Hotrock

DANGER WILL ROBINSON If the TOM was already drilled for, grab a tap measure and check that the distance from the nut to the TOM is 25.5". If it's not then you're going to be screwed, I have a funny feeling that it won't be. If this is the case then either the body or the neck have to be changed. Definately don't drill any holes until you've checked. In answer to quuestion 2, I'd have a look if that's a vaneer or a cap on top, If it's a vaneer then boy you be screwed again. You can still carve it if you want but in my opinion it would jus look plain wired if you wnet through the vaneer. As for the tiols, that is what I would use, but I wouldn't start with a very rough file as you might tear some grain off and on a virtually finish guitar, that would just be an arse ache. In answer to question 3, I have no idea

How I'd do it (not that I ever have BTW): I'd use two fans (preferably explosion proof but on the initial thinking, only one would need to be). Mount both fans outside of the booth, just to make it that bit safer. One fan will be the inlet and one will be the outlet. The fans that I'm thinking of can be bought from hydroponic shops. The inlet fan should have an activated charcol filter and a filter sleave on it (there's not much point sucking dusty air into a spray booth). Preferably this should suck air from outside, but it could do it from the shop if needed. Ducting should go into the booth from the fan. The other fan should have ducting from the booth to it (this should be the explosion proof one). This is the exhaust fan and should suck out slightly less air than the amount of air that is being pumped in to the booth. This would create positive pressure inside the booth. Air will be escaping from the nooks and crannies, so dust will not be sucked into them. This should be ducted to the outside (by means of a filter if you want). Hope that helps somewhere along the way Kaj

On the polished-turd-ocaster which I was going to wall of death in a Drak style, I've had a bit of an idea. Here's the crack: I've hollowed the body out and what I've been thinking about is putting a little onboard amp in it. But what I want to do is also mount a speaker (in the body behind the trem) so I can just play it anywhere. Can someone give me a hand? First off, I need the schematic of a fairly small amp. I'm not that worried about how simple or complicated it is, I just want a fairly decent one. I also want a Jack socket as well as the ability to put it through the speaker. Can someone recommend a speaker that will fit inside of the guitar and still sound half decent? PC speaker? And finally.......I've got a pretty funky suprise for the finish lined up. Tone junkies will say that it'll kill the tone, but it's sooo funky it'll be hard not to Cheers guys Kaj

Right then, how to cheat at templates lesson 1: Print out a photo of your guitar from straight on. Print it at (lets say) 1:10 scale, so if the scale length is 25.5" the photo will have a scale length of 2.25" (in actual fact you should print the photo out as large as possible as work the scale out from that, but for the time being, lets use the 1:10 scale). DRAW THE CENTRE LINE OF THE BODY ON THE PHOTO. On a piece of tracing paper, draw a grid of thin lines at (lets say) 5mm spacing, clearly marking the centre line. Line up the centre line of the paper grid with the centre line on the photo and stick the paper to it. On your wood, mark a grid with 50mm spacing (as the scale is 1:10), again with a CLEAR CENTRE LINE. At each point where the body crosses the grids on the photo, put that information on the grid on the wood and hey presto, You’ll have an outline of the body exactly 10 times the size as the photo. Kaj

Put "Bender Distortocaster" into google and you should get something back http://www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk <-----Found it Have a look at the "and there's more" page. The eagle guitar and the mouth are pretty funky.

Couldn't have said it better my cockney friend. Kaj

Where I used to live there was a motorbike where the bloke had painted the tank white and then put a net curtain over the top and sprayed some light blue. He took the curtain off and had the pattern on the tank and laquered over the top. Gotta say that it looked hella cool.

When I sanded the paint of one of my axes, it turned out to be plywood, which looks terrible. Just something to bear in mind

Jammy - I was just about to say that. About 2/3 ---> 3/4 of the way down the switchs page (just after the Gretch knobs I think)

Check this out: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...c=4833&hl=comic there is another thread about this too, run a search for over a year (Inlay and finishing section) over that last year and you should find it. Good luck dude Kaj

When's results day then guys?

