Gemm012

I just switched some pickups out on my Ibanez RG-550. I replaced a Dimarzio Breed in the neck with a Dimarzio PAF Pro and a SD Dimebucker in the bridge with a SD JB-4. I used a modified Ibanez automatic coil tap circuit because I have a hum/sin/hum setup. The middle pickup is a humbucking Dimarzio HS-3. The mod to the original circuit I did was making the neck pickup auto tap in position 2 but no auto tap for the bridge pickup in position 4. Instead, I have the JB-4 and the HS-3 both hooked up to a DPDT switch to tap them simultaneously (I did make sure that the top coil of the stacked-coil HS-3 was the one that would be on, not that that has anything to do with my problem.) Also, I have a mini-switch that turns the bridge pickup on regardless of the position of the 5 way switch. Anyway, my problem is that the JB-4 gets quieter when I have it in full humbucking mode than when I have it tapped. I'm pretty sure the problem isn't that I just wired it backwards and think it's tapped when it isn't, because when I rub the pole pieces with a screwdriver, it is how I thought, with both rows of poles making noise when it's dual coils (and quiet) and only one row when it's single coil (and louder). I'm not sure what's up. I'm pretty confident with my knowledge of wiring when it comes to humbucking/single coil tapping, but I don't know much about phasing or that type of thing. I think it may be possible it is out of phase, but I don't think so. I have the white wire from the SD going to the 5 position switch (where it is jumpered to the mini switch to turn it on regardless of 5 way position), I have the green and the bare going to ground, and I have the red and black wired together, connected to a mini switch that when activated connects them to ground, and when inactive does nothing with them. I'm not sure where my problem is, but I would sure like some help. Sorry if my explanation is exhaustive, but I want to give all the info necessary. Thanks. Galen.

Hey guys, I've been saving up for a tube amp, and came across this on ebay. ebay I think this would be useful, especcially because I rarely can turn up that loud when I am playing alone. But, like I said, I'm saving for an amp and don't want to spend the money on that. It looks like a very simple system, I imagin it's just a pot in there. I figure it would have to be a bigger pot than in a guitar, but I just don't know how I would go about making something like this. If someone could enlighten me a bit, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks guys. Galen.

I guess I could do that, but I don't believe I have any, while I do have the other stuff. But, all of that is gonna have to be put on hold a few days anyway. I was sanding the fingerboard perfectly flat when I guess the styrofoam I had the neck on for support slipped toward the edge of my work surface, I stopped sanding, it tipped. The neck is now sitting in my room in two pieces. It was an unusually thin ibanez wizard neck. I've had this thing for a little bit more than a year and it was gonna be done within the week. It stings. Anyway, thanks for your help, the band saw worked great to cut the frets. Galen.

Hello everybody (Hello Dr. Nick). I'm refretting a guitar of mine and am at the stage in which I will be using a fret caul in my drill press to push the 2 ft long, bent to radius wire in (just like in Brian's tutorial). But, here's the situation, my drill press is in the basement (right next to my table saw (which comes into play later)), the air compressor is upstairs and out in the garage, I do own a pneumatic cut-off wheel which I would like to use for cutting the fretwire but because of it's location in relation to the drill press, I would have to make quite a trip after every fret to cut off the wire. I could do that, but obviously don't want to. I could also just precut the fret wire, but that would be a bit wasteful, not much, but if it could be avoided I'd prefer that. So, really quite a simple question, is the fret wire (which is just standard wire I got from Stew mac) a ferrous metal, or not? My bandsaw's manual says not to cut ferrous metals, but that it can cut non-ferrous metals. And using my bandsaw would be great because it is right there, I could cut the fret even closer to the neck wasting less, and I wouldn't have to be in the garage at all (there's a pretty bad heat wave in Wisconsin right now). Thanks alot. Galen.

If no one minds me pointing out another contradiction, you can't (in most cases) make something that is the "best" in tone and functionality. For the first, extremely obvious, reason, "best" is not quantifiable, especially in something like tone. Second, for an example, something that has the "best" tone, we'll say that a vintage Fender synchronized trem with a brass nut has the "best" tone, not that it does. But I don't think that anyone will argue that that specific trem setup is more functional than a Floyd Rose Double locking trem. Compromises must be made. You can't have the "best" of both tone and functionality in a lot of cases. And then this chump swears. C'mon, swearing is just unnecessary, especcially on a buisiness website. "I know, I'll sound really professional and drop the 'F' bomb. I'm a big dumb guy. I have a company named Zachary guitars and my name's Alex the butt hole." (That's what he thought while typing.)

Might using a different nut help? Galen.

Perhaps the battery isn't making a solid enough connection? Galen.

The wood is absolutely gorgeous. Now we just have to hire some goons to keep him away from it. Galen.

