Mr Alex

If you figure out which terminals do what, you could do a channel only switch. I have no idea if this would hurt the amp, but, I would wire a stereo 1/4" plug with the ground leading to the common of the switch, and the"left" hot going to one of the other terminals on that pole, plug it in and test it, if it swtiches the effects, swap the left hot to the right hot. If you want an led too, wire the led with a 47k resistor(try different values to get what you want, but I wouldn't recommend much below that, one exploded on me the other day) to a 9v battery and wire across the other pole on the switch. Sorry for the bad instructions, I'll draw you up a quick picture.

I have no idea how it works as well as it does, but I'm gonna keep using it, I sprayed it with manifold black and cooked it, but in the future I'll use black or white acrathane, once that stuff goes on, it NEVER comes off. I'll have to talk to the guy I built it for again, about his experience with it, but I'm getting the guitar back in a fortnight for a setup, I'll have a look then as to how it's lasted. Edit : I used no lube of any kind.

WOAH TRIPLE POST!! Do I win a prize?

WOAH TRIPLE POST!! Do I win a prize?

I cant tell you how to wire it, but I made a single switch footswitch for a mate, you've just gotta figure out which terminal in the jack is for what, and run a SPST switch across the terminals. Or a dpdt if you want an led. If its a 2 button you are after, I would assume that the ring is a common for both switches, and the "left" and "Right" hots on the jack go to their respective switches, maybe its an xlr jack I dunno. To answer your question, YES you can make one, very cheaply too if you get the parts at the right places. Google round, there is a schematic I found very easily last year, for a vox footswitch I think it was. matched most of the switches I've seen.

Perhaps I was just lucky, but I paired a Wilkinson trem(mighty mite licensed I think, looks like the vs-100, but doesn't have the collar around where the trem arm goes in) with Ez-lok tuners, and a fibreglass nut, and that thing can take whammy tricks that would make most shredders cry, and stays in tune fine. That coud be partly down to the fibreglass nut though, I work with printed cricuit boards alot, and I get the guys that etch my boards to leave them in large sheets for storage, with all the cnc locator holes around the edges. This leaves me with alot of long strips of fibeglass sheet, I figured that there was no harm in trying it as a nut, so I removed the solder mask sheets, glued up three layers, and filed it into a nut. It had no noticable effect on the sound, reminded me of a zero fret infact. Doesn't seem to wear down, even the .056 string doesn't appear to file through it. And the strings don't pinch at all. First time that's ever happened for me. Getting a .056 string through the ez-lok tuners is no laughing matter, but those things are great, and cheap too. Anyway, hopefully something there will be of use to someone.

Dick Smith don't have anything these days, they dont even qualify as a component supplier. Jaycar should have them.(dont have the new catalogue handy though, so perhaps they have dropped it) Rs and Farnell should be able to sell you the switch you need, other wise they sell the wafers to build them your self, recently I helped somebody assemble a 3way 9 pole switch. Not sure how those two companies treat joe public though, last time I was at the auckland RS they had a sign on the door telling you to go away if you didn't know what you're talking about. But give them a try, you should get a good deal from Farnell at least. Mr Alex

If you want to build something, try the Stratoblaster Make the stompbox version, it works much better tone wise. I build these for people with a 2n5457 fet, and substitute the 1.5uf cap for a 2.2uf. Plus some other changes, but they are my secrets . I veroboarded one for a guy recently, with only those two changes, took all of 30mins, including drilling a box. Was about $30US of parts(box included). And he calls me several times a week to tell me about all the improvements it has made to his clean tone, and his effects and amps. He loves it so much, he now runs it constantly, and wants a second one for solo boosting. I could supply my you with my pcb, but with international shipping, it wouldn't be worth your while. I think the board from general guitar gadgets is like 9US, so I'd go with him.

I could be wrong here, but I heard something recently about aluminium burning at a lower temperature than it melts, and is quite dangerous, so if you are considering casting it, do a little research in safety stuff first. There is an aluminium smelter down south in my country, I dont remember the method it uses to melt the aluminium, but I know the metal is in an inert environment. And I also know the largest power plant in my country powers that smelter only. Mr A edit: I did a quick bit of research, the aluminium burning must be a side effect of this electricity intensive method used in my country, from what I can see it melts at 660 celsius, and you'll be fine.

Perhaps I missed something but Lollar makes a good range of Steel pickups. They are a little costly, but I've never hear anything bad about lollar in the six months I've been reading the steel guitar forum. All I gotta do now is convince my accountant that 13 string pickups are vital parts of a small business. edit : totally forgot about emg 45dc's bout 120US I think.

These two articles may be of interest: http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Te...cetonetest.html then http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Te...algamator1.html Hope that helps Mr A

Anything that plugs straight into the wall, with no controller, is a waste of time and money, seriously. I dont care how much power it has, in my line of work your iron is your most important tool The one erikbojerik posted is great, but perhaps a little overkill, but I use a duratech 50watter with hollow tip(a must). The element response times are fantastic, my father bought exactly one the same for home use, and at work he uses an iron he built from two $600+ ones he tore apart. So if he thinks my cheap duratech is good, it really must be. I've found 380 degrees C to be a good temperature for just about anything, from backs of pots, right through to delicate IC legs. I assemble custom controllers for a living, so I do know what I'm talking about and since I got my iron I haven't overheated a single part, and I've probably made 10000 joints with it. Shop around, and get a cheap temperature controlled iron, you wont regret it. Edit : a 2.1mm chisel tip is the best size you can have IMHO

www.frets.com has maybe 5 or 6 demonstrations of headstock regluing, a couple are mandolin, so it could take some time to dig them out of the index, but they are there, and have plenty of photos. By memory you will need a large collection of clamps, and looking at your photo, I'm not sure it will work, you'll have to fill the missing pieces. My local shop used to mix up epoxy and just coat it up. But I really dont like that method. And being a 12 string, with the extra tension, this might be a case of new neck, or trash it. Sorry I couldn't be of any more help. Mr Alex

Both solder and glue work, the solder is very diffucult to get to stick though.

