axxion

No keeping the cavities small like that adds mass to the guitar there for letting the tone ring though. hell any guitar builder knows that PRS uses big cavities so that monkeys can wire there guitars and save they save money that way. i love reading his site its better than edromans !!!! Psh... they do it so you can have options. If you wanted to install stuff or tinker around. Personally I think that big cavities have no detriment or addition to Tone. Look at strats... for god's sake they have bigger volume of wood routed out than Gibson's. Ok.. rant over.

Treble bleed with a resistor? Isn't a .001uf cap usually used?

This is the R480... taking after the Rickenbacker with the same model number: You know, this is one of the few Zacharies I could actually see myself wanting. But anyways, here's my question. Take a look at the control cavity: What the heck is going on with all those components? Is that some kind of fancy cyclindrical capacitor? There's definately a resistor in there too... Maybe some kind of high/low pass filter methinks... taken after the BMP tone control? Hmm.... Site says that the controls are just 3 way selector and coil tap switch... see The R450 Page Hmm... anyone know the standard controls on a Ric 480? It's not on the Ric site and google doesn't help...

Oo.. .keep us updated! Anywho that site has a bunch of different Vox effects, and even more notably, the Tycobrahe Octavia. According to a lot of people the tyco has a massive amount of fuzz gain plus a switch to select between fuzz+octave or just fuzz. I think this would be right up your alley. Right now I'm building a 'Bobtavia' from generalguitargadgets. I don't think that the circuits would sound anything alike but it's got the same concept with the switch. I've heard that it's a little more tame than the tyco plus it's insanely easy to build. Well good luck, man. -axxion.

That Vox was frikin sweet. You could google for each individual effect.. For example, I googled for a vox fuzz schematic: Vox Tonebender Then just smash it all into a gweeter... Cheers.

In my practice, just using the plastic insulation on wires hasn't given me EM interferece. Of course, I've always shielded my cavities though. In your case, I am assuming you have a (semi)hollowbody? The entire inside does not need to be shielded. On most Squire Stratocastors there is only a small patch of shielding, and in pracitce they don't have many EM problems. If you wanted that extra protection, you could mate up the grounds and then take some aluminum or copper tape and wrap that around lead (conductive side facing out of course). Then solder a connection between the bare grounds and the metal tape. Please note though, that EM is not 100% unavoidable at all times, unless your in the studio or in a wired-meshed room. I used to have an Ibanez with EMGS in them that picked up FM Radio on the occassion. When switcing leads I've gotten AM Radio on my nice PRS. My friend can pick up radio on his junk-tastic fender knockoff whenever he wants by messing with the EQ on an amp...

if you wanted to use the neck+middle sc's and have it be hum cancelling, then yes. That's exactly how the humbucker works (basically two sc's wired together, with one reversed). You'd still get output, you'd just have hum. Do you use a five way switch? Or just three way? If you use five way: When you select bridge+middle 1 of two things happens. Either you get full humbucker+middle or you have your guitar wired so that when you select bride+middle you coil tap the humbucker and add that to the neck. This is so that you still get hum cancellations. You can coiltap either the north or south coil of the humbucker. If you select this position and it is not hum cancelling, then you want to look at your diagram and tap the other coil. I'd highly recommend guitarelectronics.com for the schematics. Scroll down.. it's on the left side. It'll give you directions if the selection isn't hum cancelling. If you use a three way: Well then this is a helluva lot easier. Your choices are either humbucker, middle, or neck. Then, it doesn't matter if any of the single coils are reverse wound at all.

Alright this is directed to anybody but I bet Mr.PSW could answer this no no time flat. (I hope I got your attention?) I got lost in the many pages of this thread. So I have some REALLY BASIC questions that anyone can answer: 1. I understand the sustainer completely. Now how is the entire unit wired to the guitar itself? I'm just asking for a basic block schematic. Is it wired directly to output?... 2. I have 2 humbuckers in the guitar currently and want to keep that. I'm thinkin of doing a swimmingpool rout on the thing, moving the neck pick up to the middle position, and putting the sustainer in a humbucker cover and placing that where the neck p/u used to be. Am I still going to get uncontrollable feedback if it is wound to 8 ohms?Would having less ohms fix this? OR... what happens when the sustainer is in the middle? I like the idea of keeping the bridge and neck humbuckers as they are and then having the sustainer in the middle. I'm not interested in tearing apart half of the neck pickup to put the sustainer in there. 3. Say I love the sound of feedback. I'm a Sonic Youth monger. Is there anyway I can add a 'booster' in front of the sustainer so as to increase the ohms past 8, and hopefully get some wickedly loud, instantaneous feedback? Somthing like sustainer -> feedbacker 4. What does slanting the sustainer slightly (like a Fender bridge p/u) do? 5. If I use the magnet in the core, do I still need a magnet underneath? Does it matter if I orienent it so that the N side of the verticle core magnet attracts the S Side of the horizontal base magnet, and so on? EDIT: Alright I have a proposition for my own question. (Number 3). Okay so you say the sustainer is only 3 mm thick. What if I had some extra windings underneath attatched to a switch? So when I flick on the switch, it adds those windings to the original number (in series) thus amping up the ohms? Sustainer becames Feedbacker! EDIT: What if you wired the Sustainer hot (like in the 10-12 ohm range) and then put a potentiometer in the circuit? Normally you'd want the sustainer down a bit, around 5-7, but when you wanted more feedback you'd just crank the knob to 10.... What value pot would I use then?

