flood

heheheheheheheh i LIKE the way you think

hey i have one of those guitars and i love it to death! i am seriously terrified of it dying on me - they're getting rather hard to find. also, for some reason, the sustain works inconsistently on differnet strings.

thanks to everyone for the tips. i finally got started on it after a whole plethora of travesties (including moving internationally)... well, one of the first things i did was take the FR apart entirely according to the instructions here: http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/floyd-tremolo-tips.htm reason being that it was totally gunked up and a few days of exposure to bombay weather had caused some parts to start rusting.... so the disassembled parts got a couple of days of wallowing in a WD4ß bath, followed by a toothbrush treatment. going to reassemble it tonight, and perhaps string it up so the strings can get some stretching. it is a licensed trem, but i can't afford or justify a new original FR for a while. i just need to make the best of what i have right now... there are no good qualified techs in bombay who i could entrust this job to - hence, in the true spirit of DIY...

hey, thanks a lot for the detailed reply! will give it a shot today, work has been hell of late.

hey all, i own a fernandes revolver pro 7. it's the long discontinued 7 string model with a floyd rose bridge. i definitely want to keep the FR, but the last time i changed stings, i made a HUGE mess of things by makign all sorts of unnecessary adjustments to the bridge. now the action is severely limited - no possibility of major whammy bar wankery, extreme effects etc. also, intonation is shot to hell, and needs immediate attention. so i'm looking for a tutorial or something that could guide me through setting up an FR bridge from scratch - like for a new build. the reason i''m asking for advice here is that i live in india and don't particularly want to go to the self-professed "luthiers" here. i'd rather do it myself then, there is a serious lack of experience regarding FR bridges, especially 7 string ones. how much of a difference would the low B make in the setup process? thannks in advance for any hints and tips!

WOW holy mother of god, this bass looks fantastic. can't wait to see it finished up. if that doesn't grab attention, nothing will.

hi there pete, great thread. i promised to reply when i had something new. in any case, i was at home in bombay over the last 3 weeks, and decided to exploit our cheap labour forces to the fullest. hence, i designed a double layer PCB about 5X6 cm in size including the rotary switch. all SMD, though. i'll be getting the PCB in a couple of weeks, so i can't say right now whether it works or not. will post pictures then. the design i used was col's.

that bass is so beautiful i don't even know what to say. i loe that bridge design, and the heel shaping is perfect. fantastic work. or as your customer will say, ichiban! ichiban!

i'm not too crazy about the body shape, but have to admire your style and guts there! otherwise, i am very intrigued by the instrument, especxially since i wanted to build similiar but am not even going to attempt it before i build a couple of other basses before setting out on doing that. i also specifically wanted the fretboard going all the way to the bridge - my big inspiration is this: www.marleaux-pagelli.com anyway, i'm itching to see how this one turns out. good luck! do post sound samples when you'Re done.

i like them. they remind me of uli teuffel's work. www.teuffel.com, look weid, but are FANTASTIC instruments - if you haven't played one, and visit the musikmesse (i think he's at the NAMM shows too) make sure you take a look!!!

he's absolutely right. nothing like a nice capacitor discharge to make you rethink tube projects for the next couple of years. i would seriously advise you to start by building stompboxes and moving upwards from there, understanding amps step by step. and IMHO it's not worth investing so much time and money into a behringer 15W combo - there are better, mod worthier amps there. but save that for later. even the firefly with it's 0.5W output operates on potentially lethal voltages! good luck, and most of all have fun learning...!

for a second build, that is excellent work. would love to play that monster. i haven't built anything yet, and am just waiting to get done with my examinations so i can start ticking off the projects i have in mind... do take in some of the constructive criticism, there are some fine builders on these forums. i can't understand why this thread turned so hostile - keep going, and if you can, do post a clip or two. regards

Great work, just great! definite GOTM taker!!!

Hi, just put together my semi-fretless project squier. I just wanted to hear what it sounds like, and although i was pleasantly surprised, even with the stock squier single coil, there are a whole bunch of nags... the fretboard should ideally be epoxied or hard enough to increase note sustain, especially on the higher strings. the lower ones mwah nicely. do note that i used the following gauges: 60-48-38-28-18-14, tuned in fourths - BEADGB. I'd upload fotos, but it's a royal mess - the body has beeen partially stripped down, the "pickguard" was a test pickguard wthat i made a royal cock-up of. I plan to veneer the top, and sunburst it after giving it a nice 3D stain. i've decided to put in a sustainer whatever happens - it would sound perfect with the fretless neck. i don'T have any samples - well, i tried to record something but it didn't quite work out as planned. the fretless is a totally different beast, but i can already see why people like them. I'm going to wait till i'm done with exams (my last three certificates before i can start on my thesis - hello, end of studies and dual degree!) and have enough money to: 1. do veneering 2. buy good powerful pickup for bridge position 3- new tuners, probably sperzel locking 4. graphtech string savers 5. build sustainer. other things i plan to do is add a piezo transducer - if i can afford it, i'll get myself a ghost piezo system, but since i probably won't be able to, i'll have to DIY it. also, if the neck doesn't agree with the strings over time, i might have to get a new neck, baritone scale and ebony fretboard - don't need any epoxy then. one thing i haven't been able to do (big surprise, duh) is bending on the fretless part of the board. so it's just sliding and legato for those areas... other nag: notes on higher strings die out VERY quickly after being plucked. It's great fun though - so if you have a spare guitar or the money to spend, i suggest you try it - might show you something new. no more speed bumps, like jaco said!

