Black Mariah

I'm having problems with my Morley ABY pedal. I've tried several cable combinations in hopes it was a faulty ground or something, but I keep getting bleed. Even with one channel turned off, the guitar comes through the other channel enough that it's audible. Also, any kind of bump on the box comes through. I can take a pick and tap on the box and it makes noise. It also makes noise when tapping the cable ends or clicking the switches. Vey annoying. Is this a normal thing or do I have a problem?

Dylan: The low notes are much clearer and well defined on a baritone than on a standard scale guitar. It's like the difference between a guitar and a bass, but not quite that extreme. It still sounds like a guitar, just with the added clarity.

rhoads56: Let's take your criticisms point by point, shall we? Like I said, adjusting the truss rod doesn't change the scale much, but it does. It's a very slight change, but it's there. You can see this for yourself. Set up a guitar to have no relief, set your string height, then set the intonation. Now add some relief, set the string height to the same, and check your intonation again. It'll be close, but definitely off. It's a very slight change, but it's there and it's important to know this. You're partially right on the point about the truss rod being related to string height. I should have been more specific. I will now point out that this advice is for JACKSONS and not Fenders or similar vintage-style guitars. Jacksons need straight necks, no relief, and so the truss rod should not factor into string height at all. And you're being a jerk for no particular reason. No, this isn't related to intonation but it IS related to why a Jackson needs no relief. Excuse the hell out of me for feeling compelled to explain why something works a certain way instead of just saying "Make the board flat" and moving on. When did I ever say it wasn't? I do believe I said "A properly setup guitar will work with any gauge strings in any tuning." A proper setup means that from nut height to intonation adjustment to string height, EVERYTHING is set up PERFECTLY. As long as you don't have any hardware problems, you can set up a guitar for any tuning with any gauge strings. There is nothing special about standard tuning that means guitars only work with that. It's just a tuning. Pick your tuning, pick your gauge, and set your guitar up for it. If it won't cooperate, you have a crappy guitar. End of story. So what you mean is that the bridge was wonky? I've also seen many guitars with the bridges in the wrong place, ESPECIALLY Jacksons (their lowest-end imports SUCK). I know what an out of place bridge looks like, and if you have one you'll know it to. The recessed routing for the tremolo (we're dealing with a Floyd Rose here, remember? Not a ToM Gibson) makes it pretty damn obvious when something is in the wrong spot. And you're clearly a bigger jerk the more you post. I'll explain it like this. A FLOYD ROSE IS NOT A TUNE-O-MATIC. The string has a much longer contact area with the saddle than there is on a ToM. The area where the string breaks over the saddle eventually wears away, especially under heavy trem use. It's just like getting a false overtone from a nut. You have experienced that, right? Where the front edge of the nut is either cut wrong or has worn away so it produces an overtone? It's the exact same principle, and it WILL screw up the intonation. Ummm.. did you not see where he said he used fairly high action? Are you not aware that high action does wonders to mask low frets? Do YOU have any clue what you're talking about? How could a 12th fret be lower? Umm... maybe it was ALWAYS LIKE THAT? Maybe it's worn down? Since he uses high action, the whole area around the 12th fret could use being refretted and he doesn't even know it. One of my guitars is like this. How could this affect the intonation? Seriously, you have to ask this? You have no clue how a low fret could cause intonation to be off? How about this. Low fret = virtual higher action. It may not be much, but it doesn't take much for the note to ring sharp. Also, it's nice to see that because you've never seen it that it doesn't exist. Unfortunately, I have seen it many times and know otherwise. And I'm sick of jackasses acting like since they read the StewMac book, and have worked on a few Gibsons, they know everything. I'll tell you right now, I don't know everything. But I know Jacksons. I spent a while working for Jackson as a QC tech (right before Fender bought them), doing setups on all the guitars before they went out to the dealers. I also handled a fair amount of the warranty repairs. In my time there I estimate I handled between 7,000-8,000 Jacksons of all makes, models, points of origin, and color. I had two of the best techs you'll ever see (Kevin Easton and Reid Rogers) as my instructors, coworkers, and friends. ----- BTW, I've seen your site and know your work and know that you know your ****. You've just overextended yourself trying to make me look like a moron.

mass produced != bad CNC machines != crappy guitars Don't make me punch you.

