badsnap

Nick, The one thing that is being overlooked here is the most important element ...TIME. Most of us "hobbiests" do this because we like to. We have regular jobs. I do work for friends on their guitars, but it is always on MY schedule. If they want it now, take it to a guitar shop (amp/drum/whatever shop). I make a VERY good living in my choosen profession and as such my free time is more valuable than the time I set aside (daily) for work. When you hire a luthier, you are paying for his TIME as well as his SKILL. He has to schedule you in and is obligated to meet the agreed upon terms. We save alot of money doing our own work, we have fun, but we do it at our own pace. We often redo things we are not happy with and learn from our mistakes. If you are willing to abide by these terms then maybe someone here will help you. I must say though, comming onto this form and insulting it's members is not a very good negotiating position. PM me and I will do my best to help you out, but no promises...Rog

Unfortunately, you are the only thing that can cause your pickups to be out of phase. Check the wiring and correct it. Current needs to flow in the same direction through both pickups (as if they are in series) for them to be in phase...Rog

The 102J (don't know what the J means) is trasnlated as follows.....caps are listed in picofarads (.000000000001 is 1 picofarad) and it is common for the values to be listed in 2 digit format. So, the 10 means 10 picofarads and the 2 means to the second power (or 2 decimal places to the left). So your cap is .000000001 or 1 nanofarad. Google "reading capacitor values" for a good list if this doesn't make sense. One of the site that pop up will be worded so you can understand. No offense meant, but I know I can read something on one site and not understand at all and then read the same information, presented differently, on another site and the lightbulb appears above my head...Rog

Many people use it, or something similar ,as it lasts much longer than a wood template (it is much harder to damage it during routing). Personally, I use Lexan...much less likely to split, chip or crack than plexiglass...Rog

I've never done this before but it almost looks like he applies some sort of varnish to the bobbin to coat and yelllow (maybe some impurities in there - dirt perhaps) and then when its dry hits it with a freeze mechanism (canned air or contact renew held upside down) to get the varnish to crack. Just a guess...as I said before, I've never actually done this...Rog EDIT: One other thought, there are some finishes Ive used to make metal look rusted and vintage, but I can't remeber what they are called. I'll try to do a little research to steer you in the right direction...Rog

Interesting thought brian...Rich, when you changed the headstock angle, which direction did you need to adjust the bridge in order to get the intonation correct?? I did not record this info (fool!!) when I tried it. If you're game (since you have the test jig) perhaps you can try a 3rd angle and see if the intonation follows the string length or is the opposite. My neck is off the guitar I used and I'm working on it this weekend so I can't repeat my experiment. But, as Brian said, you could perhaps use the harminics so you won't need to adjust intonation after the angle change and see if the harmonics all track in the same direction. We could then extrapolate which direction the bridge would need to go and see if they follow the bend distance. Just a wild thought...Rog If I get done with the neck soon (replacing truss rod and and fret board) I'll try to remember to repeat the experiment and record ALL of the data...Rog

I 'd imagine that leaving maple unfinished (maybe just oiled) could give you a really cool vintage type look after a few years of usage...food for thought from another lover of well played looking instruments...Rog

GBT is right...we can help a bit more if we can see what is going on and what you are trying to do. One suggestion is connect one of the PU's straight to the output jack and see what happens. Do this for each PU and you will quickly know whether it is one of the PUs, the grounding (bridge or otherwise) or the switch. If both PU's sound good straight to the output jack, your problem is in the switch wiring. Squealing doesn't sound like a grounding problem but the noise sure does. Do you get any sound when you pluck the strings???...Rog

Let's see here...One blend pot (mag PUs) - one piezo/mag selector switch - one master volume - coil tap switch for the mags OR Blend pot mag - blend pot piezo/mag - two series/single(tap)/parallel switches (one for each mag PU). Wiring for the tap and series/single/parallel switches can be found on any of the sites I linked to in the previous post. Tap is SPDT switch and series/single/parallel is DPDT switch. FYI - a coil tap (single) is when you route ground to one of the 2 coils in a humbucker effectively making it a single coil PU...Rog

