kpcrash

Exactly - this is a well established principle. The metal casing is connected to the ground - so is everything else. The question is does it matter if the cap acts differently by controlling the bleed between the v/t pots than it does by simply bleeding off the tone pot via ground. That's all.

Will be there at 2:30 tomorrow

HA!!!! Not to hijack too much - first guitar, no-name with EMG-81 through DS-1 to Peavey half-stack T=7 M=2 B=3, volume at 8 - YEAH!!!!! Then, when puberty ended .... I kept my DS-1 for bass use.

Shame you're not a bit closer - I have a bucket full of pickups we could measure frequencies against coil counts as well - would make an interesting read if nothing else. I will continue my search. I'm thinkin' that's the ground lug. Diagram take 2 makes sense.

I agree, I was generalizing. My first guitar didn't have one - then again, it had an EMG-81 in it

Sorry - meant the one about plywood guitars here Not that I'm not enjoying this thread just as much I'm actually in North Carolina this week, plan on hitting some of the lumber suppliers around as it seems all the places on eBay I find are in N.C.

I'm sure you've heard most of this, it's just here to make sure I didn't miss something myself If you connect a cap to a pot - as is done with connecting a cap from lug to ground - you are enabling the filter capabilities of the cap. Not knowing the exact cap being used - one may assume industry standard numbers of between .022 and .047. History also shows us that these caps are generally only effective when the tone control is activated (almost all the way). The article I was referencing was a just that - an article in a magazine (I am still searching and will try to scan/transpose) where the question was posed regarding placement of caps on or between pots. The further question was, since a tone pot is used with a cap to create a "treble bleed" whereby certain frequencies are sent to ground to prevent transmission through the guitar jack, would it be logical that the cap would be placed between the pots to prevent or promote such a dramatic response in the tone pot behavior? Basically - what impact would limiting the signal to the tone pot have on overall tone response? Almost any single-coil player can make this happen on by noticing a sharp drop in brightness when using the tone pot. In this case - would a resistor (added to the capacitor) be more appropriate? Some experiments were done some results included as far as frequency transmission. You are correct, ground is ground, but what happens between device and ground is more what I was referencing. Not sure it's such a far fetched idea as I keep getting guitars brought in for pickup replacement that have the cap from lug on v to lug on t. This does not create a grounded circuit - until the same lug on v is jumped to the case of the pot. Theoretically, this could have a potentially different effect than connecting the pots via wire. I apologize if this created/caused any concern.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's curious to hear how it performs. Please let us know.

Instead of grounding lug 5 to the V pot, send it straight to the star ground. Lug 4 is grounding a coil from a pickup (based on diagram and DiM wiring) instead of grounding through the switch (which is what you're doing to enable a different sound) send it straight to the star as well. You won't get a coil split, but could help eliminate switch problems. 5:00? Ack - I'll be at it at 7:00 Also - if you had noise before putting in the new pickup/switch - make sure the connection at the bridge is good. One last edit - to be clear in your diagrams, I'm assuming that the black line going to ground is bare and the black/white is the DiM instructed series connection.

Before reading this - you're sure you had no noise prior to installation? Just making sure the ground was good to start with - not trying to offend in any way! Not likely, unless its not soldered correctly, but there is some evidence that placing them between the pots, as opposed to just connecting on the tone will create more consistent tone at all levels of volume. I'm liking the StewMac diagram as it seems "logical" that it would be accurate. Rob is correct too that the bare is connected to the sheilding on the pickup. Why? Coils. Gotta ground them separately to split them. Otherwise, makes a clean path for grounding all shields and gives you the opportunity to ground it in the cavity using sheilding or sheilding paint? Not sure, but I always ground them both. Have put quite a few DP-100s, DP-318s in this way, even using p/p pots for coil switching with no noise at all. In the StewMac diagram, 4/5 appear to be for ground as 4 accepts bare from pickup and 5 is grounded to pot. For grins, ground them commonly. It won't allow the coil, but could rule out poor grounding at the switch. Most likely no sound and possibly some slight tingling on the fingers Possible though that jack is bad, but you would have prob. noticed before upgrade. is it far enough away from the pickups? just a thought - I've always had better luck star grounding in the back cavity near trem springs To test - eliminate the kill switch. Pretty easy to solder it back in, but process of elimination.... *** EDIT *** One more thing, make sure there's absolutely no loose solder or wire pieces making any undesired connections anywhere - just making sure.

one other suggestion, we've used to help with thickness is mic positioning when going through a PA. Surprising how moving it away from center can affect sound. Kinda the same as angling, but we always angle some speakers so we can dedicate the monitors to vocals.

ok, ok, I got excited and forgot Steinberger. Just that to me - Balsa might as well be a hollow body.