It pains me when he builds cool guitars like this and that Pagan line. The dude obviously has skills,but... The only thing I don't like on this one is that lower horn. Man, a strong wind will snap that like a twig.

Buying components from Warmoth is basically the same as buying a kit guitar, the only difference is you know everything is good quality. While that quality comes at a price, it's worth it if you're going to be playing this as your main guitar.

This is going to sound stupid, but make sure there aren't any extraneous wires touching the pot, especially the lugs. It could even be a glob of solder out of place, because it sounds to me like there's something bridging one of the lugs to the output. If they're cheap POS pots, just buy new ones and be done with it.

FOR THE LOVE OF GLOD, BUILD A PARTS GUITAR FIRST! Reason being, it's much harder to screw up. Putting together a guitar from Warmoth parts is essentially a "Tab A into Slot B" process. You buy all the parts, you screw them together and set it up, and you have a guitar. When you screw up a body that you only have a monetary interest in, there's much less aggravation than there is when you accidentally put a hole through your nearly completed neck while drilling the screw holes in the heel. Finishing, assembly, and setup are very important parts of building a guitar and it's best to learn how to do that before you jump into building your own components. In my opinion, at least.

The truss rod changes scale length along with relief. It's a very slight change, but it can make a difference. Knowing this will go a long way towards understanding why setups aren't a 'by the numbers' thing. The action is completely unrelated to the truss rod. You shouldn't use the truss rod as a component of string height adjustment. On a Jackson, or any other 'modern' type guitar with a flat fingerboard radius, you don't need any relief in the neck. The only reason relief is necessary in the first place is because older guitars with rounder fingerboards have a tendency to fret out when bending. A flatter radius takes care of this problem. Tuning to standard won't help. Using different string gauges won't help. More correctly they will cover up the problem, but they are NOT fixes. They're bandaids, and nothing more. A properly setup guitar will work with any gauge strings in any tuning. I very much doubt that the trem is in the wrong spot. For it to make that much of a difference, it would have to be NOTICEABLY wonky. Even then, I've seen guitars where the trem was obviously out of whack that intonated just fine. --- I'm thinking it's one of two things. Either your saddle is very worn, which is easily noticeable when you change strings, or you have a fret issue. Yeah, frets. If the 12th fret is low, your intonation will be off. Since you use high action, the possibility of having a low fret without any buzzing is increased. Check the 12th fret area with a straightedge. Also, check the saddle for signs of wear. Man, I hate giving setup advice when I can't see the guitar.

Gotohs are good. They're what Jackson uses on all of their ToM guitars, and if they sucked Jackson wouldn't be using them.

I figure it would have the same effect as staggered height tuners. Not a massive improvement, but string trees would probably be unnecessary.

You might want a slight angle just to make sure. 1-2 degrees at most. Bass bridges are usually between Tune-o-Matics and tremolos in height, so the neck angle should reflect that.

The left hand side shows how the neck would be shaped. The right side shows how it would look with the fretboard on it. You could taper the neck and fretboard at the same time, but you might have problems attaching the sides. It's best to keep the center block area squared and slightly wider than te fretboard. You can then come back once the sides are glued on and shape that area by hand. *EDIT* To clarify, you can come back and shape the NECK TO BODY JOINT area by hand.

The area with the fretboard is tapered, the center block portion is not. Gimme a second, I'll whip up a diagram to show you.

Okay, I see what you mean now. In that case, you should make the center block wider than the fretboard. This keeps you from having to taper anything.

Look to spend $100, at least. If you get out for less than that, consider yourself lucky. Kent Armstrongs are considered crappy by a lot of people, but I've used various models over the years and haven't been disappointed with them. Most go for $25-45 each. DiMarzios and Duncans are pretty much the standards, but expect to spend $55-75 each on pickups. Replacing only one pickup is a viable solution, especially if you only use one pickup most of the time.

One will be a lead, the other a ground. Try white as lead and red to ground first. The pickups in my Ibanez were wired that way. If that sounds crappy, reverse them and see what happens. That's the great thing about guitar electronics. It's nearly impossible to blow things up.

The center block shouldn't be tapered. It should be the same with from the fretboard end to the tail end of the guitar.