What most of us keep overlooking (a few have noticed it) is that when the neck angle increased on your hinged mechanism - you had to retune?!?! Correct?? When you brought the tuning back down (to be correct) you increased the length of the string!! You then had to reset the intonation too !?!? Otherwise, your hinged peghead is nothing more than a really cool reverse tremelo!! quote: Do you mean if I had allowed the string length to increase (behind the nut and bridge). The string would need to be pulled farther to reach the higher pitch? Yes, thats exactly what I am saying...along with the fact that you did indeed increase the string length...not the position of the tuner on the board, it was still X inches from the hinge, but the length of the tuner from the nut (geometry!)...hence the string length. Godins guitar with the greater angle feels looser in the strings because his strings are phyically longer and have more mass to spread the tension across, therefore, in order to reach the same tone the bend needs to be greater (but less force applied to get there). To give Perry credit, after I posted my last comments, I tried this on an in process rebuild guitar and though I know my set up is not as precise as yours Rich...same results...the longer string was noticably looser and took a longer bend to reach the same note, hence where I draw my conclusion from (along with my common sense and engineering skills and training) ...Rog

Just to add a little "fuel to the fire"...something to consider...when you increase the break angle, given all else stays constant, you increase the total string length. Not the scale length, the string length. Ever notice how little phyical movement it takes to elicit a tone change from the string between the nut and the tuners?? The tension is equal throughout the string but the LENGTH is different which is what make the tone higher in pitch (nut to tuner as compared to nut to bridge) and allows it to change with much less distance of bend (much more force required to bend it though). That is what happens when you change the angle...you change the total string length. I think that is what Perry has been tring to illustrate...or get us off our lazy butts to illustrate. As always I could be wrong...I didn't perform the experiment...I was busy playing!!!...Rog

If one of your signal wires (+) has a stray strand hanging somewhere (usually at a switch or pot connection) and it is touching a ground connection (earth to the Brits...or -) then the signal will be "grounded out" which means you will have no signal out...Rog

A blend pot is the same as 2 volume pots with thier outputs connected together (through a switch usually). So, if you want totally independent control for each PU (mag or piezo) use 2 volume pots. To use a blend pot and 2 volume pots is redundant...only one is needed. So I would suggest this: A blend pot for the mag PUs. 2 volume pots OR a blend pot for mag/piezo. Use the switch for 2 volume pots, otherwise, the blend pot does the same thing. To make this clear ... 1 blend pot = switch + 2 volume pots. You could then use 1 main output volume. It is possible to wire it the way you are suggesting but it seems there is an easier simpler way to achieve the final goal. Hope this helps...Rog

I don't believe not grounding the bridge properly would cause this problem (but I will always admit that I could be wrong). It would make your guitar noisey but not have no output. You do, however, want to make sure your guitar (including the bridge) is properly grounded. This can easily be checked with a multimeter or other continuity checker...Rog

I have gotten a lot of good ideas from Guitar Nuts, but here is my smack..... a film capacitor has a tighter toerance, stablity, and breakdown characteristics that a ceramic one. For a few cents more...it's a good option, and I would most likely and often do use them, but not necessary. If we were building an effect box or something that was timing dependent then I would say definitely go with the best components you can afford...wire wound resistors and film capacitors...but lets look at what we have inside a guitar...2 or 3 antennas (called pickups), connected using antennas (wire) to antennas (pots and jacks). So...the small, imperceptable difference in using a film cap over a ceramic cap will NOT be heard. Not by me anyway, and my money is on not by MOST either. The difference in a film cap and a ceramic cap (functionally) is in it's tolerance...a film cap is 1% and a ceramic is anywhere between 5% and 20% depending on which one you purchase. If you already know this...I apologize...but basically if I claim a cap is .02mfd, then a film cap would be + or - 1% of that value and a ceramic cap would be + or - say 10% (if that is the rating) of that value. So unless you are using a set resistance (or inductance) in combination with the capaitor it really doesnt matter that much, certainly not enough to hear, and especially because in guitars they are used as filters and usually in combination with variable resistance (pots) so we can adjust the frequency. Sorry for being so long winded but sometimes it gets frustrating when people present their personal preferences as fact. Don't get me wrong, guitar nuts is one of my referance sites for all things guitar related and I respect their knowledge and experience, but I never stop asking questions and forming my own opinions..Rog

I am not up on PU design but that p-bass mod for guitar sounds very intriguing...let us know what happens. As for bass distortion, the old vintage Bass Balls is OUTSTANDING and I would think could be had on ebay rather inexpensively...just a thought...Rog EDIT: OK - I just looked on ebay and electro-harmonix has reissued Bass Balls so no significant savings will be had (about $80.00 US).

