SwedishLuthier

Hi System 51 and welcome to the forum. This forum is pretty high standard in comparison to a lot of other forums. We generally expect that there is a minimum of searching and googling done before questions are asked. This link will give you the top 3-4 sellers of guitar wood online. You can also check out the supply section of this forum. Do that and you will get so much more respect from the members of this board. If you come well prepared you will find that we are generally very helpful and nice. Come without doing the homework, using infant online language and you will not be greeted too nice. Using no points or commas also makes the text extremely hard do read, and will not make the most experienced guys here very eager to chip in and help Oh, and BTW, Our Souls advice is very good. Practice on "scrap" or low grade wood before committing yourself to costly "tone wood"

I've had a Travis Bean guitar in for service and that was some heavy guitar. Koa body and Aluminium neck, head and body part. So I'm not surprices to see that the neck is so much heavier than a wooden one.

Just a few thoughts about this (sorry for dissecting your post, but it makes it easier for me…) Not quite correct. The poles of a traditional HB are magnetized. However they are not permanently magnetized. Remove the magnet that magnetizes the poles and the pole is not magnetized anymore. And let’s not forget the Firebird HB pickups that have permanent magnets for “poles”… It’s rather the two separate coils that are connected out of phase with each other that creates the hum canceling effect. The sound of the strings are not canceled as the magnetic field through the two coils also is out of phase and (cue Homer Simpson voice) “two wrongs make one right”, meaning the double out of phase (both electrical and magnetically) sums up the electrical signal to one single in phase signal going to the lead wires. “darker and clearer” seems to be a contradiction. More copper wire around the coil -> higher resistance and higher output as output is a linear function of the “turn count” of the coil (I have written about this on here before, do a search). At the same time the resistance in the coil is part of the sound shaping filter circuit of the guitars electronic, even though we traditionally doesn’t think of the pickups resistance like that. However my knowledge of first, second and third order analogue filters are not good enough to be able to discuss that in a proper way. However a thought-experiment is to wind two exactly identical pickups except for the wire gauge. Let’s say we make a HB with 5000 turns per coil, using AWG42 for one pickup and AWG44 for the other. The one with AWG44 will have a significantly higher resistance and that resistance in itself will act as part of this complicated filter and thus attenuating the treble.

With older stacked HBs you have the same magnetic field as in a "normal" SC. It could be why that pickup sounded more like a traditional SC. With a blade (or double rows of thin poles as in the JB JR and similar) you have a very different magnetic field, and that will affect the sound of the pickup. As for the more modern stacked HBs you have a not more things going on, like magnetic shields between coils, dummy poles to load the impedance and stuff like that that I can't even start to wrap my head around. Personally I have yet to hear an old-school stacked HB that sounds like a "real" vintage SC, but that's a personal opinion. The newer "virtual vintage" or Noiseless type of pickups comes really close IMHO The main thing is: If you like the sound, it is right for you. We should focus on that rather then "is this hookup wire made with the 1952 or the 1953 specs?". Find what suits you and go with that.

First: is it possible that this pickup sound good as is? For sure! Give it a fancy brand name and some intelligent and heavy marketing and you will have hordes of people swearing by it. On a more serious note: It might actually sound good. Sound is really such an individual experience and some people like what others dislike. To be more concrete, this is probably a pickup made with steel slugs as pole pieces instead of magnets. It has probably a ceramic magnet beneath the coil, magnetizing the steel poles. No problem there. However if you think that you can effortless go in and "upgrade" it to "true vintage specs" its a no go. The construction is so different from "vintage correct" as possible. It has probably a plastic bobbin that the poles fit in instead of fibre top and bottom hold together by the magnets being pressed into place, thus being part of the structure of the pickup. And why worry about the quality of the wires? Upgrading the pickup (in my ears) means re-wind it. And then all wires need to come out. Or do you just want to change the mangers? That is doable. Pop the ceramic magnet of, push the rods out, push magnets in and hope they fit/stay. You need to go back to: what do I want? Is is vintage sound, get a pickup kit from Mojotone or Stewmac or similar. 'cause upgrading this puppy will never get you "that" sound. But remember that there is no way that you will produce a cheeper pickup compared to whats readily available at say GFS when you include new magnets or new magnet wire or whatever (remember you need to include shipping and all other bits and pieces). However, if you are passionate about pickup making it is a way to start, although I still think it is better to get a kit and learn the basics from the classic models, ie strats, teles and Gibson style HBs. In the end it is so much more that is part of the tone shaping than just wire and magnets. Take the extra distance between the magnetic wire and the magnets in a plastic bobbin type strat pickup compared to a traditional were the wire is wound directly against the magnets. It will change the sound. And the winding pattern. Wire tension. Wire insulation. Wire thickness. Magnet alloy. Magnet diameter and length etc. There is a lot of written "information" out there and almost as much disinformation. Read, think and wind. Expect the first five pickups to be crap. Expect the next five to be good, but go back a few years down the road and discover that they are more or less crap too. And learn from the experience. However never ever expect that making your own pickups will provide you with cheap pickups.

Exactly, you managed to condense my post into that single sentence Scott.

