Prostheta

I'm not that good at hearing things objectively, so I always end up looking for things that I could key onto and that was one of them. My ears aren't that good, so I guess my imagination for how something might translate makes up for that  

Good point about the shelf just beyond the nut. The headstock reminds me very much of the snakehead paddle style, which is very cool of itself I think. The drop from the fingerboard to the tuners looks pretty deep; am I right in thinking that it's more than a Fender sort of half-inch drop?

Sounds like you have a good mind for building on each experience. Onward!

That's just a fantastic demo. Really excellent opening playing choice to showcase this one. That mid boost is very nice to have onboard as well; it seems to retain the right level of sparkle on top of the added warm mid presence. Overall though, there's a deceptively-large palette of usable tonal options on tap. I could imagine uses for pretty much all of these, avoiding that one-trick pony issue that too many guitars fall into. Man, that parallel stacked tone around 16:27.

Just great work, man. I love it. So what did you take from this build that you might apply going on towards the next?

Hahaha. Flying Hearpe.

That's a better idea, especially as this is how they would have been made originally. I can't remember the tannic acid content of Ash, but bear in mind that the acidic nature of most glues against steel in clamps or forms will likely blacken the wood.

Again, no direct experience on this one. Steam is simply a buffer for heat when it comes to bending wood. Same as why food doesn't exceed the boiling point of water when cooking water-heavy food, the same applies to bending wood. It controls direct application of heat by dissipating it as steam escapes. Boiling wood is possible also, but I've not tried anything as large or thick as this piece, only binding. Evening heating to the core of the workpiece must be done fully so as not to create some sort of heat gradient which would interfere with - or prevent - a stable bend.

Generally I would think that you'd need to be bending a larger piece of timber in order to achieve the torque to take it into the shape needed. Something like this would need to be maybe half a metre in length? That seems right on the borderline of what I would imagine is easy to handle. A good strong pair of clamping cauls in the shape of the destination bend seems a given.

I say "do it", but with the full knowledge that it may fail, and have a backup plan. It's a great opportunity to absorb the process hands-on (wearing heatproof gloves, anyway).

I doubt that you'll need the same beam steaming box as was used when this ship was built down the road from me!

https://ihana.fi/?lang=en-gb&langmenu=1

Likely the simplest and most available option would be PVC drain piping and adaptors, or even piped within sheeting. I shouldn't need to remind you of the safety issues in steam that can end up pressurised, however I would be irresponsible for not pointing out the obvious  It may be possible to steam this in a microwave, but that is something I don't have working knowledge of, only anecdotal info. I'd imagine that you wouldn't get the same amount of control or time in steam in a microwave.

Steam bending a piece with that sort of cross-section and short length will be a task. That said, something being difficult is a terrible reason to not do it! 

What sort of steam box/pipe setup do you use?

Remember to buff your backside, but don't go too coarse otherwise it'll burn.

Yes, definitely. Spirit dyes can be anything from fairly dilute to ridiculously potent. I know of Chestnut, but never used them. Looking forward to seeing how the tests go.

That's it entirely. Can you feel the fret ends during dry weather, do the fret ends impede playing, are they all consistent and smooth, etc. All that they truly require. Everything beyond that is cosmetic.

Grain filler is a pain to remove. Be mindful that if you do start removing it, it may not remove evenly depending on local penetration into the pore structure. It's difficult to know what is the right thing to do in this circumstance until you are knee deep unfortunately.

That site's a great source of schematics. Some junky pointless ones also, but overall always one of the first places I look if I am needing a specific plan.

They look fantastic.

Achieving a perfect crisp diamond knurl can be quite the trick in materials that don't want it. I'm definitely a process rather than end product guy. 

How about using a dividing plate and cutting grooves across the sides instead?

I prefer NSF switches. They're super reliable and very luxurious-feeling compared to open-frame Alphas or plastic enclosed types with the plastic shaft (yuck). Expensive, but absolutely worth it for those one-off projects where you just want everything to be just so.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/switches/rotary-switches-accessories/rotary-switches/?searchTerm=nsf gx

It's a worthwhile experiment, that's for certain. As electric instruments based on acoustic ones go, it's worth considering whether the original acoustic elements reinforce the character of the sound enough that they need to be included explicitly. Exactly the difference between an acoustic guitar with a magnetic pickup and a solidbody. The acoustic aspects of the body affect the way the strings vibrate, and how the magnetic pickup reproduces that....a solid lump of wood without that vital acoustic component of the instrument as a system feeding into the strings might lack vital a acoustic character in the tone also. Muse on.

I know....my son's 27yo now and it's crazy. He'll be 40yo in no time. Like literally, I was just there.

Glad you found a solution that doesn't introduce excessive compromise. When you make something out on the edges of guitar design, it quickly gets frustrating when you get forced to conform to the norms that some components push on you!

I love the use of custom fabbed aluminium brackets in this build, especially the way that the pickups are rear-adjustable and clean at the front. The contours bring to find the front of an Ibanez S with the rear of an Ibanez Radius/JS, over something that makes both bring their own internal consistency. Very cool.

How's the little one coming along? I mean, a guitar project sitting on a shelf doesn't change over ten years....surely the kid'll be driving cars around in donuts on the fields by now? Over halfway to voting age....man, that ages you

I'd say, test the pickups with the EMG pots and leave the covers off. If you like the tonality and options, and you know that this will be THE setup for the instrument, then hard-wire other switches that fit in the depth. Quick connectors are convenient (except for fishing through holes) but if you know how you want it, they become a bit superfluous.

Literally the only things I could drag from my own experiences with Lignum Vitae stop here. Everything I know is about origin, trade use and its working issues. From this point it's simply a case of getting the best hypothesis together and working knowledge to tip the scales in this direction. As a single-piece neck, yes, that truss rod will be the clincher. I'd like to think that a rear-mount compression rod would reduce the amount of glueing required, especially over a separate fingerboard. If the rod were waxed prior to insertion, then a fillet glued with epoxy (or other ridiculous adhesives as mentioned) into a freshly-degreased slot sounds the safest plan. Compression rods don't bear against the neck to the same degree as floating single/double acting rods, so there should be far less risk of the rod popping out a fillet. Equally, they are less prone to binding up should adhesive make its way onto the rod.

It's perhaps less useful in more modern preamp designs, but pretty significant a change for older style EMGs. I'd say that it isn't worth hinging your ideas on, but worthwhile as a secondary consideration.

Are you going 9v or 18v?

It looks like the black triangle is shorthand for a connection to the fifth point along the connector, at least in the diagram. There are 9+2 wires in total on both the PCB and the diagram, so the virtual earth 0v created by tying the two batteries together looks like it should be going to the black wire, or the sixth location across. Do not tie the virtual earth 0v to ground! This is part of how this differential preamp works....it might still function (I've not thought about this enough yet) however it loses some of the functionality in how it rejects noise.

All the ground connections go to the pots, yes, so how you illustrated it in red is spot on. If you get hum that goes away when you touch the hardware, add a ground wire to the bridge. Just keep that 0v isolated from the grounding, since they're not the same thing.

20 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Nice!

Good to see a conclusion to one of your builds!

SR

I know right? I feel so weird in that I enjoy the process of design/development/problem-solving more than the end result. I just need to locate some good quality axial capacitors for the rotary tone filter in the right range. It works with that in isolation, and boy does "work" feel like an understatement.