henrim

12" compared to 16" may sound like it's more than it actually is in fretboard radius. Here's a drawing that illustrates why the "wrong" radius at the bridge may not matter that much. Like said, it may matter to some people but others may not notice the difference. For someone sweep picking arpeggios at 20th fret it may be the thing. Yngwie with his scalloped Strat may disagree with that, though 

The upper drawing illustrates a compound radius, 12" at a (43 mm at nut) and 16" at the end of the fretboard (56 mm in this drawing). 
The other drawing illustrates the difference of a 12" and 16" fretboard at the end of a 56mm fretboard.

19 minutes ago, xiltoid said:

Ive played this guitar for long time and i love the playability,

If you like it as is, then don't change it. Or try shims. You don't need to buy FR shims to try it, just put something under the outer saddles to get the feel. Take ~0,1 mm stock, cardboard or something, and start with one layer under A and B strings and two pieces under E's. Or maybe more, I didn't measure, but you get the idea. The difference is minimal or non existent to some. But as with all playability related it may be a huge difference to some.

36 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Umm... Aren't the bridge pieces individually height adjustable? If the actual base has a radius too tight, raising the outer pieces should straighten it.

No, not with set screws. But yes, with shims.

28 minutes ago, xiltoid said:

Do you know any guitar 12"-16" compound radius thats sold with shims? and did eddie van halen shim his floyd rose on the wolfgang guitars?

No, I don’t know answer to either. What I meant was, in my opinion Floyd Rose tremolo should come with some way to adjust it. Not so that you need to buy some extra parts to be able to adjust it. Though it’s easy to make the shims yourself if you have suitable material for it.

Technically the “correct” radius would around 18” to 19” at the bridge, as you said. But set it to what ever you feel comfortable playing with. Unfortunately Floyd Rose is what it is, and shimming is the only way to set the radius.

1 hour ago, xiltoid said:

why wouldnt they do it in the first place before they sell..

I believe it’s a cost issue. They just bolt the FR as it comes from the factory and leave set up for the customer. For their defense, they don’t know how each and every player wants to set it up. Although, I think a guitar at that price point should come with some complimentary shims.

6 minutes ago, MiKro said:

Is this a Les Paul or a PRS?

Since the ferrules are not in straight line and evenly spaced I doubt this is neither.

If it’s 1/4” off there’s not really much options but to remove the bridge, plug the holes and re-drill. What’s the scale length? If it’s 24.750”, the bass side doesn’t look like it’s that much off. You may want to use a little less coarse measuring device, though.

Bummer. I don't have any magic to suggest but, I can tell I've been there. I did the #1 but, while it worked, I felt the frets became too low and then I did the #3. Lot of work but in the end I think it was the right decision in my case. I guess it depends on how much you have to shave off. But if you prepare yourself to do the #3, you might as well try the #2 first.

These 5-way thingies are bitch to tinker with. Getting a little bit ahead of time wiring this monstrosity but I just need to make sure I leave enough thickness to the body to fit it when I shape the body. And it’s better to have all the wires attached so I remember to make the cavity big enough on the first go. 

Acrylic cracks easily. Counter sinking the holes may help some. But better alternative is to use polycarbonate for clear parts that are fastened with screws.

Hard to say without hearing the noise. Can be the amp, pedal, cables or your guitar.

But, distortion pedals in general add noise. The pedal itself can be noisy or it just amplifies the noise coming from your guitar.

If the pedal’s level is set to full, it is more than likely that there is an unbearable amount of noise with high volume levels. A noise gate in the signal chain is the usual solution.

Yes, that's cool. I'm not sure if I ever subscribed but YouTube keeps offering me his content. He has done some crazy stuff with pianos and it was an interesting video too, when he tried to use spider's silk to make guitar strings. And even succeeded to some point. 

My not be an easy option but, if I really really wanted a linear control but couldn't source a commercial one, I'd drive a rotary potentiometer with rack and pinion. Or with belt, thread, rubber band or something.

I'd use a potentiometer made for the job. Like this Bourns dual gang pot available for example from Digikey.fi. Other makes are available too.

Or you may consider just wiring separate volumes for the two pickups and mix the signal with the volume pots.

