Robert_the_damned

I can't believe they're still having a go at you. Its a design feature. It'd be like Gibson sueing someone for having a T-O-M bridge or an angled neck, you just can't do that unless you have a patent for that particular feature. And they don't go handing out patents for nothing. I mean its not like you've traced the body shape and are offering it as a Neil Moser guitar! Even the single cut you've done looks very differant to his model and as I said before: you've changed the wave anyway (its carved rather than flat) so technically it isn't even the same feature anymore. That'd be like saying fender could sue Ibanez for their RG because its a direct strat rip-off, which it isn't, its general idea is based on the strat but nothing more. as for the whole lycos thing I wouldn't take that as being serious. Maybe contact MetalMatt, he's had dealings with Moser, maybe he can put you in direct contact with him so you can talk to him about it. Personally I think they're just jelious that you took his idea and did it better!

Thats some nice good clean work there. I can see why you're getting commisioned jobs! Your 'wave' guitar is completely differant to Mosers in all respects other than the fact it has a stylised wave carved into it. Infact your carving is quite differant in shape ie not completely flat and parrallel to the body so you've already changed it compared to his design (makes it look damn sexier too!). hell Gibson have more grounds to sue you for making a Les Paul knock off. Yeah you were inspired by his design, he should be proud to have a design that inspires people rather than going arround making idle threats. And anyway who was the first guy to make a six stringed instrument that you strum? surely he can sue everyone for copying it (other than the fact he's long long long dead by now seeing as 'guitar like' instruments are pre-medevil). As for your 'spikey' lookin' guitar that's my sort of guitar doesn't looks a bit like a BC Beast but not a lot (not got so much 'wing' shape to the back end if that makes any sense) I like it.

Impedence per turn on the bobbin would be complicated to work out as its both the DC resistance (as already stated) plus the AC impedence due to being a coil of wire with a back EMF(complete pain in the ass to work out). I'd just go with the DC resistance as that's what most pickups are made to anyway

I still think that an ergonomic gutiar is one that conforms best to my vainity one that looks good!

There's not a lot you can do to the wah on the spider II, its not particularly tweekable (like all the effects on the spider really). I did manage to get a better sweep out of mine by taking appart my FBV express and bending the small piece of metal that's attached to the 'pedal' part that's actually used to controll the sweep (by shining an infra-red LED on it I think by the looks of it). Can't remember which way I bent it so you'll have to experiment I'm affraid.

If you use the search function you'll find there was a fairly lengthy topic on using a piezo from a buzzer stuck to the sustain block of strats, think someone did it with a floyd as well, if not it should work just as well. I don't know how you're expecting a piezo pickup to work. and yes I believe they were using a simple pre-amp (though I may be wrong). I believe you can get floyd rose piezo bridges (I think there's one in the graph tech 'ghost' piezo system line), but they're expensive.

I can't remember if I've already commented on what a sick gutiar this is oh well if I haven't I have now! Might it be a differance between 2300's and 7300's? though I doubt it as nearlly all the parts are exactly identical. Maybe they have had them modded If I ever meet Kerry King on the street I'll ask him. Ah darn it! Looks like I have some metal to file (I'd only be going up to 52's or 54's so that's only about a quarter of a milimeter to remove). That's a bit anoying. I also share your doubts that they'be used differant clips on the 7 and 8 string versions...maybe they've used the bass trem clips but probably not. unless you make something even better inbetween time, which I think you most defenatly will.

