orgmorg

Tried that, best I could anyway. Dug up the top of the ground spike, brought out an extension cord, and tested the resistance between the spike and the ground prong of the cord- zero

I brought the tube amp and a guitar to my friend's store and plugged them in there. It still did it, but I had to listen hard for it. My friend heard it too, but it didn't sound unusual to him. Definitely does it worse here, but maybe a lot of it is just in my head. No fixing that, I fear. Screw it, I'm gonna go make some cookies.

Both are combo amps, and I plug directly into them, no effects. I know, I'm boring.

When Warmoth says finish, they mean a hard coating like lacquer, poly, etc. Even though danish oil and the like make a good finish in certain applications, it does not meet their warranty requirements, unless they say specifically in their catalog that a particular wood "needs no finish."

Thing is, it's BOTH amps doing the exact same thing, regardless of what guitar I use. Maybe I can bring an amp to the music store to try guitars out with. Think they'd go for that? Maybe if I brought the cookies?

This is starting to drive me nuts. I've had a Fender Yale Reverb amp (solid state) for a while now and it mostly sounds fine when playing at moderate volume, but whenever I dig in a bit on the strings or turn it up, it makes this annoying crackling noise. Not normal distortion, but a static-ey crackling. I always just assumed it was the amp, so I recently got an AXL AT-30 (chinese made tube amp,) and it does the exact same thing, exactly. Tried different guitars, cables, power conditioner, turning off all fluorescent lights and computers, no joy. Do I have some sort of evil power gremlins or something?

Great stuff, Shad! Really interested in the nitric acid method, but I think this ought to be posted for anyone thinking about trying it: Nitric acid warnings

OK, so nearly three years later... It's time to figure out what to make. Hmm..Whadda we got so far? Hard maple neck blank. Ummm.. Telecaster? Maybe a Bass? Corvu... *ack* Well, let's see what else we can find, first. Need something else that has been drying for a while, so let's head down the road a bit and see what we come upon. Ahh... Here we go! Everyone up to date on their tetanus shots?

For that matter, you can even radius the board with a plain flat sanding block. Just watch what you are doing and keep checking the radius and straightness as you go. Also, it may be the pics, but that mahogany looks a lot like walnut.

Oh, so that's what the fat finger is for. I will have to apologise to my girlfriend.

Now you need one of these

Wes, that's actually eastern red cedar you have in Texas, and maybe some western juniper, which is closely related. We have lots of it in Tennessee, and it can get fairly large, but most of it is small scraggly stuff. But ya, Spanish cedar is nothing like any of the other woods we call "cedar" Never been a fan of this headstock joint. I admire the skill it takes to make it correctly, but it seems overly complicated, with no real advantage over simpler methods.

The gotoh style rods Grizzly carries are 15 and 16" long, a bit short for an electric neck. I have used the other ones and they are great, but require a bit of extra routing around the collar at the adjuster end, and for the barrel around the nut. These work by way of a "captive nut" system, where when you tighten the nut, it works the same way as a one way double rod, but whwn you back the nut off past its neutral position, it starts pushing against the rim of the barrel it is contained in and bows the rods the other way. The allied rods are the best I have ever used. The nut fits in the same slot as the rod- no extra routing/chiseling. Plus, They work differently than other similar double action rods. Instead of using reverse threading on one end, they use fine threads on one end, and coarse on the other. This makes the action much smoother, more precise, and easier to turn, requiring more turns to achieve the same bow as the other rods. The welds are also much more nicely done than others, especially the LMII ones, which are notoriously sloppy.

Awesome month! I went with Stereordinary's entry, because the design and color just really come together so well. Close seconds were Junkyard dog, Staggolee and Scattervarius, but I couldn't quite get over my prejudice against violin shaped guitars. This is the best example I have seen though, partly because of the headstock (and I love the kitty.) Stagolee looks fantastic, excellent work on the finish, but something about the neck bugs me, and the bridge looks a bit too crusty for my taste ( and that is saying something ) But I totally understand about finding a piece of "junk" that inspires that kind of excitement.

As it should be It is supposed to be fun, but we take our fun seriously, I guess. I see it primarily as an opportunity for the folks who hang out here and help each other build their chops to show off what they learned. I think this is a fairly common feeling, so it is understandable that some will get upset about random entrants just showing up and posting to the contest. But so what? maybe some of them will end up sticking around and contributing. You never know.

Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata) is closely related to yellow poplar, and is very similar, but lighter and softer. When cut for timber, it usually gets mixed in with and marketed as poplar.

I'm all about alternative woods. Maple, poplar and walnut are about the only "mainstream" woods I use. If it grows around here, I am not afraid to put a saw in it and see what happens. I have used Eastern red cedar, butternut, sassafras, cucumbertree, sweetgum, hickory, cherry, elm, chestnut, persimmon, locust, beech, osage orange, honeylocust, and Kentucky coffetree. How do they sound? Like guitars. I have a hard time placing the sound of a guitar in a way I can describe, and I'm never really sure how much of it is in the wood anyway.

You'll want to saw it up as soon as you get it. With the heart in the center like that, it will crack all to hell on all four faces. Sumac can get fairly big. I've seen some about 16" dia.

Sounds like Guitarfetish ?

Check that sumac out under a blacklight ( in the dark, of course )

Tweaked it a bit more: Now the bridge pickup stays off with the switch in the neck only position, and the tone control functions in the other two positions.

Yep, that's where I got the idea, but I didn't have a 500k resistor. Except of course, I did- the tone pot. I like the quirk, though. Thanks for explaining it- I can see what's going on now. I had a feeling something was going to be leaking somewhere.

Got it! I know this looks even weirder, but it really works: This puts the 500k of the tone pot in parallel with the vol pot when the bridge PU is on, dropping the resistance to 250k. And it still functions as a tone control. It may not be quite kosher, but it sounds great in all positions.

Southpa, I think he means the string nut is brass, and was glued excessively, seeping into the truss rod nut cavity.

Not sure where you got that, but in any case, no, I'm worried about the bridge pickup being too bright. Yes, the reason the tone pot was wired like that was to use it just for the bridge PU, so that with the tone turned all the way up, it goes straight to the volume pot, and as you turn it down, it increases the resistance between the pickup and the volume, while also rolling off highs. That was my thinking, anyway. Just wanted to verify it. As you can see, I don't know a lot about electronics. OK, this sounds good, too. So this low-cut only affects the neck pickup? If so, how is it integrated into the rest of the wiring? The circuit you drew is basially a pot and a cap, right? but is it the existing tone pot, or a separate one? Thanks, and sorry for any confusion edit: OK, I see now where I said neck instead of bridge- brain fart.