Paul Marossy

A Marshall is always going to sound different due to circuit topologies and tone stacks. I find that with the right pedal(s) I can get close to a Marshall sound with my Fender(s). It's hard to make a Marshall sound like a Fender, though, IMO.

Oh, duh. We're talking buffers, aren't we?! That little buffer schematic that lovecraft posted looks a lot like the schematic I linked to, except that Tillman circuit is set up for service as a preamp more than a buffer. I like that Tillman circuit, because while it is a preamp, it's not amplifying the signal that much. It's maybe 3dB or so. It's really made to compensate for cable losses, etc., so in my mind it's something between a buffer and a preamp. Isn't a buffer supposed to be a guard against impedance mismatches and tone sucking due to cables and stuff? To me, they are close to being the same thing. Anyhow, the one guitar that I put it in really sounds better to me than before. It has also has the side effect of making a hot output humbucker even hotter. That's why in my current project, I am going to have the option to switch the preamp on/off. YMMV.

In my collection of amps, I have a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2X12. I wouldn't say that you could play metal with it, but you can get a good hard rock tone with it. It certainly is loud for 60 watts, I think it is. You could probably get more tones out of it since it has two gain channels and the clean channel with reverb for all three channels. The only drawback is that the reverb is always on, not something you can switch on and off with a footswitch. Getting a metal sound could be accomplished by something like a Boss Metal Zone or similar pedal. I personally like my '74 Fender Twin Reverb the best. Using my pedals, I can get almost any tone out of it. But, it is one heavy thing - around 70 lbs...

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I wasn't totally sure about that. I have never heard of the Graphtech Trem Nut before. Where can I get more info on those?

Thanks guys. It's going well for my first project so far. I had the same thought, but there was already about 1/16" thick existing finish. I didn't want to make a dead sounding body, so I decided to just strip it down to the wood, and I also feel that I would get better adhesion with the fabric glued to bare wood.

Can you convert a regular old Strat neck to a Floyd Rose locking trem nut, or is the neck made specifically for that system? In other words, is there a std. trem neck and a Floyd Rose neck, too? I don't have a std. Strat neck to compare...

OK, here is where I am at so far. I think the most difficult part is out of the way now. It was a real PITA getting the old finish off! I think I am going on to the electronics portion of this project now. I will tackle the fabric on top and back this next weekend.

I like this little preamp. I have it installed in one of my guitars and I am going to add one to my project guitar that I am currently working on.

Great! Thanks for the tips.

Good point javacody. Every piece of wood is different. I've always said that no two "identical" guitars sound exactly the same - due to the fact that no two pieces of wood are exactly the same, speaking in general.

If you really want to know everything about pots that you were afraid to ask, read "The Secret Life of Pots" at geofex.com

unclej- Thanks for the clarification. I think I know how to go about this now. BTW, what do you use to cover the material? I didn't see any specifics on brand names or types on that tutorial page, or at least I don't remember seeing anything... chrisb0109- No, not quite what I meant. I know it wouldn't be possible to match the patterns where the two pieces meet.

Well, if brazilian rosewood only comes from Brazil, then perhaps they don't farm the stuff like I would have thought. It very well could be that blades are more precisely manufactured today than they were in the 50s. And the sanding process may have been different back then. When I said preparation, I was thinking more of the drying out process and stuff like that. With the technology available today, even in Brazil, they can maintain a fairly strict temperature and humidity in their facilities. In the 50s, though, it was a different story. And, I haven't even touched on CAD/CAM manufacturing, which is very precise...

Wow, I like the parrot one. Very cool. I guess that I'm going to give it a try then. I was thinking of doing front and back on mine. I can't quite see how I am going to make both edges meet, though. I think that is the main thing I am concerned about getting right.

