psw

Very few people seem to make multipickup sustainer guitars it would seem, so it is not important nor the problems that can and will occur be tackled. The pickups coil will act like an antenna and it is not just enough to de-select the pickups with the sustainer on...the EMI noise (fizz, or worse) will get into the ground through magnetic coupling. Lifting the ground and the hots are necessary. The most efficient way of doing this is to take out the entire selector and replace it with the bridge pickup direct to the controls. This means at least a dpdt to affect this function. You will also need a on off switch for the power...so a minimum of 3pdt...but often you may need to treat the middle and neck separately...and then, you will need some kind of switch to connect the bridge pickup regardless of the selection...so a 4pdt typically. Now, you could do that with a proper 4p5t super switch as one of the selections...but it is not enough to simply turn the thing on. It is this that convinced me to forgo experimentation in a remote "sustain box" because in reality the rewiring is so extensive, it may as well go inside the guitar. My coircuits have 10 wires coming out of them...you don't want to try and get a ribbon cable like that into the guitar from the outside. Instead I switched to what most people thought was a better idea and look anyway (even after seeing the realizations) by making the thing smaller and working on installation, compact drivers and other issues...as illustrated in the tele. ... As always...feel free to find another solution...but it pays not to make assumptions about these things till you try it. I discovered this when i did the sustainer strat. I now realize that a lot of the earlier work, most of my hex stuff may have failed as a result of not knowing this. It doesn't come up often because people often completely replace the neck pickup with a driver. I have particular problems also because I will often combine the neck pickup and the driver on the same magnets...but the middle pickup is also a problem, or if the driver is just next to a pickup. maybe i am failing to explain things well...i'm struggling...but consider that the ground is also connected to the driver coil as well as anything else connected to it. There is a transformer effect between nearby coils that creates a voltage, some of this will leak through. ... You sound like me...i hope you have considered that they might not work? I was up against a similar thing with my ultra thin coils...build a machine and test epoxies to make it in order to make it, to see if it works...hahaha. Fortunately for both al and me, the apparatus is fairly simple (my 1mm coreless coils were more difficult)..no pic technology...but I was working in that direction for a bit. A lot of my hex things were ridiculously difficult to make...some didn't work at all...none worked better than the ones I make now by conventional means. And, all the installation and other issues will still exist regardless... That is why I might have sounded a little too negative, but remember I dedicated an entire year on the things making at least one a week! There are a lot of issues yet to come...a successful hex driver is only partly there. Similar with Al's drivers...great stuff and working...but at least a way of installing it is pretty clear. Anyway...one step at a time...maybe when you get there you will find some alternative answers...but I doubt it will be "easy" or straight forward! pete

