curtisa

The neck thickness on my 8 string I built about 2 years ago was a little shallow at 17mm at the neck pocket, plus 7mm for the fretboard, but is perfectly stable and playable. I used the .175" Hipshot bridge due to the extra height I needed for the slightly thicker fretboard. There's probably no hard and fast rules regarding neck thickness at the pocket as long as it looks OK (ie, not less than the thickness of the "played" part of the neck), has enough material for the neck screws to hold on to and doesn't leave you with a heel that's too bulky to be comfortable. I now usually aim for thickness at the 12th (ie, neck + fretboard) +6mm or so, which covers most situations where a 3/4" blank is used.

Do you know you have a problem with the volume or tone pots as well? Be a shame to assume nothing works, replace it outright and miss an opportunity to learn about how the nuts and bolts of the instrument work together. Might be quicker, but not nearly as fun. New fully loaded scratchplate from China is $20 or so. May or may not drop right in (screw holes may not match your existing bass), parts quality probably pretty dubious, but will likely get you going in no time flat. New pots would be $3 - $4 each, jack socket $2 - $3, get to learn/practice your soldering techniques, mechanical skills, assembly skills, fault-finding skills, warm-and-fuzzy feeling of "modded it myself"...

Welcome aboard! If wiggling the lead in the jack makes the signal come and go then the jack likely wants replacing. The jack relies on the "springiness" of the internal contacts to ensure a good connection with the guitar lead. Over time, or if it was cheaply made, and after repeated insertions/removals the jack contacts will lose their shape and won't be able to conform to the shape of the plug properly. Add years of dirt, grime and corrosion and eventually the jack won't be any good. New jacks are only a buck or two for a cheapie from any electronics hobby store that will get you going again, or multiple dollars for some high-end super-duper gold plated thing from an over-priced music store.

Small palm router with a rabetting bit plus bearing would be my guess. Might need to finesse the channel by hand at the transistion of the flat section of body and the arm rest. The router table probably could work too. You'd just need to tip the body into the cutter so that the face of the arm rest remains flat to the table as it goes around. Both methods above would require that the bevelled section is as level as possible, otherwise your binding channel could end up a bit wavy. A shallow setions in the channel are OK as they can easily be adjusted by hand to the correct depth later on. Deep spots in the channel will be difficult to recover from.

Thanks Osorio. And a hearty handshake to everyone who voted this instrument as GOTM for September!

Something you can try if you have a multimeter with a beeper function: Take one multimeter probe and attach it to a buzzy string behind the nut. Play the string up the fretboard and touch the other multimeter probe to each higher fret as you play (might need an extra pair of hands to help). If the string actually buzzes on a fret it will complete a circuit between the string/fret/multimeter and you should get a beep.

More relief should allow more clearance under the frets when fretting a note. Assuming you don't adjust anyting else you should end up with higher action as the neck now curves a little more under string tension, and the chances of fret buzz should be reduced. Does your neck have any twists or warps? Does your straightedge cover the full length of the fretted portion of the neck? Is your straightedge actually straight? Action too low? FWIW I usually shoot for around 0.012" relief (capo at first fret, press string at neck/body join, measure string height at mid point between the two fretted nodes) and around 0.09" unfretted action at the 12th on the bass side. Provided the neck has no other quirks and issues I find those measurements give pretty good results. Sometimes I can get away with smaller clearances but the chances of buzz increase if I start playing a bit too exuberantly.

You mention having the neck at zero relief. Do you adjust it to zero relief when under string tension as well? My guess is that the neck is too straight, and doesn't allow enough clearance for each string to vibrate without rattling against adjacent frets. Other possibilities can be fret crowns too flat (sitar effect on each fret) or bridge saddles with flat spots/not enough downward angle behind the saddles (sitar effect at the bridge).

You'll probably get lots of different answers and opinions. Personal circumstances may dictate the scale lengths you settle on - how much of a stretch the player is comfortable with on the lower strings, how "steep" the angle is at each end of the fretboard, the position of the perpendicular fret, the tuning the guitar will be used in, how taut the player likes the strings to be... I've only built one multiscale so far - 7 string, 25.5" - 26.5", perpendicular at the 7th, tuned standard. As a former Strat guy I'm quite happy with 25.5" on the treble side, and I feel an extra inch on the bass for the low B is a good compromise between string tension and fret span. What I have noticed from playing the guitar is that my left hand would probably still be comfortable with a slightly more exaggerated angle at the nut, either by going to 27" scale length, or keeping the scale length at 26.5" and shifting the perpendicualr fret higher to the 8th or 9th position. I'm currently planning a new build - 6 strings, 25" - 26", perp at the 9th - which will spend its time tuned in open-C or drop-C. I've always liked the looser feel of the slightly shorter 25" scale on my PRS, and an extra inch for the low C would probably work quite well without making the stretch too much for my hands. I imagine most people would view an 8 string multiscale to be best at 27" to 28" on the bass side. I personally don't like the sound of the high-E when tuned to pitch at scale lengths above 25.5" as it starts to get a brittle and piercing quality, so maybe use your own experiences/ears/hands with "regular" guitars as a guide to deciding on your treble scale length.

I assume those two trapezoidal tail piece options are offcuts from the top and back? My vote is light.

