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Newbeeguitarmod

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  1. Hello all, I was recently checking out a website that I found interesting. They offer several (and some higher priced) upgrades for Floyd trems. One of these is a line of Brass big blocks to replace the stock block. The vendor claims that Brass for one helps with tonality. And, increasing the size of the block adds mass and thus more tone and fullness to notes. I was curious if anyone here has done this upgrade and if so, are the claims valid. I was considering upgrading to a brass big block if it fits my application. They also offer titanium saddles and blocks but these are pretty pricey for the guitar I'm upgrading. I want an upgrade but not for $700 bucks! lol The Brass is more in my price range (30-40 USD). If anyone is interested the website is : http://floydupgrades.com/index.php Check it out and let me know your thoughts. Is it leggit, or all just hype? On another sort of related note, How many springs are commonly used on a floyd? I think mine had 3 installed when I purchased it...but a fourth was added in the packaging. Is it only a matter of preference? From most that I've talked with ...that seems to be the case...I guess it just matters how much tension your wanting??? But I'm also considering reverse tension on the strings as I use mostly drop tunings and have had problems with buzz and string noise in the past. I was considering adding the fourth spring just to help this out. Lata~J
  2. Okay this is driving me crazy! I purchased a set of Schaller locking mini tuners for my ESP. Those dropped right in with not a hitch. I also purchased a wilkinson roller (or replica) nut to install to hopefully replace the floyd locking nut. Turns out the width is correct but if I were to install it. It would leave about an eighth inch exposed part of the fingerboard at the top. I didn't want to have to do any neck modifications this major or modify the nut shelf at all. When I purchased the roller the vendor told me that it would fit correctly. Lied to as always. This was purchased before I did more research on the nut. I would love to have the roller nut, but I've kept the floyd nut on without the locking mechanisms. Problem is... is that it dosnt look the greatest. But, it does function like was desired. I noticed that there are a couple LRS roller nuts available on Ebay with a conversion plate included. Would this hide the 1/8" bit of fingerboard if I were to install with the conversion plate? I could live with the guitar the way it is. But, like I said it just dosnt look the greatest. I could take it to my local shop and have them install the wilkinson...but I'm thinking this is going to cost me way too much cash! I could do it myself but, I'm seeing whats involved to change it and I'm not sure I have the savy to pull it off. And besides, I'm thinking that the entire headstock would have to be sanded down and possibly refinished and I don't have the place or the tools to do it.
  3. Its amazing that like in the above post...if I turn a certian direction the interference goes away. I've also noticed that if I step further away from the equipment the noise stops also.
  4. i don't know i have the same turd an i am in the process of polishing it's basicaly my first project i was just gonna start with a kit but the dean was about 50 buck cheaper than a saga kit and this way i get a befor and after btw i kinda liked that cheap guitar befor i tore it down i was more likely to pick it up than my schecter Wow!...this thread has gotten way too "in debth" for me! lol....Yes, I may be polishing a turd...but if you read the original post...this is only a backup guitar used for emergencies when or if something may happen to my ESP. The ESP is the real project guitar as far as upgrading goes. The Dean was just in need of some dire help. And like the above message...something to toy with and not worry about mistakes or mishappenings. I'm not looking at reverse engineering the Dean. I have other plans for a true project guitar in the future. The Dean is just one of many guitars I plan to have and I desperatly needed a backup incase anything did happen to my ESP. But whats the sense in having a guitar that you can't even play because of crappy materials and workmenship? I couldn't play the Dean after the first 2 weeks I had it because the nut had cracked...so its sat on my wall for about 6 months now ...and still counting!
  5. I'll let you know as soon as I get the thing back together...I'm doing other mods to it and its not stringed up yet. This all started by having to replace the nut. After 2 weeks of having the guitar ...the plastic nut cracked and broke in 2 peices. I replaced that with an Earvana nut. Then I decided to go a bit further and ordered some wood pickuprings from John Gilford because the rings were cheap plastic and starting to crack. So, from there I decided to try out the roller nut and see what all the hype was about. Thing is, I'm still waiting on the rings from Gilford so I can string it up and play it. If it turns out that I do lose sustain from the roller then I still have the old bridge I could put back on. This is one of the main reasons I didn't want to do any drilling or major body modifications.
  6. That was the selling point of the bridge. It and many others use the same idea to help sell I guess. The idea is that the rollers are more of a smooth breaking point for the string rather than a pointed normal saddle...this "supposedly" helps the string vibrate a little better and in turn helps the note ring a bit longer....thus sustain. And it will save from breaking a lot of strings...they aren't string saver saddles....but I'll take what I can get. The point is: it was cheap for a cheap guitar...and if it helps sustain then great! if not...Oh well! No big loss.
  7. Okay this is cool....it may sound like a stupid question...but, I've never seen the fanned fret thing before. Can this be done with any neck to any scale? Or is this only for this particular length? I didn't have time enough to read every comment thru the thread so forgive my ignorance..
  8. AH...well there you go, maybe it is the static from the fur! LOL, yea could be? Seriously, I'm gonna try out the Ferrite bead thing and see what happens. If that dosnt help I'm going to try the capacitor fix. If that dosn't work I guess I'll tear down the guitar and shield everything...but this is the last thing I feel like doing! I appricate everyones input on this and suggestions. I'll let you all know the outcome of the Ferrite bead fix as soon as I can get em' shipped to me...unless I find them locally...but I'm thinking this may be a task. Regards....