There is no such thing as a single sound from "a Humbucker" or "a singlecoil". There is way to much parameters to tweak. Just look at the above confusion when looking at rail and stacked HBs. To me those does not at all sound like a single coil, but to many other they are a perfect imitation of a singlecoil. That is the first problem. The next is that you can underwound or overwound a pickup and change the sound. A low wound P90 will be much more in the range of a single coil when ti comes to sound compared to a standard, quite hot P90. And you can overwind a traditional tele pickup, loose the steel base plate, place it in a brass tele bridge and you have something that reaches into Jazzmaster or P90 territory. However if we disregard my rant I would say that a rail HB in the size of a start pickup and with an over all DC resistance that match a traditional strat pickup will sound reasonably close to a strat pickup. The main reason for this is that the "magnetic window" is similar in size and shape. And the main reason for the difference in sound between the sc-sized hb is the shape of the magnetic field and the added blades in the coil (search eddy currents in guitar pickups for an explanation). Here is a site with some interesting pics of magnetic fields in pickups: http://www.skguitar.com/SKGS/sk/Images/pickups/Pickup%20stuff/Magnetics.htm I learned a lot from those pics when I started winding pickups.

Recently there were a thread about a similar concept, although with concentric coils over at the pickup winding forum: David Schwab's DeArmond repair

Thats the spirit!

Looks like reconstone...

My first thought was exactly that "that is cheating" but thats just because I am jealous of all you guys with access to CNCs. If I had one myself I would use it all the time... Go ahead, use it and enjoy it as much as possible

I' actually surprised to hear the sound. Much better than I expected, plastic frets and all... Cool. Thanks for actually listening to a silly request like mine!

Yeas indeed! Both of them are great looking guitars, but the second one is really nice. Good job! Be proud of them man

Niiiiice

We need sound clips!

Just had to vote for Chris, not because I didn't like any of the other guitars (I think I liked them all more or less), but because I love inventions and guitars that "break the rules". Great build too and I'm not put of enough of the blue burst even thou I would have preferred a more subtle burst than blue.

Looks like a decent guitar to use for parts and neck. I figure that you need to consider replacing the nut as it looks like a really cheep plastic one, but I would consider that part of the whole building process. If you have a chance to look at it in person before buying it, check if the frets are seated correctly and that there are no cracks anywhere. Also see if the fretboard is showing signs of movement/shrinking due to drying (is the fretboard wider/more narrow than the rest of the neck). You can feel that by running you fingers along the joint between the fretboard and the rest of the neck. If so it can easily be handled if you are willing to refinish the neck. A quick meeting with a sanding block will take care of that. But if you don't want to refinish the neck and the shrinkage is severe you might need to look for another donor guitar. If the frets are sticking our a bit from the fretboard that isn't a big problem and it can easily be dealt with with a file and shouldn't keep you from purchasing the guitar. Anyway, I'm being really picky now and 350 DKR is IMO a really good price so I say go for it. I think Idre will have enough snow for skiing up until the end of April at least so no worries there...

Looking really good. 39mm will be perfectly fine for a body. 35mm might feel a tad thin to anyone accustomed with a traditional strat, but will work just fine. And there is a good chance that your ash is on the heavy side so a thinner body will make a more comfortable guitar in the end I believe the term you are looking for is "sanding". Your English is perfectly fine. Better than my daughters and she is about the same age as you So a lot of snow in Denmark too, huh. We got a bit more than 50 cm in Stockholm now. And yeah, you might ask the moderators to move this to the "in progress" section as it will get the right attention there. Glædelig jul

My suggestion is to make a chart with measurements of each note of each string with a good tuner that can indicate deviation in cents. One guitar I had in had the same problem and after doing this I could show the customer that this was the odd "one in a thousand" guitar that actually has the frets placed incorrectly. This particular guitar had up to 18 cents error in some frets. No wonder that guitar was impossible to get to play nicely...

By no means an expert, but some experience at least. There will be spring back. The spring back depends on several things; Wood, heat used during bending, wetness of the wood and possible several more. I don't think there is a specific number possible to predict for the spring back. I have had about maybe 1/2" at the ends. Less at the waist. Yeas tit is OK, Better is to let the sides cool down in a mold so that they better confirm to the final shape. There is luthier that make the sides over bent in the bending machine to avoid extra stress when gluing the sides to the top/back. I don't

Are you talking about something like this: It will need a pretty powerful router to work, but why not? I do a rebate cut when carving to start the carve and set the correct depth of it. This will take the top further towards a finished carve. Have a try, but test on scrap first. And keep your fingers away from the bit...

Looking so much better than my first acoustic. Nice work. Interesting bracing system too. The walnut top makes me wonder about the sound, but I guess your teacher knows his thing and possible have adjusted that unusual bracing pattern to the wood used. Will follow this thread

You got it right Sir! No disrespect at all. Just some thoughts and some appreciations of a very nice build. As you noticed I often shoot for originality and this is all meant to be some comments that explain why I vote as I do. When commenting all nice builds here (not including my own…) I try to stay away from rants and then the short comment might come out in a way that needs a friendly interpretation. It’s not easy to be precise in a language that’s not your native.

Deamonx Assuie 7-string, nice over all instrument, however nothing that really sticks out Southpa V, seems to be a solid build. However the finish is a bit to "busy" for me Pauliemc JS, great build and finish. However to much of a clone to get my vote. Killemall Explorer, nice clean build. However the good ole' "pointy guitars ain't for me" applies to this Charlie H Lagarto 2. Unique design and good workmanship. I love the naval theme. A unique design, with some quirky solutions, like the output jack on the back. RAD Icaros, (shouldn't it be called the Phoenix as it has risen from the ashes...), I know the story behind the design. However it still looks like someone have taken a big bite out of it (the router of cause) and it really doesn't look quite right to me. The workmanship is a usual flawless. My vote goes to Lagarto as it is the most unique build and that always yield high points from me

Hard to imagine = doubtful, at least in my book. You claimed it was hard to imagine, meaning you questioned my claim. I gave you some second hand info from a very experienced builder that "have used it" as in "have built several necks of birch". To me that is a quite weighty argument. I did listen to the guys experience. If you want to do that is entirely up to you. I'm not going to insist. Peace