mushy the shroom

OK, cool. The wood doesn't impede the magnetic field, so the only consequence is the distance between the pickup and strings. With a hot pickup, this is resolved.

So, sorry to dredge this up, but I was thinking of the electrical trem idea. The concept is that you short-circuit a battery with the string, so the string heats up and drops in pitch. This probably wouldn't work with my pickup design, but with conventional or piezo pickups it seems plausible. Aside from the strings heating up, there seems to be no problem. You could wire individual string to a powerful (or not) battery, and use a potentiometer to control the voltage, which would change the rate of the pitch decrease. I bet you could even fabricate a sort of "whammy bar potentiometer" that could bend each string in the traditional way. Kind of a cool concept!

First of all, there is only one pickup (it's in the bridge position). It is embedded about 1/8" beneath the wood, and about 1/4" from the strings. Suprisingly, it gets amazing tone. If you want to know how pickups work in general, I can explain. A conventional pickup consists of (basically), a magnet with wire coiled around it. Humbuckers have two magnets and coils, wound in opposite directions. The two leads of the wire coil exit to form a circuit with a pickup selector switch, volume knob, tone knob, etc. When a conductive material moves or vibrates through a magnetic field, it alters it in such a way thay electricity can be harnessed (this is the concept of a generator). The electricity is harnessed with the string moving through the magnetic field, and the coil harnesses the electicity. The electricity flows at a certain frequency which determines the pitch. Someone else can probably give you a better explanation.

If I were you, I'd measure your template against the base of your pickup. If they are close, I'd go for it. If not, I'd either make a new template using the base size from your pickup, or just trace the pickup base onto the body and rout! It would take a steady hand and a small jig, but would work. To attach the actual pickup (I'm assuming it's a single-coil), I'd put height-adjustment springs around the screws, which can gointo a pilot hole.

That's maple wood filler. I made an error cutting the neck pocket out of the maple, but given the tools I had, I could have done no better. The neck is, in fact centered on the tenon. The pictures are from an obscure angle, so it appears different. The ferrules are a little off, but they're on the back, so I don't mind too much. As for the headstock, I didn't use washers because the holes I drilled in the veneer were just big enough for the shaft of the tuner ferrule. It also provides a less complex look.The head did a fine job as a washer, but the crack occured because I wasn't careful installing it. The veneer is a little warped, so there is a space between it and the neck. This makes an illusion that it is mishaped. Yeah, I am very thankful for a critical eye. I take no offense at your constructive criticism, but I did already notice everything you pointed out. Thanks, everyone for your comments!

Ah, thanks all.

Yeah, I just don't need a tune-o-matic. The action and intonation are near perfect already, so I don't need the instant adjustment option. If I need to adjust anything, I can file down a string slot to a point to adjust the intonation (I have 1/8 inch of freedon here), or sand down or add shims to the saddle to adjust the action. Just my preference :-)

Well, this is just a great idea. Simple, to the point, and SHOULD'VE been invented back in the 80's! It's one of those things like the push-button locking ball bearing on a ratchet wrench - everyone says "MAN! I shoulda thunk of that!" Hopefully you get rich like that guy... They have those? Man, that would be so nice. All of mine are like.. 15 years old.

Whoops, I miss-typed. I meant that the strings on my Les Paul are less than 1/8" from the pickups. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I like thinner guitars because they are easier to play (lighter, less bulky), and I just didn't feel any need for a 1 3/4" guitar with 2" at the neck pocket. The lacewood came as a second to the spruce I already had (I made a router error). I liked the lacewood better than the spruce, but it produces a guitar that is a little too dark for me. Plus, I already had cut the maple, and didn't want to waste $75. I absolutely love the lacewood, but I think it serves its purpose well on the back. bkief1- I think I understand the electrical concepts presented (check out my pickup design( http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11465 )). The guitar I installed the aforementioned pickup on won 5th place in a science fair at my school (the judges were suspicious of parental involvemnt). There's always more to learn. Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

That link doesn't work. Aside from the complexity of the wiring, EMGs are actually supposed to work BETTER than regular pickups because their magnets are weaker, meaning less crosstalk. I talked to some dude from sustainiac, and he said that I could use a sustainer in the middle position if I used EMG's. Although, he did say the harmonic mode wouldn't work (it would in yours). I'd go for it.

