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Geo

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Everything posted by Geo

  1. A spokeshave is great for roughing out a neck, but I don't know how it would handle that concave carve. The guitar is BEAUTIFUL!!!! I always enjoy drooling over your guitars, blackdog!!!!
  2. I don't think it would show up in a picture. I could try and take a picture inside it though. It's nothing more than I've seen on other acoustic guitars, but other guitars are a lot older.
  3. I wouldn't discourage you from experimenting with this... I just imagine there's a lot more to it than the understanding that most guitar-types have. That's why I brought up the fact that fret placement is out-of-tune with the string's natural node points. The guitar is a mathematical mess. Think about the tone of a sine-wave synth across its whole range and how homogenous the tone color is compared to the guitar. Every fret on every string seems to have a slightly different timbre, and certain areas (e.g. the E and B strings on the first few frets, or the low strings on the high frets) have very unique timbres. Surely the clash of open-string harmonics with fretted harmonics in a given fretted note could contribute to the unique "timbre areas" of the fretboard. I think it's all the same thing man! Could you elaborate?
  4. This was my first electric guitar--a $99 Asian model that even came with an amp! The amp was gutted long ago to serve as the enclosure for a 3W Plexi-style tube amp. Now it's the guitar's turn for a makeover! The finished guitar will have a sustainer coil sitting on top of the rewound neck pickup. The bridge pickup will also be rewound. (These are possibly the worst pickups ever.) I may rewind the middle pickup later. These pickups have bar magnets and non-adjustable polepieces which are set to staggered heights. The circuit will allow switching between sustainer/normal mode. In normal mode, you can also use the preamp of the sustainer circuit for a boost. (My rewound pickups came out a lower impedance, ~3k DCR, because of my loose hand-winding style.) The sustainer is driven by the Ruby/Fetzer amp. Also replacing the crappy tremolo and loosey-goosey tuners. The neck, which came with frets that had been leveled but never crowned, got a fret recrowning. Before... Check out the fine craftmanship in this carefully-routed neck pocket. Note the crappy little shim: wood which looks and feels like balsa. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3584.jpg To wind the sustainer coil, I put some bloodwood spacers on the coil, leaving the top 3mm for the sustainer coil. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3714.jpg Another view... http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3715.jpg To rewind these pickups without removing the bar magnets, I made this little thing out of iron to go in the drill chuck. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3716.jpg http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3717.jpg Winding the bridge pickup: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3719.jpg Winding the neck pickup under the sustainer coil. I put drops of glue in the sustainer coil as I wound, so it formed a solid boundary to wind the pickup coil below it. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3722.jpg The finished neck pickup/sustainer unit. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...at/IMG_3724.jpg
  5. Only if the total length of wire is harmonically related to your scale length. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
  6. I could take a look at my bass for you when I get home. It's a ~30" scale with short scale strings. I'm not sure if your strings will have the same length of winding, but it might be helpful.
  7. You bring up some interesting points... I'll attempt to answer them. I think they appear not to be fussy. The actual node of a harmonic is non-negotiable, and always falls at the same place for a given open string length. I think the muting/damping of your finger is insignificant enough within a 1/2" margin of the node that it doesn't significantly impede the ringing of the harmonic. If the damping mattered within that margin, you could never play harmonics with chubby fingers; you would need a knife-edge or something. The problem with that is that the higher you go in the harmonic series, the weaker and less significant the harmonics become. I doubt that any harmonic above the first 20 or so has much of an audible effect on a note within the guitar's range. And remember, most of us can't hear beyond ~20,000 Hz anyway. So yes, technically you can derive any frequency from any other frequency, but it's only the lower partials that have an effect on music. (This is just my opinion.) I don't doubt that vibrations can pass through the string even when your finger holds it down. But I think it still comes down to the equal-tempered fret positions being out of tune with the same positions based on transposed-down overtones. Now, could the clash of overtones from the total string length and overtones from the fretted string length contribute to tone? Absolutely (as long as the string behind your finger really does have an effect). As to the longer-scaled guitar having a deeper tone, I think the freely vibrating string length may have more to do with the tone than the part behind your finger. Also string gauge really comes into play here... as well as pickups... oh dear. I would say it's all related, in a very confusing way.
  8. Sorry guys, I'm partially responsible. Carry on.
  9. I could ask the same of you Geo. All you have done is shown how to do something, you did not explain why. He is still no better prepared for the next electronics hurdle that he may have to cross. It would be a much better service to him if he was prepared with knowledge so that he is not dependent upon fellow forumites whenever he has to do a simple modification. If you dislike my approach I am sorry Geo, but I also dislike yours since it leaves out the very reasoning that is so necessary for understanding. You do not teach a child how to read a clock by telling him the time. You teach him what everything means so that they are not reliant upon remembering the patterns (or diagrams) that they have seen before and can then move beyond that by being able to read a clock at any time with full understanding of why it is so. All I need point out is this from your previous post... ... in which you have no interest in teaching him how to fish. I am not going to fight with you. He got his question answered. He has some links to read if he wants. I didn't explain the diagram because it's obvious. The signal goes to the jack and tone pot in parallel.
