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seamusoc

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About seamusoc

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    Kildare, Ireland

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  1. By the time I get a superswitch delivered to Ireland I'll be off to college, so I might just see how it sounds as it stands, and order a super switch later if needs be. Bit messy because I just threw it together in Paint, but here's how the circuit's looking now (hopefully minus mistakes)
  2. I'm going to rewire a HSS strat style guitar. 5 way switch, 1 Vol, 2 Tone, and a DPDT switch. The DPDT will 'override' the guitar circuit and send the bridge humbucker straight to the output (passing Lane mod). I also want an auto split (bucker will split when in the bridge/middle position). So one side of the 5 way switch will be a pickup selector and the other will control the auto split. One tone knob will control the neck pickup, and the other the bridge. I was wondering if there was any way of connecting the middle pickup to the bridge tone knob without having it bleed across. I know it could be done with a super switch but I don't have one handy and was wondering if it could be done with what I had lying around! Though diodes would affect the signal alright, but from my basic understanding of semiconductor doping I thought it could be possible to make one suitable for guitar circuits and was wondering if they were around. Might just leave the mid pickup without a tone control seeing as I never really use position 3 anyway
  3. Will all diodes affect the tone of a guitar? Specifically if I have the signal from a pickup going through a diode, how will it change the sound? And if the signal from a pickup comes to a reverse bias diode, will that signal be blocked completely or will a small amount of that signal still bleed through? Looking to make a custom circuit, and without going into too much detail I'm just wondering if diodes can be used to stop unwanted pickups bleeding through into the guitar's output signal?
  4. By taper I mean the way the neck naturally gets thinner as it approaches the nut. I'm not sure how to describe it, you might see what I mean from this. The neck on the Encore is naturally thinner at the nut and wider at the heel, but the end of the heel nearest the bridge is the widest point of the neck, making a taper along the entire neck (like the bottom one in the picture). I was thinking of making the entire heel the same width and then starting a taper from where the neck leaves the pocket (like the top one in the picture). It would mean that when the neck isn't screwed down it could slide out, but it would be easier to shape the neck pocket. Basically in the guitar I'm building the template off, the neck pocket (and neck) is slightly wider at the end closest to the bridge, and I'm not sure if it would be better to make the neck pocket the same width at every point instead. Yeah, a Strat seems to be the easiest thing to build technically (except a Tele), but it's kind of challenging to do something different with it. The Strat has to be the most popular guitar design, so it's making me think harder as to how to make my one unique
  5. So I finished the Leaving Cert exams yesterday, and to celebrate I've decided to finally start building my own guitar. At the minute it's going to have a blue Swamp ash body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, abalone dots and black hardware, although that could all change because it'll probably take me months to build and I'll have changed my mind a dozen times within that time scale. Using an 'Encore' Strat copy that I have disassembled, I started building the templates from it this morning. I've always believed that the best way to learn is to just dive in head first and pray that someone saves you from drowning, so I decided that I might start documenting my work and put it up here in case I do something disastrously wrong. Seeing as it's a first build, I'd love to just get advice from all you good people on how to improve. After around two hours work I've already learned a thing or two, which might come in handy to someone else. I tried just stenciling around the body to begin with, which as you can all probably guess was disastrous. I started again with center lines this time, and after robbing some digital calipers off my brother, started to get some measurements to work with instead. I started with the neck, which was relatively straightforward, except for the heel. The neck goes from 56mm wide at the base to 43mm at the nut. Does the slight taper on the heel stop the neck pulling out of the body and keep it sitting in properly? I was thinking of starting the taper at the end of the heel- 56mm wide at the base, 56mm at the point the heel leaves the body, and then a taper to 43mm at the nut. I thought this might make it easier to get a tight fit at every place on the heel, and to keep the neck aligned as well. I'm assuming the neck is tapered at the heel for a reason, could anyone shed some light as to why for me? I then moved onto the body, which was a learning experience. Drawing out the cavities was easy enough, but instead of drawing out the curve at the end of the pickup cavity freehand, I wanted to get it perfect. The curve wasn't a perfect semi-circle but a segment of a circle, so I couldn't just measure the diameter to get the radius. So I worked out a nice little formula to find the radius, from the width of the curve and the height. If anyone ever wants to copy a symmetrical curve here's how to work it out (excuse my handwriting): PIC I can even prove that it's true for a small fee The other thing I had a problem working out is how to copy the cavity for the jack socket. It would have been a lot of effort to use measurements from the center line like I had for the cavities, so I had to find another way of doing it. Folding a piece of paper a couple of times and taping it at the side, I made myself a stiff piece of white paper. I then got a pencil lead refill for a mechanical pencil that broke two years ago (which I knew I would find a use for eventually), I rubbed the lead all along the edge of the jack cavity, placed the paper over it and rubbed it with my finger. The lead stuck to the paper and the outline appeared on the page clear as day. This is how it turned out here. Then all I had to do was cut the shape out, find out where I wanted the jack to be and draw around it. I thought I'd share those two little tricks I learned today in case they'd help someone, although I'd say a lot of people have probably been doing them for while. I'm going to head out and play around with the body and headstock design for a while, in the meantime someone might be able to explain to me if it is important to have a slight taper on the heel of the neck where it bolts on, or if it will make any difference once the neck is screwed down and the strings are on? I'm looking forward to building this now
