eiseyrokker

So I'm beginning to really get into a guitar mod kick and i've finally found what i need to begin this project. Here's where the hard part comes in. I'd like to add 8 or 9 sympathetic strings to my old Ibanez GAX-70 clunker that I never play, in order to give me a reason to play it. I have two hurdles standing in my way though. 1. I need to figure out what length and what guage strings i need to use for these sympathetic strings. I have found the zither pins necessary for mounting and tuning them. I'm thinking of having them run from a G to an A on the next octave up, in intervals of halfsteps. As for placement, I think I'm going to rout a cavity into the back of the guitar, recess where the pins go into the wood a little bit, so that the strings are just a little bit off the body. I want to also have the pickup for the recessed into the body, as to save space and conceal them nicely. This is where the second part comes in... 2. I need to build a pickup for this thing. I would honestly be fine with buying a magnet and winding it 500 times with copper wire by hand. But I don't know if that's correct, or what, or even what kind of magnet to buy. And then how to connect it to the electronics. Is it just the positive side is hot and the negative is ground? Basically, i'm thinking just a bar magnet would probably work alright? since there's so many strings, it sounds a little impractical to make bobbins for each string. If it's not too awfully difficult, I figure I might as well give it a shot. But has anyone here made a crude bar magnet pickup? If so, how did it sound? I don't really care about being able to control the tone of this thing. I might just go buy a concentric knob in order to adjust the volume, and throw in a little on/off switch for it. maybe I won't even bother with the volume knob. Who knows. I do want the element of surprise though. Just being able to flip a switch and have a sitar coming through my electric guitar. And people turning their heads to see what just happened. Thanks in advance for all the help. I guess a quick summary of what I need help finding: -string lengths and guages for the sympathetic strings -information about building a pickup for them, and also how i would connect it to the normal electronics. a bit of background, i've worked in a guitar repair shop for about 2 and a half years, so I definitely know my way around the insides of a guitar...just looking to take that knowledge a bit further now. So please don't feel like you need to dumb anything down for me. I ought to be able to keep up with the lingo, and if somehting goes over head, I'll definitely ask you to explain it, but I don't think I'm too far in over my head on this project Thankye, Tom Eisenbraun

I found an awesome price for some gorgeous black walnut that can be used to for building an acoustic, but I have no idea what it would sound like. Has anyone else here used black walnut for a guitar, and what kind of tone will it give me? Is it similar tomahogany, rosewood, koa, anything? Or is it unique? Suffice to say, I am EXTREMELY interested, and would appreciate any help or advice you have to offer.

I found an awesome price for some gorgeous black walnut that can be used to for building an acoustic, but I have no idea what it would sound like. Has anyone else here used black walnut for a guitar, and what kind of tone will it give me? Is it similar tomahogany, rosewood, koa, anything? Or is it unique? Suffice to say, I am EXTREMELY interested, and would appreciate any help or advice you have to offer.

nevermind, turns out it really is just five position. But on that note, would yuo be able to wire it so that you get 1 - Neck 2 - Middle 3 - Middle-Bridge 4 - Bridge 5 - All

Yah, but think about the added possibilty of an extra postition. Get some fab tone through the bridge/neck position, or run all pickups at once.

I'm helping out a friend with this one. He has an original Ibanez Roadtsar (well, its not a Roadstar II, at least) and the electronics in it are screwed. It's a Strat-shaped guitar, with three single coils, a volume knob and a tone knob, and a SIX position pickup selector. Anyone know where to find a schematic for it, or at least know how to go about wiring a six-way switch?

it doesnt matter. I work at a guitar repair shop, and we should have the equipment to spray once we get our paint booth set up an a coupel of months. So either option is fine.

I'm currently in the planning stages of building an EXTEMELY custom Strat, and I'm trying to find a good website that provides color samples of paints. I'm looking to do a blue metallic burst, where the outer edges are more of a sky blue metallic and it bursts into a very deep royal blue metallic. Anyone know of a good brand of paint, or even an online chip sampler that I could use?

Is it possible to use a 3-way mini-toggle switch (on/on/on or on/off/on) to wire a pickup so that it goes off/phase-switch/on? thanks. If it's not possible in a 3way, is there any other way to do it that wouldnt involve drilling more than one hole or using a push/pull pot? Thanks.

