Dirge for november

Hey! Thanks for the very helpfull replies! The reason I needed those measurements is to be able to continue my design. The side hight is based on the diameter of the bars and of course so is the amount of pitch change. Mm's are fine, even better as I'm dutch and dutch people don't like inches . The pictures are also very helpfull, as I had no idea how it looked. About your bigsby, how much do you ask for it? @SL Your project sounds very interesting and complicated! I think this is a bit more basic. My idea is basically a bigsby and tunomatic in one without the problems of the existing bigsby. Difficult to achieve perhaps, but it would be fun if I pulled it of. The looks will be quite different from the bigsby, and so will the spring system. I'm also interested in you CAD drawing, would you be willing to share it? I'll post as soon as I have an update.. Cheers

Lovely guitar! I see it has a bigsby. would you be willing to take a few measurements for me? As I don't have acces to a bigsby. I would like to know the diameter of the two bars (the one on which the strings are fixed and the one that keeps em down). Would be great if you would do this. Cheers! Dirge for November Oh yeah... the topic in which I ask these questions is: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=35540 the reasons for wanting to know these measurements is also in there.

It's been quite a while since I worked on this project. I finished up a prototypical design and used it as an extra assignment in my internship report. Now I'm getting the itches again and would like to make it for real with the CNC router at school. When actually wanting to build the tremolo some more questions popped up. I hope I can find some of the answers here. Some of these questions I could find the answer to by myself if not for one problem. I'm stuck in bed for the time being. As I don't have acces to a bigsby... And can't go out to check one out: 1. Could someone with a bigsby determine the diameter of the bar around which the strings are situated? and also the one that keeps the strings down. 2. Could someone please take a detail picture of the bearings? 3. A TOM style bridge is angled with the bottom end slightly more towards the neck, doesn't this cause a slight angle of the strings on the string saddles, thus causing friction? It must be a negligable amount, but I want to improve as much as possible... I hope someone can find the time for this... It would be really cool!

@Kenny, your thread has a lot of helpfull information. Great build also! Cheers

Thanks for the quick reply! I have done what you suggest, and will keep on doing this! I'll definetely check out your thread. Cheers.

My coming project is going to be my first neck through. This will also the first neck I'll do myself. I searched the site for a tutorial on Neck throughs, but beside the helpfull topic on Neck angle on neck throughs I only found a locked topic. Do you know anything which might help me? Ik hope I'm not in the wrong on posting this thread. Cheers!

Looks a bit like a reversed version of my headstock... Maybe a bit more then a bit . I like this build! I'm planning on a singlecut with p-90ies as well, though soapbars, and also a wraparound bridge. Cheers!

Couldn't wait so I tested a whole bunch of stuff. Some of it really strange such as a certain evil tasting sauce. Eventually of all the tests salt seemed to do the most, though not by far enough. Then I remembered reading somewhere that borax is a bit similar to soda (not the English word for juice with bubbles), which by chance we had in the house. This worked fine! It really surprised me. I'm not sure if it reacts exactly the same as borax, but we swirled some random stuff including teabags . (Soon for sale on ebay under the "art" tag ). Next weekend I'll probably try the one on one size swirl on a piece of wood with the same base colour my guitar is going to have. Looking forward to it.

Seriously, or is it just impossible to swirl a guitar in NL. The reason why i'm kind of re asking this question is that the only thing keeping me from doing the job is waiting for the answer. Cheers

I spoke to some more people about it, and they reckon the same as the above, so "seeming exactly the same" probably was just seeming. Anyhow, it sounds fine, and I'm not complaining. UPDATE: I took it apart again to continue the work. I hand sawed the scratchplate yesterday. It still looks very shaky, but I guess this can be solved with some filing. The swirl testing hasn't come along very far, as Borax is unavailable in my country, I asked the question over at the finishing section, yet if you read this instead, do you know any suitable substitution for Borax? When I get the time I'll post some progress pictures. Cheers

I keep on coming with questions about this . I just found out borax is not available in this country, as it is now considered poisonous. Is there any other suitable stuff for this job? Cheers

When talking about wax for filling up holes, are you talking about candlewax? Cheers

Okey, lol I couldn't have come up with looking at a place like that

What kind of store would you get borax at? Is there any alternative to borax, in case it's not available in this country? (the Netherlands) On my miserably failed test piece without borax I noticed that the red doesn't completely cover. To counter this, would you make the basecoat red instead of black? (I'm aiming for a black/red swirl)

Okey, I still had a wilkinson wraparound laying about for my next project, and as I believe it is also suitable as a replacement piece for a les paul junior, which also has a p-90, though a dog ear. I compared the string spacing of the wraparound with the trem. on my ibanez, and it seems it has exactly the same string spacing.