Are you blending the mag PUs (using the pot) and treating it as 1 PU for output purposes? If so, wire the selector switch just like you would for 2 mag PUs (substitute the Ghost for 1 of the mag PUs). Here are a few wiring sites to look at: Guitar wiring Guitar electronics FAQs Guitarnuts There are tons of them out there...google guitar wiring. As for the blend pot, try this Stewmac link (also explains a lot of other wiring). Stewmac wiring One last thing...you may need a preamp to match levels of the piezo and the mags...Ghost and others sell these which comes complete to wire mag/mag-piezo/piezo to a stereo jack which gives one side as a regular guitar output and one as a dedicated pieso so you can split the output to 2 mono channels (regular guitar cables) and send the blended one to your regular amp and send the piezo dedicated one to an acoustic guitar amp. Hope this at least helps point you in the right direction. I wish I had the time to sit and draw the schematic for you...but it may be more beneficial to you to search a little bit and find the exact diagram for your preferences. Plus, you may stumble across something you really like that I didn't think of...Good luck...Rog

Please come over and kick MY cat...annoying little... Rog

In electro-mechanical/robotics/automation industry we have a technique called half stepping. In essence, you cut the circuit in half with each experiment (or test). So, disconnect the output jack, and disconnect one of the PUs. Wire the PU to the output jack and plug it in to your amp. If you get sound, you know its not that PU or the output jack. You can do this for each PU if you like, or you can go straight to the next step which would be wire the PU straight to the volume pot and wire the output of the volume pot to the output jack. Plug it in and see if you get sound and volume control. You are now left with the wiring to the switches. Verify that you fully understand the wire colors of each PU (they may all be different if they are different manufacturers). Go to the manufaturers website for each PU and download the PU wiring diagrams and also whatever other system (guitar) wiring diagrams they have that you want to use. Worse case...use these diagrams and start over from scratch armed with all the correct information...Rog

I noticed on the can that is "claims" non-yellowing. Be aware that ALL polyurethanes WILL yellow to some degree. If you are using it on a white finish and want to keep it a pristine snowy white, I would search for an alternative as it will most likely make it a vintage white in the end. Use a test piece to find out whether you can live with the final result. I speak from the experience of using the products myself, albiet in an interior finishing role. If you are not finishing over white, you most likely will not be able to notice any difference...Rog

If you are trying to get a metal looking finish, why do you want some flame showing??? The two seem mutually exclusive! Who knows, perhaps you would come up with a cool new finish, but maybe I'll explore that...seems interesting. However, if you are trying to gain experience and are going to sell the guitar, I would accent the flame with a tinited clear and/or stain and save the Metalcast for a future project. Perhaps you want to use the Metalcast because it's free?? Whichever way you go, post some pics so we can all learn with you!!...Rog

Thanks Darren...I am intending on using swamp ash so I did a search on it to see who else uses it (I know it's very common but I wanted to see other examples besides someone who is trying to sell it to me) and came across the Voodoo line. I love that effect. Thanks for the info...just what I needed...Rog

I know this seems wishy-washy but everyone is right so far in their own spectrum. I think (IMHO) that Basswood works very well with a hard finish (nitro or poly with a hardner) because of the combination of the soft wood giving a rich tone (that resonantes well) and the finish (hard) giving it a bite. I think everyone seems in agreement that it is not the prettiest of wood and is easily damaged so I would only use it on a painted guitar. As for the Poplar/Alder debate...I thank everyone for the information...Rog

I am considering a voodoo type finish for an upcoming project and am wondering if anyone knows how to achieve the effect that Gibson gets on their Voodoo series guitars?? It looks like they stain heavy red, backsand, and then stain black?? If I do this do I need to avoid the grain with the black stain?? Perhaps the red is really heavy and the black is really thin and translucent??? Anyone posses this knowledge?? Voodoo Series Gibsons