I've never liked the solder sucker...if you were local you could have one of mine! I prefer de-soldering braid...you can kind of use shielding braid to do the same thing. Yes...you don't want flux in there with electronics...rosin (flux) cored solder for electronics is the beast, flows well without excessive flux. What some people don't realize that a new shiny pot is usually coated in a a surface that doesn't take solder well. Filing this a little before it can oxidize (also gives a grippy surface) in the spot you want to solder on the pot makes things a lot easier...otherwise as wes suggests...solder the pot, solder the wire, then solder the two soldered joins together. Pots can be tricky because you can get a nice shiny ball of solder, but it is still a cold join. Anyway it is practice and finding your own way to get the best results. We are talking wire connections, sure solid core will work if it connects well enough, but it won't get as good a results as braided wires generally and takes more care as it heats up pretty quick and melts the insulation or shrinks it away from the join. I have used it occasionally if I have something, like small joins on a phase switch where I want a connection that stays put and will never move. Shielded cable for signals where possible, but don't need to go overboard. It wouldn't fit in my tele properly, but then there was only a short "run". The old way of doing it, though not quite as good, it to create a "twisted pair". Basically, with a pickup lead or output jack it is a good idea to twist the ground and hot signal "pair" and obviously the more flexible stranded wire is good for that. Colour coding wire can be good, and you can usually find a bunch of colors in a pack at electronics stores for a couple of bucks...makes trouble shooting a little easier. Match with pickup wires or have your own system for ground and hot wires. hmmm...well this is true too. I restrained my usual criticisms as being a little unhelpful. Realistically, even with a cold join that might fail or be intermittent...if it is connected, it is connected! The solid wire really makes this more likely. The bare copper is likely to have oxidized especially if you touched the bare wire which promotes a cold join. The benefit of stranded wire is it sucks the solder right through it and won't transmit the heat up the wire and melt the insulation quite like that. The likelihood of a cold join failing with 22 separate strands being joined and joined to each other, even with substandard soldering skills is extremely low. I'm sure...solid core doesn't seem to like resoldering as far as insulation melt either...it tends to shrink away. The benefit of them is they tend to stay where you bend them. There is a trick to soldering. Wes has some clips and sometimes that helps...they can absorb the heat in a wire and stop insulation melt for instance. I find that I can hold the wire with one hand, the iron with the other, and hold the solder to the join. I'm writing this of course because these questions come up a bit and they might be of help...so don't take anything personally. We haven't talked about the soldering iron and care. You don't need or want a powerful iron with electronics..15-25watt tops. You need to take care of the tip and keep it clean by tinning it and do this before and after use...and wipe off excess solder. I now use a soldering station and pencil like iron that's thermostatically controlled. However, you don't need all that. It is good to have something small and light so you can do your wire holding and solder feeding. Flux by the way is a type of acid...the rosin in solder is plenty of this but it burns away quick...ideally you would be feeding the solder into the join as you heat the joint and it will simply flow. But like everything, it's practice... pete

Hmmm...double post... Ok...since you asked... Now this is grossly unfair use of quotes. Firstly to those reading it that might see it is some kind of gospel or attributable to me or someone else contributing here. By prefacing this unattributed quote with the word "because:" this qualifies that this comes from some kind of informed authority. Secondly it is unfair to the person that you are quoting who can't defend these comments. Yes an ill informed naive ideas...nothing wrong with that...unless it is presented in the way you did and then use it as a reasoning to dismiss the experience and observations because you have this offhand opinion from an unknown source. Now I am answering someone who is through you. It is difficult to hold 5+ years of research and the many people who contributed here to catch out this kind of thing... ... Ok..so lets dissect the quote... This just makes no sense at all...this is just weird honestly... Trying what out...a piezo driver? There are sooo many problems with this idea...and yes I explored the area a lot! The piezos don't have the mechanical strength to produce the vibrations required and against the significant tension of strings. However, there are huge mechanical problems to do with momentum and such that cause massive effective phase shifts...but mostly the inability to respond with the speed required. But as always...try it and see...either in the real world or the minds eye. Yes..well except for the conditioning of the signal and fighting the top vibrations that might cause howl at any volume...it could be made to work. In fact, preliminary tests show this to be true in principle. Well...yes...the idea of using an AGC is also about control and response ass well of course... Yes...well...this is implying that you can work out the resonant frequency of the top which we all know has an extremely complex vibrational pattern that changes with each note and while the note is sounding. (if you think the nodes of the strings vibration are a concern...consider the complexity of an acoustic guitar's top as far as nodes!) But then, you are presupposing access to piezo crystal arrays that has the kind of potential power and physical capacity to move the top and the enormous pressures of the strings...and to do that with no losses, resonant peaks and troughs, and can miraculously overcome the powers of momentum once the top or strings are moving at thousands of vibrations per second. ... Now...I don't know why the person you quoted may be thinking that...but maybe it was simply "thinking out loud" without the benefit of deeper thought, reflection and experimentation...or maybe he just doesn't realize the issues at hand...or maybe he is just naive. You however, have used this to justify a completely different approach in the face of cohesive argument and informed evidence to the contrary.... As to my reasons for not proceeding in the more tried and tested paths, for one thing, I have been advised that for an acoustic application the tried and tested approach is not likely to work I don't even think that that is what was being said in the quote either.... Because the strings on an acoustic are also steel, it will also get them to vibrate, it will be enough just to try and see whether the sound is adequate See...reinforcing what I have been saying...try it and see! I guess what is missing from the "quote" is the question that the person was responding too...was he answering a question like, is there an alternative way of doing this, would piezos work for an acoustic guitar, etc... pete