Okey thanks for the long reply! The reason I picked a p-90 soapbar instead of a humbucker sized one is the way it looks. I definitely think it looks cool and recognisable such a pickup in a modern guitar like this. I'm leaving out all the other pickups, which is the biggest reason for needing a pickguard. This shouldn't tone down the look too much, as most more expensive Ibanez guitars have them. The empty space that belonged to the neck humbucker can later be used for the sustainer experiment I want to try somewhere in the future. I'm not planning on spraying the thing including the pickguard, I'll do those seperate. I plan on dipping the whole thing though, as the pattern can then continue. As you mentioned, this is exactly what you said, an experiment/training exercise. I already learned quite a lot from it. The only work that needed doing to fit the p-90 was extending the humbucker hole to the same width as where the adjustment screws are usually located. I did this quite successfully with a chisel. It does need a pickguard to make it look proper, but I knew this from the start. I don't understand your point about not being able to angle a single coil as its noisy, could you elaborate on this? (as I actually had a light bulb moment when you mentioned it (my thinner strings sound a bit bodyless)). One last question: what does a fad mean? As I'm foreign I don't quite understand. Does it mean like a temporary fashion? Edit: I didn't know about gibson vs. the rest string spacing. Explains a lot. Thanks Edit 2: LOL, i'm being quite stupid. Of course changing the angle of the pickup only worsens the situation . It was late yesterday

Thanks for the feedback!. I'm sure that's exactly the problem I'm encountering. Is there any objection to moving the bridge configured pickup to middle position? (output wise) Because this would also greatly diminish the problem. I bought this pickup for this guitar, so I'm not really planning to put more money into it then planned beforehand. @prostheta, I totally agree, and that is basically what i'm doing. Edit: I've already had to modify the guitar to fit the p-90 soapbar of course

Hello, I recently started my second project, being the improvement of my Ibanez GRG 170DX. The guitar has always sounded quite crappy, and since the results of my previous project where so good, I never play it anymore. I wanted new reasons to want to play it again, as the neck is quite alright and so is the design. I plan to do a swirl dip in red and black, covering the scratch plate and pickup cover (that is yet to be made). Because I had great urge to (My other guitar is in another country right now with my parents) I soldered the guitar together temporarily. Basically the changes made up till now: 1 p-90 (seymour duncan SP90-3) instead of HSH setup. Scalloped last four frets as on a JEM to find out if I like it scalloped. Different buttons (fender style, as on more expensive Ibanez guitars). I encountered one problem on the way up till now: The P-90, that is definitely a bridge edition, isn't lined out with the strings. The strings are wider spaced then the pole pieces. Basically the e strings are situated at the outer edge of the pole piece screws. Any idea how this can be possible? Besides this the guitar still sounds great, though I don't have enough volume/body on the thinner strings. Pictures coming up as soon as I have access to a camera!

You put in a different neck then before?

Hey, coming on great! I love les paul inspired builds. I'm also a Dutchie, just wondering where you got your wood from as I'm planning to do a build in the summer holidays.

Love both of them! I think #1 has a very original look in scratchplate and finishing! Cool fretboard on #2

looks perfect! I can't wait to get started on mine! I want to try some things a bit different though: I would like to attach the scratchplate with doublesided tape before dipping, and if possible even my pickup covers. Do you reckon this is possible?

Its a fleshwound Guitar looks great though!!

That would be really interesting!

Thank you for all the replies! @killemall: all extra info is welcome of course, as this is going to be my first set neck. (actually my first neck at that). The idea I had in mind before opening this topic was the bandsaw idea.