mikhailgtrski

Hmmm... I modded the switch by replacing the tip that actually operates the contact leaves with a larger one that keeps both contacts apart in the middle position. I am getting a tiny bit of crosstalk in the middle position... I was thinking it's something downstream, as I'm still chasing a bit of a ground loop. So, you think it could be the LP switch? I may end up moving the controls around after all, since I use the mag/both/piezo a lot more than the coil split. Hughes - I used the T-Bridge live yesterday, and a friend came up afterward and was wondering where the acoustic guitar player was hiding. It did sound quite good. Mike

Actually (depending on the guitar + pickups) there is a bit of a difference between the two coils. For example, the outside coil on a bridge humbucker is a little thinner sounding than the inside coil. But it all depends on what you want to do with it. I tend to use the humbuckers 90% of the time, even though I have all the coil splitting options. Mike

+1 IIRC he uses -slightly- higher output stacked single-coils, plus a boost pedal to push the front end of his Marshalls. Any good-sounding guitar can sound "good" for metal... lots of metalheads play PRS singlecuts, so I'd stick with that formula. Of course, the more gain you add the less the guitar plays into the equation.

That took care of it, that plus ditching the tube preamp and going straight into the Q20 (f/x processor). I was able to disassemble the LP toggle and modify it to work as a center-off switch, so I'm happy I didn't have to rearrange my control layout. The T-Bridge sounds pretty good with a slight boost at 240hz, a little cut at 1Khz, and a little boost above 7.5Khz.

OK, so I separated the shields from the signal ground. Now the cavity shield connects to ground at only one point. Sounds fine, very quiet when I'm playing the magnetics alone - even the single-coil modes are relatively quiet. But I seem to be getting some crosstalk between the tip and ring... I have the stereo cable run into a little splitter box (TRS jack split out to 2 mono jacks) with a regular mono cable from there into the amp. Sounds fine with the mags-only, but if I switch it over to piezo-only I get a piezo signal coming through on the tip - even though the mags/piezo are -theoretically- separate. Could the crosstalk be due to inductance in the stereo cable? I think I've got some ground loop issues in the amp rack too. This is becoming a real head-scratcher. :D edit: I may have figured out the crosstalk problem... I was using an LP-type toggle to switch the hot leads for each signal, but that leaves the "off" signal floating, not shorted to ground. According to a schematic on the Fishman site, you use an SPDT on-off-on switch which shorts either the tip or the ring to ground, or neither in the center position.

You too? OK, I'll bite... HAVE GUITARS New custom Warmoth VIP (you know, the tortoise shell one) Old Warmoth Soloist (out to pasture) Rodriguez classical (bought it in person at the Rodriguez shop in Cordoba, Espana ) Warmoth 5-string Jazz Bass RACK GEAR Marshall JMP-1 midi tube preamp Lexicon Signature 284 tube power amp Hush Super C Alesis Q20 Sabine RT-1601 tuner ADA Microcab (used only when I have to run silent) Marshall 8008 Valvestate power amp Behringer MIC2200 Ultragain Pro preamp (for piezo signal) Furman PL-8 power conditioner Gator 6u powered rack Gator 4u standard rack CONTROL ART Ultrafoot MIDI controller SPEAKER CAB Marshall 1936 2x12 fitted with Celestion G12H-30 Anniversaries MIC Shure SM57 BEAST OF BURDEN 2005 Kia Sorrento WANT Hiwatt 100 Hiwatt 4x12 cab Metropoulos Super Lead plexi kit Marshall 4x12 cab w/ Celestion Heritage G12H-30s Weber MASS attenuator Royer 121 mic And a roadie to haul everything around for me

Hmmm... I think I figured out what I did wrong. I didn't fully re-read the Guitarnuts shielding/grounding tutorial (it's been about 7 years since I did the last one) and I mixed my "signal" grounds with my "shield" grounds. It still works, but I probably built in a ground loop. (slaps forehead) Time to fire up the soldering iron again.

Thanks, but it's passive - no battery. I'm using an outboard rack-mounted preamp.

You could always make your own, like DePaule's crew in Vietnam does.

Well, so far I've only played it through my studio monitor (not through a PA yet) but it does seem to have a decent "acoustic" tone. I'm running it through a tube mic/line preamp into my Alesis Q20 for a little reverb, then out to the house. I haven't messed around with any EQ yet, but it doesn't seem like it'll need much tweaking. Now, it's not the same as a good "real" acoustic with a good pickup, but it sounds better than a lot of piezo saddle-equipped acoustic guitars I've heard. I'll have a more informed review for you after it gets some "real-world" use this weekend.

bumpity bump bump... Any ideas?

