mkat

There is no way 10000 turns of 42 AWG will fit on a single PBass bobbin.

Sorry about this, I had to drag this thread out in order to correct it.

Phil, you weren't on anything, you were right. I wound two coils tonight and the turn count is indeed around the 10,000 mark per coil.

[quote name='TonyFlyingSquirrel' post='365328' date='Jan 29 2008, 08:14 AM']I have the exact same trem, I was told by Stewmac that the Floyd template that they sell (both recessed & non-recessed) are a direct fit.[/quote]

Thanks Tony. I'm a bass player who started building basses recently. I also just completed one guitar and am about to start the next with this trem. Do guitar players and builders really utilise the recessed option (is it worth it)?

I have a Gotoh GE1996T guitar trem. Is the route pattern for this the same as the floyd Rose original? I'll be installing this into a guitar that I'm preparing to build soon, rather than a guitar than has an existing trem route.

According to Jason Lollar the height is .531 between the flanges

Yeah, thank but I already have that info. Those are Jason's dimensions though and not necessarily the original vintage fender height for the coil.

I believe that's 10,000 turns total for the split pickup, 5,000 per coil. I don't think you can fit 10,000 turns on one of those bobbins.

David,

That's correct. It's around 5000 turns per coil. The DC resistance is around the 5K mark per coil, around 10K for both. There is no way 10000 turns of 42 AWG will fit on a single PBass bobbin.

Phil, while you're at it, do you have a coil height for a pre '64 jazz bass pickup?

Thanks Michael. Rabbet joint is an excellent idea but after doing all this, it's a little too late for it. I already carved the body and rounded off the edges so if I were to cut this piece again, it just wouldn't be worth messing with it anymore. In future, I will definitely not use screws again in situations like this.

Anyone else think screws are not a good idea?

No worries Jockson. Things that go wrong aren't always bad, because you get to think about workarounds. Anyway, the screws should be fine for that body. It's done now, so you can move on to the next body knowing you'll do a better job.

Regards,

Michael

Any chance of this joint not falling off by itself, lol? I do understand why endgrain to endgrain gluing is weaker but how weak it really is? Any other potential problems with this? Should I throw this guitar into garbage and buy another piece of mahogany? Thanks!

Hi Jockson,

It's bad. There are a few different types of joints you can use. For example, you could rabbit the ends of both peices and slot them together. The long grain (not that there would be much of it in this case) must be really smooth before glue up. This will make a better joint because of the long grain contact. Someone mentioned dowls, which is a good idea but it's still end grain with no long grain contact. Glue up using epoxy sounds good, since there won't be significant stress. I wouldn't use screws, but that's a personal preference not that it won't work.

Regards,

Michael

I harmonically tune my fretted and fretless basses by ear and check them against the tuner. But the tuner is flakey depending on the string. So, I wanted something that would register the input signal much better.

Some shops use some device, that I don't know the name of, to harmonically tune guitars. I use a tuner, but would like to know of a device that is far more accurate. So, what electronic gadgets are used for this?

Hi,

Just wondering if there are any issues with mixing pickup types and brands. For example, I have what I think is an old DiMarzio P Bass pickup (passive, with cream coloured pickup covers) and I want to add a J Bass pickup to make it a P/J configuration.

Now, since it won't be an active pickup setup, I'm assuming that it will be ok but would like confirmation and any pointers to avoid issues that may arise.

Regards,

Michael

For bass nuts, it's easy. You can cut a bass nut with inexpensive diamond files, which cost AUD$12 (US$ is slightly above half that amount at this time). Get a packet of small diamond files, which contain

- thin flat file with tapered edges to do the initial cut

- thin round file that tapers at the end to do the remaining filing. For thin strings use the end (thinner part) of the file and move towards the thicker part for the thicker strings

I haven't found any fret files here unless I order them internationally, so this is what I use (I've cut bone and graphite compound nuts with diamond files) and it works really well. Note: Some care must be taken when using the round tapered file to avoid over sizing the slot. But if the nut is approapriately marked, this won't be a problem.