Not much different over here. There is qite a big problem in the fact that if you are on benifits and you get a job, the system and dodgy pay of most low qualification jobs mans that you are infact worse off for having a job. Honestly I know it sounds crazy but there you are. Don't think though that means most people have a good living on benifits, we had a summer of eating pretty much nothing but apples off the tree in the back garden (hold on before this turns into an "In my day we had to get up half an hour before we went to bed" Monty Python type sketch). I also know the lets have another sprog and get more money type scam that people think goes on all the time. I know in some cases that it does, and there are always going to be arseholes who abuse the system, no matter what the system is. Lets take for example my cousin - finally left her boyfriend after he beat her up again (but that's OK because everytime someone in my family sees him in town we kick the crap out of him anyway - what goes around comes around and he's begining to learn not to come back). She's a single mother, wants to get a job but she can't because as sonn as she does she has to pay for child care, house, bills etc and there is noway that she could afford to. She has no choice but to take benifits, she hates it with a passion but there you go what other choice has she got. And finally, if anyone thinks it's good to be on the dole and not work for a living (I'm talking to you kids) just go up the dole office and see how miserable that place is. I used to go in with my old man and when I was about 14 I decided that I was never going to set foot back in that place again. Just like I said that about warehouse a few years back. I still haven't and I'll be buggered if I will. I'd rather starve, I didn't even claim benifits when I jacked my last job in, the place is just that bad.

I understand where you are comming from but I don't really agree. Yeah, the more you make, the more they take.....where else are you going to get the money from, poor people? To you it removes the drive excel and better yourself financially, physically and spirtually... I would say that my drive to better myself comes from the possability of bettering myself (well not physically because I'm halfway to dissabled and not spirtually as I'm not relegious, but I am a bit of an boardline athiest/agnostic tree hugger ). I don't mean to cause any problems (or certainly start a flame war, everyone is entitled to their opinions) but growing up below the poverty line I am happy to give back to the state. I've managed to get myself out of poverty by putting myself through university and now I have quite a high paid job (for my age atleast and I get a pay rise next month ) and I'm happy to give back to the state. Being poor really does suck ass and I wouldn't wish it one anyone. If that means that now I'm earning (just about) enough to support myself, my girlfriend (as she's just finished her masters degree and is looking for a job) and my cat then I'm happy to live with a slightly smaller telly and a smaller car so that my money actually goes to helping out those where I used to be. Well rant over.....Hope no offense caused and none taken

Here's my thoughts..... ......Shorten the scale length (to about 25"), have 6 strings......see where this is going.......and make a proper guitar Just joking before anyone gets upset. Got to admit that when I read the first post, I thought cool a 'V' bass (V meaning V not V meaning 5). As for the Walnut, I've been using African Walnut for some bits and pieces and found it really very easy to work with, but this is probably because it's soft. Is it suitable for a neck (even though you've got denser wood in there, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and all that). Saying that though, I only know about African Walnut and yours may well be different Kaj

Hippy Just joking Mushy. My take on it is much the same as Lex. I do thnk though that the fretboard is in the grey area and that it should be let go. You can but the fretboard and it will still be a scratch guitar (you'll just be a girly lightweight for not making your own ). Certainly a scratch guitar should be all the wood shaped etc yourself (and preferably the finish too as many people judge an axe on the finish). If you have a bought in neck, then you are just modifying that neck (albeit by sticking a new body on it), if you buy a body you are just modding the body by sticking a neck on it. If you have access to a CNC and you can pop a body out then so be it, it's still a scratch guitar you just have access to better tools.

Cheers for all the help and info guys. Frank - Good call on the increased winding distance. I'll have to get the calculator out to work it out. I never actually thought of that so nice one dude Cheers Myka - I like your ideas (as well as your guitars - I have one as the wallpaper on my comp, I think they are my favorite and I was most brassed off that I didn't get chance to buy one of the bodies I saw for sale. I didn't log on over the weekend and they were all gone when I did ). Well after carfull consideration here is the (getting close to) final spec: 2 No. P90's Neck P90 - standard wiring Bridge P90 - about 10% hotter Handmade bobbins so pole pieces directly under strings on both 1 Vol pot for each pup 1 Tone pot for each pup Push/Pull (Tone pot) for series/parrallel switching Last question(s): I would quite like to have a couple more toys to play with. Is there anything that I could do with another push/pull pot? I don't want to mount a battery in there so onboard fx are out. What value pots and caps should be used with P90's? Cheers dudes Kaj EDIT: Just found another question, When looking at the P90 specs it said that they either have Alnico3 or Alnico5 magnets. I'm guessing that the originals were A3, so this is what I'll use. Can someone please confirm about the pups? Cheers again guys.

Yeah, I've posted over at Ampgein the hope that Jason answers, but nothing as yet. I have just had a thought though, most of the LP double cuts I've seen just have a P90 at the bridge, is there enough room to have 2 P90s on a 24.75 scale double cut? I think there is but I've just scared myself I'm also considering winding both pups at around the original spec. The way I see it now, if they had a standard P90 in the bridge position originally then that's probably what I should put on mine (in both positions). Anyone got a problem with this? And finally cheers for all the help/comments guys, it truely is appreciated Kaj

Well I just have to even it out 1-1 in the battle between good and evil. Sorry Mushy, it was a close run thing. You should still be very proud that axe is gorgeous, can't wait to see what comes along next.

