Ar-Pharazon

As I said, its not all done yet... going to fit some dimarzio strap locks (the kind with the plastic clip... so no buttons... just waiting for the order to come through.

Sorry for two posts in one hour, but I had to show off the upgrade of my BC Rich Bich NJ... was originally-hard tailed so improvements are emg 81s and an old floyd... Sanded back the horrible white paint (was originally house paint when I bought it), and got my brother to burn in two celtic dragons... also scalloped 21-24 frets but it was my first go ever, so they are a bit deep was done about a year ago, but I haven't had a camera till now to show it off... http://www.imagebucket.net/images/arpharazon/458365455l.jpg http://www.imagebucket.net/images/arpharazon/bcrich.jpg

Well, I finally got hold of a camera to show the WIP. The body is a type of mahogany, although i'm not sure what type...I got the body in that shape on eBay so I had no control over that... now its in a somewhat more playable condition... locking Ibanez Edge which I fouled up the first time... Evolutions neck and bridge and an HS-2 middle - single coil used only (all p'ups wired JEM style). Finished with a coat of the toughest wearing floorboard stuff available (thinned down a bit with xylene)... Sounds similar to my lead guitarist's JEM... no wonder really And yes, for the more observant of you, I did break the bridge by dropping it (both E strings fine tuners snapped) Anyhoo... Pics: http://www.imagebucket.net/images/arpharazon/bat.jpg http://www.imagebucket.net/images/arpharazon/bat1.jpg obviously still some work to be done... but its playable so I'll slap on some knobs and give it a gig and see how it goes (obviously won't use the trem)

thanks for the tips guys... I tried them all and some others that i thought of... in the end I did drill holes behind the inserts and tap them out with a nail. It turns out the finish i used was not meltable and I wanted to keep the inserts for something else... all is good

First, sorry for not beiong so community minded and ignoring the forums... anyhoo, down to the question: Was rather busy and in the heat of the moment thought that I could do just as good a job of drilling trem insert holes in the body by hand while the drill press was busy...they looked fine until the trem was fitted and alas the holes are too close together. Anyway, is there a simple way of removing the inserts (I know there are a number of experienced luthiers here who might have a trick or two up their virtual sleeve)? The only options I can see are: (1) drilling from below and pushing the inserts out that way or (2) finding somehting that has the same thread and pulling them out using it... Both are pretty alkward ideas, so I would appreciate any alternatives Thanks

Dimarzio whats? There are about 22 different Dimarzio pickups, each with different windings and sounds. I'm guessing by the fact that you are into BC Richs (so am I, just to clarify) and by your username that it is a metal axe, for which I would probably suggest A D Sonic, but you really can't go wrong with a Breed or Evolution. Sorry if my guess was wrong.

Since this topic is now pinned as reference, please post a regular forum question, otherwise much of this post will be step-by-step instructions. (I hope I didn't sound too stern )

To be honest, the 81s are my pick for both bridge and neck. It really depends on your amp... and 85 in the neck sounds better with marshalls as they have a much looser bass. 81 in the neck into a mesa or something with similar (I actually use a peavey bandit... yeah i know its cruddy but it still works well) tone works better because of the tighter bass response. Again, personal preference... depends whether you really like that kind of active eq'ed sound. Everyone always goes on about duncans and they are fine for a more classic Guns 'N' Roses/Aerosmith... I would honestly try and find a pair of dimarzio evolutions if you want passives.

So you could use the single coil alone without the dummy coil - even though it only eliminates the hum and doesn't add any signal, it still doubles the inductance and the impedance of the pickup, lowering the resonant frequency. ← Thanks for that

I know that the evo 7 was a sort of evo, virtual vintage combo... Thanks for the head up frank, I had a look and you are right... I wonder why dimarzio gave the ability for coil splitting. Thank you everyone for your input

Thanks, I was just making sure. Anyhoo, wonder why the evo middle pickup is not available from dimarzio? Turns out it is made in a very similar way to the stacked one, in that it has some form of coil to reduce hum... and no, I'm not talking out of my rear just to contradict you... anyway, according to a lot of people, the closest dimarzio pickup to the Evo middle is the hs-2n in single coil mode.