Google Neodymium magnets, and get one of proper size. There was this company in The Netherlands that did this, and I guess it worked out good. I would like to see someone do that.

Another of my favorites is Julian Bream. And, how could I have forgotten John Mclaughlin? Thanks for the reminder.

Welcome to the Forum. I'd have to say that the best are original Floyds, as long as you don't mind the price. I think www.allparts.com stocks them. Floyd Rose has a few varieties, but they all yield about the same quality. You can probably find one in the $150-$200 range.

Pretty interesting, I don't know about the weird plate thing. The wood and shape are cool, but I'd rather not have all the knobs and circuits.

For the type of tone I like, Lacewood is my favorite. Not only does it look cool, it has alternating pockets of dense and very dense wood. This gives me the high(s) I need, and also some bass.

American Jesus- That's ok. I just prefer simplicity. When my friends hand me a guitar with 43 knobs, and are like "Dude, this is so awesome", it makes me think if I should be playing guitar, or just twisting the knobs. If that made any sense, thanks for voicing your opinion. Jivin- The pickup is completely sealed inside, but if I desperatly needed to, I could access it by cutting some wood, and screwing the section back on. One thing you're going to have to consider if you're thinking of using this design, is the pickup's distance from the strings. Most pickups are around 1/8" from the strings, and on mine, they're about 1/4". The strings are about 1/8" from the wood, and the pickup is about 3/32" down into the wood. I first played The Nebula today in the band, and the sound absolutely CUTS through the mix. The lead tone is incredible, and I thought the rhythm guitar chords were lacking until I tried some Iron Maiden, and it completely blew me away! I love this thing!

sounds like you were using the wrong blade for the job...has nothing to do with "good" or "bad" maple.all rock maple is hard Yeah, I was just flattering Carvin. The blade is probably 30-40 years old

I'm definatly male, but I'm not quite sure how old I am. I wasn't around when I was born, and my birthday never really caught on. Like, one day I got a call from my agent (Fred) and he said "Yeah.. Ryan? Bad news. Yeah. Uh, you got born". So I was like, "Da*m, now I gotta lead a life?" But I have found it to be pretty bitchin' so far.

I don't think we're supposed to be posting here, so if a MOD wants to clean up this thread, most of theis info is in my thread in the Finished Work sub-Forum. Anyway, Psw, the bridge can be adjusted withen an 1/8th of an inch intonation wise, and the action can be raised/lowered with the use of shims/sanding. It's harder than normal bridges, but can be done The electronics are permanently sealed, but if I ever needed to get to them, I guess I could cut the panel of lacewood below the electronics off and screw it back on if I needed to, but it would be hard to do. As for the headstock, the veneer isn't glued on, so if you remove the washers/ferrules that hold the tuners to the head (not the set-screw), the veneer can be lifted off. Those ferrules are what's holding the headstock veneer on. ADMIN EDIT- If you know it's a breakage of the rules, then don't proceed to break them. Mushy- instead of posting an answer, simply direct folks to the thread where it's ok to reply. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...topic=11517&hl= EDIT: OK, sorry!

Oh, man. Sorry about that. I fixed the problem, so I didn't see why it still needed to be there. I guess I need to read through the rules again.

I'd use magic markers. No, seriously, unless you have a swamp ash les paul, and a lot of sandpaper, it would be hard. The voodoo finish would look a lot different on maple or mahogany. Good luck, if you're going to try it.

I cracked some finish while first trying to dissasemble my Steinberger R-Trem, because I didn't know exactly how it was constructed. Anyway, that thing rocks!

Does anyone know the Steinberger Transtrem dimensions?

There should be a serial number database search somewhere. My friend found out that his bass is 20 years old through one of those!

You're going to have to be careful around your plug, because the router might mess it up. I've had some pretty bad screw-ups when routing between woods. Maybe it's just my router, or my blade or something, but you may have trouble