Mender

You're saying that if the screw holes through the body are too tight, that's a problem?

it is a problem - the holes should not be oversized, but you should be able to push those screws through the body by hand

Agreed, but even if they are tight, you should clamp the neck before screwing it in, no? That's what I usually do.

What kind of inserts do you guys usually use?

I use these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330292937612?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

They work extremely well, you just need to get some M5 machine screws of a suitable length to go with them

Oh ****. I might've just started some massive misdirection.

I forgot that when pots are measured they go by 250k, 500k, or 1000k-1meg. When I think of those numbers, the k isn't really needed as its implied, so when I said 1k, I meant 1000, which would be 1000k, which is a 1 meg.

I am using two 1 MEG pots. 1000k potentiometers, for the tone and volume.

I am terribly sorry about that.

In which case, you should get plenty of volume

Even when the pot is turned up full, you would still have only 1k resistance between signal and ground, which will pull the signal down, making it very quiet.

I got this Diagram from the Dimarzio site, and I was wondering on how to do this correctly, or if Parallel wiring would be a better option. Links are here:

http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/1hum1vol1tone.pdf

http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/1hum1vol1tone_parallel.pdf

I also don't have a resistor (Or capacitor, the word is slipping me right now for some reason), so is there any way to get around that? The pickup is a Dimarzio D-Activator 7, and I have 1k potentiometers for the tone and volume.

Can I get around the resistor/capacitor in some way? Is it really needed?

What are the benefits/trade offs of parallel wiring? If I recall correctly, it lessens cancelling power but gives more high end tone. Could anyone elaborate more upon this?

Are you sure they are 1k pots? You wouldn't get much volume out of the pickups

The simple answer to your problem is to give that timber to me. That way, it will be my problem

Update: I got around to cutting the final pieces. Next step is the hole.

Your skills are amazing, and your patience is beyond belief. It must take many hours to create so many bits that fit together so well

...I posted a bear build for cryin out loud. As long as it's good, or cool or at least entertaining, we'll join right in...

There's an idea for you, Josh. Make an amp stand in the shape of a bear

...I'll donate a chicken

I wonder what type of glue would be needed to stick a fretboard on its neck?

Welcome to PG. I look forward to seeing some of your work in progress in the future

All those guitars are gorgeous, and my decision which to vote for was very difficult indeed. I would give them all an equal vote for beauty and workmanship, but I finally went with Hooglebug purely because of the amount of work that went into the inlays, and the truly unique shape

Wow! That is beautiful

A guitar im building uses active electronics and theres a battery ground coming out of the batteries.

The output jack has a tip (hot), and a ring and a sleeve.

Does it matter if the battery ground is soldered to the same part as the pickup's ground(sleeve).

In other words, would it matter if the battery ground shares the same part of the jack as the pickup ground?

Thanks guys

The idea of having the three connector socket is so the sleeve can be used as the guitar ground as normal, the tip is the guitar hot line as usual, and the ring is used for the battery ground. This way, the battery is only connected when a (mono) jack plug is inserted. When you insert the jack plug, the jack plug sleeve connects the ring to the sleeve on the socket, acting like a switch, connecting the battery ground to the guitar ground. Remove the jack plug and the battery disconnects, so it doesn't run down when you are not using the guitar.

I am ambivalent about them. They work on some guitars not so much on others.

I am not sure about the string tension thing. The tuned length of the string is between the nut (or where you are fretting)and the bridge. The amount of tension on the string should be the same for either set up providing the gauge and scale length are the same. There may be more elasticity in the reverse headstock though.

I may be being to much of an **** retentive scientist type.

The tension is over the whole length of the string from the bridge to the tuner. When you fret or bend a string, the string between the nut and the tuner stretches as well as the string between the nut and the bridge. However, if you use a locking nut, then the string between the nut and the tuner doesn't move, so playable tension is the same whichever type of headstock you have.

You can test this by fitting a top "e" string in the normal position and the bass "E" position and tune them both up to pitch. Don't use a locking nut for this test. Now try bending each string by one tone. The shortest string is definitely easier to bend because it doesn't have to bend as far as the long string as the overall tension is lower and you are stretching a shorter length of string.

As a visual confirmation, you can do the test using a tension gauge hooked onto the bridge and the string attached to the gauge. You will see the shorter string is definitely at a lower tension for a given pitch.

Over the years, I have noticed that quite a lot of people don't like reverse headstocks, but I love them. They really have a positive advantage over conventional headstocks that many people seem to overlook.

On a six inline conventional headstock, the top "e" is longer than the bottom "E". Longer strings require more tension to tune to pitch, so the top "e" is the highest tension. If you use a reverse headstock, the thinner strings are shorter, so require less tension, therefore making string bending easier, and chords are easier to hold down. Strat style guitars with reverse headstocks are definitely easier to play. I noticed this when I got hold of a Squier (Fender) Showmaster guitar some time ago (no, that isn't me in the video!). It is fitted as standard with a reverse headstock, and it is certainly easier to play than a Strat with the same gauge strings.

Now, let's take a look at shorter scale guitars. A 24 inch scale will obviously have lower string tension than a 25.5 inch scale if the same gauge strings are used. 9-42 on 25.5 is fine, but the same gauge on a 24 inch scale can cause rattles on the thicker strings because of the lower tension, so you would normally fit 10-46 gauge to compensate.

However, fitting a lefty neck means you could stay with 9-42 gauge, as, being longer, the thicker strings will be under higher tension, therefore there is less likelihood of them "flapping".