To help make a Tele three barrel bridge more intonate-able, would it work to have the three barrels, but then, instead of having one screw for each in the middle, two screws at the edges so you could adjust the angle of the barrel? I think that's a pretty slick idea if you could work around having the strings hit the screws. Any of you guys are welcome to try it out... for a small royalty fee of course. Oh sweet capitalism and greed Where would America be without you? Galen.

Fender's been at it for around 60(?) years, Gibson has for even longer. This guy seems pretty quack-ish to me. He contradicts himself multiple times... "I carve out a cavity, which leaves more wood in the guitar. My goal is to take away as little wood as possible from the cavity... This [headstock] shape is a very compact design... This headstock design is a true innovation in terms of tone transfer... the Body Tone Hole Option, which not only adds to the intricate beauty of the guitar, but reduces the overall weight, changes the feel and alters the resonance." If he is worried about taking more wood out of the guitar via the electronics cavity, why on earth is he drilling holes in his guitars? And likewise, why is he making the headstock so small, making it wider like a Fender headstock isn't going to make it weaker, only add more mass, which I'm pretty sure is scientifically proven to add sustain. Making it thinner like a Fender may affect strength, but a negligable amount. Oh, and I love this: "My design and manufacturing process utilizes only primitive Old World craftsmanship and never any 'New World technology'. " Just to the left of the original text, there's a picture of this moron on a big circular sanding device (please excuse my lack of power tool name knowledge) and above he's on a table saw, working away. I was unaware that "primitive old world" craftsmen had motors and machine made blades and precision grit sand paper and all that jazz... Fool. As far as I'm concerned this guy is full of hot air. He makes claims that are not backed up by science. Not that that is a big change from most guitar builders/companies/-ists, but some of them are much better about it. I feel he makes very little sense, contradicts himself like a certain top-selling book, and is just trying to sell a product. Have a nice day. -Galen

I could be wrong, but I think that's how Gibson does their neck angles. Again, I could be wrong, but I saw this show about all sorts of stuff that is made in america and they were at the Gibson factory and the guy roughing out the neck blanks just cut the whole thing out of a maybe 3" by 3" board on a bandsaw, neck angle and all. Galen.

My recently most-listened to sub-sub-sub-sub-sub genre is Propagandhi. I don't see the need to have to have everything classified into groups, but I find myself trying to do that all the time, and it's frustrating. Galen.

S/he actually explained that that won't work and why. I suggest you re-read his/her post, simply because I don't feel like re-typing it. Galen.

Thanks for your suggestions guys, but hearing about electrocution and the likes, and after finding a pretty good deal at a local music store, I just picked up a hopefully pretty nice poweramp (The preamp hasn't gotten here yet, so I don't really know). Anyway, thanks for you help. Galen.

Hi, I wanted to know, first, if building a tube poweramp, like building a guitar, would be cheaper than buying one, second, if it would be really really difficult for someone with no tube electronics experiance to do with some help and guidence, and third, if there is anywhere where I could learn more about it. I'm looking at buying some preamps (Peavey Rockmaster and Digitech 2112) and The only other stuff I have is a solid state head, which I wouldn't really know how to run them through (I don't want to run them through the effects loop, cause then they're not being preamps, just effects sortof, right?) I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am a bit of a beginner, anyway, thanks for any help. Galen.

Nitefly, the flat head screws for the nut did it for me. Also, if I hurry, I think I can get 10 shower puffs for only $10!!!!!!!!!!! Galen.

Maybe I'm not in a position to propose it, but I think it would be neat if it was a bi-monthly Cigar box guitar contest. If it happened every month it may lose its novelty factor a little. But maybe, probably, not. Anyway, good luck everybody. Galen.

If you change only one string at a time, it helps alot. Check out www.Jemsite.com in the tech section as well as the tech section of www.ibanezrules.com. Galen.

Turpentine. Ok, cool. Thanks. Galen.

What is the bad advice? Galen.

Did you only put the one E string on? If so, it could be that the bridge is pulling the string sharp cause of all the extra tension on that one string cause it's not being distributed over all 6 strings. That could cause it to pull far enough to touch the fretboard. To prove it, if you have a guitar with a recessed floyd, go pull it back, and the strings will eventually hit the fingerboard. Actually, you may not want to try the experiment as it may break one of your strings, but take my word for it, on Floyds that happens. Galen

And you use this mixture on the side of the fretboard where there are the small position dots, so if you don't have any trouble with those, I doubt you'd have any trouble with the front dots. Galen.

Well, I put it in tonight and it worked out great. She really liked the new sound along with the rest of the band. And, this is maybe the second time I've done wiring modifications and not been burned with the iron , even I did get burned by a hot solder joint . Thanks for your help guys. Galen.

I think if you just sanded it further, it may work. I don't know for sure though, so I'd wait for more responses. Galen.