To emulate the singlecoil middle pickup on a JEM, Dimarzio reccomended I use the HS2N in single coil mode. However, they wouldn't tell me which coil to wire up for some odd reason. Does anyone know which one would sound most like the hounourable Mr Vai. The pickup is a stacked humbucker with split coils. I presume I should wire up the top coil as it is closest to the strings, but I was just trying to get someone elses opinion before I wired it all up (soldering is my least favourite part of the whole guitar building process). Oh and one other thing, to get the unique JEM coil splitting, I know I can't use a regular 5 way switch. Is this what I am after? : 4-Pole, Double Wafer, 5-Way SuperSwitch Switch EP 0078-000 on www.universaljems.com if not, where can I get hold of one?

Can't answer your first question, but breed/evos are probably the nicest sounding in mahogany or alder. You'l get qute a heavy sound out of them with an agathis body, quite rounded (... sort of chiney but warm), depending on the position of course.

Basically you are looking for a trem that has a one piece base and pivot (unless its an Ibanez Edge or Edge Pro). The Gotoh ones look fine but then so does a TRS on the outset. The only difference is really sustain. I don't known anything about the Schallers but they look identical to the Floyd Rose II base which is made of some kind of porous alloy...heavy but perhaps not so sustain oriented; a very warm sound. FRII require 'interesting' routing...I found out the hard way... I have a BC Rich Bich with two indents in the finish from a divebomb. On the plus side Schaller trems have hardened inserts, and I do not know whether the base of the Gotoh is made of the same material as the TRS. Personally, unless I found out what the Gotoh base was made of, I would stick with and Original FR. Hope that helps you in your decision

Thank you very much for the links , it helps a lot. As for the routing depth, I have the Ibanez blueprint of the Jem body, which i assume is correct. It is exactly to scale and I have been following that. Also, I was the one who added the Jem measurements.

I am building what could be described as a batocaster (sorry no pics yet). Actually its pretty much a jem in the shape of the batman sign (sort of - mahogany with thin basswood layer). Anyhoo, I got an ibanez edge off ebay and after having a look at routed cavity in which is to fit, realised that it is too low with the posts screwed all the way down. I figure that either I got sent a non ibanez post/ plate insert with the tremolo and I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good way of keeping the posts at a set height (didn't the original ibanez tremolos have and allen lock to set the height? - mine does not). Any help would be appreciated.

Oh and don't get the Floyd Rose 2... cheap piece of metal that in the end does not resonate very well... pity really as it is still made fairly well.

Making the pickups active would probably cut down on the string pull quite a bit. I suppose that is no good for all you vintage wannabes who couldn't see a good tech if it stripped naked, painted itself purple and ran around waving a flag shouting "Useful Technology is here again", but I digress. seems like an entirely different way of picking up is called for, if active pickups would conytinue to interfere with the string resonance and intonation.

Thanks, will try both

Does anyone know where I can get hold of either the EMG quick connect attachment and cabling or ever just the 3 pin connector so that I can do the wiring myself. I am buying an EMG 81 off eBay and it doesn't come with any of the cables. Can anyone help?

Ibanez JEM: A: 95mm B (top to claw): 95mm C: 74mm D: 74mm E: 36mm F: 31mm It didn't look like any of the others... not ever the JS so I thought it might be useful to someone

I wouldn't like to try that with any EMG active pickups or some of the double coil S slot pickups (i knoow they'd work fine as long as theyre not split), but as far as I can see it will wour with any others. I suppose you are wanting the brian may sound so I'd try and find some of the Burns copies if possible. Thats just an uneducated opinion though.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, I now have a new problem. I have wired each pickup to be turned on with an individual switch (each pickup can be turned on or off individually). However, only the neck pickup seems to function without the battery connnected. With the battery connected, there is enhanced sound, but turning off the neck pickup only reverts it to its unpowered sound. Thought this might be helpful:

I have been loking all over the net for a logical wiring diagram for a S/S/81 (EMG) setup. EMG only seems to provide certain combinations in their pdfs and I was wondering if anyone can direct me to a suitable diagram. I known this may have been brought up before, and if so, please direct me to the post in question (i don't mean for someone to do all the work for me, I have been spending all day searching with no real fruit).

Thanks for all the help guys. In the end I picked ip and old 81 (it so happens it was free which is even better). I suck at wiring though so I will probably have to get someone to do it all properly.