? I would like to keep the easy removal ability that these knobs offer...

I highly recommend carving the back, It makes the guitar extremely comfortable.

Use an angle grinder, and enjoy the ride. On the other hand, if you've chambered the body, that limits your options.

You can check out how I did it here, or visit crimson guitars, there are videos of back carving...

The chambering is all contained under the arm rest area. I didn't want to extend it too much because I wanted to make sure my less than stellar router bits didn't destroy anything.

Thanks everyone for the helpful pictures too.

Working on a guitar. Currently it is 2.25" thick. 1 5/8" for the back and a 5/8" top. The back is this thick to allow for the rotary switch I'm using (and the 1/4" wooden cavity cover). I did some chambering, and the body only weighs 5.5 lbs (not bad for the size and materials). Anyways, because of this thickness, and I would like to lose some more weight, I'm looking at removing some material from the back, namely towards the neck end of the body. I think somewhere in the neighborhood of .5 to .75" would be good, especially with increasing the access to the upper frets. I can thin the back a little and still end up with enough room for the switch, but its not gonna be enough.

Anyways, how should I go about working this into the back of the guitar? Aside from belly cuts I've never really seen anything done to the back of the guitar.

Sorry, I've been away. Thanks everyone for the input. I'll just make the pin more adjustable than I originally planned.

Put it spring loaded in a hole so that it indexes as much as possible.

Other than Steward-Macdonald, is there another source for these? I'd rather not pay out the ass for an oversize truss rod... I like the allied lutherie ones, but they only have allen keys it appears.

Wow, there is a blast from my past! To be honest, I don't use that router jig all that much anymore. I've become somewhat more adept at using an angle grinder for roughing, but I absolutely do not recommend a grinder until you build up some practice hours. A grinder is quick way to turn a quilt top into a pile of sawdust . I also wouldn't recommend either method for the type of carve you're shooting for on the horns. I would tackle that with hand tools. Good luck with your build!

Mike

So what method do you use now?

Off the top of my head...

-route the outer edge to a uniform final depth

-if the pickup plane is to remain flat, mark off that area

-doodle some topographic lines as required

-hog off the bulk with a grinder

-switch to chisels, planes, scrapers... you name it

-fine tune with sandpaper

I haven't done a tutorial in a while, but Jason Schroeder shows you exactly what I'm talking about in these photos...

[PIC REMOVED]

Thanks a lot, and thanks to everyone else too. That photo series was very helpful. I'll give the hand carving a shot, thought thinking about this more, I may end up doing a carve as I originally posted. We'll see what the top looks like when I start carving

http://www.potvinguitars.com/oldsite/builds/090408/part03/

That guitar looks a bit like what I'm making. Actually, my body is closest to a Schecter C-1, but its still modified to have a slightly bigger top horn, slightly deeper lower horn cut in, and the armrest area is being toned down in size a little. Its Sassafras on walnut (well, the walnut is tentative as of now pending sourcing, but I like the contrast between the two woods).

Anyways, useless details aside, I wanna carve the top. My plan is to rig up a jig like what the link shows. Except I want to change the carve on the horns. I like the PRS-esque carve extending onto the horns with the ridges. And the PRS-esque super deep carve in the lower horn. Is it doable using the router setup like that? I'm having a hard time visualizing the topography for that. Also, is is possible to use an angle grinder with a sanding disc to get that kind of carve? I've seen it done on more sweeping shapes, but I'm not sure about something like the PRS carve. Finally, in terms of cutting the neck angle on the body, cutting the neck tennon (its gonna be a bolt on) and routing for the recessed TOM and pickups, what order should that all happen in?

The first thing I would do is find out where you can get lime green flake suspended in a clear coat in an aerosol can. Then find out what kind of clear that is and base your choices from there. Black paint is easy to find and finding one and a compatable clear are easy. Finding lime green flake in an aerosol can is very hard if not impossible. If you can find it, then that is what you need to base the rest of your choices around.

We don't need to have the flake suspended from what I've seen. You lay down a coat of brush on and sprinkle it on the surface then aerosol over it. you spray a few more aerosol cans coats to seal it in then start brushing on and carefully leveling.

I'm looking at this:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-disc...uckocaster.html

we don't want as dense of a covering, and smaller flake.

black base coat and then the flake is in the clear on top of that. a few leveling coats and then it gets rubbed out and becomes shiney. I just need to know what paint plays well with what clear.

My friend wants to build a guitar with parts from warmoth. I said I'd be able to help him finish it because I've done a good bit of woodworking and finishing. He wants it black with lime green flake.

I'm unsure what paint and clear to use. I don't have spray equipment so I'll need to be able to get a few cans of aerosol clear to be able to encase all the flake. What paint and clear should I use for this?

okay, thanks. I like a slightly thicker neck so I don't think I'll have much to worry about, but I just wanna make sure that I'm not gonna ruin the guitar.

how much wood should have behind the truss rod? Just enough for the neck to not break? I have a hard maple neck that I'd like to thin, and it has the stew-mac hot rod in it. How much wood should I leave behind the channel?

Forsner bits are the best things for fine woodworking. I have one of those auger bits, and I only use it when I need to run wires and/or plumbing.

but if you find that your organ changes colour like that...seek medical advice...

hmm... I guess you are right, but something like this:

I'm talking in the front for the sound-to-light. for the side I'd do the fiber optic single led thing.

The light chaser looks cool, and I think It'd be cooler to have that running than straight lights on the front, but if you have ever seen Drake and Josh go Hollywood, they have this amp that does kinda what I'm talking about: You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnpxJPd68UI The music he was playing exactly matched the lights. I know something that elaborate wouldn't be possible, but I figured something could be done on a smaller, simpler (and more realistic) scale.

