Saber

Well, I have an Ibanez RG1520GK and I assume the piezo separation is pretty good to be able to drive Roland guitar synth circuitry. And if I remember correctly, Ibanez had another RG model that used the same bridge just for its analog output so I assume the signal quality must have been at least half-decent.

I wonder what kind of frequency response you can get from it, and how much intrinsic noise it generates.

Here's a very sensible series of online lessons that's great as a starting point. Guitar Lessons Follow the links to continue with Part II, Part III, etc.

D'Addario String Tension Charts

Higher frets will make it easier to grab onto a string to bend it since the fingertip won't rub as hard on the fretboard wood. That's where the idea of scalloped fretboards comes in. But just like a scalloped fretboard, with higher frets, pressing too hard on the string will make the note go sharp.

I played a scalloped fretboard for a year. I had a .009 set of strings and had to press pretty hard on a string to bend a note, enough that it was a completely impractical way to play. And it gets worse as you move up the fretboard because the smaller space between frets requires much more pressure. You know how good guitar teachers teach you not to squeeze your guitar neck to avoid hand injuries. Well, this looks like a great way to develop tendonitis. I'm not trying to discourage you from trying it but I want to tell you to be very cautious. The purpose of a scalloped fretboard is usually to get a better grip on the strings to bend them sideways.

You could use this Online Conversion website.

I've used THIS. It's a little expensive but it's a lot more conductive than Stewmac's graphite paint. From one end of the control cavity to the other, I only measure a few ohms.

Is your bridge a Floyd Rose? If it is, maybe the screw holding the saddle wasn't quite tight enough and the saddle moved slightly forward. That would make the note at the upper frets sharp.

Check the City of Montreal website. Here's a link to their Répertoire des Sports et Loisirs. I had a quick look in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve PDF document and they have Ébinisterie (french for Woodworking). Some of the other regions might have it, too. I've never been to any of these activities so I don't know if they have specific curriculum or if you can have total freedom. But I think it's worth checking out and would probably be very inexpensive since these activities are subsidized by the city.

Here's one place to get the Power Tab editor: http://www.harmony-central.com/Software/Wi...s/powertab.html

Check if you have the same noise on the solid-state distortions like the Overdrive, Heavy Sustain, or Grunge. If you don't, then it's probably the tubes.

The heads of my trem posts are the same diameter as the threaded part so it's not a universal solution. I've used this method succssfully but with a bolt instead of the trem post.

Before going too far with the electronics side of it, stick a piezo to a glass to see if it doesn't interfere with the vibrations.

Yeah, about six months ago: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...pic=17230&st=30

The main difference between this circuit and the Tillman is that this circuit configuration is a source follower. Notice how the output signal is taken at the source instead of at the drain like in the Tillman. As a result, there is no voltage gain. It's purely a unity gain impedance buffer... it has high input impedance and low output impedance and Vout=Vin. It's probably a lot more stable and less reliant on the individual FET characteristics than the Tillman circuit. So if all you need is a buffer to prevent the loss of highs or the loss of signal level, this is a better solution than the Tillman.

The gain control is in the negative feedback circuit. Maybe what turned people off was the input impedance. The input ac signal sees R1 and R2 as being in parallel giving it a 235K-Ohm input impedance. I think they could be replaced with 1M resistors to give it a 500K-Ohm input imp.

If C4 is leaking some dc, it can wreak havoc with the input of the amp that this pre-amp is driving. A similar problem could occur if R6 is open or badly connected. Disconnect the pre-amp from your amp and check the pre-amp output with a digital voltmeter. It should read a constant 0vdc even when you're switching it from BYPASS to PREAMP and vice versa. BTW, if it's driving a guitar amp which would typically have an input impedance above 470k, 10uF for C4 is overkill since it would give you a low cutoff frequency of around 0.2Hz. You could easily get away with a 1uF and have a 2Hz low cutoff frequency which is well below the 20Hz needed to stay within the full audio spectrum (20Hz - 20KHz). Then you wouldn't be limited to using electrolytics or tantalums. In fact, I just noticed that with the values of C1, R1, R2, the circuit's low cutoff is 30Hz which can still be acceptable for a guitar circuit.

Using the 10uF source bypass cap will boost pretty much the whole audio spectrum. The lower you make that capacitor, the higher your cutoff frequency will be so it will end up boosting the higher frequencies only, just like you read on Till's page. You can put a resistor in series with that 10uF source bypass cap to reduce the boost but maintain the flat response.

It depends how much of a purist you are. A "real" tube can mean that there are absolutely no semiconductors (including op-amps) in it. But then, if you're such a purist as to not want any semiconductors in the signal path, forget about using any pedals or signal processors of any kind in your rig or else there will be no point in being **** about using a "real" tube amp. Anyways, onelastgoodbye, when you refer to "gain" I assume you mean "distortion". Usually, the op-amps in these programmable tube pre-amps are just used to buffer, sometimes equalize (for voicing), and adjust the signal to optimal levels for the tubes to use. So the op-amps don't clip the signal or directly contribute to the distortion; the tubes provide all the distortion or soft clipping. So, unless you're really **** about it, you can say that the MP-1 is a "real" tube pre-amp if all the distortion is actually supplied by the tubes even though the signal goes through a few op-amps. On the other hand: The op-amps are usually used to replace the first few tube stages of a pre-amp where very little distortion occurs, but those early tube stages can add a certain warmth to the signal, nevertheless. And many tube amp experts will say that the pre-amp tubes in these first stages are the most important. So decide yourselves what you consider as a "real" tube pre-amp. To me all this is only semantics.

While Céline may be very tacky and "commercial", at least she doesn't lipsync, do a hoedown, and walk off stage during a live TV performance... and then blame the fiasco on her band for playing the wrong song! I think Ashlee Simpson has Céline beat... barely.

There are 2 tutorials for this on the Project Guitar main site: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/postab.htm http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/trmanchor.htm

If you're going to go through the trouble of building your own neck, I would think that you should get the parts to make it like you want rather than let the parts dictate how your neck will be made. Just my 2 cents.

Looks more like a Radius. An R540LTD to be exact, by the H/S/H configuration. I don't know if they made them with the AANJ though. But the pickup selector position fits neither the S nor R series. Search the Ibanez Register Gallery.

Like I said, the typical power strip will blow its surge suppressor on a power surge and will have to be repaired or replaced (whatever's cheaper). The new Furmans have an electronic protection circuit that will not destruct on a power surge. The other reason I got one is because I needed the integrated lights to light up my rack.