lovekraft

This post is from Bill's (Lovekraft's) wife Jennifer. I found this site on his computer and knew how much time he spent with you guys. He loved the information he got from you all and enjoyed sharing his knowledge with you. He will be greatly missed in the music community here in Alabama. I thank you all for your kind words. I've read the posts regarding his death and I'm grateful that he was able to share himself with so many. Bill became sick Wednesday (12/6/06) and was rushed to the emergency room here in Prattville, AL He was diagnosed with a severly inflamed pancreas which dehydrated his body and caused his kidneys to shut down. On Thursday (12/7/06) at approximately 3:00 p.m. he left this life to go to a greater gig. I miss him very much. I thought all of you should know this and know that she spent many hours with you and I know he will miss you all. Jennifer Love Prattville, AL

Ok, just ignore everything but this diagram - let source A and source B represent your pickups, wire as shown, then wire your dual concentric as the volume and tone pots, and you're done!

It's really not that complicated, but you'll need a "blend" pot (AKA panpot), like one of these, from Stewmac - take a look at their instructions for a wiring diagram. And if you can get one of the pickups (doesn't matter which) in a reverse-wound, reverse-polarity configuration, then the center position will be humbucking (although it will not sound even vaguely like a humbucker, since the pickups will be in parallel rather than in series). Stacked pots wire up just like two separate pots, so that's no problem, either. And before I forget, a killswitch simply shorts the hot wire to ground (preferably at the output jack, for simplicity), so any style SPST toggle or normally-open pushbuitton wil work perfectly. HTH

+1 - There are better pickups for specific genres, but for a J*O*A*T axe, you can't do much better than these. The Dually is probably the best compromise between humbucker and single coil ever made, and does both authentically.

But to answer your question, yes, your assumptions are correct. With the neck pickup out of phase, it won't be humbucking, but it will get you that shrill, weedy out-of-phase sound (I'm not a big out-of-phase fan - could you tell? ).

Yeah, 7 or 8 since lunch - it's getting to be like playing WhackaMole!

Don't laugh - I once received a royalty check for $6.17 from a recording project I was involved with!

Have you found a good, cheap source for those Molex connectors? I'd use 'em in everything if they weren't so expensive and difficult to buy in small quantities.

Bear with us, folks - we're killing 'em as fast as we can find 'em! As for the weird "Hi! I'm New Here!!" posts, all I can assume is that they're vague attempts at phishing from the "English as a second language" spammers. We must be doing something right - we're getting spam from servers all over eastern Europe, and even as far away as Israel!! Wow, Drak, talk about an obscure cultural reference - Carnival of Souls was one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen! Right up there with Suspiria, The Illustrated Man and Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo!

Yes, but it would still behoove those entitled individuals to refrain from characterizing their compatriots as ignoramuses in support of their argument - just because someone disagrees with your (undoubtedly well-reasoned) opinion does not automatically qualify them as ignorant, blatantly or otherwise, and using the phrase is insulting and inflammatory (unless you are personally acquainted with your target, in which case, you are welcome to go to his house and berate him). Obviously you feel strongly about this, but making it personal does nothing for your credibility, nor does it endear you to certain moderators (I won't mention any names). Alex is a good sport, but we do have a few hotheads around here who would have risen to such a bait and, well, shall we say "...fomented sectarian violence.." over the implied insult, and I'd prefer to avoid that scenario altogether. Now play nice, and I won't have to chide you further.

Blatant ignorance is uncalled for here. Sad to say but some of the quality coming out of China now is very good indeed and the prices are amazing... Get over the 'knee-jerk' reaction and post something a little less emotive and a little more objective I'm all for objectivity, but my experience doesn't parallel yours, apparently. Of the hundreds of Chinese and Indonesian imports I've played with over the last couple of years, only a very few were of any quality at all, and most were barely adequate - just goes to prove, even a blind hog will find an acorn every now and then. All emotional content aside, I think your effusive praise of the improvements in Chinese instruments is at best somewhat premature. And just for the record, accusing another longtime board member of "blatant ignorance" is most undiplomatic, and should be avoided in the interest of peace and harmony.

Out of curiosity, why? It may be none of my business (not that that's ever kept me from speaking my mind ), but my memories of those pickups aren't particularly fond ones. If you're worried about collector value, don't - there isn't any real collector's market for 70s Japanese imports. A really good one example might sell for $500+ if you can find the right buyer, but I can't see that replaced pickups would be seen as anything other than value added. OTOH, if there's deep sentimental value involved, please ignore the previous paragraph.