I’m not familiar with the guitar in question but, according to this page: https://ibanez.fandom.com/f/p/3030452839383346575 the five way switch has the following options:

1. Neck humbucker in series 2. Neck humbucker in parallel 3. Both humbuckers in parallel 4. Inner coils in parallel 5. Bridge humbucker in series

If so, this is possibly a helpful diagram:

https://www.dimarzio.com/media/1447

Depending on the pickups you have the wires may have different color coding.

Some fine tuning needed, but getting there. Next time though, warn me against doing stuff like this without a mortise machine. 

9 minutes ago, nakedzen said:

I had to give it a try on how it sounds before I take the neck off. Good news is it sounds absolutely massive unplugged. Bad news is the P90 sounds like a garbage fire. Extremely thin and scratchy. Not sure why but it's also very low output, it measures 10k DC.

If all the wiring is good, I guess polarity of the magnets is something to double check. 

Any reason why not make that hole bigger? I understand it’s not always straightforward but there’s usually a way around it.

If there’s something I’m good at, it’s shooting my self in the foot. It would have been a lot easier to make the neck joint before glueing the fretboard, but no.

Rough cut is now done with hand saws and chisels. It needs some adjustment still but the most scary part is done without causing any damage.

Started to chisel neck pocket too. And planed the top to a 3 degree angle around the pocket. Pocket needs still to be deeper and it will have the angle too. Neck pocket will continue inside the body where the neck extension will be seated. Plan is to make it bolted. But it’s possible to glue it as well. 

4 hours ago, RVA said:

So put epoxy in the base of the channels for the rods?

I guess there are many ways to do it. Hard to say what is the best procedure, but I would consider at least:

- Clean and degrease the surfaces before applying glue.
- If you have to scrape or sand carbon fibre, use respiratory protection and eye protection. It's nasty stuff and the fine dust apparently stays in lungs forever.
- It would be good to have glue on the bottom and the sides. Epoxy has good filling properties so in that sense I think a little loose channel is not a necessarily a bad thing.  
- Epoxy is high viscosity stuff so the rods want to raise when pressed in. Clamp them good to get any air and excess glue out.
- Try to clean any squeeze out before the glue cures. Messy business though.
- Wood glue or super glue may be easier or less messy alternatives. They don't hold as well, but should keep the rods from rattling. With them I'd have a rather tight fitting channel.

Ok, I cured them with the help of an UV light source. 

Mdf to mdf joints obviously doesn’t get the needed UV light so they may not have been fully cured. But they were dry. No real bond there, as expected.

Mdf to acrylic sticks to some degree. The joints still come loose without much force but the surface of mdf may stick to acrylic.

Beeswax seem to stick to acrylic to some degree. Still easily removable but affects the surface.

Paraffin. Lifts easily from paraffin treated mdf. And paraffin doesn’t stick to acrylic. 

So, based on this highly unscientific test, I would do a test piece resembling the real mold and treat it with paraffin.

Ok. Couldn’t resist. Have to wait till they are cured, but here’s a couple of test pieces with Acrifix.

1. mdf glued to mdf.

2. acrylic glued to mdf, factory surface 

3. acrylic glued to mdf, sawn edge

4. acrylic to paraffin 

5. acrylic to beeswax 

I’ll report back.

19 minutes ago, Akula said:

Sweet. I just ordered some Weldon - every google search from Australia for Acrifix turned out results for Weldon. 

Likewise, if I search Weldon the results show Acrifix

21 minutes ago, Akula said:

Does it stick to MDF?

Good question. I don’t think it’s a good glue for MDF, but as the acrylic cures it will stick to anything it can hook into. Probably a protective layer of something would help. I say “something” because I don’t really know what would be the best option. Bees wax or some other wax maybe? You have to test. Or quite likely that information exists already somewhere.

45 minutes ago, Akula said:

Reminds me of making Airfix models when I was a kid.

Seems like Weldon has a similar product as Acrifix. Same principle as with gluing scale models. Although scale models are polystyrene and the solvent is different.

I’m not familiar with Weldon. The stuff I use is called Acrifix. Melts acrylic and creates a seamless joint.

https://www.plexiglas.de/en/products/acrifix