mushy the shroom

One is north side up, and the other is south side up. This yields the maximum magnetic field through all of the strings. I think that the nut does have to be wired up, because the circuit must include the string. If both wires came off the bridge, it may not work. I haven't tested it, but I don't think it would work. Javacody- I haven't the slightest idea! The wire coil in conventional pickups just needs to encompass the magnetic field, but I'm not sure what the advantage would be. On mine, there is no coil (well, you could count the string loop as a coil, but it doesn't technically coil).

I don't have a problem with breaking strings, but I hate the gunk that occurs, especially on the unwound strings. I started out on D'Addarios, but I started to dislike them when they built up gunk after a few hours. My les paul came with really nice strings, but I was disapointed with the actual Gibson ones. I strongly dislike Dean Markly Blue Steels, because of the gunk buildup, and the bass strings sounded very strange (think metallic) when new. I have been very happy with Elixer, but recently switched to the black DR Coated strings, and have been completely impressed. The gunk buildup is a lot less than other strings (I wipe them about every other day), and the sound and look cool. Besides the price, I would reccomend them a lot. Oh, and for acoustic, I used Polyweb Elixers which help with the string squeak. I have yet to try the black acoustic DR's.

Darren, those digital mockup are incredible! Any thoughts on a Phtoshop tutorial?

I know that some company (possibly Hipshot) makes non Bigsby style trems for Les Pauls, but I'm not sure about the Strat. Crazy idea: hook up a battery circuit with each string making a circuit. Next, have 6 buttons, knobs, or switches that control power flow through each string. So, you are essentially pumping a number of volts throuh a string, creating a short circuit with the battery. This warms up the string and causes the pitch to drop . You could have individual string trem controls, with rate adjustments if you were to control the voltage running through the string. You could probably even make a trem arm that controls it. I would like to see that!

A Preamp with EQ and gain would be perfect for this application. As for all this stuff with the clotting, I'm not sure exactly what it did, but it made my leg ache! Call it mystic ferromagnetic waves, or not, it hurt! The power dampened the strings a little bit, but I had them about 3/8" away from the strings, and buried below some maple. The sustain was sacrificed, but not too badly. On my band's beta website, I have a menu, pictures, and info about it. Most of it is corny, because I had to write it for people who knew nothing about guitars. The site is here: http://staticline.drastic-creations.com/ne...yan/guitar.html .

Yeah, I didn't think I would be the first to think of such a simple concept. But, I didn't really research it, and I havent seen it on any other guitar. Kevan, it would be very simple to split the signals, but the string to string volume was pretty good as is. Yeah, if you have a short, you're pretty much fried. Psw- My magnets were cylinders about 1 1/4" in diameter and 1/4" thick. I had two stacks of two magnets each in a "oo" pattern under the strings. These magnets are incredibly strong! I used to keep them in my pockets while going to school, and if I got close to a locker, they would latch on with a loud BANG! and swift removal yielded holes in my pants. So I ended up with 6 holes in my pants (I had lots of pockets), and an aching leg (because, believe it or not, they clotted the iron in my bloodstream), before I decided to do something useful with them!

Sorry, I don't. I retired the guitar after some extreme warpage in the neck (I didn't put a truss rod in). Also, the bridge needs some work, and it's nearly impossible to tune, but if I recieve some inspiration, I may get back to work on it.

I highly reccomend Carvin necks. They definatly make the best thru-neck models. The actual model selection seems kind of low, but you can contact them and have them do some custom work on it.

He may have.. Dan passed away last month. Anyway, the tone was full, but the signal weak. I would describe it as transparent, but when hooked up with a lot of ditsortion, it had a very smooth and kind of airy, or hollow sound. Very unique.

I thought up this idea for a very simple pickup design to be used on any instrument with conducting strings. The layout is: The strings are suspended over a powerful magnet (I used neodymium), and all connected so that electricity can flow through all of them at once. This means that the nut and bridge have to be metal, or there has to be a metal contact behing the nut or bridge so that all the strings are in electrical contact with each other. Next, a wire connects one end of the strings with a connector on the output jack. Another wire connects the other end to the other connector on the output jack. I'm not sure how to ground this, but it isn't really necessary anyway. And that's it! It works because the conducting string vibrates though a magnetic field, which creates electricity. Now, instead of that electicity being amplified through the coil around the magnet, it gets sent through the strings and straight to the output jack. My test had a signal with about half the volume of nomal pickups. I built a headless guitar from scratch (the most machined part I bought was an output jack) to test this, and it worked very well. One thing I observed though, is that because the output is so weak, any boost (such as distortion) raises the volume level. For practical use, there would need to be some kind of booster that boosts the signal enough to be pratical, but doesn't drive it into distortion. Maybe this should be in the announcements and test area, but I'll leave it for a mod to decide. Tell me what you think!