I like your stuff, sounds quite differant. The motherbucker is a good pickup but it doesn't have the best bass responce in the world and gives out a lot of trebble. I'd look at the Kent Armstrong super distortion which is a lovely pickup, or if you can get it the mega distortion (not normally available in the UK but if you want one I think I know where you can get one at the moment) which just oozes tone and output (IMHO of course). A D-sonic set so its with the bar piece closest to the bridge might sound good but I've never had one so I can't really comment. Another option I'm sure you've thought about are EMG pickups....actives really do help bring out a lot more definition when you've got a lot of low notes ringing together. That's what I've got on my V (tuned to what you're tuned to but on a 24.75" scale so I'm strung with 13-60's ) There are a lot of pickup choices out there so if you're want to change (and trust me any change from stock B.C. Rich pickups will make a huge improvement) then just buy something you like the sound of....if its not perfect (and you never will get the perfect pickup first time for a guitar unless you've tried lots of pickups with your setup) then buy some more until you find something that's good. The other pickups can always go into other guitars that need upgrading or else be sold on. Robert

hi Robert, i don't speak much English. my native language is "Merkin". is knackered a (more polite?) way of saying "stuffed"? Its a very english way of saying 'it doesn't work anymore' OR it can mean your very tired. Its not used that much other than by me so don't worry about it finding out what gauge wire it is though is going to be tricky. Measuring the diameter directly of something that small is virtually impossible let alone trying to work out what the thickness of the insulating layer is! I'd be interested in hearing how you'd plan to measure magnet strength. It'll be something with op-amps in it....probably two op-amps. The first acting as a high impedance input buffer for the signal and the second providing the boost to normal signal level. Or at least that would be my guess. There might be some tone filtering circuitry in there too. I can't see there being much more than that though.

label it whatever you wish.just be aware that nobody will agree with you,and that everyone has a different opinion of what belongs under these useless labels.and that is exactly my point.nerds have no place defining metal into a million different sub-genres I'd agree with him. Rammstein don't play nearly fast enough to be thrash....and most of their songs are SO basic (either the same riff all the way through with some slight variations or just very very simple) they really arn't technical enough to be thrash. this is true however I also agree with this I don't particularly like sub-genres I just can see an advantage of having them. plus I like arguing the toss discussing alternate veiwpoints.

As to my knowlage no one has deconstructed an EMG pickup. Mainly because they're expensive and that puts people off and secondly because they're completely sealed in epoxy so you're likely to end up with a load of trashed internal componets that you'll never be able to reverse engineer because they're knackered. Reverse engineering something that's not working is even more difficult. Not only have you got to work out what everything is and where it goes you've also got to work out WHY it doesn't work otherwise all your clones of it wont work either! All in all if you have the skills to reverse engineer and debug the EMG circuit you should be able to design one yourself. Then you could go for whatever options you like and customise it to be connected to what ever coil configuration you're using ect.

ok but I'm sure we can agree that Spock is better than Data right?? *personally* I think there are lots of bands that fit the progressive metal sub-genre such as Dream Theatre, Blind Guardian, Mountain Mirrors, Skith, Nevermore, Winterfell (although I s'pose they're quite folky too). The fact most of them are massively influenced by Opeth is neither here nor there really. no but if you find one band and they'll only have a limited amount of material and sometimes its nice to find something that's similar to what you already like. well if I saw that on a CD it'd probably tell me to put it down and not buy it. However if I saw something like 'reviewed as the best Thrash metal album of 2007 by some guy' when its a CD by a band I've never heard of its going to draw my interest to that CD.

I have they're good. 'By the sword of my Father' is probably my favorite track from them that I've heard (not heard that much to be honnest) fear factory is thrash/death...rammstein is thrash(simplistic though it is),nightwish is the same old school heavy metal iron maiden was doing years ago...opeth is sometimes death,sometimes rock,sometimes acoustic...just because a band puts several styles in their repoirtiure(sp?) does not mean you need to reclassify them.just classify each song if you must. those sub genres are for nerds....metalheads just want to listen to metal.i have my car full of everything from sadus to slayer to bloodbath,meshuggah,lamb of god,deicide,exodus,opeth,kreator,soulfly,sepultua,six feet under,the haunted,nuclear assault,skrew,testament,byzantine,suicidal tendances,ministry ,white zombie,prong,megadth...it'sall justmetal. discussing subgenres is like debating picard vs capt. kirk....it's for da noids Captain Kirk so wins I mean not just because he kicks arse but like he made out with so many more chicks in the original series than Picard ever has I mean Picards made out with like 3 women ever onscreen that's pathetic. but anyway sub-genres do one very useful thing: allow you to find bands that sound similar to bands you like easily. If everything was in broad catagories then it'd be a lot harder to find something similar to what you already like.

