Stalefish

Hey, now there's a good idea..

Barber Electronics Direct Drive.. It's more for of an overdrive pedal so you'll never get to the death metal stage but with some hot pickups, you can push it quite far.. As a blues rock overdrive, though, I can't say I've come across a better one.. It responds well to your picking dynamics and lets the tone and character of your guitar come through.. I've got the Boss Metal Zone as well as the DS-1.. I've never been to fond of the DS-1 but I've had some good sounds from the Metal Zone.. It does have a slightly digital nuance, though, so I tend not to use it if I'm going for a more vintage sound.. I'm also using the Marshall Jackhammer.. Must be said, though, that the distortion channel is crap.. Waaay too bassy for my ears, even after turning the bass down.. The OD channel, on the other hand, is a lot more usable and heavy enough for metal.. It also sounds warmer and less digital that the Metal Zone.. On top of that you get a great deal of control in terms of EQ once you get your head around all the knobs.. If I had to pick just one, though, I'd go for the Direct Drive..

I've actually had pretty good experiences with Warmoth.. Ordered a neck and body from them and when the boxes arrived, there was a hole in the box containing the neck and the neck plate I'd had thrown in with the order was missing.. Gave 'em a call and they replaced the plate straight away.. Also, the neck feels great and I've got no complaints about the quality of the work.. Only strange thing is that they refuse to ship to pro luthiers..

About your tone switch idea, I think this may do the trick.. Note that there is no resistor for position 5.. That'll be like having your tone all the way down.. There's also no connection at position 1 which would be like having your tone full up using a no-load pot..

I use a calculator for my counter.. Works pretty well.. Just a matter of figuring out what bit of the circuit board does what..

As much as I like fancy circuits, I actually find that I like the stock circuit on a Strat the best... About the only mod I'd do would be to have the ol' "bridge on/off with whatever's selected" addition.. And, of course, have a tone control for the bridge pickup..

Yeah, I got that same ratio too.. I'm thinking that the difficulty would be the start up.. Too sudden a start may just snap the wire straight away.. That's assuming you're using some sort of motor.. For hand winding, I say the higher the ratio, the better.. Less cranking.. Hehhe.. Psw: Now there's a professional looking setup.. Maybe I'm just turned on by the LEDs.. Heheh.. Oh, and that giraffe looks like a real work horse, man.. Good to have such help around when you need it!! Does he work shifts?

This thing keeps growing and growing.. I've refined the revolution counter by adding another traversing arm to the other side of the winder.. It basically works like one of those reed switch things.. The black and white wires are basically an extension of the "=" key of the calculator.. When the circuit is completed, the calculator registers the key.. As the arm moves back and forth (or, strictly speaking, elliptically), the black wire would flick at the aluminum foil which is connected to the white wire, momentarily completing the circuit once every revolution.. Top view.. Close up of the reed switch.. The calculator.. I'm still looking around for a cheap motor.. Good point about the wear, though.. Will have to keep an eye on that..

Ok, I modded it a little bit but only to exclude the worm gear.. It was snagging up more than I was happy with.. You can still see the gear in the picture below, but it's not in use.. I was just too lazy to get it out.. Anyway, the picture should give you an idea of how it works.. No second motor or anything.. It's basically like those old steam power trains, just a lot more straight forward.. The traversing arm basically makes a little circle.. If you look at GuitarGuy's winder, he's added another guide to make sure (if I'm not wrong) the wire stays within the limits of the bobbin.. Thanks all for the supply links, by the way!! One step closer to custom pickups.. And I did not know that Leo Fender couldn't play the guitar.. Are you serious?!

As sad as this may sound, I haven't fully tested it out yet.. I'm still trying to find a place to find the wire for the windings but I can't seem to get it here.. Probably not looking in the right places.. Any place online I could get it? Hmm.. Can't be of much help, then, I'm afraid.. I'm not too sharp when it comes to things like that..

Right click, Save Target As..? Works on this end...