I'm not an expert on woods, but here is my theory: Instruments made from the woods that you describe were probably taken from trees in their natural habitat years ago, and the grain probably is looser because they grew up naturally. Now the stuff is farmed, probably given growth hormones and everything they need to grow up healthy and strong, and as a result the wood is probably a little denser than a tree left to its own device in a forest somewhere. I don't know how close I am on that, but it sounds good... How to get a new BR fretboard to be like an old is a good question. Perhaps part of the answer also lies in differences between preparing the wood for use. Things are a little more high tech in this area as well.

Just a little preface on my current project: I have my Strat body about 50% stripped of the paint now. Made a template for the pickguard that I will need to make (out of aluminum), have the electronics part figured out and where I will make a cavity in the body for a 9V battery. For the electronics, I will be installing this little FET Preamp, which I have installed in one of my guitars. I like this little circuit, so I'm going to have the option to use the preamp or bypass it. The other thing that I am going to build is Ansil's http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/madsci/sustainormod.JPG and have a switch to turn it on/off. I'll probably use a pair of push-pull pots to do the switching for those two circuits. So, this morning in the shower I realized that I already have a very, very cool fabric that I can put on the front/back of the body. It has a very fine weave, so finishing should be pretty simple. So, now I am really excited about this project, but I am still not sure how you do a fabric top on a Strat body. It seems like it would be a lot more difficult because it doesn't have the same "sharp" lines as an Ibanez RG or JEM guitar. I'm pretty much counting on doing a sunburst on the edges, which also seems like it would be more difficult on a Strat body. Any tips from those who have done this on a Strat body would sure be appreciated! I'll get a webpage going for my project soon so I can keep everyone posted on my progress. This is going to be so cool!!

Well, that explains a lot. If you are close to the amp, you will pickup hum from the power transformer in the amp. And, if they are single coils, you will always have a small amount of hum no matter what you do. Humbuckers work better in these situations, hence the name "humbucker". EDIT: Other sources of hum can be computer power supply fans, computer monitors, doorbell transformers and motors.

Yeah, but I am willing to bet that the average joe selling a neck on ebay would have no idea what I was talking about... Maybe the better route to go is to buy a Warmoth neck or similar. I still have the question on the body, though. Can you determine by measuring the body what scale length neck it should have? I'm talking about a Strat style body that is apparently about 1/2" longer from neck pocket to bridge than my MIJ Strat. I'm leaning more towards a ~25" length, but I am not quite sure how to get that right on...

Hmm... that's what I thought. Actually, my Floyd Rose locking trem does have about 3/8" of play, but I don't think that I should rely on hoping that will work... OK, so one more question: if I buy a neck off of ebay, let's say, how do I know what scale length it is? Or what scale neck your body was designed for?

Call me crazy, but I could use something like that Zoom Bar... Seriously.

I won't claim to be an expert in this, but usually, a hum from hell comes from a bad ground or something that should be connected to ground, but isn't... Have you: Checked all of your solder joints? Determined that your pickups aren't faulty? Connected the bridge to ground? Shielded the guitar properly? Determined if it still does it if you physically move the guitar to another area? Just my thoughts on the possibilities...

Whoa! Those are some funky looking guitars!

I never really thought about this before, but what happens if you take the neck off a guitar with a 25" scale and put it one a guitar that was designed for a 25-1/2" scale? Does that mess up your intonation (12th fret way sharp or flat)? I ask because I think this is the situation that I am confronted with a body that I want to pair up with a neck that I want to use. I imagine that you want the 12th fret to be at the exact midpoint between nut and bridge, correct? Or is there ways to get around that if it's a little off? EDIT: It seems to me that you could just adjust your Floyd Rose bridge accordingly, just need a second opinion...

Oh, I have seen you make a post or two. Things aren't quite as happen' there as they were a couple of years ago. Things go in cycles, though.

I live here in Las Vegas, and I have seen billboard signs for his store, but I have never been there. I would go to Desert Music, Guitar Center, Cowtown, Sam Ash, Today's Music or AJ's before I went to Ed Roman. The other thing is that his store is located in a part of town that is a PITA to get to. His website seems to convey sort of an arrogance that is kind of a turn-off for me as well...