  9. It's more than possible that it wasnt a tonepros...I agree that it may have just looked like one. Who knows? But, even if it were a tune-o-matic the new roller is a tune-o-matic and both bridges have the same pole spacing. My whole issue was to not have to plug the current holes and re-drill. That would force me to have to refinish the whole body and I don't have the time or the tools or a shop to do that type of work. I just wanted to "beef-up" an $80 P.O.S. !! lol
  10. Yes, this is what I was getting at. I just thought it was weird that the threads were different. I've got the bridge on the guitar without too much problem. I don't really think I'm going to put in the supplied inserts as that its fitting "okay". And the reasoning behind a roller was just to try and help with sustain. the body is made of Paulowinia wood and its very light. The neck is heavier than the body so it droops when you strap it up. I just thought that if I could help the sustain at all the roller bridge might help. Even if I only help it out a bit with the roller its worth it for me. I mean the bridge only cost me 12$ so I feel its worth a little extra expense to help out the guitar.
  11. LOL, not a bad idea...but not realistic either! I don't think I could afford the brass mesh, and besides I have a cat that likes to climb on things....He'd have that thing torn up in 5 seconds!
  12. Pete, Absolutely no offense here..but, I think one of the articles that were posted insisted that it helps with RFI. And no, I'm not getting interference on anything else in my place. T.V. is fine, my stereo is fine, computer is okay. Its just my musical equipment thats having the issue. As far as I can tell its not necessarily a power problem either. What I mean by that is no other problems exsist with any other electronic equipment in the house. My set-up is routed properly as far as I can tell. I have this same issue with a Johnson J-station running "bare minimum". Just the J and guitar, couple cables to route it all. I'm starting to think it may just be the Fostex four track thats giving the problem as that if I don't run it thru there I don't get as much noise...but its still there. The reason I'm using the fostex is to have the four channels of mixing to be able to run my drum machine along with the guitar. With the J-station , I'm not sure why I get this. This is why I orginally thought it was one of my cables. People in my building at this complex always have issues with cellphones dropping out...I'm one of them. I don't have a landline so I always use the cell. But, the super insists its the radio towers that cause the signal to drop all the time. I'm not sure I believe that...but I'm not a electronics wiz kid either! This is why I'm so set on the idea that the radio station is "pumping out" way more juice than is necessary for broadcast. One of the Maintenance men I work with suggested to call the station and talk to one of the engineers to see if he would have any suggestions. Thats why the reply on the Ferrite beads seems such a good idea.
  13. Yes, I guess I wasnt too clear on that. I installed a tune-o-matic to replace a tonepros. And I suppose I could put in the inserts but I'm thinking the holes are just a fraction off so it wouldn't matter regardless as they would still be a bit off. I'm just curious to know if this set-up is common or did Dean muss it up?
  14. Okay, I've been kinda modifying a Dean Vendetta XM. Not the most elaborate of guitars! In fact its "ELCHEEPO"! to say the least. I bought the guitar mainly to have a backup for whatever reason might arise. Thing is... I wanted to replace the bridge with a Tune-o-matic roller style to possibly help with sustain and beef up the looks a little. So, I got on to Ebay and found the bridge I wanted for a fair price and bought it. The seller has a full return policy. I asked him if there were any issues with replacing a TonePros bridge (thats what is was as far as I could tell) with a Tune-o-matic. He told me " he has sold several of them to customers with the same situation and nobody has complained or retuned the item...but no one has told him wether or not it was a direct fit". This was all before I signed up for this forum otherwise I would have asked someone here! I received the bridge today and attempted to slap it on the guitar...that didnt go so well. Turns out that I discoverd something that I'm thinking shouldn't be! The two posts holes (in the body) for most of the bridges I've seen have been both the same size. This bridge from the Dean has two seperate sizes! What up with that? Seems like one post is a finer, smaller thread than the other. The pole spaceing for both brdges seems to be the same, its just the thread sizes are different. Needless to say I did get the Tune-o-matic on the guitar with a little messing around. I was just wondering if I ordered the wrong type of bridge? or, if Dean just screwed up and put the wrong post sizes in to compensate for lack of craftmenship? It really seems to me that these guitars were just the "spare parts" laying around the shop floor that they wanted to get rid of...so they slap a neck on a "not so to spec" body and throw some strings on it and sell it for $80 bucks! (this is why I bought it..can't beat that price...but I guess its totally true...you get what you pay for!) Any thoughts???????
  15. When I worked at a radio/tv station we had a problem with an induced signal from a radar installation. We had to install ferrite beads in the power supply circuit and signal cables. I did a search on the net and came up with some info for you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead http://www.palomar-engineers.com/Ferrite_B...rite_beads.html http://www.antennex.com/shack/Dec99/beads.htm This sounds like the least expensive of any of the other solutions! Very interesting indeed! I have a few questions though. #1 Where would I put these beads? on the power cables of my equipment? or on the audio cables? or both? and...#2 one of the linked articles you posted mentioned something about the different types and ratings...what would you suggest for my particular situation?
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