I didn't say it was a synth in that quote...however in a previous post... the GK is often referred to as a synth controller...but if you just see yourself past that and back to basics... The point is that these things are small magnetic pickups...in fact, six individual ones...and my point was that it is just as susceptible to EMI effects. Additionally, these things may well adversely affect tracking and the A/D converters that the signal needs to go through for the digital processing. What you use the thing for doesn't change what it is! There is no need to try and convince anyone but yourself how good digital modeling is for you...it's irrelevant to this project. I think that we need to acknowledge that zfrittz6's idea for switching using a micro switch with a standard 5 way switch was a stroke of genius, and it would have enabled us to avoid this problem entirely. Hmmm...what ever happened to zfrittz6? I think you over estimate that because of the claims made for it. A 4p5t superswitch is the ideal way of using a selector. The additional micro switch is a neat idea that I have used for various things for a long time (there is even one on the tele and on several hex drivers over the years) however there were significant things overlooked that it didn't address...most likely that as I recall it was never done! Consider the switching I have had to implement with any multipickup guitar. I have explained the problem on other forums that have come up with different solutions and I have obviously spent countless hours on these things as I consider it to be the major problem and no one else is doing a lot of work on it. However, there is a solution, several...and I have discussed it! zfrittz6's idea was to use a micro switch at one selector position to turn power on to the sustainer circuit when the bridge pickup is selected. Sounds good...however, on any conventional strat or multipickup guitar, the grounds to all the pickups will still be connected and this is not an adequate switching circuit. Well...maybe people are inhibited, maybe I have answered the question from my experience adequately, maybe people just don't know what to think. Maybe he got that kind of thing to work...but by any stretch it must be extremely inefficient due to impedance issues (which Micheal Brooks seemed to address on the original "infinite guitar" with a giant transformer). Spazzyone did very much the same thing a few years earlier with a lot of power and a rail pickup. I did, and I am sure many have over the years, considered the sustainer concept, got an old pickup and subjected it to a lot of power...cause it's a coil right, so you should get sustain! However...there are things that might give you the appearance that such things will work. There is a heavily distorted compression effect that can occur (that we call "fizz" in the mildest form and try and eliminate) that sounds like sustain. As long as the string is vibrating you get a massive volume as the driver and pickup couple as in a transformer. The ebow also exploits this as the driver is moved towards the pickup and feeds it's signal into the signal chain. However, this effect is not sustain and once the string stops vibrating it is most unattractive, the system tends to oscillate (squeal) when there is no signal...but all this is often ignored because the system is so loud that you often get infinite sustain from this distorted signal and volume directly from feedback via the amp. Often such things as I describe are mistaken for progress or even success, as much as anything because it is believed that it should work and something appears to be happening. But this is naive and often misrepresented...people have a right to feel skeptical, I know I got a lot of that before...it was only when people built things and I was able to post actual sound clips that people were convinced. It is notable that those that come and go have made claims but not really backed them up at all with audio or anything. Wouldn't it be great, we all stop making our own drivers, add a pot to a cheap EMG and you're done! Excellent! Lets all pretend that not lifting the ground and hots of nearby unused pickups are unnecessary and use a micro switch in the selector to turn it on. Brilliant! I've repeatedly given the advice that people should do this...honestly they should. It is only when people do these things that they learn. The micro switch idea could work with some clever additional wiring and limiting of selections, but the intention is just to avoid the aesthetic of a toggle switch really, and doesn't even fulfill all those functions as described. Running massive amounts of power into a mismatched coil will produce massive EMI...buy actually doing this it will become apparent and teach what I had to find out by doing exactly that (see the first post here)... Well...have you read the patent? Have you seen from my research that there were sustainer devices proposed way back in the 1890's. The eBow is elegant, but very simple and does not do all that many people expect. The ebow patent spends most of it on a hex version. As I recall he suggests a masive amount of lead between the drivers and pickups...this is just alchemy...lead is not magnetic and completely impractical and would have no effect. Perhaps a massive piece of steel...but even then I doubt it. But, go ahead and try it...perhaps moog is doing something of that ilk, perhaps Hank will have success with his hex ideas. Yes...it's called a sustainer! The fact is that the bigger the coils (pickup and driver) the bigger the EMI effects and as a result you need massive gap between the pickup and driver coils...at least 6 times as much...surprise, surprise...this is about the gap between the bridge pickup and neck driver! You wouldn't be able to move such a device along the strings, it would be impracticable in performance (how would you dampen the strings you don't want driven?) and having the driver above the strings makes the EMI spread worse. Perhaps...but Quantum mechanics does not change the general laws of physics, it looks deeper into it. It only works at the micro scale or on hypothetical alternate dimensions. There are hints of all kinds of things we don't know, QMs is one way of understanding such things. Gravity does not reverse because of these 'revelatory ideas', magnets still have two poles. I think you are thinking too much about this without doing the work that would be pushing you in the right directions. No matter the amount of speculation, this in no way is going to get you closer. You have been considering this project for a very long time and it is time to get some wire and wind some coils, build a circuit and have a go at it. pete

