shakyhands

GregP. Yeah I saw that auction of pickups at ebay.

Ha Ha. I suppose I cant blame her. My 2 sons are guitarists, my dad was a professional muso and my brother plays in a Gold Coast duo and does solo work. Everytime we get together for BBQs or family get togethers, Yep you guessed it, we talk about nothing else but music. Funny thing is, I met my wife back in 1971 at a venue I was playing at with my dad's band. I suppose after all these years, she got a bit tired of carrying amps and speaker boxes into venues for me. By the way, your thread on sustainers is great. Bill

Ha Ha. I suppose I cant blame her. My 2 sons are guitarists, my dad was a professional muso and my brother plays in a Gold Coast duo and does solo work. Everytime we get together for BBQs or family get togethers, Yep you guessed it, we talk about nothing else but music. Funny thing is, I met my wife back in 1971 at a venue I was playing at with my dad's band. I suppose after all these years, she got a bit tired of carrying amps and speaker boxes into venues for me. By the way, your thread on sustainers is great. Bill

Years ago, actually about 1970 my cousin bought a Semi Acoustic guitar.It was an Italian (I think) Eko. He had problems with it and the neck was crap. Rose Music were the distributors in Sydney at the time. He took it back and was given a handful of the same model guitars to select a replacement. Most of them had bad necks, but he was lucky enough to get one that was one of the best guitars I have ever played. This guitar had a fantastic repeat built in. I was wondering if anyone has a simple repeat circuit that could be made up and placed in an instrument case.

Thanks mate. Actually while having tea tonight (dinner for US readers ) I thought of plastic things that I might be able to laminate and I thought of all the plastic folders I have around the place. Just got back to computer and read your post about notebooks. Thanks for all your imput here. I think I'm driving my wife crazy here. All I've been talking about lately is pickups,and different guitar building plans and ideas.

There's a place in Brisbane.."Reverse Garbage" that sells industrial recyclable products. Friends have bought wood, perspex, metal and other bits and pieces for guitar building there. I'm going to check it out soon. May even find something there suitable for making flatwork for bobbins. I'll keep you posted of my findings there. Please correct me if I'm wrong but am I assuming correctly that to laminate, I'd just glue layers of paper,carboard (?) Then apply pressure and let to set for awhile til absolutely dry and hard. When hard then sand down to desired thickness? Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this.

Thanks for the posts. Yeah wire comes from Isola. about $25 per kilo plus copper surcharge around $4 thats for 0.063 PUR. 0.056 is about $37 kilo from memory plus surcharge. Was contacted by Sales Manager about fibreboard. they were putting prices together for me. Havent got any set prices yet from them. Magnets come from Oriel at Wauchope NSW, about $1.50 each though. The last handful I got was from smashed pickups at our local tip recyclers market. There was an old cardboard box there with computer bits and pieces and old guitar bits and pieces (including the pickups. The bobbins werent usable though. I managed to free the magnets and reuse them. It was just a practice run so I was just hoping for ther best. I was able to work out the poles and hoped for the best with their gauss. Am making a gaussmeter up. Laminating paper sounds great to me. Making bobbins out of CD cases is hard work. saw some made out of thin wood. Looked good. Many thanks for your ideas psw.

before cutting out.

Just wondering what (if any) effect the thin metal coating on the Cds would have on the pickups. PSW, youre in Australia arent you? I got onto a wire supplier that said they could get fibreboard for me, but when I contact them they say, theyre still chasing it up. Do you mind me asking you what else could be used that would appear similar to vulcanised fibreboard? My young brother wants a cple of pickups made for him and I'm looking forward to making them for him and doing some fancy wiring as per different schematics I've found here and there on the net, but he wants them to look like genuine articles (and so do I). Must say that the cd case bobbins didnt look too bad, but would like something else like fibreboard if possible. If anyone is going to use cd cases, drill pole pieces holes first.

Hi, Yeah I heard that someone was using CDs themselves for bobbons. I had trouble at first with the cases. tried using a straightedge and utility knife. Took ages and ended up with cracks. Then tried using a jewelers saw, that I was able to borrow and made a little saw table for it. It turned out better but still hard work. Took rough edges off with utility knife held at different angles and scraping along edges.

Hi, I have made a couple of pickups using old black CD cases as Jon Tirone has at his site. My pickups sounded ok and it looks like I'm going to have some problems getting Forbon or similar so will be using this method for a little while. Wondering if I could paint them different colors or would there be safety problems if potted? Can anyone tell me also of any other material apart from Forbon or CD cases that could be used to make a reasonable looking pup?