Interesting. My only experiences with Hipshot have been the hardtail bridges and the tuners (both locking and non-locking) and have always been happy with the results. A headless build was something I toyed with a while back, and I noticed that Hipshot had their headless system, but I always thought the aesthetics were a bit "blocky" compared to their hardtails. And now I've been bitten by the multiscale bug the Hipshot headless wouldn't fulfill my requirements anyway. Yes, that's something I like about the Wilkinson trem system (and hence my comment about the look of the ABM). The locking saddles are definitely a plus when it comes to ensuring the best possible sustain and transfer of string energy, even if we're only talking miniscule differences. Every little bit helps.

Does this signify a move away from your usual Hipshot hardtail bridge? The ABM looks not unlike what I've seen done with the Wilkinson saddles + DIY baseplate for making multiscale bridge assemblies.

Great to see a diverse bunch of instruments this month. Anu Guitars Eyra - Love the use of the burl on both sides of the instrument, and the tiger stripes around the body edges and up the neck sets up a visually striking combo. The contouring looks extremely comfortable and tactile. Hope to see some more of your creations soon! Tailcutter 7 String RG - Excellent idea to adapt an existing design to your own requirements and oversize the body. The "ghosting" graphics is an understated touch that goes well with the stripped back appearance of the instrument. A fine player with no-nonsense looks to boot. Independent Hils Proto Bass - Excellent to see another first-timer entry, and DIY-ing the electronics and pickup rings makes it all the more noteworthy. I dig the asymetric racing stripes on the front, and the combination of timbers sits well together. First builds are always the special ones. Excellent work by everyone this month - well done!

Ahhhhh, I wondered what that extra slot was adjacent to the nut.

Will the 57/66 pickups look right with the slanted installation you have going there? The 57/66 pair are made as "soapbars" but they still have the visible pole pieces running down one edge which won't align with the strings if you install them slanted. Probably won't be detrimental to the tone of the guitar but cosmetically it might look a bit off? If the cosmetics are going to be an issue perhaps go with fully-enclosed soapbar EMGs (808, 808X, 808TW, 60-8, 81-8, 85-8 etc), Seymour Duncan Blackouts, or similar shaped pickups with a rail polepiece arrangement like Lace Deathbars or X-bars.

It's been a few years since I've done this sort of thing but I reckon what you really want is a parallel-load shift register at the transmitting end, and a serial-in parallel-out shift register at the receiving end. Data is loaded in parallel at the transmitter in one consecutive 30-bit word and then shifted out one bit at a time in synchronism with a clocking signal. At the receiving end the incoming serial data is shifted into the receiving register in synchronism with the same clock signal and when 30 bits have been received the data is made available as one contiguous byte at the outputs. To read a new word you send a signal to both transmitter and receiver to reset their inputs and start clocking again. Do it fast enough and your ears won't hear the gaps in between each 30-bit transmission. Have a look at the 74165 as your transmitter and the 74595 as the receiver. They're only 8 bits wide, but you can daisy chain multiple chips together to expand the number of bits you can shift in one hit. You'd need four at each end to cover your 30 on/off signals (4x 8 bits = 32 with two "dead" bits at the end). Your interconnecting cable would require 3 conductors - the shifter clock, a reset signal to synchronise the two ends and the data conductor. Add another 2 conductors if you're sending power from the receiver box to the transmitter circuitry (external power perhaps?).

Cheers, Brett. Much appreciated!

Lookin' sharp, Carl.

Thanks, Allan.

Cheers, Carl. ABMs were sourced from Thomann.de. After the currency conversion and removal of VAT it worked out at about 14 Euro per saddle (about $21 AU in my coinage) - cheaper than anywhere else I could find them. About the same price as the new Hipshot Solos, but the ABMs are definitely the prettier unit. I've got another set of six on their way to me right now for another project. Let me know if you need any specific measurements.

Thanks, old bean!

Afterimage Guitars - MSR7 "Dune" Always willing to try something different, even if only to say I've got the T-shirt to say I've done it. The idea of mutliscale instruments has always intrigued me, and being that my geographical location makes it extremely unlikely I would be able to find one to try out, the logical conclusion is that I should build one instead! Body - Tasmanian Blackwood with Celery Top Pine/Tas Myrtle/CTP stringers Top - Figured Tas Oak Neck - Tas Myrtle with Tas Blackwood accents Headstock - 3x4 configuration, with matching Tas Oak figured headplate Fretboard - Jarrah with Cheesewood "ring" fret markers Scale length - 26.5" - 25.5", 7th fret perpendicular Radius - 16" Trussrod - Allied Lutherie Tuners - Hipshot Open Gear Grip Lock Frets - Jumbo nickel silver Nut - Graphtech black Tusq XL Pickups - EMG 707 bridge, EMG 60-7 neck Bridge - ABM independent saddles, top-loading Electronics - 1x vol, 1 x 3-way toggle Finish - Danish Oil Build thread located

All over, Red Rover:

Had a quick scout around the net and it turns out that Parker use (or used?) tang-less stainless steel frets that are simply glued to the face of the fretboard. There seem to have been a few stories of some Parker Flys where the glue gives way and the fret just drops off the fretboard!

Isn't that what Parker already do (or at least did when they first arrived on the scene in the mid 90s)?