Thanks! Believe it or not here is one of my favorite detail guns (I still use an IWATA though for airbrushing, some detailing) for doing bursts.

I read the MSDS, it's not as scary as some of the 2k uros some are using. This only recommends a standard respirator and ventilation, gloves, etc. "Normal" protective gear. No worse than the plastikote.

exactly - I meant what type of gun. Thanks!

just curious - what did you spray it with? Or did I miss that somewhere?

Not knowing your skill level - and being honest that on inlay work,there are many better. I would do the sawdust/glue fix. If you're a little more confident than I am, you may try using a craft blade to even out the gaps and go with the black epoxy.

Not as bad as if you had used say redwood, but agreed - tru-oil isn't that deep and as already stated, a few coats of sanding sealer would prevent any sort of undesired interactions. I wouldn't consider any other type of chemicals at all for this - Plastikote is pretty stable.

Whew! Take a couple of days off to go play some shows and look what I almost missed. This is a VERY GOOD THREAD! 1. It answers numerous questions about "can I use (whatever cheap/accessible/mystery/ply/paper mache) to make this body" - Seems odd though that we always talk about body material and rarely neck materials. 2. The metal crowd responds. I just got done with a whirlwind 3 show/2 day weekend of playing some of the nastiest metal, rock, shredfest type music you could ask for (even our version of Devil Went Down to Georgia) - and yes, I used my plywood bass for all but 3 songs (easier than retuning on stage) because the tone is GREAT! Our guitarists are tone freaks - in opposite directions, but tone freaks. They balked at me suggested playing a plywood instrument on stage - until it was assembled and heard. Thanks to zyonsdream for starting that thread! For some, I agree, plug it in, turn the treble all the way up and beat one chord as fast as you can, as long as I have EMG 81's and a DS-1 to support it, who cares. Fine, go burst an eardrum or two. Even Lemmy cares about his tone - but all you'll hear from him is "we're motorhead and we play rock and roll" (censored for forum use) 3. What is tone? Isn't this commonly referred to as an "eye of the beholder" thing? I like "my" tone, you like "your" tone. There are certain scientific principles that would lead us to use one material over another for appearance or tonal quality and I can almost guarantee you that somewhere in this world, someone has made a guitar out of just about everything from recycled wal-mart bags and epoxy to laminated chipboard to the finest mahogany ever seen. To me, the only way to really know if it will work is to build it out and see what happens. If it doesn't sound good, put a piece of veneer on top to cover the holes, finish it as a clock or something. Obviously balsa or cork would be ruled out - but in this "green" era - what could we possibly do to compensate for the lack of tonal quality without making an overprocessed sound? Certain woods have stigmas, like everything else. Chevy vs. Ford, that sort of thing. I'm not advocating an army of low quality instruments, merely the suggestion that each of us will have a completely different viewpoint of "tone", but structural integrity is a constant. Ahhh... I feel much better now.

The black epoxy could look really good (depending on inlay) if it's even. Wouldn't want black splotchy things all over the place

Typically, the sanding sealer (in this case) could be used to level the finish to compensate for the decal. Only issue is that some sealers can yellow over time, so it may look great for a few years, but may yellow a bit 5 or so years from now. Might want to use lacquer to clear coat it so that the "mellowing" might have some consistency over time on the white finish. just my 2 cents.

First, usually you can mix the sawdust from routing out the inlay shapes and mix w/ glue to create a gap filler. Some use CA glue, others regular wood glue. Second, if you wanted to wrap an attached fretboard, you would need to remove the frets, route the correct gap for the binding, glue/clamp the binding, cut the fretslots into the binding to make existing and put in new fretwire. This is not advisable while attached.

Nice work pete. Just for giggles - what would you ponder on a bass sustainer? My thoughts revolve around actually trying to make a sustainer that could support each string independently (but that's going to be another thread sometime). Anyway - nice tele!

No problem at all. IMHO and several others on here - only super tone freaks ever use the second tone knob. Most of use get by with 1 V, 1 T or 2 V, 1 T. When I build basses, I will use two and two, but that is because there is a different dynamic on basses and on bass - I am a super tone freak With regards to where you want the cavities, general rule of thumb is to get the one for the neck as close to the neck as possible to enhance a natural deep tone, and the bridge quite close to the bridge to accept the brightside of the world. Sort of a yin/yang.

Here is a proposition to further the experiment. I am wonder what effect, if any, using a hardwood veneer may have - honestly. We all know that there are a MILLION guitars out there with a "flame maple top". Big Deal. Aside from appearance, would a veneer and at what thickness would it have an impact on the structural and/or tonal qualities of a plywood/pine build. Most veneers come in 1/42 or 1/50 inch thickness, but this is for furniture style projects - which given my education in furniture building seems to be the antithesis of guitar making. So far I've found that both typically use a wood base to start from - other than that, everything is up for discussion.