I think the title is basicaly self-explanatory. I work at a guitar shop and we've been trying to figure out how to wire this guys guitar. He's got a humbucker int he bridge and two single coils, and he wants a volume for the bridge, and a volume for the singles. We've tried to rig it up, but so far we've only been able to get it so that it acts as two master volumes. Its got a normal strat five-way switch. Is there any way to pull this off without adding a switch?

how is koa compared to mahogany? I want osmehting really bassy. Also, I've noticed that the Taylor 400 series uses a wood for the back and sides called ovangkal. whats the deal on that?

sorry, the topic should read cherry back and sides. Hope that didnt cause too much confusion.

okay, on eBay I've noticed a couple auctions int he luthier section, and, as I was interested in using cherry for a les paul a few months ago, but dropped the idea, i was wondering, what kind of effect would using cherry have for acoustic tone? Is it more similar to mahogany or rosewood? Or idoes it have a distinct tone all its own? I'm looking to use soemhting taht ahs a lot of bass to it, and any help you could give would be much appreciated.

what does microphonic+piezo consist of? is that liek having an under-saddle and a regular six-pole-piece pickup?

thanks man, i think i'm gonna go with the Dean Markley. I read some great reviews on Hamrony Central. Its passive, so no preamp, and apparently it catches every nuance of your playing and accurately reflects your guitars tone, instead of just giving you straight strings. It sounds great, a lot of people said they would never use anythign else, and Wechter guitars uses them as a standard for their acoustics. So I think i'll give this puppy a spin.

true, but how cool is it that you can tap tempo and have the bridge change the tuning in time with the song you're playing? I woudl defintely get one if they made liek a cool cover for it. Imagine the tele-style ashtray on it...that would be cool. Or maybe a good maple veneer. who knows?

thanks, yeah i wouldve asked my guy, but i forgot and I wont see him again til next thursday, so i figured i'd get soem input before hten,a nd ask him with a little more intelligence on the subject. What about liek those old Martins that have the Piezo and an output, and nothing between teh two? My friends dad has an old Gibson J45e (very nice nad very rare) that ahs this and it soudns nice. Is there some sort of hidden preamp on it? or is it just made so that its already preamped, and no preamp is necessary? sorry if this all sounds ignorant, I'm still learning. EDIT: I just found a Dean Markley Sweet Spot under the saddle pickup for $10 on eBay. It has no EQ and no need for a preamp, and apparently is a very good pickup. Should i go for it with a price this low?

if you've got the five-way, here's what i would suggest. Your probably gonna want to wire the switch so that its like this: 1. neck 2. neck single coil 3. Petrucci setup (bridge bucker and neck single) 4. bridge and neck humbuckers 5. bridge Then, i would replace your volume knob with a concentric pot and run both your volume and tone through that, leaving your other hole open. Then you could use a concentric pot in the old tone hole, run the afterburner through one, and make the other a bleed knob for your middle pickup, so that at 0 its off and you roll it in so that at 10 is all the way on. This should work if the afterburner does not require some sort of switch to activate it. I'm not sure, but i think if it does you could always have it on and just leave it on 0 for regular play without it. This might be a real battery drain though. Sorry if I babbled on there, but i think that should work out.

I htink is officially my first thread here. I've been surfing aroudn for a couple of months, but never asked a question before. *Pats self on back* OK, i work at a guitar building and repair shop, so any suggestions you guys have are very feasible. I need a good way to mic/amplify my acoustic guitar because i will most liekly be playing in my school's worship team for next year. I would liek to go piezo, but i dont know the advantages of maybe a magnetic pickup and whatnot. I've got enough money to get a piezo that i may have to drill a little for, or a magnetic. I've been lookin a little bit at the Dean Markely ProMag and the Seymour Duncan Woody, which are both mountable without any alterations. One of these pickups would require a clunkily placed wire dangling from the pickup, but i'm sure i could jimmy-rig a way to wire it through the strap pin. however, would an under-the-saddle piezo liek the Martin Thinline be a good option? I think it would be more convenient for a standing up and moving around kind of show, because i would drill out a new hole where the bridge pin would be and it owuld eliminate having the wire hanging accross the body. Also, piezo sound tends to be truer. I could totally go either way, so you guys' input is extremely important here. Thanks a ton! -Tom Eisenbraun

I saw my friends blueburst strat today, and it was absolutely the most gorgeous guitar i had ever seen. It was metallic finish, fading from a lighter blue around the edges to a darker royal blue towards the middle. I was wondering if anybody else here had seen one of these, and if anybody here knows how to create such a gorgeous effect. Or should i just buy it off of him?

whats your last name? not tryin to sound liek a stalker, but what im doing is gettin my uncle to imitate the Gibson logo font for my last name so it'll read "Eisenbraun" in gibson style. if you have a decent last name you should look into that too. except you have to find your own uncle to do it

eBay really is the best place. basically cuz theres not that much harm you can do to a pickup, and though the resale value will go down, they dont really lose there tone or anything. so if you can find it on eBay, its just as good as store bought. you may have to extend a wire or two, but its not that much of a problem. (this is what i did for my last guitar)

how do you think it would sound in place of mahogany on the back of a les paul. ive been thinkin about about building naother bolt-on les paul, but make this one with a cherry back and make it semi-hollow, sort of similar to the semi-hollow ESP eclipse. anybody have any thoughts on how that would sound?

wow im defintely too lazy for that

i bought a les paul body and neck off of warmoth.com and wired it myself with a JB in the bridge and a Pearly gates in the neck. i tapped both coils so im gettin a gorgeous clean sound from it int he mid postion. this thing plays like a dream, i need to retweak the truss rod, because its given some relief. the picture here was taken before i started work on it. woah! im new, how do i upload a pic?