octafish

The pots say B500k, B means they are linear. The cap is a 50n or .05 uF cap. Ughh just look at the pic. That is a mess. I can't really help with a schematic right now but you will need another capacitor if you only have the one and you want two tone controls. Don't bother searching high and low to find a 50n (.05uF) if they aren't stocked in your local stores, 47n(.047uF) will be close enough. Can you read schematics? If you can, checkout lots of wiring for guitars. You will find that most guitars use a similar tone control (with different values) and the same volume setup. Feed the positive pickup wire to the center pole of the switch and take signal out of the end that will indicate the pickup is on. Then make the remaining pole a connection to ground. Should be an improvement over how it is wired now.

Ok this is long thread and I've read a lot of it. I must admit that some of the details seem to slipping from my grasp. PSW you seem sold on the idea of the thin driver and after all the work you've done I'm inclined to trust in what you say. What happens if this thin driver with magnet is mounted near/next to a neck pickup? To the pickup? To the efficiency of the sustainer? I'd like a sustainer guitar with a sometimes usable neck pup, is my only option a stacked pup/driver? BTW it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as its clean (no exposed wires) and it works. I'm looking at the tda2822 chip. I don't know about popping but according to the data sheets in bridged configeration (it is a stereo amp) it will deliver between 900mW to 1.3W into 8ohms from 6v. compared to the LM386's 700mW from 9v. The circuit requires a few more components than the 386 but is still compact. I will post results from this chip as soon as I have them. Thank you to everyone for the work you have done.

"only abouth an inch thick" -exactly and plywood at that. I toying with building a slightly thicker 1 1/2 inch thick solid wood body, if I do that I'll definately use the TOM untill then I'll trawl the 'bay.

Well it turns out that: 1) My guitar isn't a teisco (or at least isn't a classic tiesco ie. its from the knockoff period) (Its strat shaped with two pickups) and 2) The TOM does not drop straight onto the posts on my guitar. (That I didn't even bother to measure the distance between the posts and compare them to a TOM before posting is testament to my stupidity) To clarify, my guitar doesn't have posts that go directly into the body, instead there is a flat bar that screws onto the body and at either end of this bar there are posts with height adjustment. This guitar has no manufacturers markings at all. I got frustrated trying to identify its maker online so I took it to two local guitar stores, both guys said they thought it was a Tiesco, although one of them did say he thought it was a later less desirable version.

Mine was missing the bridge when I got it and finding a replacement in Australia is next to impossible. Anyone done this? Does the TOM drop straight in or do you need to drill post holes?

You can always rely on some one to know the math! Or aleast link to it. Perhaps .047 or 4n7 is what was meant? Thats my ballpark, sometimes higher sometimes lower.

I've got a question on this one just out of curiosity. How easily will the badass load a string if it is recesssed? Never used a wraparound myself. If you want to angle the neck you could shim it to get the right angle. I don't like the feel of angled necks myself, plus there a loss of mojo if you use shims, or so I've heard.

The number of tone and volume pots is up to you, if you can get by with one of each then good for you. Be prepared to swap out cap values till you find one you like, I tend to judge things by ear not math. Congrats on the p90s I love their sound.

+1 Sliding pots can be a real bitch to mount nicely. If you can make a nice neat slot in your scratchplate then go for it.

Cheers, Thanks for the info. Vic Ash is hard but not the hardest timber Ive ever seen. I used to work in a pallet factory (not CHEP). One of my jobs was to break down pallets that we collected from FoMoCo. Sheet metal came on these massive pallets made out of 4 120mmx120mmx4m pieces of the hardest timber I've ever seen (harder than redgum or malleygum) held together with 200mm long nails. Unfortunatley it was treated with some sort of quarantine safe fumigation so we were a bit leery of using it. After a year in the yard we tried ripping some of it to recycle but only three pieces dulled the 3m tall bandsaw at the factory. $250 resharpen ouch (Big Saw though huh).

Oh yeah, a soldering iron can kill magnets so if you're soldering near pickups the best thing to do is heat up the iron then unplug it and solder real quick.

You probably don't want to hear this now but excessive heat can damage components, particularly pots. Are you trying to remove the solder? If so, are you using a braid or a sucker? If you are trying to solder something new to an old component have you tinned the new component? I agree 100 watts is overkill, I've never used anything higher that 25 watts myself.