If you don't know what they look like, have a look at this page which contains two excellent images that are large enough to see each file

http://www.sunva.cn/Diamondfiles-07.htm

Regards,

Michael

Thanks for all your help. I started with nothing working and some wasted time, to everything working and creating some music. Thanks for all your assistance, patience and logical thinking, which has enabled me to learn a thing or two.

Regards,

Michael

Both pots now work, I didn't have to connect the tone pot ground lug to the volume pot ground. However, there is some hum or buzz, which stops when I touch the volume or tone pot. How can I get rid of that?

Here is another image with how it is now wired:

Regards,

Michael

I've reconnected the light green wire to the back of the volume pot (ground) and have connected the tone pot. The volume pot works, but the tone pot does not work. I've connected the tone pot the same as the pic I posted. Any suggestions to correct the tone pot wiring?

Note: The current wiring is slightly different to the original. Might send another pic to make things easier.

Regards,

Michael

Ok, I sorted out the problem with the volume pot, it now works. So, should I wire the tone pot the way I had it wired before (in the pic)?

Also, the green wire is still connected to the jack sleeve, is this ok?

Got to do a few things and will log on again tonight.

Regards,

Michael

I've done that. I still have sound, but the volume does not work (stays the same when turned all the way up or down).

I've had a big day today, so I'm gonna crash. I'll continue again tomorrow.

Regards,

Michael

Fantastic, I have sound. What next?

I didn't mention it, but that's what I did (as indicated in the resistance measurements in my last post). I actually unsoldered everything prior to taking the measurements and the pic. Then I took the readings, when all pickup wires were not connected to anything (same deal for the pots, all clean no wires or capacitor). Once I had the readings, I soldered the wires back together for the pic. I get soldering practise this way, as you can see I need it.

Hope that's what you meant. I worked out a few days ago, when I bought the multimeter, that I couldn't get accurate readings with everything wired.

Regards,

Michael

Ok, some slight changes but here is the messy info

Top pickup (E & A strings) - resistance 5.76K

------------------------------

light green: wired to volume pot (ground)

white: soldered to brown wire coming from bottom D & G pickup

Bottom pickup (D & G strings) - resistance 5.73K

----------------------------------

brown: soldered to white wire coming from top E & A pickup

yellow: wired to volume pot (left lug, where lugs are pointing down and bottom of pot is facing up)

- yellow wire from left lug on volume pot to middle lug on tone pot

- black wire from middle lug on volume pot to the jack tip

- black wire from right lug of volume pot to volume pot (ground)

- yellow wire from bridge to jack sleeve

- Capaciter (473j, 2A0SG): soldered to left lug (where tone lugs are pointing up and bottom of pot is facing up) on tone pot and bottom of tone pot (ground)

Note: There is a dark green wire wired to the jack sleeve. This connected to a plate under the pickups, which is not connected to the pickups.

Here is a pic of it, just so it makes more sense

http://users.bigpond.com/m.kat/html/fretless/pbwiring.jpg

Excellent, thanks for that, makes things much easier.

Regards,

Michael

Hi,

I'm making a template of a bolt on neck from one of my basses. The neck is slightly concave, since that's how it's setup. Now this will take away a few millimetres from the total neck length, which I can adjust in the length that I use. Now, is that all I need prior to using a fret calculator to determine the position of the frets? I don't want to mark the fret locations on my template based on the actual neck it comes from, since it has strings on it and is concave as I mentioned, in order to be more accurate.

So, I'd just like to know if I'm on the right track here.

Regards,

Michael

ok...

pickups: ~5.62

pots: ~507, ~488

capacitor: 0.05+-10%

I've rewired them as outlined above and still no sound. When I touch the metal volume and tone nobs there is a loud hum.

I tried using 250k pots and a slightly different capacitor, but same deal.

Regards,

Michael

OK, thanks for that. I've tried it, but it still doesn't work. So, I've unsoldered and seperately checked the pots, the pickups, the capacitor and they all emit a signal. The pots are ~507 & 488 (both 500k). I'll post the resistance of the capacitor and pickups tonight.

Any other suggestions, before I send more info?

Regards,

Michael

You can get alder here, I don't think it's an AU timber though. It's cheaper than swamp ash. Gilet Guitars have them, check out the price list on the web site if you're interested.

http://www.giletguitars.com.au/

Regards,

Michael