mutronboy

I like 'em

my brother's got an orange on black crackle finish Charvel bass

it looks cool

good luck with it, Matt

Hi ZoSo,

I do have the scratchplate the previous owner had made, it's black 3-ply with 2 strat pu holes.

The original scratchplate on these was thick black with white painted edging,

and the pu's were white surface mounted thingy's (you can see the original screw-holes.

I don't think strat pickups suit this guitar...it's too Gibsony looking..

I've got a pair of vintage Guild mini-humbuckers that might go nicely, but I'd have to do some routing.

Thanks for the tip on the BareKnuckles, I'll check 'em out.

My favourite strat pickups are the Kinmans, I have them on two of my strats.

I bought this old Maton as awreck about 15 years ago, it had been badly sanded and half 'estapoled'.

Had to go for a sunburst to hide the previous butchery.

It's interesting that this early Maton original design looks quite modern in light of recent trends.

pics of front & back sealed with obvious problem visible in cutaway

sunbursting done on front & back

sunbursting on headstock & binding scrape...starting to look good

I'll post some more pics soon when I get some hardware on...I'm thinking of making a tortoiseshell guard

Also have to decide on pickups...BTW, it's a short scale neck

When I looked at that Icefly site, I noticed the upper horn had a Mockingbird type cut.

I think a Parker/Mockingbird could be cool, if the lower horn was sorta Parker shaped.

(Mockingfly?)

I don't know if this guy is normally ok, but I bought a 'rosewood' headstock veneer with

flower inlay from 'inlaidartist'. It was totally warped and unusable. I'm also a nice guy and gave

him a positive feedback before I'd checked it out...other people seemed happy with his stuff...

but you'd think they'd trash something this warped...

Hi fguiheaven,

I've had few of those first Squires, they are the best of the jap ones..

I think it must have been the wood...very light

Hardware wise..they're ordinary...I think I put Duncans in mine...

Actually, the basses are even more amazing...my brother had a Precision...

really light...just like an L-series...when you put the body upto your ear it

had that real L-series tone in the wood...he put an EMG in it...

You can tell that model by the neck-plate..they all had 'JV' before the number

Plus I think the headstock said "Squire by Fender" with a smaller Fender logo

Cheers...hope you find one

Thanks Mr Churchyard, for clearing that up..

Now us old-timers know where Petrucci comes from...see his name a lot..

I've heard a bit of Dream Theater a few years back, my brother was playing bass in a band

doing some DT covers.. I thought is was quite good..but a bit epic-serious sorta.. I preferred

Fear Factory...now those guys are funny... I bought the album..heh

Not many get the humour in this stuff...but I like it..then again, I think Pantera are pretty funny...

I think it stems from being a King Crimson fan...mock evil with machine-gun guitar...heh

Hi Stalefish,

Sounds like not a bad system for getting all the pickup combinations...

plus you can get that machine-gun on-off effect with the switch (but only on the bridge p.u.)

Which is really the best choice for that effect..heh

and yes, that will count as an Australian innovation..we don't mind..heh

Peace

Yeah, Pete it might be an Aussie thing...

I didn't check all the threads in the Electronics section...

I thought someone must've mentioned this idea...Kinman was doing it in the mid 80's

Around the time Passac came out with their brilliant guitar midi system...

Another brilliant Aussie invention destined to be forgotten...

Even now, I don't think anyones doing 'pick direction sensing'

(different midi sounds for up & down strokes)...heh

Cheers

-Dave

I do know of one factory orange L-series Strat but it was apparently a one-off made for the Japanese music trade show in 1964

It wasn't a regular custom colour option, though...

I don't know if this mod has been covered before, if it has...delete this

I've had a few Kinman Blueprint strats (which are very nice axes),

and Chris Kinman had a different wiring system on his strats...

He had the bottom tone pot wired as a neck pickup volume, so whatever

pickup was selected, you could wind in the neck pickup as well.

This gave all possible pickup combinations (well, the two you

can't normally get..bridge and neck..and all 3 together)

Sorry I haven't got a diagram...Chris Kinman doesn't make guitars

anymore, only pickups...shouldn't be too hard to work out though...

There may have been a diagram in an old Sonics mag...if I can find it, I'll post it

It's just a way of making a seemingly stock Stratocaster more versatile

Cheers

I've only got 2 pedals at the moment...I had to sell a bunch because of poverty...

plus I wanted to simplify my setup...

I've got a H&K Tube Rotosphere that I run stereo into two Fender amps...and a Mutron IV Envelope Filter...

I need to get a nice distortion/overdrive pedal 'cos I sold my Dual Rat rack mount...

I think I'll go for one of those G2D pedals, but I'm not sure which one...

I've still got my Boss SE70 multi effects, too..which is a great box...

but I'm trying to keep my setup as simple and non-digital as possible now...

So it'll be...Mutron > G2D > Rotosphere > Fender Super & Princeton Reverbs

Not really a metal setup but good for my blues style

Peace

Yeah, I tried one the other day..there was a Gilet Jumbo in Pete's Musician's Market with the fretwave fitted...looked a bit weird...you probably only need to do the first five frets..the rest would be negligible...like you say, erik..crowning them must be fun..heh

Well, I'm never gonna put my ugly mug in my eBay ads...you guys are cruel...heh

Thanks for clearing that up about the Gizmotron, lovekraft...

I'd remembered later that Arp bought Musitronics...and then subsequently went bust over the Arp Avatar guitar synth fiasco..