What type of wood? If it's rock maple, it won't accept stain very well at all. You could add a toner (i.e. Colortone stain, etc.) to your first lacquer coats, though. Mike

Update... Turns out there was a bit of buffing compound in there, so I ended up following Frank Ford's tutorial, enlarging the crack with an x-acto and cleaning it out. I brushed on a bit of lacquer retarder, let it dry for a couple of hours, then filled it with lacquer. It needs a bit more to fill it up before I level and buff it out, but it looks like it's going to be an invisible repair. (BTW - She's all set up and getting some playing time while I let the repair cure for a few weeks.)

How'd the neck break, if I may ask?

Well, if I was planning on building just one singlecut, I'd go with the semi for the tone. But I'd also like to have a solidbody, and the more I looked at this top, the more it was saying "do me a solid, yo!" Plus a solidbody would probably be a little less complicated for my first from-scratch effort. With the semi, I'd be hollowing out both the top and back. Just putting it out there to see what you all thought. Yeah, I told Rich I was looking for something a little different, since I already have a flame top, and he pulled this gem out of his stash. (fryovanni rocks!)

Thanks, Drak. Rodney sent me the recipe for violin amber... no sanding back, instead several passes of diluted red + brown that get scrubbed out, then yellow, scrubbed out, then a little more yellow until you get that nice amber. I'll have to practice with it to see how it looks. edit: On second thought, I think I'll do a blackburst. And I'm totally kidding.

You could always do the surgical tubing trick if you need to raise them a bit. That's what I do with direct-mounted single coils.

Thanks. Yes, I checked before I wired it up - there is continuity from the saddles to ground, and it is quiet as long as the volume is up on the piezos, whether using mags/both/piezos.

I got my LR Baggs T-Bridge hooked up - it works great... except when I roll its volume all the way down I get hum. I have the magnetics wired to the tip, T-Bridge on the ring, an LP-style toggle for mag-both-piezo, and the cavity is fully shielded and star grounded (per the Guitarnuts tutorial, except no "safety capacitor"). I'm using the piezo coax shields as my string ground, and the summed coax shield is connected to the ground lug on the volume pot, which then connects to the star ground (not the pot shell). Everything else works perfectly - and quietly. Thanks for your input. Mike

That there would be the magic of bookmatching with Photoshop. For this one I'm thinking along the lines of a PRS-type violin amber... but that could change. Whatever my final choice, the guiding concept will be enhancement, not obfuscation. I expect to be doing quite a bit of testing on scrap. Thanks for the input.

That's kinda what I was thinking - a nice flame top semi with some sort of dye + sunburst. If I was smart I'd build them side by side... hmmm...

The soapbar style mounts with a couple of screws through the pickup itself, in between the pole pieces.

My plan was to build this as a semi-hollow singlecut... ...but I'm rethinking it. I've got a nice one-piece mahogany blank for the back. It's a bit on the heavy side, but I like heavy guitars. This will be my first try at carving a top, so it might be best to keep it simple, and not hollow it out. I'd actually like to have both a semi and a solid, so do the easier one first? Let me know what you think. Thanks! Mike

Where'd that idea come from? No matter whether it's brass or aluminum, you still need to ground it, unless you have another method of grounding the strings. Unless you enjoy the hum you'd get with no string ground. If I recall, you can solder to aluminum, it's just a little fussier... try roughing it up a little with a file or sandpaper, applying a bit of flux, then heating it with the soldering iron until you can flow a spot of solder onto the bridge. Then your ground wire should solder on without a problem. It shouldn't be much more trouble than soldering onto the shell of a potentiometer. BTW - I'm pretty sure that MM bridge is brass... same soldering technique applies. Mike

My son has an Epiphone Nova 6-string (model NV-6S, I think) built sometime around 1986 as far as we can tell... I bought it in used, but near-new condition for $250 about 7 years ago. It has the regular Epi headstock logo, as well as a Gibson diamond logo. Solid spruce top, laminated rosewood sides/back. Sounds very nice, especially after he installed a bone nut and saddle. He put an LR Baggs i-Beam on it and gets a very good sound through a PA. Haven't seen a 12 before, but there have been a couple of 6-stringers on eBay in the last few months. Good luck, Mike