That depends if you are in the UK! It is much cheaper here than maple.

Thanks, Melvyn and Jon! will keep your points in mind if i get down to building this - the purpose is only to serve as a learning build, and douglas fir is cheap.

*cough*

could douglas fir be used to construct a chapman-stick type instrument?

wow, thanks a lot! that's quite a bit of info right there, enough for me to rethink my concept at least. one of the things i love about this forum is the level of maturity and ease of getting good information to even stupid questions... ! Prostheta, if i plan to use the sustainer, I think the 30" would work fine. i want to keep it somewhere in between a bass and a guitar - something on the lines of a baritone guitar, with bass string spacing. Primal, I will almost definitely have to increase the neck pocket. the nut material should be the same as the fingerboard - i hope to get my hands on a piece of good ebony - not muich ebony pops up on ebay.de (writing from germany), in the worst case i would go for a wenge fretboard. i think i'll be looking to construct a 5-7 piece laminate neck, maple with wenge or walnut. also, the bridge pickup will now definitely be a six string humbucker. i think i'll put pen to paper over the next week or two, i need to finish exams soon so i can start building! i have a few more guitars that i really want to build in the pipeline, so i thought that this partial rebuild and my other project (fretless squier stratocaster with sustainer, piezo bridge etc.) would be a great starting point. after that, i want to start building guitars from scratch.

....anyone? :D

hi again, my apologies, i seem to have visualized the whole thing all wrong. i think it could work, but you should ask some of the more experienced builders. I don't thijnk i have enough experience to give you an educated opinion, to say the least

in all probability, no.

Hi all, I've never built a guitar before, so I thought that I should gather up as much advice as I can before I start working on this. My objective is to build a cheap 6 string fretless piccolo bass, using the body i have left over from an unkown shortscale 4 string that i took apart. I plan to give it a "disco ball" top, and have bought a crapload of 1 cm² mirrors for the purpose. that isn't all too important for the moment - what worries me a bit more is designing the neck and getting my numbers right. so, here are my questions: 1. would a 30" scale be all right for 6 string bass as well as standard tuning? I'm not too sure what tunings i want to use on this, and I'd like to be flexible between the two. of course, this would mean using different string gauges for each tuning. if not, what scale should i use? AFAIK, 30" is standard piccolo scale. also, the shortscale i had used a 30" scale, so i won't have too many problems placing the bridge (keeping in mind that this would be my first PG) 2. what strings gauges would be advisable in either case? i lean towards BEADGB (or F#C, as per needs...) 3. how can i calculate the neck width? 4. how high should the nut be? go ahead and yell at me if i've missed something and any of the questions are totally unnecessary - i really don't know where to start, and these are the questions that come to mind. other thoughts: i plan to build a sustainer in there (not a priority at the moment - will have to experiment with output and magnets), would dropping the neck pickup make me lose tone/mwah? all + any suggestions are more than welcome; thanks for any information/hints you can provide!

holy joe, that guitar is just SICK! hooglebug, you are a space alien. this guitar is officially one of my all time favourites, along with the marleaux-pagelli golden fretless and the PRS limited edition twin dragon double neck. you've given me the kick up the arse i've needed to get down to building my own stuff, after years of procrastinating. can't wait to see how this one turns out. great stuff, keep going. how did you come up with the stain? did you just mix the stains or did you do it in layers?

^^ thanks for the detailed reply! i'm still struggling to get through the whole thread, and am very interested in sustainer systems. i own a fernandes revolver pro 7, which you probably know is now discontinued. anyhow, i really admire the lengths you'Ve gone to, and the amount of effort you'Ve put into this. i hope you can start producing it sometime and make some cash on it (i'm an ayn rand follower to a certain extent, so screaming "capitalist pig" at me really doesn'T bother me much ). i'm working on a squier strat that i'm revamping with a veneer top, epoxyed defretted fretboard, and this just has to have a sustainer system on it. so i'm going to work on one as soon as i manage to find time away from work, studies and girlriend, all in all a killer job ... and will definitely contribute with my experiences when i do. hope it's sometime soon, though.... anyhow keep up the great work!