If ARP had acted quickly enough they could have targeted those Avatars at keyboard players as well...they were after all, just keyboardless versions of an ARP Odyssey...with a hex pickup section (that worked badly) Because they had CV and gate inputs they worked fine as a synth expander (I had a few in my synth studio)

Then to save their bacon, ARP threw all their resources into the Chroma poly-synth...which was a great synth...but it was too late.They ended up selling all Chroma rights to CBS in an effort to stay afloat

I'm not surprised the Gizmotron failed...it was just too ricketty and plastic...it looked like it was gonna break at any minute...heh

Hi Pete,

sounds like you're getting it all happening with the sustainer..great

I haven't read the whole thread but I'll get to it...

I remembered on the first Roland guitar synth they used 6 tape recorder heads for the hex pickup...I don't know if this info's of any use, but I just thought I'd mention it...maybe they could be used as drivers, they do focus the field in a more concentrated fashion...probably not powerful enough, though...

lovekraft,

I'm sure Godley and Creme were producing Gizmotrons in some quantity...I remember trying one in a shop in Australia back then...I think the reason they stopped was because the company producing them (Musitronics) went bust....(probably from tooling up for it and not selling 'em quickly enough)

The things worked OK...but I think people were reluctant 'cos they were a bit cheap and plasticy looking...especially in comparison to the Mutron effect boxes the company was making at the time...

Peace

Hi Dave,

There's been a bunch of solidbody nylon stringers...Gibson made the Chet Atkins model..

I think Washburn and a few other Japanese companies made them..

There's also the Parker Fly nylon which may use a Fishman pickup...

might be worth looking into what the Fly system is..they usually sound good..

that Baggs Double Barrel looks like a good system...

I've got a regular Baggs in my Gilet 00-45...it's great

Cheers, Dave

Congrats Dave,

that's the nicest new guitar I've seen since Hamer brought out the original 'Sunburst'

The way the pickups sit, and the compact body, is reminiscent of my restored '59 Guild Manhattan,

but with a totally original shape

very tasty indeed....

There's some good Leo Kottke stuff to play if you want to try a bit of bottleneck...

Quite a few on the first album '6 & 12 String Guitar' ...there's a bunch of tabs on the Powertab site..

Also, Blind Willie McTell's good if you wanna get into some blues...great stuff

I'm mainly into bottleneck 12..I just picked up my new 12 today...a 1962 small-bodied Epiphone...

I had to get another 'cos I gave my Maton Messiah 12 to my girlfriend...(what a dope !!)

Good luck with it...

My all time favourite tune for guitar chords is Zappa's 'Zoot Allures'

my favourite of the bunch is this one (don't ask me what it's called, I only play it...heh)

I suppose you'd call it an E MAJ 7/9 +6

e---11---

b---12---

g---11---

d---11---

a---11---

e----0---

for those who know the tune I'll put up all the chords in sequence

(some of them are arpeggiated, and they're are a couple of quick runs I'll leave out)

On second thoughts...I'll just do the main section..the beginning's more complex and someone may have already done a powertab...

-e-----4------7------11------7------4----- This section repeats twice before the next

-b-----5------9------12------9------6----- section..it's quite slow, and is meant to be

-g-----4------9------11------9------6----- played loud and clean, but with feedback.

-d-----4------7------11------7------4----- A little bit of trem with the feedback, too

-a-----4------7------11------7------4----- I'll notate how many beats for each

-e-----x------x-------0-------x------x----- chord underneath...

beats(1)----(1)-----(6)----(2)----(6)

If it makes it any easier you can double the beat count, but it is very slow and feedbacky.

It's an awesome tune for a power trio...very slow and majestic...worth a look

If anyone wants more of this tune, just let me know...

I agree with Mr Churchyard, I'm gonna pick as if I'm gettin' the guitar for free (but not to resell...heh)

The Ragas is nice, and I've always wanted a fretless, but I like guitars I can sit on my leg when I play...

toddlers is a great design and finish...very nice indeed. I wonder about the weight though with that maple cap and I like to have a neck pickup...

the Ormsby probably a great playing guitar, but I've never liked those big scratchplates on Tele's

Matt's has got nice woodwork, probably nice 'n light, will play nice sitting down, has a neck pickup...and it's a 7-string !

I'm going for Matt's...I don't mind the headstock

It's weird, but I've never seen anyone do a 12-string Les Paul (or SG for that matter)

I'm sure someone here has seen it...seems like a worthwhile project

I was thinking a 12-string SG might be a bit neck-heavy...

might not be so bad with lightweight tuners...

I've had 2 SG's...a '67 Standard and a '61 SG/Les Paul Custom (with rare ebony tailpiece)

I prefer the neck on the earlier (pre-'63) ones with the wider nut

I checked out one of the newer Gibson Custom Shop SG Special reissue..that's nice..but expensive

If I had my choice I'd have a '61 SG/Les Paul Standard and one of those SG Special reissues (for P90 sound)

Nice pic, Rob !!

Looks like the neck heel is a bit longer than the originals...probably more stable, though.

I had an original in the late 70's but I stuffed it. I was hammering in a new stud for a tailpiece and split the body (hadn't drilled the hole big enough..heh)

It ended up with 13 coats of black...smoothed off neck heel...jumbo frets...Grovers...and Alembic Hot-Rod magnets in the pickups

Years later I got a '61 SG/Les paul Custom...'cos I prefer the slightly wider fingerboard.

They also have a more elegant neck joint...but not that stable

Good luck with the project...should be fun..

Yeah Darren, they're 20 years old this year (from the prototype)

I suppose if Passac (midi guitar co.) hadn't have gone into liquidation,

they might've come out sooner...

This one's pretty much the exact shape of the production models 7 years later...

Some of the carving is a bit deeper and sculpted, but basically the same...

Of course the bridge and controls and backplate are different, but the shape is totally there...