scott from _actual time_

this is a really neat idea, and a clever switching scheme, but in practice i think the lower pot resistance for the split humbuckers might actually make them sound less like single coils. most single coils are 7-9 kohms, but medium output humbuckers run 12-14 kohms. that's the main reason that most split humbuckers don't sound like a real single coil. so if you're going to split a medium output humbucker, you might not want the 250k pot resistance bleeding off more of the signal, since the 6-7 kohm humbucker coil is already lower output than most single coils. high output humbuckers, ranging from 16-18 kohms and higher, sound more like real single coils when split. in that case, the lower pot resistance might smooth them out nicely. i run high output humbuckers, but i like raw tones from my split coils, and the higher resistance pots work fine for that.

a recent issue of Workbench magazine did a shootout review of 6-8 portable planers in the under $500 price range, including a Ridgid like the one you're talking about. you should try to find that article somewhere. from what i remember, all the ones they tested needed some tweaking out of the box. the ~$500 Dewalt was the best, but the Ridgid won best value for the $$.

like folks are saying, there's no easy way to modify the body or neck so the two scale lengths match. one thing you might try, with that Tele bridge. if you could find intonation screws to fit your Tele saddles that are really long--screws 3/4" longer than the stock ones--you might could get the saddles another 3/4" inch closer toward the nut. maybe that would be enough to make things intonate properly. you should have enough clearance for the lower strings, but the treble saddles might end up hitting the bridge pickup. the guitar also might sound rather bright, with the saddles closer to the bridge pickup than usual. but at least it would be playable.

it seems that way, but the diagram would work as is. remember that any electrical circuit must be grounded at the other end in order to work. that switching setup is running the first coil and the series link both to hot. but the other end of that first coil is not grounded, so it won't produce any signal. the series link going to hot theoretically could give you sound from the first coil or the second coil. but in this case, the other end of the first coil is not grounded, so the series link to hot is not going to give you the first coil on. the second coil does have the other end grounded, so the series link to hot will give you the second coil on. the trick in this diagram is that making both ends of a coil hot will give you no output from it, because neither end is grounded.

looks clean--nice job. i think the red and black will look fierce.

very true! in a speaker cab, the baffle is the board that holds the speaker. so every cab must have a baffle, or there's nothing to bolt the speaker onto. if you mean internal dividing partitions inside the cab, yes there are some cabs with and many without. another often-debated issue is whether it sounds better to mount the speakers to the rear of the baffle (a rear-loaded cab) or to mount them to the front of the baffle (front loaded). and there's open back vs closed back. i've built half a dozen speaker cabs. i've done open back and closed, plywood and solid pine, front loaded and rear loaded. i think the best way to develop a design is to get a good look at the type of commercial cab you want to emulate. note the dimensions, what it's made of, front loaded vs rear, and what i think is the most important tonal quality--open back vs closed. then you can plan your own cab based on that. for construction methods, use whatever you feel comfortable with. i've made cabs with glue and woodscrew joints, and also glued dados and rabets. i've covered them with fuzzy carpet, tolex, and just black spray paint. i've used those big recessed handles and the little spring-loaded ones. they all work well, so pick whatever you like and plan it into your design.

thanks! it has come along quite nicely. i've started another one out of hard maple, and i'm missing how supple the alder was to work compared to hard-as-a-rock maple. i think i've figured out what i'm going to stain that alder with. my local Woodcraft store carries Trans Tint liquid stains (color samples here). they look very similar to the Stew Mac liquid stains, which i used on my maple V, except the Trans Tint line has twice as many colors. the Red Mahogany looks to be about the shade i'm aiming for on alder--reddish brown, but more red than brown. i'll test it on scrap in a couple different strengths, then report back in this thread.

wow--beautiful staining job there. thanks for posting your stain mix ratios as well.

wow--it's been almost a year since i worked on this. staining and spraying my neck-thru V took longer than i thought. but i finally got back tot his body. i cleaned out the control cavity, and glued in a little wedge-shaped block for the nut and washer on the jack to press against. next--figuring out exactly what color(s) of stain to buy for a nice reddish orange that'll compliment the natural color of the alder.