Would it be ok if I use a 2x8"? and some little scraps of local native timbers for the nut and bridge?

The zero fret doesn't have to be taller, think about it, the frets are all an equal height, if you fret one, the string doesn't touch the fret in front of it, why is that any different for the zero fret, it is just like fretting the 1st fret, it doesn't have to be any higher than the 2nd to not buzz, the action of the strings makes up for that, with the angle it creates over the frets. On the 2 guitars I've seen with zero frets, I asked the owners if the fret wire was all the same height, one had refretted it himself, and the other had it done professionally and asked at the time. They both had all the frets installed and levelled together. And those 2 guitars had the best action at the nut I'd ever seen, and no buzz. At the higher frets it can be worth while "ramping" the fret board slightly, as the frets are closer together, they are much more likely to intercept the string. And my own suzuki has a zero fret, which is brass like the other frets, and from constant string pressure has worn lower than the first fret, and due to highish action, still doesn't buzz. So it all depends on your action If you wanna do something, it always has a better result, if you know what you're doing. I'd draw a picture, but I'm to lazy to do it when its explaining something I'm shocked isn't so obvious to people who make guitars. Edit : It may be better to use a slightly higher fretwire for the zero fret, just for the reason that if it wears down, you'll have to pull the nut, to change the zero fret. Although saying that, most fretwire is pretty hard, it would take a few years I reckon. Dunno about you, but I'd pick better action over the life of one piece of fretwire.

Cheers Craig, I wasn't sure how widely linbide is distributed, thought someone might have tried it. If linbide if distributed in the states get your dealer to get in some downcut spiral bits, if I recall right, they are cheaper than the stewmac ones. And I would assume better quality too. Alex Edit: I just checked my catalog, and they only have UP cut bits in the small sizes, but they go right down to 1/64".

Hey I was just wondering, has anybody had experience with THIS being linbide I'd assume its good, I only had good things from them. I can get a good price on one, but if its rubbish, I wont bother, the main use will be an insane amount of binding channel routing, and some inlay. I use a stewmac dremel binding bit, in my router, but if its over 20,000 rpm it digs in to the body(then router doesn't cool below about 30,000) and the dremel has too little power. I understand it will need a base made for it, that's no problem, I just dont wanna shell out my hard earned cash on rubbish. Thanks Mr Alex

I was working on a friends jackson, the neck joint had a thick glossy poly in the neck joint, it was creaking as I tuned up and used the tremolo. It appeared that no matter how tight the neck joint was, it could still move just enough to make this creaking noise, I assume against the poly.

Sky are Kent Armstrong's version of EMG SELECT according to the literature I've read, and certainly in New Zealand they cost a whole sack of pretty pennys. I wouldn't bother with them. Duncan's and real EMGs are gonna also cost a pretty penny or two round here, but way more bang for your buck. If your interested in some humbuckers, I've got 2 jackson pickups, nothing special, I pulled them from a "JS1" that wasn't. you could have em with a B/W/B strat pickguard for $40NZ plus shipping, pm me if you're interested(I'm in Auckland BTW).

I just thought I should point out a 2 pot poly product called "Acrathane IF", its isocyanate free, so if you want to spray outside, you can probably get away with it. It is an industrial product though, and as I get it free, I have no clue as to the price, but I believe its several hundred dollars per litre, so for hobbying, not cheap, but you could try your local trade store for mistints. But in the long run, I'd consider it cheaper to just get the respratory gear and spray nitro.

err, cry! Just imagine the implications of this, if some even bigger nimrod at the patent office accepted it. His address is on there, perhaps someone would like to pay him a visit.

The spacing would be quite tight, but the easiest option would be to get a 7 string tune o matic with no slots, and slot it for 14. Or make some kind of "Angry" acoustic bridge, with large heavy brass saddle, possibly base the shape on the asher lap steel bridge.

If that's isn't kwila or merbau(I believe the 2 are the same species from different places, but are slightly different, due to growing conditions) then its gotta be some kind of hybrid. Keep in mind, kwila can go a from a nice red/brown to a dirty grey colour when exposed to the outside weather, it all depends on how its led its journey from tree to attic. I've got nice bits in my ceiling that look EXACTLY like your pieces, my deck is dirty grey, and my outside table and chairs(which are keep under waterproof proof covers) are a nice rich brown. Edit: Kwila is from Papua New Guinea, Merbau from malaysia, and Vesi from fiji, they are the same thing, but due to varying conditions in each country will look a little different(as I said above). That piece I'm 99% sure is "Kwila". Anyone that wants to disagree with me, can, infact please do, I like being proved wrong. But if thats not kwila, there are a lot of idiots out there who on many occasions have sold me something else.

Looks like Kwila to me, possibly known at "merbau" round your way, a local xylophone maker uses it as a substitute for hondurus rosewood. Should work fine as a fretboard, you may want to fill the grain, but I personally wouldn't bother.