Yup. SG + B7 thanks for the link too, pierce

I went down to a music store today and looked at one. The metal stopper doesnt look like it's do difficult to cut down. It looks like I'd need an angle grinder or somthin. I don't think regular sandpaper is gonna cut it. The reason for an SRV whammy bar is because I already have zillions of doodads and extra controls on the lower half of the guitar. I want to add a bigsby but having a whammy bar in the traditional place would just clutter everything up too much.. It's an SG so I have nothing on the top half.. I think the backwards whammy would balance it out nicely. I'll do it and post some pics.

Yeah I'd go Dimebucker if you go Duncan or even Bill Lawrence. I've heard numerous times that the Dimebucker doesn't handle mids very well but when you listen to Dimebag's tone he pretty much kills the mids and cranks lows and highs... I've never played Lawrence but I've heard nothing but sparkling reviews. Personally I still say go with PRS. The Mike Tremonti set is amazing... those babies can handle all the jazzy classic stuff but when you crank it they scream bloody murder! Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth has them in most of his guitars and Opeth does everything.. jazz.. blues... heavy-deathy metal...

Any problems with putting a left handed bigsby on a right handed guitar? Well here is my train of thought: I know B7's will fit on a Gibson SG. I am assuming that a B7 will fit on an Epiphone SG. And I am assuming then that a left handed B700 (import) will fit on a right handed Epi SG..... If B700's don't work then I guess I'll go classic horse shoe B500... In then end I just want a bass ackwards whammy bar like good ol' Stevie.....dammit.....

You ask what pickups to pick and you'll get as many answers as there are forum members... What kind of style do you play? What kind of guitar is it? Most importantly.. what sound do you want to achieve Also, keep in mind that pickups are just one of the many variables to achieving awesome tone. The complexity of your wiring plus pedals and your amp have to do with just as much of your sound as pickups... Of course, I can understand a want for new pickups. There is a reason they make so many kinds.... I'm a versatile player... so I'd say go with a pickup you'd be decently happy with all around. I like PRS and Gibson 59's personally. The other day I converted my 2 wire stock Epipphone pickups into 4 wires and added so many doodads like phase and coil tap and tone filters and I can tell you that I no longer want fancy pants pickups anymore... If you want to go that route then you came to the right place cuz all the info is in these forums my friend

How would you add LEDs to indicate A or B? Is a 10mA DPDT switch good enough?

I'm mostly posting this topic because I'm clueless as to what I'm looking for on guitarcenter.com and other sites. I need a case that will neatly house my amp head and some rack equipment. Any opinions on good ones? All I find are ridiculously expensive ones. Jon.

I ripped the second tone control out of my squire strat.. I believe its the neck tone, but don't call me on it because now I have 1 master volume, 1 master tone, and the empty hole is a killswitch. To clear things up more, bluntly put, its the tone control that is farthest away from you. Anywho, I shoved a 3 way toggle switch in there, wired it as a killswitch, and it is unbelievably fun to play. Looks fantastic IMO; definitely recommend it.

No Kidding? I meant: what is the tonal difference?

What is the main difference between 12, 14, 16 and 18 gauge speaker cables? Any opinions on the best cable for loud, high gain metal-ish playing?

WOW that is the best violin-guitar i've ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!! and the only one too extremely unique idea man. and wonderful job on that paint/relicing! it looks like a real worn violin.. i can't believe you did what you did on the paint.. looks true to be hundreds of years old cant wait to see the entire thing put together.. i'll definately be following this one.

wow sweet inlay job man. I like the wood inlay better than MOP now that i've seen it. I've liked your work since the beginning and cant wait to see it finished. BTW i did like that carve you did.. i don't see why anyone wouldn't... maybe i should be a part of 'bad taste guitars' inc.

i wanted the would grain to show on the back. i was young and didn't realize the value and the beauty of just a woodgrained top and solid black back.

I have that exact guitar. Tonality- its pretty warm.. makes for more rounded sounding metal riffs - you know.. not so bitey... The mahogany neck + alder combo is an okay contrast.. I wouldn't recommend this guitar (or any guitar like this) to be a crunchy gainey monster. Straight up jazz and blues, maybe a little classic rock is its what it sounds best with, IMO.

take it from a guy who did EXACTLY what your thinking. I had an RG200B that i wanted to add a veneer on as my first project. I made so many mistakes I cant even tell you. Now the thing is nothing but nice looking fire wood. (not gonna burn it though) If you are thinking of sanding down the original body, take these precautions. 1. If there is primer, DON'T SHORTCUT IT. The ONLY way to get good results in my opinion is to SAND IT DOWN. Start at a low grit like 50 and end at 600 or so. 2. CUT THE VENEER WITH AN EXACTO. I'm assured that your smarter than this, but just to make it clear, don't use a kitchen knife. 3. MEASURE REPEATEDLY. 4. Don't go fast on staining. I'd say the biggest lesson is patience. I found a page on google about a guy that professionally refinished an ibanez himself complete with veneer and all. I'm sure someone could provide a link... But anyways, I agree with everyone else here. Make a new body. It sounds like more work, but in the end, it is far worth it. Imagine if you botched up the original body like I did.

how are the wilson ez-lok tuners (supplied by GFS)? or does anyone know a better locking tuner for under 50 bucks?

Oh thats a helluva lot easier! Now I just have to smash this box into an SG...