JimRayden

Alright. After three destroyed speakers and one butchered transformer, I've found the donor for my driver wire - an old TV! Oh boy I'm walking around the house, looking for wire and mumbling to myself. Finally I found the old TV in my basement that had great looking inductor coils in it. So I took 'em. And I think the wire on one of them fits. At least it's closer to 0.2 than my previous wires. It's a tad finer than 0.2 but heck with it. "Why am I doing this?" Because I live in a small town that doesn't have shops for this kind of wire. Nor electronic components. I get my components from internet or when I go to the neighbour town. I don't feel like doing that. So I'm butchering a TV set. Oh boy I constantly have those harmonics ringing in my head. ---------- Jimbo (Okay, okay, it's actually not that bad but I'm really excited. )

Yea, before my last post I already had made a new driver instead of that rewound pickup. I took a pickup magnet (0.5x6x1) and wound the coil on 0.5cm wide, 0.5cm deep magnetic core. Do you think a steel core with a magnet on the bottom would be better? I also have a bit thicker wire around it. Could that be the problem also? Oh and it's not potted. I guess that makes the windings vibrate on the higher frequencies and leave the strings decaying. Also, one more fact against me is that I have a 24-fretter and thus my driver is closer to the bridge pickup. Ah well I gotta live with that. Ok then, I'll get myself some thinner wire and rewind and pot the thing. ----------- Jimbo

Welcome to the forum, cool to see so many people getting into the sustainer project. I'll repeat my question to others. How to sustain the higher notes? Peter mentioned something about wooing them. Really, how? ------------ Jimbo

Alright, psw, thanks for the reply. I did these mods because I'm building the sustainer on the materials I have at home at the time. On the single coil, I didn't actually block the bottom, I just wound it really close to the top. I think it reaches as far as one cm, I think I should block the bottom and rewind it. The impedance of the coil is 8 ohms. I measured the transformer and found the 8 ohm winding and used that. Yes, the 1,5 watts into 1,5 watts is a little overkill. About the power need of the circuit, I'm building a power supply box and send 9V to the guitar through a stereo cable, with one channel for signal and other one for 9V. I did that because I'm predicting I'll be using this the whole time anyway. "to get the dainty strings to respond, you're going to have to employ a little finesse, you're going to have to woo them." What do you mean by wooing? You mean like a vibrato? "I mean...me, and I think Tim maybe too, are in the clean camp...the other school is the squarewave camp...which is the better drive signal?...both work...you are definitely, way into the square camp there...." Yeah, I actually want to pass into the clean camp. Ok, I'm off to rewinding my driver and using the ruby as the amp. Bye for now. ------------ Jimbo

Hmm, I just attached the Ruby in there and it doesn't pass the infinite sustain limit. I'm starting to think my driver isn't efficient enough... ------------- Jimbo

I just completed my first sustainer. Well, it kinda works. Help me debug it, here's the data. The guitar is(was) a dual humbucker ESP. I removed the neck humbucker and replaced it with a single coil, wich I rewound to a driver, using the pickup's coil and magnets and killed a 9V power trannie to get the wire for it. The bridge pickup was turned into two single coils, one into the sustainer and the other into the output. Seemed like the most reasonable solution to me, as I dislike humbuckers anyway . The driver amplifier was taken out of a pair of active computer speakers. With 9 volts of supply, it gives about 1,5w per channel. So I wired the channels in series, one overdriving the other. The problem is, the sustainer has a good effect on only the lowest notes. I think i read about that problem somewhere in this thread but I don't think I can find it anymore. Could it be because the computer speakers have more bass response? Would I need some eq-ing in there? Also, considering that the amplifier has a pretty big output compared to Ruby, there is not too much sustain. Because of the ugly overdrive of the second stage, the output has a real cool-nasty buzz on it though. So I need a more powerful amp with that driver for more clean headroom and some more sustain? Besides these problems, I'm loving the thing! All hail artificial sustain! ----------- Jimbo

How much for the amp alone? ----------- Jimbo

Thanks Damo, got my answer. Just a thought. Thanks, Tim. I want to make my own shape though. -------------- Jimbo

Yea, actually I didn't get it either. If you can't express it in words, a picture or a drawing would help alot. ----------- Jimbo