Take the bare wire off the phase switch!!!! By reversing the phase, you are also reversing the ground I suspect when you switch things so that the cover alternates between hot and ground. You only want to reverse the ground of the coils in the pickup, not the cover. pete

Those LA Jazz/studio guys of the seventies used to stuff their 335's with cotton wool to resist feedback I do recall. I've alwasy considered most strats to be like semi acoustics...large amounts of hollowing under the scratchplate and in the trem cavit. The large scratchplate effectively a thin plastic top. This probably does contribute to the sound. However, as the scratchplate/top vibrates...so too do the pickups attached to it on a strat. The result could be microphonic feedback, or transient high frequency edge from the pickups vibrating, made worse by single coils of course. So, it is not surprising that these non-musical transient vibrations are damped down by such a strategy. I don't think however that it is anything to do with it being made of maple although a very bright sounding guitar might make the symptom worse. In some heavily chambered guitars I suppose they might benefit from it. Of course, ironically, people often intend the chambering to "improve tone" by adding back these high end acoustic transients. Of course there are other reasons to chamber things like weight. I've always had in the back of my mind a very light construction technique that uses foam sandwich techniques...or even squirting liquid expanding foam into a guitar to support a thin flexible back and front. Part of the attraction to the "tone-flow" thing (small connected cavities) or some of warmoths and other bodies with lots of small chambers or internal slots is that you get the weight loss without these excessive vibrations. ... So...on a strat with a very thin top with pickups attached to that I can see how you might get some improvement...but I don't think the maple side of things makes a big difference unless the guitars are very resonant.

Like this...the Corvax... A reverse corvus...hehhehe...LINK Variously described as a Packmn who ate a flat iron to a goldfish cheese cracker...hehehe hey...I see a double cut...on the wrong end! I think I'm back on topic

hahaha...i don't think you see the bird...the lower horn is supposed to be the beak...this looks like some picasso or dali-esque bat I suppose i should say something about the design...not really liking it...but perhaps there's still some potential. Good to see some interesting ideas though...I figure if you are going to make something as weird and ugly as this, you should perhaps try and make a feature of it... like this ferrington string quartet... this being a violin, but you get the idea... Unfortunately the corvus is inherently ugly by comparison.

8 pages of Reasons to love a corvus...not! For instance... Now look carefully...this guy is being paid to like it...but no, even he has to turn away and close his eyes in shame...he's completely forgotten his tight perm and that isn't oil, that's the fear that someone will recognize him holding this oversized kitchen implement (possibly some kind of six wired cheese cutter)...possibly his boyfriend...and that he can't really be sure that the mood lighting really will obscure his face enough. Later some advertising genius though to put it between two LP's in an effort to transmit the idea...no, no...see it really is a guitar...no look carefully...you what, you see a bird...no look more, this ain't no rochardt test...it's a guitar, see lp, corvus, lp...i mean guitar, seriously, it's a guitar...look it's just like an LP but with the good bits removed!