  6. Just this week, I've played two guitars that seem to have the same problem as this- a plinking noise that once I noticed it when I palm-muted an open string, I began to hear it subtly when I was just playing the open note, although then it was kinda drowned out by the string resonating. One guitar was a Squire Tele of a friend of a friend, that had only ever came with one string tree and the G string didn't have a strong enough angle coming off the nut (heehee), the other was a guitar that had its locking nut and string tensioning bar harvested, and most strings had this same problem. On both these guitars, the cause was the angle of the strings behind the nut, and the problem went away if I pushed down on the string behind the nut with my left hand when I was palm-muting with the right. I know that you've tried wrapping a sock around the strings behind the nut but have you completely eliminated the possibility of the string angle being the problem? Especially since you've said that that particular model has a reputation for noise behind the nut. A certain pickup might pick up the frequency of the noise that you're getting more than another would, but that's not to say that the pickup is the problem or that whatever you replace it with would be any better. I'd suggest bringing the guitar in to your local shop and see if they can find the root of the problem before I'd start swapping out pickups!
  7. I think the problem is that most people looking to buy a custom guitar is going to want to have it customised to their specs. Where are you trying to sell it? If you're just trying to sell online it might be a good idea to ask a local store with a reputation for having high-quality/vintage guitars to sell it for you, that way you'll have a lot of guitarists with big budgets walking past it everyday, and it's probably going to be one of the most unique pieces in the shop. Any work of yours that I've seen on this was top quality, so the problem isn't that your prices are too high it's just finding the right customers! Litter your work around the local music shops and ask the owners to tell anyone looking at them that you will build to order, and I'm sure you'll be off your feet with people looking for custom guitars from you, and willing to pay a lot more than 1000 once they've seen and played your guitars first hand! +1 on the watermarking
  8. Have you tried pushing down the string behind the nut as a kind of artifical string tree and seeing if that helps? Was there any clinking noises when you were putting the string on first? I've seen loads of people advocating rubbing a pencil lead into the nut slots, claiming the graphite from the pencil acts as a lubricant helps prevent binding. I've never done it myself (never felt the need), but it might be worth a shot, can't do any harm and even if it doesn't solve them it should lessen any problems with the nut. I like trying to solve problems like this, helps take my mind off the fact that I have exams in the morning
  9. Do you have some sort of logo/decal on your guitars? If you do it should make it harder for other people to claim your work as their own. Some companies have nice little easter eggs hidden inside of products, Blackstone appliances has "stop obsessing and play yr guitar" scribed into some of their PCBs. You could hide some little detail inside of the guitar if you don't want to go down a big logo on your builds, so that if you ever have to prove that you built something you'll know some little secret detail hidden somewhere inside the guitar (initials on the heel of a bolt on neck or inside the control cavity, etc) But it's hard to do anything about fraudulent websites unless they have a physical address listed. I'd just be mindful that there are people out there who are looking to buy your work and sell it on at a higher price whenever you are selling from now on.
  10. Just thinking out loud, if the cause of the problem is the pitch of the note, would a way of checking that be to tune the string down a half step and then play the same note at the first fret? Considering that with the new nut you're still having problems with the low E and not the low B as far as I understand it, it's probably not touching the frets because the low B should be lower than the E. Have you ruled out the noise coming from behind the nut or the slot being pre-cut too wide for the E string that you are using?
  11. He has already tried a new nut without fixing the problem I thought that if you managed to fix the problem on the old nut you could then fix it on the new one, without having to mess around with your brand new nut
  12. I'd check the angle the slot is cut at compared to the string angle going towards the tuners, there mightn't be enough of an angle cut in it to help the string sit right (if you press down on the string behind the nut and play does the problem disappear?). I'd check the width of the slot compared to the string too (it might be too wide). The tusq nut might have been pre-slot for a heavier gauge if you have gone to a very light gauge (and your file might have been too wide when you were reshaping the old nut). Maybe try refilling the slot on the old nut and then re-slotting it with a thinner file than last time and then filing it in a kind of a 'V' profile until the string just about fits. They're the only two reasons I can think of that would form over time on the nut. I'm certainly no expert but hope that helps
  13. Well that's it decided then. I don't think that installing a trem bridge properly should be too much of a difficulty, I plan on making a lot of templates, etc. first, and I have a lot more woodwork experience than I do guitar hardware experience! I might go for a trem bridge build first and then do a tele type project afterwards. I'm guessing a tele might be a bit easier, but I have a strat here at home that I plan on taking apart (temporarily) and using that to compare all my drawings/templates to before I even start to cut/rout anything. So with all thoughts on skimping put firmly behind me, wilkinson or hipshot trem? Are wilkinson EZ lock tuners budget or high grade Wilkinson? They look brilliantly designed. What would you guys normally use? Thanks for all the replies, I'm learning a lot Although that's not saying much because I didn't know anything to begin with!
  14. As I said, it's a first time build so if the guitar turns out well I can always upgrade the bridge afterwards. Living in Ireland means that the only bridges I've seen on guitars are either stock or Floyd rose, I've never played anything else so I have absolutely no idea what the quality is like from other companies. If I was looking for the cheapest trem system that was the same/slightly better quality than a MIA strat bridge, where should I look? Hipshot system is probably too dear for this build, the Carvin non-trem bridge is tempting but at the same time I'm not sure if I could build a non-trem strat and keep a clear conscience!
  15. As you might have guessed this is going to be my first build. I've a 1997 Am. standard strat and I'm hoping to build something of the same (if not better) quality for around €600 (or $800). Have you used both their premium and locking tuners? If so how do they compare? The locking tuners seem a bit overly complicated but I want something with good tuning stability
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