Thanks guys, I guess I got some thinking to do.

Eagle Les Paul Jr bridge I've been looking for fully compensating LPJr bridges and I have found pretty much only this one and tonepros. The difference in price is staggering. I have used the eagle machines and found them on par with stock ibanez tuners. Anyone have any experience with these parts? If I can get a fully intonable LPJr bridge I'd gladly got that route instead of a tailpiece or string through.

I realized that Vic Ash is: a) not ash and marketed under Tasmainian Oak or Tasmanian Hardwood. Usually either Vic Ash or Tas Oak or another timber I can't remember (something from up north?). This is a genuine piece of Vic Ash that came from a mill my old boss got supplies from. It has sat in his lumber collection for about 6 years now and is still straight as a die. I looks like nice wood and certainly makes a nicer ring when hit with a mallet than the duuh I get from the plywood. As long as I don't snafu the neck and hardware I figure I can make another body from more traditional tonewood later down the line.

Don't worry I got the guitar from the tip, that is why I called it a "junk" guitar, I've had a straight edge all over the neck and its got a slight back bow when unstrung and straightens up when strung (.010 set). I've got a TOM on order to replace the cyclone rod. I just wanted to hear the pups because I'd never seen anything like them. I'll take some pics in the next week and ask about them then. Also I wanted to check the neck under tension. Even with a plywood body it sounds luverly, its got a Paris Texas feel, definately low output pups. Not to bright but "shimmery". I'll learning from this don't worry, I havent touched a router for over 14 years so I'm taking it slow. Is there any reason I shouldn't use the existing body to base my design on?

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Hi there, this question is mostly for the Aussies. I guess if anyone has some first hand experience that would be great no matter where they are from. I am slowly progressing in a junk guitar rebuild. A lot of hardware was missing or broken on the original plywood body but I cobbled together a gerry built bridge and rough drilled some through holes to string it up. It sounds nice even with a piece of threaded bar as the bridge. I have a nice piece of victorian ash that is the right size for a body that I will use, but I was wondering if anyone could tell be what this wood sounds like. In a general way, I know all timber sounds different from tree to tree.

I learnt most of what I know about electronics (its not much, but enough to get started) from messing with a 130 in one electronic project kit. You'll learn electronic basics, how to read a schematic, and how to troubleshoot. Keep at it and with the help of geofx the way pedals work will slowly come into focus. I'm not as experienced, imaginative or as neat as Paul. (My pedals are all horrible ratsnests) However I have made about two dozen pedals, and two soild state (chip) amps as well as a immesurable amount of mistakes which I generally learn from. Generally.

Yeah but you going to need a whole range of resistor values from low (10ohms) to high (4M7 or so). I'd recomend something even simpler for a first build, build an Electra Distortion with a volume control but no switch, thats probably the cheapest and simplest circuit that has a noticable effect on your tone. As always it is much cheaper to buy than to build. Checkout Aron's Stompbox Forum but if you have a question use the search function at the top of the page before posting it.

Edited because I am a bonehead. Thanks for the circuit, looks better than the opamp, more compact as well.

Pretty cool stuff, but they seem to fall more in the Superstrat/Ibanez JEM camp, which doesn't interest me much. I really like Jim Soloway's Swan, but I'm looking for a slightly longer scale length, tuned B-to-B. ← Thats because they (err, me and jeremy) build totally custom guitars, built exactly to the clients desired specifications. Maybe you should try spec'ing something out and emailing them (err, yeah, me and him) Take note of their (umm, him and me?) locations before you email though, and take that into consideration... ← Please Perry... Jeremy and I. lol I'm turning into my mother.

Its a 30mm disc cut down to about 20mm The only specs I can get on it are: - Max. input voltage: 30V pp - Resonant Frequency: 4,200 +/- 500 Hz - Resonant Resistance: 300 ohm max - Electrostatic Capacitance: 20,000 pf +/- 30% Plus If I set my DMM at 200V AC I get a 1/2 volt when I tap it with my finger (obviously not that accurate).

Just found this http://www.west.asu.edu/rlerman/PDF%20File...Schematics2.pdf Just what I was looking at trying to design myself but someone has done the work for me. All I have to do is add a Vr voltage divider and where and how to add the tone control. Any Ideas?

Who says 9" is too narrow for a guitar?? I remember playing a friend's headless "wild stallions" type quitar in the late 80's that was 8" at the most.