It is beautiful...I was not familiar with this guitar...it's what a corvus could have been... needless to say the artwork is superb and it needed a guitar like this to make it so effective...well done, and don't forget to post picks with the hardware and stuff when you're done... pete

I was thinking that too...a worthy material for a worthy design...but you have come up with the name! Which is why...I have adopted it as an all purpose swear word...it even works on people who have no idea...try it... "Corvus!"..."hey, what did you call me" "What do you think of this"..."now that's corvused"..."yeah, it is pretty bad I guess!" "stick it up your corvus"...they'll get the idea... Universal I tell you! It's the one good thing that has come from the corvus virus. I see all guitars here as some kind of modified corvus...that axe bass...corvus...the kramer refinish...corvus...half the threads...corax, corbass, corten, Cortez...hi corumba, they're all a corvus in disguise! It's almost therapeutic...but dare you to say it at midnight to a mirror while there's a full moon...go on...i dare you, I double dare you...ah-ha...you corvus, you'll never risk it! Corvus should have its own category...double cut, single cut (oooh, mistyped an n in that word for a sec!) and corvus...no cut! pete ps...one more thing...corvus!

Yes...basically that. The soldering on the pot looks ok...you still need a hot iron, not cold...but you often need a lot of heat to do the pot...so better to solder the pot...then solder to the solder on the pot Solid wire heats up very quickly...hence you have melted insulation. the braided wire absorbs the solder between the braids making a much better join. The flexibility makes for a more robust wiring. The joins with the solid coil are a bit "dry" you can still see the copper. The trick with the braided is to strip a bit, twist it, solder this up to itself (tinning the wire) then perhaps "tin" what you are joining too...the attach wire and remelt the two together, cut off excess. But doing this, you will avoid stray threads and the soldered braid will handle like solid. Mainly the braided wont heat up like the solid and melt everything at the required heat you need. pretty much...at least on this one. It is pretty simple, the case of the pot shields everything in side, the pickup lead is shielded...so except where the join to the pot is, everything should be shielded without having to do the whole cavity! anyway...you've got the idea...it should help...there is often a bit of noise creeps in when you are not grounding the noise with your body by touching the strings...that's why they are grounded...they are grounded to you! pete

This is very elaborate, i guess with a machine winding the epoxy doesn't set too fast. I used a similar technique for my bilateral driver with magnets inside... Hard to see, but two coils with internal magnets, metal between, and I arranged them so when they split apart, they were automatically wired in series... Instead of foil, i use stuff like pvc tape to stop everything sticking. Good to see how you pushed the sides in...a lot of people don't do this...which is why yours look so much neater than some. Well done...hope this inspires others! pete

Ahhh...so much easier with some decent pics... ok...well it looks like you are using solid core wire...bit of a no-no. You are better off with flexible braided wires, like the pickup wires. Also...looks like a bit to much heat going on...the insulation has melted on some wires...more practice required. As a tip...you do need a fair amount of heat to solder well onto the back of a pot. The trick is to clean and make bare this by gentily filing or sandin a small area where you intend to solder, then very soon after (before it can retarnish with the air) use a hot iron to make a neat solder join. Once this is achieved, a cooler iron is all that should be required with "pre-tinned) (solder coated wires) to join the two together into aneat shiny join. Well, generally a copper material, sometimes aluminium (not kitchen foil) and available form guitar supply places...HOWEVER I have done plenty of guitars and avoided shielding with very good results...but first, why are you getting noise... The effect of the unshielded cables carrying a hot signal (ie, to the jack socket) and particularly because you have used overly long unbraided and loose wiring...has resulted in you creating an antenna! The noise is primarily radio frequency noise. HB pickups will cancel a lot of this...but it wont do anything for the wiring you add afterward...which is where your noise is coming from. Notice that your quality pickup has leads encased in a black sheath with a bare wire, this is shielded cable...the hot signal wires are completely surrounded by a grounded "shield" which is what cavity shielding is intending to do. This is of course what is in a guitar lead for the same reason. So...to cut noise without shielding all the cavities and such, and especially with this guitar...simply replace the pot to output jack with a length of shielded cable...might need an electronics store like radio shack...or an old guitar lead perhaps... pete

Nice...only one thing missing on that wall...CoRvUs! always good to see more iceman pics...is yours a set neck?