You could try a material finish with one of those Global Hypercolour T-Shirts Remember them?

Cheers guys. I'm not sure if I will wind them hotter than usual, if it ain't broke etc... Rick here......Yeah, I thought about them but I've already drilled 4 holes (I like the look) Cheers anyway Drak......The guitar is: BODY: Based on '59 LP Jr with a slightly thinner waist Mahogany body (with a little chambering) 4A Quilted Maple Cap About 1.25 inch thick total TOM/Stop Piece 2 Vol pots, 2 Tone pots 2 P90's maybe standard maybe a bit overwound (in one or either position) but probably standard African Walnut Electric Cavity Cover NECK: Maple:Zebrano:Maple Neck Fingerboard from same block so Maple:Zebrano:Maple continues all the way down the neck 24.75 inch scale African Walnut Crown Inlay Very BIG Tennon (Comes down past bridge and is visable from front and back of guitar) Angled back headstock with African Walnut stripe running through it FINISH: How the hell should I know Wood pretty much as god intended but covered in poly So all in all, not too far off what you say would be perfect (all barring the neck anyway). Still think it's a good idea and what about winding the bridge a bit hotter? Cheers guys, you're all dudes

I think you'll find people arguing about that wherever there are guitars. The general feeling here is that the type of wood DOES make a difference, I'm sure someone will explain it better, but here is my take (but I'm no expert) and it's in engineer speak (sorry): The wobbly bit of the strings are held by (lets say) the bridge and the nut which are attached to the wood. For the sake of this example we will assume that the nut and bridge transfer 100% of the vibration to the body. This causes the body to vibrate (you can tell that the body vibrates because it….errr…..vibrates when you play it). This means that the bits holding the strings vibrate too (at a different frequency to the string) and this alters the sound, it is however a secondary effect as you do mainly hear the strings interacting with the pups. I generally model stuff like this as a spring, mass, damper model. For example, take your car suspension, it has a spring (suspension), mass (unsprung weight of wheel, brakes etc) and damper (the….errr…..damper). Given that the spring and mass remain constant, if you change the damper, the displacement graph (with time) of the vertical suspension movement will change as the oscillation is more or less damped. This is the same with the guitar. If everything remains the same except for the wood, the damping characteristics will change (as the vibrations I spoke about a minute ago will be at a different frequency due to the guitar body resonating at a different frequency). This will cause the oscillation of the string to change slightly. I’m sure someone else will pop in with a bit less rambling version (or indeed the right version) but that’s been my take on it. Oh and for future reference, if the wood is kept the same and the body shape is changed, the body will hit resonance at a different frequency, therefore the sound will change. Oh and if you were wondering about the engineer speak, we use the terms “wobbly bit” when we think no one else is listening Excuse any spelling and grammer bugger ups, as this is a quick note between meetings. Kaj

Ahh, now I'm following. Unfortunately I've leant the book to a mate (which proved a problem when I was about to slot the fret board and couldn't find the measurements ) Yeah, I was going to post over at ampge, I've already hit the LP forum. Any suggestions on pots as in my head, P90's are halfway between single coils and HB's.

Well, when I say blend pot I meant to say 1 vol pot for each pup. oops I was going to buy them, but I never thought of that. I'll probably make them now. errr............ Oh and what do you think about 10% extra beef on the bridge Cheers Setch

I thought they just came with the one bridge pup though, not a bridge and a neck. Do you think it's worth overwinding the bridge pup to make it a bit hotter or should I just leave them alone and make them both standard? Cheers dude

Hold on lads, I've had an idea! I was originally planning on having 2 HB's on my LP double cutaway but I've had a change of heart (especially after listening to Drak talking about P90's in a Mahogany LP). I'm going to go with 2 P90's but I've got a bit of a problem: Do any guitars come with two P90's because I don't think I've seen one? As I'm winding them myself, I was going to wind the bridge pup slightly hotter than the neck to give a bit more oomph, I'm hopeing that it can be "toned down" as I'm having blend pots between pups and not a switch. Does this sound acceptable? Is it a good idea to wind the bridge about 15% hotter than he neck (which will be standard) or should I stick with the original for both? What size pots should I buy (250k or 500k)? Finally, Could I do anything with a push/pull pot (that's actually usefull) with two P90's (originally I was going to have HB's with loads of switching options). Cheers guys Kaj