It's not unusual. It simply means the two input jacks are in parallel, putting your volume pots in parallel and causing them to interact, so turning one down lowers the total parallel resistance to ground, turning down both guitars.

Thanks, Jaam - "Lonesome Crow" came out in, what, 1972? I guess that would make Slade a Hair Metal band, too! palecriminal, two words - Enuff Z'Nuff!

AC/DC and The Scorps were Hair Metal?!?? I thought Hair Metal was those fey, over-medicated refugees from LA's beauty schools, like Motley Crue, Britney Fox, Winger and Poison. How about Queensryche, are they Hair Metal too?

Why did you need a DPDT to short the hot wire to ground?

if you bought those EMGs new, there's a wiring diagram on the data sheet in the package - if not, you can download it from EMG's website.

That's both impressive and disturbing! Tenacious D is funny, but their playing kinda makes Kurt Cobain and Stephen Stills look like Vai and Satch by comparison, doncha think? Greg Koch ("rhymes with chalk") and Mike Keneally (Vai, Zappa, Beer For Dolphins) are both clever, quirky and very accomplished players. Greg's Blues Jam Guy (from the Radio Free Gristle CD) is a perfectly hilarious description that anybody who's ever spent time at a Blues Jam will recognize, right down to vintage gear and the random, "wasp-on-crack" vibrato. Keneally is somewhat less accessible, more Zappa-esque (if you will), but well worth a listen. His Yes tribute song (Fathful Axe, from Boil That Dust Speck) has 41 separate Yes "quotes" sprinkled throughout, spawning a Yes fan challenge to identify them all! (That geeky enough for ya?)

An iso box (also called a ground lift) isolates the ground from one powered unit to another. Since any two pieces of equipment may have different potentials at their ground busses, the ground noise from one can be shifted into the audible range in another that has a slightly higher (or lower) potential at its ground bus. The solution is a transformer with a floating ground on the secondary or an opamp pair configured as a floating ground output.

OK, Grimzors, one more time, using the same color code you used above: Does that help? Radiotrib, a standard red LED has a Vf of 1.7-2.1 volts - using a 3 volt supply without a limiting resistor may work for a while, but it's not safe to rely on the battery's internal resistance to limit the current. Blue LEDs, with a forward voltage of 3.3-3.6 volts, won't even light with a 3 volt supply. HTH

Congratulations!! I know it's been a long, involved process, it's good to hear that you finished it. Did you end up having to have anything fabricated, or did you manage to find original parts?

Pretty much any wire is OK - there's not enough current to cause any problems, so anything between 26 AWG and 16AWGm solid or stranded, whichever you prefer. Low capacitance shielded cable is preferred (if you use shielded cable), but with the short runs used inside the guitar, it's probably not a big issue either. Using a high-end cable like Mogami is probably overkill, but it can't hurt (and you get braggin rights), so use it if you've got it. After all, Fender used that cotton insulated pushback wire on their most prized vintage models, so just about anything would be an improvement.

Ermm, that was one of the first things i mentioned in this thread. Sorry, Al, no disrespect intended - I was so astounded that somebody was playing their guitar with the volume set between 1 and 2 that I must have missed it! Mea culpa!

OK, here's one way to do it. You'll need: 10 3mm Red LEDs 10 470 ohm 1/4 watt resistors 2 AA batteries 1 series battery box for the above wire, solder, any other necessary tools Assembly: Solder a long wire to one end of each resistor (make it plenty long, you'll trim it to length later) Solder the other end of each resistor to the positive end (anode) of a single LED Solder another long wire to the negative terminal (cathode) of each LED Mount the LEDs, rout the wires, connecting all the resitor side wires together and all the LED side wires together, and run a single wire from each side out the bottom of the board - don't forget to mark these wires so you know which is which later Re-install the board. Drill a hole from the neck pocket to wherever you're mounting your battery box. Place the neck in the pocket and pull the wires through the hole - trim to length and hook up the resistor side wire to the positive (+) terminal of the (empty) battery box. Hook up the other wire to the negative (-) pole of the battery box - if you're going to use a switch, put in between the second wire and the negative side of the battery box. Finish the fretboard and install batteries. Stand back and bask in the glow of your new lighted fretboard. Obviously, I've glossed over some of the necessary operations, but basically that's all there is to it. You'll probably find that several of those steps aren't nearly as easy as they sound. Good luck with it!

No,that's fine, so long as the bushing is electrically connected to the pot case - I'm almost sure that CTS pots (the original Fenders) do, but there are a lot of pots available these days, and we can't assume they're all the same. Just check it with a multimeter, and if there's continuity between the plate and the pot case once the pots are mounted, you're good.