  10. Oh my gosh................... That's so beautiful!!!!!!!!!! The pickup covers really tie it all together!
  11. In this diagram... http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUHH3T2101 ... just remove the tone pot altogether. Run a lead from the middle tab of the switch straight to the jack. BTW some of a certain poster's responses are totally out of line. If a guy needs a wiring diagram explained, just explain it rather than acting like a tool. Geez.
  12. Work from the bottom of your body blank rather than the top. That way you can still have a flat neck pocket and a 1/4" carve. EDIT: Keegan essentially said the same thing:
  13. I think that would be true ONLY if the frets were positioned to play the (transposed-down) overtones of the fundamental of the open string. But the standard guitar fret positions are equal-tempered, all based on the same ratio. To illustrate with an example: the interval of the major third is taken from the fourth overtone (not counting the fundamental). The "overtone" 3rd is significantly flatter (and more consonant) than the equal-tempered major third. Say you base your whole guitar on the frequency A440. Take the A string. Unfretted, its fundamental is 110 Hz. This produces an overtone C# of 550 Hz. Transpose this down to be in the same octave: the C# right above A110 should be 137.5 Hz. (This is NOT an equal-tempered C#; it will only sound in tune with A and related notes.) To get 137.5 Hz on a 110 Hz string, you will need to scoot the fourth fret back towards the nut (because the equal-tempered 3rd is sharp). Now the 4th fret position is "harmonically in tune" with the open string. NOW maybe the open string 2nd octave harmonic will come into play, because when you fret at the 4th fret, you aren't disturbing the harmonic nodes of the open string. But when you fret the 4th fret on a normal guitar, you introduce a whole new set of overtones that are harmonically out-of-tune with the fundamental of the open string, because the guitar is tempered. Perhaps a little off-topic, but it might be beneficial.
  14. Hi guys, I built an OM last summer. I've noticed that there is a slight rise in the top behind the bridge and (I think) a slight dip in front of it. It is about 1mm, eyeballing it (I have no way to measure it precisely). I would expect this on an old guitar, but this one is a baby! Should I be concerned? I'm just wondering if I built it too weak. Or is this normal? Does it reach this point early in its life and stay there, or is this a bad sign? Thanks.
  15. Beautiful design and beautiful work! I think the "lopsided" body works great with the unequal scales. The design looks like it's in motion in many directions at once. Very cool!
  16. I would definitely use 12's for that tuning.
  17. If it sounds in-tune to you, it's in tune, even if the tuner says it's off. If your ear is good and you can hear the problem, then maybe you need something other than "normal". I just wouldn't spend too much on a kit guitar. That's my take anyway.
  18. If you're not happy with the joint you got and the wood has spent many hours soaking in a bathtub, it might be better to start over. There's no shame in this!
  19. This problem actually exists on MOST guitars, to some degree. Equal tempered tuning isn't accurate. The first few frets of most guitars actually are slightly sharp. Look into the Buzz Feiten tuning system - it talks about this. Basically, guitars with a straight nut cannot intonate perfectly across the fretboard. Our ears generally don't notice things being off. Sadly, mine do, and this drives me kinda crazy. I have my gripes with equal temperament too, but I don't know if that's the problem here. I'm guessing that sockwalker has played other guitars and that most equal-tempered guitars sound "in-tune" to him. (We all know they play every interval out of tune except octaves.) But equal temperament is generally close enough for most people, and something else is wrong with this guitar, otherwise he wouldn't have noticed a problem. For most people to notice something being "out of tune", it must be seriously out of tune, and the tuning inaccuracies of equal temperament are generally small enough that most people don't notice them. Also I think he was using a tuner rather than his ear. I'm pretty sure that tuner would be set up for equal temperament, not just intonation or another system. So if the tuner says it's out of tune, it's out of tune with equal temperament. An equal tempered guitar is the goal here, since it has a normal nut and straight frets.
  20. I say without... there's too much going on visually to leave room for a pickguard.
  21. It looks like you're on the right track. I would add some kind of perpendicular stop to your miter setup. Then you won't have to worry about inaccurately cut slots as long as you plane one edge of the fretboard completely straight before starting (and use that straight side to establish the centerline of the FB). This means cutting the slots before you taper the board. There are many ways to make a fretboard--that's just my suggestion.
  22. I like the look of this! The top wood and the placement of the F-hole are quite attractive. Good luck!
  23. Yes, that's what I thought--my mistake. That might be the problem, if some of the strings have to stretch farther to be fretted than others. Given the in-tune-ness of the octave and twelfth fret, it seems to me that there are only two other possibilities: 1) All frets except the octave are out of place (but you already ruled that out) 2) The strings are stretching too far to be fretted (but then, why would the 12+ frets be FLAT? They should be right on, because the stretch from a high nut would be less significant that far away from the nut).
  24. It's puzzling to me that each fret 1-11 gets sharper , and that the octave is then spot on. So you must have a very tiny half-step between frets 11 and 12. Or maybe I misunderstood. I would expect the sharpness to decrease as you approach the octave... but maybe that's what you meant. But essentially, it sounds like the problem is your nut height--more severe on the treble E, less severe on the bass E. And as someone else suggested, make sure the slot is angled down properly so that the string is beginning to vibrate at the very front edge of the nut, not somewhere behind that.
  25. I have one thing to point out... the fact that the octave is in tune means that the bridge, nut, and 12th fret are in the right places relative to each other (depending on how good your ear is). If this is a guitar kit, is it possible that the fret positions are wrong?
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