First, I suggest you work on your grammar. But, as far as tips go, I've got a few. Anyway, Alder looks pretty dull with a natural finish (although I'm sure many would disagree). To get a very rich finish, I would reccomend danish oil as a stain, then if you want it smoother, apply some sanding sealer and satin lacquer. With walnut, though, I'm not sure if you're going to need the stain (the wood is very dark as is). If you don't have equiptment, you can get the lacquer and sanding sealer in spray cans from www.stewmac.com , and I have found they work very well. The oil can be picked up from any hardware store. Good luck!

that seemed more like an announcement then a question

Hmm.. if the neck is ok, the only things to replace are the hardware, pickups, and floyd. I would estimate that at.. $400 if you get the best.. So.. a JEM for about $600? Pretty good!

Solution: Cut off the bottom half of your electric, and the top half of your acoustic. Use titebond woodglue. Nah, anyway, the easiest solution is to get an acoustic modeling pedal (Boss makes a pretty good one) and use it to make your electric sound like an acoustic. If you are really set on making a double neck, you'll probably end up with a really weird looking guitar. But, one of the easiest solutions is to make a chambered electric and use a piezo pickup under the bridge. It can sound pretty close. If you need the authentic tone of each instrument, nothing beats having two that you can switch quickly.

It all depends on if you want to mimick the exact specifications of a Strat, and is you are building or buying all the parts. In general, I would think building a guitar is usually cheaper than buying it's counterpart, but the amount of work and time involved may offset that all. I'll put it this way: I can build the guitar of my dreams with just $500, and there is nothing more I can dream of.

If no one already said this, call it the BASS GUITAR.. bass pronounced like ass. But with a b.. you know.. like the fish?

Burst Burst Burst! I think that would be pretty cool. I used to have a Cort.. my first guitar.. so long ago, well more like 2 years. Anyway, I stole these Hot Water and Gas knobs from my middle school science lab and glued them to my knobs.. random.

Enter sandpaper man. At least that is what I would reccomend. There are way too many people who post in the forum with topics that tutorials have been done on. Here are three that pertain to your topic: Stripping a body by sanding Stripping a guitar using heat Stripping a guitar using chemicals I believe sanding is easiest given the tools the average guitarist has lying around. But before stripping your strat, I would give some thought as to what EXACTLY you want it to look like. Your guitar body wook may not look too good with a natural finish. But if you know exactly what it will look like, don't hesitate! Oh, and thanks doesn't have an apostraphy.

HAH! Watco is exactly what I have. Thanks for the tips and fast reply! Oh, but what about sanding sealer?

Hey, I'm looking to do an oil stain (light natural) on this beautiful maple top and lacewood back, and I was wondering if all natural oil stains are compatable with that Stew Mac spray on Nitrocellulose lacquer. And what are the best types of oil for this purpose? I have some old Danish oil, but I am not sure if it will work. Any help is appreciated.

AHHH sorry about posting that in the tutorials section.. such a n00b I am thanks for the answers

Hey, I'm looking to do an oil stain (light natural) on this beautiful maple top and lacewood back, and I was wondering if all natural oil stains are compatable with that Stew Mac spray on Nitrocellulose lacquer. And what are the best types of oil for this purpose? I have some old Danish oil, but I am not sure if it will work. Any help is appreciated.

You build a guitar from scratch just for a science fair... You read the encyclopedia of electric guitars from cover to cover.. You've played guitar for 10 years (and you're only 14).. You are not embaressed to shout phrases like "My wengie is leaking!".. You post on a forum thread while cradeling your wood. Lacewood, currently... You have furious heartfelt debates about the tonal properties (and migration patterns) of African Limba versus European Limba.. Listing "The most risky thing you've done" (in college applications) as "Routing a 5A Quilted Western Big Leaf Maple top to 1/16th of the top for the electronics". Those sucked..

Jeez.. I love both of them so much. But I had to vote Priest because Maiden's vocalist just seems kind of.. weird. He's great though. Also, I like Priest's guitar style more, and the drums are more of what I like. But there's no contest between the bassists- Maiden's is so much better. I think Maiden has better back up vocals (at least on the studio recording). Anyway, they are both great bands, and are extremely skilled, so vote for who you like more.

Alright, i'm thinking about chambering spruce. So here's my question: Is there a difference if you just route a ton of deep grooves into it, or if you route big pockets? An example of the pocketed one is the chambered paudak one by Boggs in the Guitar Of The Month- August. Thanks, Ryan