Haha!! I decided to build off Guitar Guy's ideas and I came up with this.. As you can see, it's pretty similar to his.. The main differences are that the output spins at 9 times the input speed (easier hand winding? Can't find my motor..) and, of course, I'm using a different counter.. It's the counter I'm kinda proud of, actually.. It's using the "1+1+1+....on a calculator" method.. I discovered, though, that the keys require quite a bit of force so I opened it up and got the arm thingy (see video) to directly contact the circuit board.. Better seen in the video below.. The tyres are there to add a little weight.. Video.. (Right click then "Save as..") Don't mind the address.. Drummer Girl Porn is my band's name.. Oh, and I got the hirelings to wear uniforms..

Wow, that thing's moving fast.. May give that a try.. Where do you get your pickup parts from? Unfortunately, my Lego dudes date back to before they actually had a character so I'm going to have to hire the space-man and the knight.. Can't hire the pirate guy, though, he's got a partial sight impairment which may prove hazardous in this line of work.. Plus he's only got one hand and a hook..

I did something similar on a no-name strat of mine.. Instead of a volume for the pickup in question, I had a DPDT switch that adds the bridge in parallel with which ever pickup combination is selected (via the 5-way).. The only quirk of the circuit is that when you have the bridge switch on and the 5-way selecting the bridge, the bridge is taken completely out of the circuit, resulting in a kill switch of sorts.. Bridge+mid remains bridge+mid, though.. I lived in Australia for some years.. Does that count?

Yep.. Like what Sambo said, you just need to get a mid pickup that's RWRP.. Not sure about the resonant peaks, though I've never heard of problems stemming from that..

What sort of guitar is it?

That's not too shabby.. I was expecting it to run a lot longer to get the needed coils.. The lil' Lego dude rocks, by the way..

You know, I had the same idea to build a pickup winder outta my old Lego.. Difference was that mine would have been motorised.. Didn't get 'round to building it, though, 'cause I found that the Technic motor I had was dead.. I don't suppose that counter was very costly? (Kellog's kinda speaks for itself) That was the other problem I encountered; where to get a cheap counter.. Looks good!!

Couldn't have said it better.. I'm kinda **** about my tone, though, so I'm fully aware that most pedals tend to affect your tone quite a bit.. With that in mind, I try to use as few pedals as possible at one time.. However, I like to be able to full out some additional 'spice' as it were from time to time, hence my overly heavy bag of pedals.. It's all a balance.. I can't stand multi-effects boards, though.. Find the sound very 'canned'.. One pedal that's almost always in my loop is the Barber Electronics Direct Drive.. Absolutely sweet overdrive plus true by-pass..

I wouldn't.. I don't like the idea of spending money that I don't have.. I understand that with really large amounts of money, the opportunity costs involved may make taking a loan economically sensible (e.g. my car) but I'd only do it if I really had no other choice.. For a sum of money like that one you're talking about, IMHO, I'd rather save up for it..

I actually found the piano a lot more difficult to pick up that the guitar.. I started piano when I was 4 playing the good ol' classical stuff so I suppose that could have added to the difficulty.. 20 years on, I'm still playing the piano and absolutely loving it.. Can't say it's better than a guitar, can't say it's worse.. Once you're familiar with the chords and their inversions, as well as the scales in the different keys, the rest is pretty much practice.. Unless you're intending to go the classical route.. Also, scales (not just the straight off ionian) help a lot in building finger strength and dexterity.. Not to mention coordination..

If I were Cort, I'll be sending them a Cease and Desist pretty soon... Good God.. Oh, and I HATE HIS FACE!!

Ok, I'm going to assume that it's an LP style 3-way switch.. The single terminal is for a ground connection.. What you've got to do is to think of the 2 pairs of terminals on the other side as 4 terminals (let's number 'em 1, 2, 3 and 4).. Terminals 1 and 2 are for the neck and bridge pickups.. Terminals 2 and 3 you lump together and connect to the output of your jack.. Hope that helps!!

Cool... Thanks, man!! Will try that..

That's a beautiful guitar, man.. Keep 'em coming!!