ok then mr smarty pants which of your 4 metal genres do bands like Korpiklanni go into? They have metal guitar AND traditional nordic folk instruments Sub-Sub genre's are a little pointless but some bands just don't fit the 'old' genres. Personally I'd split metal down to: Thrash, Death, Black, Doom, Hardcore, Glam/Hair, American Industrial (like the newer Fear Factory type of sound), European Industrial (Rammstein type sound), Folk Metal (Korpiklanni and the likes), Battle metal (Turisas and that sort of thing), Power Metal (Nightwish, Within Temptation ect.), Prog Metal (Opeth), Cheese metal (Dragonforce )....... oh and I know I've missed someone out oh and has anyone else heard of Goth Rock or is it just me? Where do Fields of the Nephilim fans put their vote?

Surely a guitar headphone amplifier would get it to the right levels pre-transmitter, and, as you can plug mp3 player line out (headphone) and such to amplifiers, it would be fine on the receiver end with a bit more gain? Its not that simple. A guitar headphone amplifier might be a good starting place but I doubt it would be directly suitable. Some devices you can just plug into eachother but that's because they've been designed to pretty much a standard specification. Ever tried to plug a record player that has no pre-amp into a computer? or a guitar for that matter directly into an mic input? These don't work because they generally have differant input impedances and differant output levels.

these are not obviously finnished 'designed for guitar' items. You'd defenatly need some kind of pre-amp / impedance matching before the transmitter and will also need some sort of post-amp after the reciver to make sure the signal is suitable for guitar use. You could use them but you'd need to know what you're doing with the external circuity.

Now that sounds tempting....especially the part about the beer..... your round is it bilious?

I prefer Heavier strings (11-52's for E tuned 12-56 for D and 13-64 for B ). I feel they do add to the sound but I couldn't quantify exactly how but I'd suggest they give you a small boost in output (more steel vibrating infront of the pickup) but probably reduce the length of your notes as they're heavier? not sure on that one but I like then because I play like a mad man and thicker strings take more of a beating.

I'm afraid you can't get the switching you want with a standard strat switch you'd need a 5-way 2-pole type. If you need a diagram for that I can knock you one up

and you could have one under each pickup to allow super speedy pickup changes.....ooo and one in the neck pocket. flip the switch and boom instantly disassembled guitar.

I used to find my 30 watt solid state wasn't even gutsy enough to play along with drums (though it was a POS and you couldn't actually turn it up past about 7 without loosing all quality of sound). I'm now using a 120 watt solid state and I've normally got that set really really low. my guess would be either these guys are running solid state amps or they arn't hooking up half their gear (ie having a head and two cabs and only having one cab plugged in). some people just have to have a big amp to show off you know.

sounds like you've probably soldered the hot and ground the wrong way arround on the jack....double and tripple check every single connection.

that's some nice looking wood. I guess left and right are oposite in america.....that must be why you drive on the wrong side of the road off topic a bit: As I seem to remember one of the early high end Explorer models came with a Vibrola trem, though I may be mistaken. he's only using the trem because its a new toy that he's not been able to play with yet! You've got to remember that a lot of gibson designs are very old (even the 'modern' designs like the V and Explorer are from 58) and I don't think a lot of players spent vast amounts of time playing much higher than the 17th (I know I don't it sounds god awful playing any higher up than that with lots of distortion; IMHO of course ).

that's a *fairly* good assessment but not 100% true. they are good trems (very fluid but always return to a the correct pitch). As for floyds having a greater range I'm not sure....I've dive bombed both a floyd and a Kahler so the strings were touching the pickups (ie had no tension in them at all)...I'm not sure about the upper range comparisions though...mhmm I'll have to see when I've finnished the guitar that my new Kahler trem is going on

PM'ed