No...the corvus back cut was just in keeping with the wacky 80's aesthetic...it's just a cheap gibson with fender electronics and bolt on neck and the classy bits of an LP cut out to vaguely look like a diving bird (corvus+crow) which no one seems to be able to see! There was no thought to back tuners at all and the cut is all wrong for that really. Many makers and even builder's here have a hankering for taking a chunk out of the rear ends of their guitars. Perhaps some of it goes back to the look of the V...but mostly it screams "different" in a tacky and pointless way...unlike the V! The rear tuner idea is something I have come back to for a while...but is only really a "good" idea if it achieves some particular aims...like a compact guitar (steinberger, traveler concepts) or added strings (bc rich and others)...even then, there are still better "shapes" or original ideas that might exploit the concept further. ... As for single cut/double cut...mostly it is an aesthetic preference I think. Although a strat might be considered to be a double cut...but...there is as much upper neck pocket support on there due to it's asymmetrical design as a tele or other "single cuts". Guitars like the SG or 335 don't have this kind of neck support and are truer to that 'double cut' idea than a strat I suppose... pete

Well...it's not uncommon to have some buzz...untill you ground the strings to your hands. There are all kinds of stray magnetic and rf signals about. However, good wiring and shielding of cavities can help a lot pete

Well, the answers are only going to be found through experimentation. The principle is sound, but the devil is in the details. With the "sustain box" things, this went no further (at least from my perspective) because of the multitude of practical problems which become apparent when you think it through with conventional guitars or unless significant (and unlikely) progress was made in the driver mechanism that avoided any detrimental magnetic interactions (most likely a physical impossibility). That's not being negative...obviously if I put on my 'speculative hat' and work in abstract ideals...eg, 'I'd like to see this as a stick on no modification portable device for any instrument'...'here's what I envision and how I am working towards that aim'..it all sounds and can "virtually" look great. However when you consider the physics and the wiring for bypassing, the enormous variation in instruments, different user exceptions, skill and abilities of the people having to make such a thing...and most importantly actually physically build these things...you will come to see the impracticability or likely impossibility of such a thing. But, maybe I have missed something. The ebow for instance is exactly that kind of self contained device. My telecaster gets as close as I have been able to make it...with more work, you could make things more compact perhaps, like Als drivers...but the installation issues are not addressed. But as I say, until someone or more likely yourself put in many hours of experimentation this kind of thing will get no closer...that is the truth I'm afraid. I personally have done more than enough work like this to know the pitfalls, but to survive the endurance and frustrations you have to be highly motivated and do the work required...at some point there may need to be an acknowledgment that some things are not possible...or that at least the possibility is outside of one's personal reach. That's not a reason not to pursue something, but it is a quest that requires setting out, a lot of hard travel and no guarantee of the destination. So, time to set out on the road to achieving your goals... pete Ummm....is that quote from me? You won't make a piezo driver...at least in any way I have attempted or considered. The strings are driven by elctromagnetic energy...piezo's are not magnetic, so without direct contact with the strings (which has other significant problems) they are complete fancy. If that was me, I am very disappointed in myself if I said or meant that!

I can't see any Iceman bodies, or any bodies on that site. I doubt that he actually makes them as his business is painting swirls. Also, his swirling costs 100+25 (for porous woods) body only, with no clear coat...fair enough...but he has a couple of bodies "for sale" for about $150. I don't know, but it all seems a little light on in information, unusual pricing, hotmail email accounts, no contact address or contact numbers...hmmmm ... So...can't see what you are working with at all. Anyway...a guitar is a lot more than a slab of wood joined to a neck. You need a total detailed plan, not just a wish list. The bridge needs to match the neck angle, the string spread for the neck...and then you choose pickups that will match these things. There are hundreds of bridge choices, but it wouldn't be fair to recommend anything without some solid info about the total project, what you are trying to achieve and clearly there are budget issues and possibly tool and experience issues. pete http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Radical/Iceman.aspx

