thegarehanman

No reason it wouldn't work. I don't recall looking for any to replace guitar pots, but when I have looked at slide pots, I don't recall seeing any 250k or 500k values. Plus, remember that volume pots have a logorithmic taper, so you'd need that feature as well. The only downside I could see is volume swells with your pinky becoming near impossible, but it might introduce a way of doing them as part of the strumming motion, like if the slide pot was almost perpendicular to the strings. peace, russ

That's a good standard to work by. I like to be able to pick up the guitar by the neck before the neck has been glued or bolted to the body. The only bad part about that is when you forget about a soft body wood and the weight of the body pulls the body down the neck, widening the pocket by a hair. Ask me how I know... :

He didn't actually post a link though. . Anyhow, google, yahoo, etc. are getting wise to link sharing and have been changing around their algorithms so that you can't just post links all over the place and suddenly have your search ranking increase.

The stewmac pullers are likely heat treated. If you were to mill a set of pullers to be flush pullers like stewmac's version, you would need to have them heat treated to retain the ground edge on the jaws.

I'll keep you updated, rick. The "crop circles" design (although I'm still not sure if that will be the official title, as it's a mouthfull) will be the first I can offer anyone, as it will take longer for the metal parts for the p90 and humbuckers to come in. On that note, some of the material that will be adorning the p90 and humbucker bobbins/covers came in: peace, russ

Do the piezos use an active preamp, and if so, have you replaced the battery recently?

I've owned 2 craftsman routers and both have had lights inside that light up the work piece. As for dust collection when routing. Get one of these for routing and sanding and you shall live in piece for the rest of your days . http://grizzly.com/products/Downdraft-Table-1-HP/G0535 .

Thanks david. I did realize that pickups similar to this existed, but I haven't been able to find any that are tuned to suit each polepiece's respective string (or is that what clint's does). He hangs out on the mimf forum if I'm not mistaken; he's a very cool guy. Just so you guys know, I've placed the order for the baseplates for the p90's and 'buckers that I'll be making. I've also ordered the rapid prototype parts I need for the covers. I'll be getting some black, nickel, chrome and gold 'bucker covers engraved with my "rg" on them as well. I should have something for anyone interested in at least a month, maybe a bit more, depending on turnaround times. I'm pretty excited about these pickups; I've had good results with the test coils and look forward to seeing them in a pretty package. I'd like to get some sound clips up, but my buddy who has a good recording setup is pretty overwhelmed at the moment, so I don't really want to bother him right now. Then again, sound clips aren't really a fair representation, since so many other factors are in play. peace, russ

Well, don't worry about my hack of a self. The only work I get is through word of mouth anyhow...makes me wonder why I'm shelling out money for a domain and web host.

Well, for me, i notice some stickiness, but it never really bothers me or inhibits my playing, but I don't play metal like a lot of the guys on this board either.

hmmm, cool idea. garehanguitars.com thanks brian

VSR Drill w/ bolt on handle: $20 Wood for base: $10 Plexi for face plate: $10 Optical Switch: $3 1.5v watch battery: $2 Rheostat, electrical box, and cover: $15 Calculator (for counter): $5 mini spst switch: $3 Misc. hardware: $20 Total time invested: 5 hrs Total $ invested: $88 ...and you could probably even wind 10 guage with it if you were so inclined (not that I've verified this ) peace, russ

I'm talking about a wetsanded and polished surface that just needs a new coat of wax. I use ppg products. It's as good or better than what comes on most cars. However, I have no experience with micromesh, but you can count on me trying it soon based on what I've been hearing lately.

While I haven't sprayed nitro, I'll have to disagree about the polyester. It's the only thing I spray, and while it may be less "sticky" feeling than nitro, it can still feel sticky if not waxed and buffed.

I did mention using threaded inserts above, if you'll notice . But then again, a picture says a thousand words. I used threaded brass inserts (the sort you would use on a true bolt-on neck and such) to top mount a single coil pickup recently. I was very happy with the results. It's a little cleaner than a big brass plate, but installation is a little finickier. peace, russ

nevermind, stewmac doesn't carry them. look here for "P90 Pickup Mounting Screws": http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/parts/part...=include_screws

I imagine lmii slots the radiused and unradiused boards to the same depth, so buying an unradiused board, binding it, then radiusing it should not pose a problem. However, if you put the binding on the fretboard before gluing the fretboard to the neck, you should have no problem at all with the pre-radiused board.

Those are the wrong screws. Normally, p90's are mounted with flat head, countersunk wood screws, about 1 1/2" long. The only time you'd use a bolt instead, is if you were screwing into threaded insert instead of the wood, but even then you'd use a bolt with a flat head. Stewmac.com carries the screws you need. You can find some at a hardware store that are close, but I've never been able to find the exact screw used for p90's anywhere other than at guitar stores. peace, russ

If it's a clear coat finish, get some silicone free wax, and buff it. The thin layer of wax will get rid of the sticky feeling, but you'll need to reapply the wax once in a while. peace, russ

If you want those knobs to sit flush with the top once the guitar is assembled, you'll need to add a recess on the bottom of them to accomodate for the nuts on the potentiometer. By the way, what's the diameter on those babies? They seem a bit big (but idk if that's the look you're going for). Good work so far. I've got an idea for an aero plane inspired build as well, but I want to do a "carved" top with full on overlapping aluminum sheet metal riveted together. peace, russ

Maybe some high-gloss wire in the crop circle groove.. That idea actually crossed my mind after the chrome thing was mentioned. I only wonder how well it could be done (mostly, the concern would be for where the end of the wire meets the beginning). In a few weeks, I'll have the molds to play around with. I'll get this sort of stuff sorted out then. peace, russ

orgmorg, I might be offering carbon fiber covers, but I don't have the facilities to offer stamped metal covers. You might consider buying yourself some nickle plated covers and sanding back to the copper coat. I believe the covers get a copper coat then nickle. For chrome covers, they would get the chrome after the nickle, I believe. At the cheap price of humbucker covers, it's worth a shot. As for "hex-tone," I'm going to sleep on that one; it's a good suggestion.

The pink and yellow are fluerescent, that's why they look ...uh... different. Seymour duncan can wind a set for you with pink bobbins for about $140/humbucker I believe. I think that's what I paid for the last custom shop 'bucker I bought from them.

Let's call it the "cropcircle" for now. That's the best name I can come up with. I was toying with "twin tone," but that didn't seem to fit. What do you think?

Wez-The cover is one piece, but that's not to say a cover that has clear centers and a black perimeter isn't possible (in fact, I know exactly how to accomplish it). Once I get the molds together, we can talk it over. aidlook- I don't know how well the "embossed chrome" could be pulled off since it would need to be painted on, but I might look into that. I do actually intend to have a hand-painted option (not really anything like a black/chrome look) along the lines of the zvex pedals sort of style. Daniel- I'll shoot you a pm when I get everything together. The multi-coil pickup will be available before the p90 style one, simply because the custom base-plates I'm having laser cut for the p90 will take at least a month and a half to get in. Well, my goal was to get a fat jazzmaster sort of sound on the treble strings and a clear, crisp sound on the bass strings. I wanted to do it without compromising either goal and whithout making certain strings sound out of place, tonally, compared to the rest of the strings. I experimented with a model that used only one coil, with a a-symetrical wind, but that really didn't work out as I had hoped. The arrangement of the coils is not ideal, but is necessary to keep the pickup compact. Fortunately, the individual coils allow for tweaking of the tone of individual strings, to compensate for their different locations. I'm toying with offering the set with each coil in its own cover, so that they can be used with wider string spacings, like on a fanned fret guitar. peace, russ