i routed a neck pocket today. i don't have any universal numbers, but i can tell you what i do. the bolt-on bodies i'm building lately are copies of the Ibanez Sabre, which is a loosely Strat-sized but contoured body for a 22-fret neck. the neck heel looks very similar to a 22-fret Strat neck, with the rounded heel and the very short fretboard extention over the end of the heel. most of the Sabres (but not all) use the Ibanez floyd-style trem, and it is recessed into the body. the neck pocket is 3/4" deep.

i have no idea. it should give some reading, but i always thought the reading should be all positive or all negative. but the fact that you're getting any reading means the pickup is producing output. i'd wire it up and not worry about it.

that's a pretty good bet. yes, bare always goes to ground, with one of the colored wires.

one of those is going to be hot and one is ground. pick one, wire it up, and see how it works. if you swap whichever one you wire hot with the other one, all you'll be doing is changing the phase of the pickup. which you might need to do if you have switch positions with combinations of the P90 and the other pickup(s). there's often lots of trial and error in figuring out wiring. do the same voltmeter test with pairs of wires from this pickup. that will tell you which two colors go with each coil of the humbucker. once you know that, take one wire from each coil and tape them together as the series link. take the other two wires and solder one to hot, one to ground. then it's time for more trial and error. if the humbucker sound is not hum-canceling, or if it's really thin and out of phase, you need to take your two taped wires and swap out one of them for the other wire from that same coil. a good resource for learning how humbuckers work is this wire color chart from Stew Mac. in your case, since you don't know the manufacturer of the pickup, you'll have to figure out the wire color assignments with the voltmeter and some trial and error.

no, that's not possible without also changing position 4. if you did not solder the bridge white+red to teh switch, you would have nothing on in position 5, but you'd also have no bridge single coil in position 4.

it sounds like you're well on your way with the rotary switch, but it is possible to cut 5-way switch slots with a router. i did it using a 1/8" straight bit and a 1/2" diameter template-following collar. you make a template with two 1/2" D holes connected by a 1/2" slot that's 1/4" longer than you want the slot to be, on both ends

from only a quick look at that diagram, i think position 4 already has the bridge split. so their list of what coils are on in position 4 must be a typo. to change the neck humbucker in position 4 to not split, all you'd have to do it not solder the neck white+red to the right-hand side of the switch. just solder the neck white and red together and tape them off.

yes, but you still need a hidden place to start drilling. on LPs, they stick the bit in through the jack hole. the problem with a neck-through V is that, after the wings are glued on, there's no hidden place to start drilling the hole.

the trick is to rout a small channel ~4" long in the side of the neck black before you glue the body wings on. then when you rout into the top of the body for the pickups, that hidden channel is exposed. on my maple maple 7-string V, i used a 1/4" bit, i put the channel about 1/2" blow the top surface of the neck blank, and i sketched in where the pickup routs would later go so i could make sure the channel was long enough. if you've already glued the wings, it's much harder. you can rout a channel in the top of the guitar body, but you'll have to cover that with a new piece of wood. you could drill through the 'crotch' of the V past the bridge, but that'll leave a big hole you'll have to fill with a dowel. no really good options there.

you've got to be more specific about positions 3 and 4. for 3, do you mean bridge and neck each in series, then in parallel with each other? and what is 4--the two humbuckers in series with each other to make a giant, 4-coil pickup? regardless, you can't get either of those combinations with a standard 5-way switch. you'll need a 24-pole superswitch.

yep--Ibanez S7 clone. that thread is really old, but i just went back and updated the links to the pics. i recently did some final shaping of the body, so now i'm ready to stain and laquer.

i'm planning on using the Stew Mac stain, or some mixture of them. i just need to decide what colors to buy--i'm aiming for a slightly rosy color, but i don't want it too pink. i'll probably experiment on scraps for a weekend or two, so it may be a month before i have any information that might be helpful.

thanks for the tip, but if i can't find roundhead wood screws, i might as well use humbucker ring mounting screws. they have countersunk heads, but at least i could get them in the right color.

thanks for the links. i do know about Stew Mac's stains and that staining page on their Trade Secrets. i used that exact same blue stain on my maple V (a pic in this thread).

would you mind sharing it with the rest of the world? i've just finished a 7-string body in alder, and i'm trying to decide what stain to use on it. thanks.

i forgot to mention that i did check them--i've ordered from them before. they didn't have any roundhead wood screws that small. and j. pierce, my local hardware store has no philips-head wood screws smaller than #4. you direct-mount folks out there--what screws do you use?