I'm also looking for a cheap router in Australia. My kids want to get me one for my birthday soon and they havent got a lot of coin to play with. Is GMC ok? I want to rout pickup cavities and maybe do some binding later. What would you suggest as minimum H.P. and plunge depth? Would a plunge router be better than fixed? Could I get by with a plunge router with a plunge depth of 35mm and 600w?

Thanks, that's worth trying.

Wire,bobbins or material to make bobbins (vulcanised fibreboard etc), magnets, pole piece, laquer or wax etc for potting, eyelets, wire to solder to pickup copper wire and to controls, insulation -tape etc. covers? Just to mention a few things. What type of pickups are u making?

Hi, building an 8 string lapsteel guitar and wondering about putting images/designs on frets. I am going to use clear perspex (australian name for plexiglass) spray painted on one side. This side will be the underneath of fretboard, so that it doesnt get scratched, chipped etc. I would like to know how I can come up with some designs like aces/diamonds or some other images I can put on the frets (from the top and then clear laquered over) reducing in size as you go up the fretboard towards bridge. Is there any freeware software, or tips somewhere on doing this without going to a lot of trouble? Would like to be able to use colours other than white or black too.

From what I've been able to find out so far, which isnt a great deal. Is that it is made out of paper and resins and is pretty easy to work with. I suppose if it is used in transformer manufacturing, it would be suitable for potting.

Thanks Hotrock. Yeah posted a message there too. Trying to get something like forbon here is like trying to find rocking horse Sh.t

Hi, I'm looking for something like Forbon in Australia to make pickup bobbin flanges out of. Want something that wont warp easily and doesnt look cheap and crappy. Want pickup to look like a factory made item. A guy recommended Paxolin, which I know nothing about. Apparently its used in transformer manufacturing and I believe hobby boomerang makers use it. Thats all we know about it. Does anyone here know what it is, whether it would be suitable for flatwork and where could I buy some in Australia. If you know of something better ..obtainable in Australia please let me know

Hi, when I first wanted to build a lap steel, I searched the internet over and over again trying to find plans for a decent looking lap steel. Couldnt find any so looked at all the pictures of lap steels on the net for ideas. Found some good ones. Also saw a free plan for a simple 6 string at buildyourguitar.com it was just a thick stick really with strings and a pickup. But gives you an idea of how to start. I then searched everwhere for plans to build an 8 stringer. Not much luck. mimf forum has plans for 8 string lap steel (for a fee). My main concern was string spacing for an 8 stringer. To cut a long story short, I have been in contact with Mr R. J Gluck from Cactus Publishing, he sells a CD on pedal steel guitar building. Lots of work in building a pedal steel. I asked him if he had anything on lapsteels and non pedal steels, and he sent me an email saying that a CD with plans etc. should be coming out soon (possibly later this month) on lap steels...6 and 8 string, stand models, 8 string single.double and triple neck consoles. email is pedlstlr@juno.com He has me on his mailing list. I have John Tipkas Book on building 6 and 8 string steels but these are traditional guitar shaped lapsteel.

May sound stupid but have had heard different statements..... If a pickup is to be wound counter clockwise or clockwise, Is it the bobbin rotation or the wire rotation that is spoken of in winding direction. I feel that if a pickup is to be wound and someone said clockwise, thats the direction i would wind the wire around the bobbin not the direction of the bobbin rotation...I'm talking bout on a winding machine with bottom flange on faceplate.

Thanks guys. Yeah the yellow binding doesnt look to bad as the rest of the guitar looks great with beaut inlays and for its age, great sunburst finish. Just thought I'd ask here to see what others thought about yellowing binding. It doesnt alter the great look of the axe so I'll leave it be. Dont want to accidently do any damage to it.

Hi, have an old semi acoustic thats in great condition but binding is starting to look a bit yellow (like its nicotened stained) any hints to try and get it looking white again would be appreciated

thanks for the replies. I am aware that there is a little bit of difference in volume level between neck and bridge pickups and problem with this guitar probably more severe due to it getting knocked over and possibly poor rewiring, but I do believe pickups need to be somewhat matched and go along with westhemann re matched sets and compensating for differences with amplification at neck and bridge. and also his comments about high output in one pickup and possibly much lower output in the other. I suppose its a bit like building a v8 engine with factory manufactured pistons on one side and on the other I've got my homemade wooden pistons. Thanks guys.

Just found out from my brother that a couple of days after he wired it up. He was playing at a club and some moron fell on the stage knocking his axe over. The pickguard broke and the next morining one of the guys in his band wired things back up as some of the wiring got damaged. Apparently this guy hasnt done much soldering or wiring, so its possible there may be a dry joint or whatevr. So I'll get to the axe and check wiring.

I'll take it steady. Perry with regards to wire we spoke about before for winding pups, will be in touch soon. Have to put it on back burner at present as I have to finish another project first before I start winding. regards Bill