Geo

I'm not sure if you've ever experienced microphonic feedback (which is what you're trying to replicate here)... it's not like string feedback. It doesn't matter what note or chord you're playing, your feedback will be its own pitch, probably always the same pitch. It will also be uncontrollable at performance volume levels.

That said, if you want to experiment with microphonic feedback, I think you're on the right track. Loose winding and lack of potting will give you what you're looking for.

Don't believe all the tone-voodoo you have been fed. That guitar will sound different depending on the pups/electronics you use, moreso than by what wood you use. Change pups and your tone change can be dramatic . Change wood.... not so much.

I agree that pickups are a huge factor in the sound of a guitar. However, to my ears, I can still hear the unique tone of a guitar come through in different pickups.

For example, my $99 knockoff Strat (first guitar... gettin teary-eyed...) still has the same character even with rewound pickups. This is probably due to the body wood sandwich, neck joint and bridge still being the same.

I built a guitar with a poplar neck and ash body. I put cheap no-name P 90's in it. Even after rewinding these pickups, the particular "thud" of the ash and the springiness of the poplar neck still come out in the amplified tone.

Now, maybe there would be a bigger difference if I put humbuckers in the Strat or Strat pickups in the ash guitar... I don't know.

I love the color. Great work.

Way cool. 3-pickup guitars other than Strats are so badass.

It has a lot more character than tops that are just bleeding figure everywhere. I like how the figure comes and goes.

If YOU are happy with it, then yes, it was a good buy!

You know its a very cool idea and I really would like to possibly try this system but a guitar can NOT be perfectly intonated, its virtually impossible unless you install a true temperament neck, stick to the same guages and tuning...

http://www.truetemperament.com

Unless this system actually moves and tunes the strings when you play chords for compensation.....

I think the idea is that it holds whatever pitch the open string is tuned to. I don't think it has anything to do with intonation, just the mechanical stability of the string.

So you could intonate the guitar poorly and leave it out of tune and this system would keep it like that, against changing weather conditions, string bends, playing like an animal, etc.

but they say the 335 was deemed 'unusable' by the owner until the installation. Now its his go-to guitar. sounds like a win.

yeah an unusable 60's 335 is still unusable... although I guess you could sell it for millions and get a solid workhorse guitar and a house instead.

wow, if you are that worried about holding a pencil, I dread to think how much you worry about holding a router!

lol... er... routers use bearing bits and templates.

It's not that my hand shakes; pencil lead is just not very precise because it's constantly changing as you use it.

The poor guy is just trying to represent neck angle mathematically. Of course, guitarists are notorious for their inability to learn new tricks.

For myself, I might prefer to use an equation. I just don't trust my pencils. When I'm drawing a neck-length line, the pencil can start out with a perfect point, but how do I know the point isn't changing as I make the line? Also, how can I be sure I'm keeping the pencil perfectly steady against the straightedge? There are so many variables there, and it's all about muscle control!

I think adjustability in bridge height covers a lot of slop. Still, why not take the formulaic approach? It looks like fun.

If you're just getting started and you don't have or want to buy spray equipment, Tru-oil is a great finish for guitars. It's easy to apply by hand and easy to level.

http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Finishing/...42-5b1b8a3f180e

A word to the wise... if you oil-finish it, you may want to seal the spruce with shellac first. I was advised to do that when I tru-oiled an acoustic build, because the top will (allegedly) soak up the finish and get too heavy respond well to the strings.

Of course, if it's a plywood guitar, it may not make much difference.

Looks good. Don't let the router slipups getchya down.

A 250k resistor between the Tele pickup and the switch would bring the load under full pot rotation up to 500k... but I don't think you could ever turn the Tele pickup down below 50%.

crap, that's backwards

250k resistor for the P-90, but you won't be able to turn it off all the way.

freaking awesome idea

Easy fix: Put a bit of binding in the slot.

Yeah.

Even easier... align the set screw with the slot in the shaft. As long as you are not screwing it onto the full side of one half of the split (and thus eventually collapsing the split shaft), you should be fine.

Resonance and sustain are aligned, not opposed, I think. The material that the strings are tied to will absorb their energy. When the resonant frequency of the tied-to is related to the frequency the strings are producing, you will have more resonance (because the material is excited to its natural frequency by the string) and more sustain (because the material is working in harmony with the string and taking less energy out of it).

I was just checking out his page... this is hilarious.

http://www.bgpickups.com/about.html

Yeah, I bought this to bring some quirky vibes to a band I'm starting. Because I'm an idiot ( ) I only have one guitar that is currently gig-worthy, and I would like two, so I can do DADGAD without breaking my high E tuning back up to standard.

It doesn't even have to have "tone", I just need a banger that will get me some looks.

Plus it's bolt-on, so if it has problems I can tweak it. I'm curious to see what it will sound like though with that mahogany neck and those old pickups.

I just bought this guy....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...RK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

Just curious if anyone else has messed around with something like this. I just couldn't resist the funky off-brand vibe.

Any comments on the tone of Teisco guitars?

All I got to say is...

Walnut is great. Go make some sawdust.

If it's a compound radius, ideally, your fret-leveling movements will follow the string paths. So on the outside of the board, you will run parallel to the side of the neck; in the middle of the board, you will run with the centerline; and in between will be a mixture depending on how far out from the center you are. Don't know how easy that is to do in real life though.

Don't let a few slip-ups discourage you, these look amazing!!!

Cutting a headstock may be more than I am ready for though. I'm actually more afraid of screwing up the drilling of the tuner holes. Are headstocks easier than I think?

-- Boris

If you have a jigsaw, you should be good. I've never used a drill press for tuner holes, just a hand-held drill and some very careful eyeballing. I made mistakes at first but I'm good at it now.

Looks like a clean guitar for $40.

There's a lot you could practice on a cheap Asian guitar....

-fretwork might not be the best--practice leveling, recrowning, filing fret edges, etc.

-strip and refinish

-mess around and learn how string gauge, truss rod, and tremolo springs all interact

-wind your own pickups to replace the original

-install a preamp

String length changes with fretting = relative position of neck pickup changes in relation to every waveform of the string

Taking this a little bit further....

You play the open string with the pickup at the 24th fret position.

You play the 2nd fret with the pickup at the 26th fret position.

In both of these examples, the pickup is sensing the exact same mix of harmonics, correct? You've shortened your scale length by two frets and moved the pickup in the same direction by two after-the-octave frets, thereby maintaining the pickup's position relative to the string's waveform.

So a 24-fret guitar should play "at the sweet spot" on the 2nd fret.