Maybe just having whether the volume of the guitar is above a certain level controls if the lights are on. What would I need to do to control that?

To answer a few questions to level them get some double sided tape and a really flat piece of wood and tape some sandpaper on there. For crowning get a $12 stewmac file and make your own handle (not hard if you have access to a router and an 1/8" bit there are other ways though) there's really no other good way to do it. I use end snips to cut off fretwire it lifts them up a bit so you have to tap them down a little. In the tools thread I have a post on how to make a $4.45 fret press that could be useful for you. You should use a sanding caul after the makers I tried the other way and messed up my fingerboard. If you do a good job fretting barely any of the tops of the frets will be leveled off. I use a random orbital sander for shaping necks a rasp is helpful too if you don't have access to the sander. Also it might be easier not to use CA to put the frets in I only use it if a fret keeps popping up. Steaming the neck off should do the trick pretty good but your glues waterproof so maybe not. If you have access to a planer you could carefully bandsaw the fingerboard off close to the neck leaving just a little bit after removing frets and than digging the truss rod out and attaching a piece of wood to the bottom and run it through the planer assuming it's bolt on.

okay, so there are no problems with cutting the fret wire like that then that would be awesome. I saw your drill press jig, and thats what I mentioned with the $5 caul.

its a neck through, so band sawing it isn't an option. I would try the steaming, but the neck is two strips of maple glued together legnth wise. Not using CA would be a lot easier. I'll make sure to just by preslotted fretboard then.

and the sanding cauls aren't that expensive... so I guess I'll have to get one then.

A very strange question...you either have a use for a trem or you don't...but TOM aren't the only options either...

well, the thing is, I'm not that good at guitar, so I really don't know how useful a trem would be, which is really why I'm asking.

and you are right about the TOM not being the only other option... but I do prefer them to a bridge like this:

I'm currently contemplating build another guitar, because I'd like something a bit lighter, smaller (an iceman has a big honkin' body), different, and something a bit more playable- which is where this thread comes into play.

95% of my problems with the iceman arise from the fretboard and nut. I bought to wood and radiused it myself. I cut the slots and used CA put the frets in. Sounds dandy until you realize that I didn't do it too terribly well. Being a poor high school student, I decided to make my own radius block, use a cheap saw for the fret slots, which is oversize, and the list goes on and on.

Now that I've started to get a bit better at guitar (did I mention that I'm teaching myself/getting tips from friends who take lessons with Neil Zaza) I've tried to set the guitar up better. This made me realize how bad the fret job was. When the action was uber high, I had no problems with fret buzz. I've lowered it to something more normal, and I got a bit of fret buzz. I probably have 1/16" between a few frets- nowhere near what it needs to be to have this guitar play good. I've leveled them a bit, but I really don't have the equipment, or the money for the equipment, to crown them, and even when most of them are level, there are still a few that are way too low. Also, as I've gotten better, my pitch abilites are getting a lot better. I can now tune it really well with just an a. No more tuner for me! The problem is now I've noticed the intonation is off- not just like adjusting the saddle kind of problem, but like some frets are sharp and some are flat. I'd have no problem pulling this board off and using a preslotted and radiused board... if it wasn't for the fact I used titebond III to attach it (another noob mistake). I'd also like to have it a little wider towards the high end- its just a hair too narrow at the high e.

So that leads my to my questions:

1) Any way to get this board off? I've seen the tutorial, but I'm not sure how well it'd work with titebond III. (Remind me to buy hide glue before I start the next guitar) I'd like to be able to get the neck thinner (another noob mistake) and put a new board on, but I can't for the life of me remember how deep the slot I cut is, and I don't wanna learn the hard way.

2) If I buy a preslotted board and a $5 brass caul to press the frets in with no adhesive, how much leveling/crowning will I be left with, and how would I be able to go about this without having to spend a lot of money on files and the what not? I have a dremel, so I can use that, but I'm not sure how good it'd be for this purpose.

3) The nut- once again, don't wanna spend a lot of money on tools here. I'd like to be able to get it low enough, but not too low. What is the best way of adjusting this?

4) Binding- I love the look and feel of a bound neck. The problem is that when I put the frets in I would have an occasional spot where the binding would break. I trimmed the tang of the fret down (probably a bit too much) so how can I avoid this? Any tutorials for this?

5) Trimming the frets- once I have the frets in, I cut them with a dremel last time. I think this wasn't the best because it probably pulled them a little and weakened the CA with the heat. I have tools to cut them close, but what is a good (inexpensive) file I can use to get them flush, and then to cut the bevel on the side?

6) Fret markers- if I get a pre radiused board, and I install fretmarkers, how should I go about leveling them without messing up the radius? Do I really need to have a radius block for that, or can I get away with a block of wood with sandpaper on it?

Anything else a beginner should know about fretting and the related tasks? I'd like to know, so I can do this right. I can't think of anything else to ask, but I'm sure there is a lot more I should know.

edit- what tool would be best for thinning the neck? I have a cheapo block plane and jack plane, but they don't work too well- they need to be sharpened. Would that be better than sandpaper, or a belt sander?

I can't believe this isn't in here:

Make sure that your fretboard isn't too skinny where it meets the body. Nothing is worse than having a high e string that is hard to play on because its too close to the edge.

I love that design- especially the sculpting with the veneer.

Another vote to shim that neck pocket. If you want the neck to angle back then you could shim the pocket with wedges, or you could simply recess the bridge.

well, I'm curious on what everyone things as far as floating knife edge trem vs TOM/other fixed bridge goes.