Well...I posted A diagram...however, you have different 4 conductor HB's and a 4 way switch that is unknown. Switches can have all kinds of formats, I have no idea what you have there if it is a 4 way. The tip of the lead is the hot, the socket connection that connects to the tip is hot, the other ground..if you have tried both, then likely it is something to do with this unknown switch. You can't jut wire as per one diagram with different components and expect it to work in the same way. 4 position switches do exist (for tele's) but are very rare and I don't know them or the type you are using so it is virtually impossible to know how to advise. You need to draw out the actual diagram you have used and work out what connects where when the switch is operating. pete

I searched your site first perry....no DiM...otherwise that's where I'd send them to you! I am assuming that you realize that australian dollars and american dollars are different values and change.

Reminds me of something...I know.... Enter it in the corvus competition!

I don't know...but I have always loved the iceman...why can't we have an iceman build off! Not familiar with pearleguitars...got a link? Neck to body join is extremely important. Personally, if it's an iceman I love the original extended 3x3 headstock and that is going to be real tricky. I got the impression that warmoth were the only ones making decent iceman bodies and necks...so that would be interesting. But still...don't make a guitar that is not going to do what you want it to do just because of budget. If you want a tremolo, that's where you should be headed (it doesn't need to be a floyd or kahler to be effective). The bridge though has a big influence on the neck and body...a TOM bridge is going to need a decent neck angle or be recessed to work...of course this is the original design, but they had set necks and stuff so clearly this is really about the shape. Make sure you do heaps of preplanning. The only way to tell what necks would fit is to consult the manufactures specs or contact them as to what kind and brand of neck they route the bodies out for really. Anyway...love the iceman...so you better do a good job don't want me getting all corvus about it! pete

Upper fret access is a concern...and well...it still has corvus features. I'd definitely consider making a plywood or even cardboard mock up and holding it in your hands to refine things more. You could for instance shift the lower "horn" back to get that better access and improve the look. Definitely feel the headstock is suspect and you will need to do some refinement of the tuners if they are going to fit on there properly. I've always liked the idea of a 9 string, or in your case 10 string...i don't know the jangle sound is going to suit this kind of look, but maybe there is something I don't see. There is still a lot of refinements needed before you start sawing into thing, tuner placement and body thickness to accomodate them, adequate angle over the bridge to the posts, tuner rotation direction...even though the corvus might look like the right shape for the rear tuner idea with that rear cut, it is actually kind of roung the wrong way to be practical...yours seem too close together to fit, but it could work with work on the design phase. String retention at the head end also needs to be considered. Nope, cause the next question is that it doesn't work or would I build one for it! IF...I were going to do a "corvass" of some description, and IF it were to feature a sustainer or something like that ....I'd want it to look and sound completely unlike anything else...this is close...fretless with a sustainer is closer...ooopppss, giving away ideas there! Unfortunately, with so many corvi around the shape is not only still ugly but passe! But we will see...maybe i will, maybe I wont, maybe pete PS...i don't see "the bird"

Anything like this is typically "luxury goods" and attract a high tax and or import duty. Part of the reasoning on restricting imports is to keep the australian distributors (local music shops) in business...who would by pickups from them if they can all by overseas cheaper. If overseas people are caught, they will be cut of from selling anywhere. There is even a strong possibility that if you import them say from ebay, you will get a big customs and duty bill that will make up the difference. Not defending it, but lots of things are like that down here....that's just the way it is! If you can find some second hand, you may have more luck at a cheaper price...but unlikely I guess. There are a number of companies that are very strict on these kinds of things, fender australia are notorious. That's why you will find a lot of smaller music shops, and even some quite large one, don't or can't stock them or even get them in for you. Strange land! sorry can't be of more help...maybe someone else will have a better supplier. Sometimes you can discounts on special orders or find some cheaper online supplier in australia...but remember, these guys are paying import and export duties on both ends and tax on top...they can only go so low. Of course, dimarzio are not the only pickups and there are companies that make excellent products, even hand wound products that work out cheaper...if you know what you are looking for. I have been able to by fender and SD pickups effectively secondhand but, as new...for half or less of the new prices... pete