Ah, you mean, you're making a neck and the wood is longer than needed? Well, firstly, do you want a bass? Secondly, yes, I've seen a short-scale bass neck somewhere. I think it was on a guitar/bass doubleneck. Can't remember where I saw it though. Wouldn't the strings get too slobbery (I don't know the word for it) when decreasing scale length? I had a thread about making a small travel guitar but the tuning would be higher then too. And especially for a bass, wich has a really massive and already quite slobbery low E string. On the other hand, it might not react to tension loss that much, also because of it's mass. I dunno. Anyone that owns a bass can answer that one. ---------- Jimbo

I was looking at some LP-style knobs and I started to think... If I choose a small object, attach it to a base of some sort, and then start spraying it in thick layers(by maybe using side supports or "walls") until the clear builds up so I could carve it into a knob. Would it result a strong and clear knob? As to pot hole, that would possibly go into the lil' object. Would that kind of clear buildup be possible? ------------- Jimbo

Two huge clamps ---------- Jimbo

Funny, I'm getting myself a job as a fenceholedigger for the summer. I get the job through a friend of mine. Mazz, just go walk around in stores, factories, etc, ask them if they need a helping hand. (I was carrying alcohol and other drinks at the local supermarket for a minimum wage.) Soon you can afford yourself a power tool. Then you can afford another one. After a few more years of practice, you'll be building guitars to sell, in a decade you'll be building the best custom instruments in Australia. That is, if you're really interested in guitars. If not, look around for freebies, you might eventually get something cool. But I don't guarantee it would take you less time and dedication than working and earning money. ------------ Jimbo

Columbus was searching for another way to reach Asia because all the spices and gold and stuff to bring back from there. But, unlike anyone else, he started to go westward. When he reached land, he thought he's in Asia now. So he called the locals Indians too. I dunno, I don't remember the exact story but yea, that's about how it goes. I don't know about you but the strat tremolo actually does tremolo along with vibrato. When you bend it down, it also goes a tad quieter, then going back to normal position, it regains the loudness. Could anyone explain it physically? I've got to run now. ---------- Jimbo

Come on, DrummerDude is a fun guy with a sense of humour and I wasn't flaming a bit. Just switch yourself out of the mod-mode and read my post through the prism of humour. In DrummerDude's first topic he called the guitar "crap" several times, so I don't think I would hurt his feelings if I said it once more. Ok, enough, it is time for DrummerDude to relabel his guitar. Ohh I wanna see the outcome of this project. (for mods: this was not sarcastic) ----------- Jimbo

Yes. Mothers are a natural enemies to gadgets and cool stuff. Especially when it comes to amps. They tend to keep throwing away your most valuable vintage tube gear. We say it's vintage, moms say it's dirty and smells. ---------- Jimbo

Thanks, I feel much better now. I'm still gonna butcher the back of the guitar to suit my body and hand better. MWUHAHahahaa... *ahem* ---------- Jimbo

If you've missed DrummeDude's previous topics, he actually IS rebuilding a piece of crap. Hey, DrummerDude... what about using push-pins to attach the paper decal right on the finish? Or just using the pins to put it on the wood and then use LOTS of clear coats to make it even. The most certain and cheap way is to buy an A4 sticker paper, printing on this and slapping it right on top of the guitar (headstock or whatever you're putting it on). On top of finish and everything. Print yourself a few replacements and you're set for years. ------------- Jimbo

Yes ← Damn.

I think Maiden69 was referring to our master, Brian Calvert. http://www.universaljems.com/ ------------- Jimbo

In that case, your post was just repeating what I mentioned in the first post. It's damn thin! (Therefore it is not thick ) You think I could accidently sand through it if I were to strip and re-stain the body? ---------- Jimbo

It's a flat-top. Yea I think I can screw it down and if I would ever decide to take them off, it would be because of installing a Bigsby. And the bigsby covers the holes up pretty well. -------- Jimbo

rein=reinforcement ----------- Jimbo

wouldn't some epoxy itself work for attaching it to the body? ----------- Jimbo

I'll see about the tape. Maybe it will hold. I'll screw it down if it looks real cool. --------- Jimbo