I can't think of any disadvantages of reverse headstocks, apart from some people not liking the way they look (I actually think they look pretty good)

That second top is superb. Tilting my head to the left, I can see a ghostly skeletal apparition! I love it

Hi Mender, Sounds like you and I are the walking wounded at the moment. I have been told by my doctor that the carpal fusion is usually very effective in stopping the pain, all the joints that inflame the soft tissue are immobilized and the tissue can heal and settle down. And the wrist can still retain a proportion of movement to allow guitar playing and woodwork. I hope it goes well for you and I think the odds are on your side for a good outcome. I broke my scaphoid a long time ago and had bone graft surgery to rejoin the pieces. I have had reduced (actually no) hyperextension movement in my wrist ever since but I have learned to compensate, and most people would never know. I too have had all the future possibilities explained to me, but it seems to be hanging in there well so far. Good chance that you will soon have a pain free wrist but you might have to relearn how to strum.

I can sympathize with the pain, I spent the weekend in critical care after a back injury. I was at level 8 pain when I went in to the hospital, then suddenly went into pain at the top of the scale, at that point I couldn't move apart from shaking uncontrollably and swearing my head off and just heard someone say, quick get a line into him, and then I felt the warm rush as the morphine swept through my body taking a good chunk of the pain with it. I have had the MRI scan, the injury is minor (geez I would hate to have a major one ) and I am back on my feet again and the pain is back to manageable levels and easing slowly with the passing days. I have just been able to get some sleep since yesterday. My doctor tells me I should be fully recovered in 3 months.

Hang in there

Oh my! Your back injury sounds nasty. I hope it doesn't leave you with any lasting problems

I have back pain, along with pains all over at one time or another, which is due to my rheumatoid arthritis. I've learned to ignore the pain in general, but it can still make me wince from time to time.

As for strumming, I don't think that will be my problem. My problem will be forearm rotation and wrist movement for fretting. The fingers of my right hand are deformed because of arthritic joint damage, but I can hold a plectrum with no problem, and the right wrist is fine, but finger picking (which I used to love doing pre-1982) is definitely out of the question for me, although simple hybrid picking should still be possible as long as I can operate the fingerboard with my left hand

Thankyou both What I have decided to do is wait a while before pursuing this. You may have read on here a few months ago, I had surgery on my wrist in November to remove a piece of bone from my left wrist to relieve pain and allow me to rotate my forearm. Unfortunately, it didn't go well. The ulna hasn't settled down at all, and any movement of my wrist causes the ulna to pop up, making the back of my wrist look like a camel's hump, accompanied by a lot more pain than I had before the surgery

I saw the surgeon again last week, and he is going to carry out further surgery to try and stabilise it. He will be fitting a prosthetic radial ulna (the bit of bone he removed last time)to hold the bone in place, and he will be fusing to of the carpal bones in the back of the wrist. We won't know how much movement this will leave me with in the wrist until about four months after the surgery. I will be in a rigid splint from above the elbow to the tips of my fingers for eight weeks, then a flexible support and lots of physiotherapy for a couple of months. Hopefully, after all that, I'll be able to play guitar again - not been able to do that at all since the last surgery, and start building again.

If things don't go according to plan, I'll be stuck with very limited use of my left hand

I can get you some curly mango! I am in the states though. But I can get you some you can resaw into tops.

Thanks my friend, but shipping it to the UK would be very expensive. Also I don't have the facility for resawing

...That said, if you can find some straight quartered stuff that's well season'd, I'd say go ahead and build with it and make it a bolt on just in case.

Chris

I'd just like to find some mango wood! None of the (very few) hardwood timber dealers around here have any idea where to get it, and two of them have never even heard of mango wood I showed one of them a photograph of a mango wood coffee table, he said, "Oh, you mean spalted pine."

I swear, the UK is way behind other countries on some things, and hopelessly expensive on others

Woohoo! Thanks Mender, now I have a new geetar! Pics coming to the finished projects area later.

Jonny

No problem. I'm glad it worked

I've seen a lot of furniture made out of mango wood, and it seems to be quite dense. Has anyone here used it for a guitar body or neck?

Also, does anyone know where I can buy the wood in the UK? Any web search only returns results for furniture, bowls, and ornaments

Remove the white wire completely. On the blue wire at the jack socket, you need the screen soldered to the tab that is connected to the outer ring of the socket, and the centre core soldered to the tab that is connected to the centre blade that is sticking up.

At the pot end, the screen should be soldered to the body of the pot, and the centre core should be connected to the output tab of the pot.

If you use a roller nut, and the string pull is straight, or almost straight, then locking tuners work really well.

Other than that, a zero fret and graphite nut with the slots cut slightly looser than normal, along with a straight string pull, gives very good results. This is the way I do it because I make guitars with 46 - 48mm wide nuts, and I haven't found locking nuts wide enough.

Hey guys. Haven't been on here for a while!

Just asking around for some advice/help.

How do I get rid of a scuff mark from sticker that was on my pickguard..

The pickguard is black too.. ugh..

Any ideas?

Is it a scuff or a glue mark? If it's glue, pure lemon juice should dissolve it. If it is actually a scuff, Brasso or similar should help

Southpa, I hate you

Ok, so the general consensus here seems to be through body.

Ok, I can try that haha.

One little concern though...

SwedishLuthier says to place the new bridge on the body so the holes line up...

The bridge on there now has 3 screws on the bottom of the bridge, and two at each side on the top.

From my searching, I can't find ANYTHING that has that same config. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places...

Some have 4, one in each corner, some have 4 at the bottom only.

Are there any replacement bridges that would have the same hole config. as my current bridge?

Is it anything like the one here? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180585324396&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT