jamforthelamb

Hey Pete, Sorry for the tardiness of my reply, I've been training this week. I'm not sure when I'll have the parts to do the coil shunt, but when I do I'll make sure to shunt the coil closest to the driver to try and avoid any issues. When you spoke of moving that magnet so that the polarity would be point up. Would all I have to do is pull it off the bottom (I think it's just lightly glued on), and point one of the thinner ends upward toward the strings? I believe it's mounted flat right now. -jftl

I'm not sure which way the magnet faces on this one because like I said, it's actually a single coil. Considering the adjustable poles I'm assuming it's flat like you said. Yeah, I wired this (as far as I know) how you've been saying to for the last 286 pages (wow!). The pickup switch controls the battery on/off rather then haveing a stereo jack that turns in on when the guitar is plugged in, and there is only the bridge pickup. Another thing I've found that you've said before is that it sucks juice, my battery is already going flat! Have you tried one of these with a coil shunted pickup? I tried it, and it made the sustainer squeal big time. I would love to have one of your circuits. Hopeful by the time you "pull the finger out" I will be in better financial shape. I was laid off, and un-employed for 2 months, I'm just getting back on my feet again this coming week. -jftl

Hey Pete, Well I ended up wiring another driver. I was dis-assembling this guitar's old neck pickup (it has a silver cover I was going to use), and found that it was actually a single coil, so I decided to wire it up as a driver to make it even more stealthy. This put the driver a little bit closer to the neck as well. I don't want to do the surface mount thing if I can get away with it just cause I'm liking the stealth thing (if you haven't noticed =) ). There is some distortion in the signal with everything cranked. I can back the controls off and get rid of some, but then of course it doesn't work as well. As I think you've stated before there is a lot of factors to it, and it takes some twiddling to get it to work just so. I probably won't be able to use it completely clean all the time, but it sounds heavenly with a bit of distortion and some delay or reverb. I'll admit I didn't tinker with getting the harmonic part working a lot. I was just happy to have a functional unit. I played with bias on the jfet some, and got rid of the noise, and damping, but still not harmonics. I followed MRJ's schemo to the letter. The input is wired directly to the pickups hot lead, and the circuit shares ground with the guitar. Here's how it looks now I plan on eventually getting another bridge pickup that has a metal cover also. -jftl

Hey All, It's been almost a year, but I finally got my sustainer guitar done. I stopped working on it for a while because I was so frustrated, and just picked it up again recently. I used MRJ's layout for the circuit, and had to wind the coil two more times before I got one that works. The only thing that isn't working is the harmonic mode. It actually just mutes the strings (and makes a lot of noise) regardless of how I have it set. I hardwired it in regular sustain mode for now, but I hope to fix it so I can put in the switch. Any ideas on what might help? I ended up going with the 220uf cap instead if the 100uf because it worked better. Thanks so much to PSW, and everyone else that contributed. I couldn't have built it without you. The sustainer is completely stealth (except for the driver looking a little strange, I plan on dealing with that eventually). Both of the pots are mounted where the neck pickups volume and tone would be, and the pickup selector switch controls on/off for the sustainer. I also plan on eventually coil tapping the bridge pickup, and adding a harmonic switch once I get that worked out (both will be push/pulls). ps. there will be a white knob on the pot without a knob. I just need to get another knurled shaft pot. -jftl

Hey all, I'm bringing back my old post to ask a related question. I've noticed that the nicer Dou/Double Jets have Walnut Stain on the back, and solid black on the top. Could I get away with doing this on my mangled electromatic with some wood filler, or is it just not feasable ? Thanks! jftl

There is one small chip on the front, and one on the head stock that I plan on doing that with. I just want to be able to play this at my church without having to wear a black shirt every time I use it. Thanks! -jftl

Yeah, I gotta admit it's not the best thing to be doing, but I'm just anxious to get some playing time with it. That's actually a pretty good suggestion, I could even use electrical tape so it matches the body color -jftl

Hi Dugg, Yeah, I'd like the fix to be semi-reversable just in case I do decide to refinish the guitar later. It plays good, and sounds good, it just doesn't look so good from the back. -jftl

Hey Everyone, Recently bought a new project. It's Gretsch solid body, one of the import models. I found it on a local craigslist for 50.00. The reason it was so cheap is because it has some pretty bad body damage on the rear of the guitar, the picture below being the worst. I'm not sure if I'm ready to fill/refinish this (maybe later on), so what can I do to keep the finish from constantly flaking off on my shirt ? I've heard of using super glue as a replacement clear coat, but I didn't know if that would work conisdering the size of the dents, and the fact that there is finish completely gone. There is also a small chip on the front side of the guitar. Could I fix that using nail polish and super glue ? I just want to disguise the damage as best as I can. More pictures here. Thanks! -jftl

I've got a deaf eddie chormacaster switch in my mexy strat. It's got about every kind of series/parallel/phase combo you can think of, still works with a regular 5 way, and replace one of your tone pots (no extra holes needed). http://www.deaf-eddie.net/chromie.html

Ok, I wasn't sure. I think I would prefer flush as well, but that other site got me questioning. Thanks! -jftl

Hey all, I have a Wilkinson Trem that I will be putting in my Yamaha that currently has a 6 hole trem. I know everything on installing the trem, except for how deep to drill the holes for the studs. I read on one site that they are supposed to sit just below the body's surface. I want to make sure that I get this in there right because this is my primary player. Thanks! -jftl

Hi Pete, Folks in the "Circuit Bending" community have been doing stuff like that for a little while. I have been modifying Fab Echos with a similar control (among other things) linky </offtopic> -jftl

Hey All, I've been working on tricking out my MIM strat just for kicks. I installed a Deaf Eddie chromacaster switch in the middle tone position, so now my back tone is a master tone. I would like to install a TBX style tone control in that position that will roll off the treble or bass. I was wondering if someone could help me figured out the values of the caps/resistors if I were to use a cheaper/easier to get 250k blend pot. Here is the schematic for what I'm going for. TBX bass cut Also, I know that the original TBX takes the load off of the pickups when rolled one way, so I plan on installing a push/pull volume pot wired up as a "solo switch". Thanks! -jftl

Hey All, I got it working! I tried the "loop technique" and it seemed to help a little, but ultimately what got rid of the squeal was mounting (hot gluing) the driver at an angle facing away from the pickup. I still have the usually grunge/fizz, but it's nice to have it doing something anyway. The guitar is pretty ugly right now, but I plan on cleaning everything up hopefully in the next few weeks. Thanks for everyone's (especially PSW and Col's) contribution to this massive thread, I could have never built one of these without it. God bless, -Kevin