DarkAvenger

I'd expect a heat gun to be much more controlled. I've never done it on a guitar but I've never gotten cracks on before. Always test it before, that should get your answer.

Your username with triangle should appear in a black bar at the very top of the screen(scroll up, all the way up) Drop down to 'Content I Follow' or whatever your looking for.

Easy fix, this is a new feature I like. The left hand side bar lets you sort the content in different catagories. Click 'Past 24 Hours' to return to the old style or try a new one! *The default is set to unread content* Edit: ...seems to be working? 2nd Edit: Tip: Use the "Full editor" option.

Oh wow, that's cool! I was playing with the idea of trying one in a project, but I've never actually seen/heard one in a guitar.

Well... I've gotten away with a buffer attachment for my drill quite a few times. Same process as above, plus one step. Hand polishing. I just use an auto polish I got from pep boys or autozone or something and a one of those soft buffering clothes they sell. This always seems to turn the finish from glass to liquid if you know what I mean. Maybe it's just a placebo. It seems easier than trying to use micromesh though and it's pretty cost effective. Tight spots can be a problem, but aren't they always?

Well, bright blue is very doable! There are many paints that will work, some better than many, what type of finish are you using or painting on? The basic idea is simple, if you spray a translucent blue over a white surface, you'll get a nice 'glow' from the white reflecting light back through the paint. Depending on the finishes used, on an already finished neck I'd consider scraping back the paint to the binding and do a sort of mini refinish or patch. This won't work as well for some finishes, in this case you might consider prepping for another layer of clear on the whole neck, spraying the blue, and clear coating the whole neck. However, as an example, an oil finish... well that might be a little harder....

I've messed with Rit dye a bit... I didn't have a good experience with it. Is there any reason you couldn't paint over it? Just tape it off carefully and spray a tinted clear coat. I think that could look pretty good over white.

I'd carefully use a razor blade to scrape the glue off... but you really have to be careful. Follow up with 320, or start with 220 if it's still rough, then work your way up. I usually go up to 400. As for the tuning machines, I'd try some WD40 and fine steel wool. You might end up needing new tuners, depends on how well they work and what your aiming for. Do you need to remove the back? Some nylon strings would reduce the pressures involved. How is the neck relief? Those frets are looking pretty worn down too.

Yes, it's very likely. The ruby is designed to drive an 8ohm speaker, 8.8 is too high. The reason pete's design works is because of it's efficiency and that is it's elegance. It can also be it's 'downfall' in a way. It is very possible to DIY and many people have proven that, but any imperfections in the workmanship and attention to detail can and often seem to decrease this efficiency resulting a loss in performance. Personally, I've wound 5 coils now, and each one was an improvement over the last until I was satisfied with the result. For most people if not all, winding a sustainer driver is a new experience and and an unknown process, my first attempt potting the coil with white glue was less than a success. It might take a couple tries but white glue is extremely forgiving. My advise is to follow psw/pete's tutorial as best you can, and if you don't get the desired result he can help you troubleshoot or post here and I'll try to walk you through it. It can be complicated in a way because there can be quite a few variables, I don't know what you know about the subject or what your understand of the system is, so I'll start with the basics first.

No. That may be true in an basic view, but that's not really how things are working. The vibrations through the body have an effect on the vibrations in the strings, obviously they are connected. The fundamental note is the dominant wave that travels through strings and thus is picked up by the pickup. Shorter waves travel up and down the string as well called overtones, these are partly defined by multiple variables such as the strings makeup and size, nut material, bridge material and design, the rigidity of the guitar, and among other things the resonance of the guitar. Also, I don't really like to use the term tone very much, I usually just say sound. Whenever someone says tone, a lot of people start picturing this magic quality that can only be defined by a hand full of different woods. I guess it's a bit of a habit, people around here probably know better. Will chambering the body change the sound at least noticeably? Probably. Will it sound like a completely different guitar? Probably not. OP, I'd try it if I were in your situation. I like lighter bodied guitars and most of mine are built to be a bit lighter than 'normal' What are the benefits of adding a cover? Appearance, unplugged volume, maybe a little more 'full' sound. So is that worth it?

You are changing the structural integrity, probably and hopefully negligibly depending on the chambering, BUT more importantly your changing the way the guitar resonates. Glue a guitar to the earth and you'll probably hear little effect, but build one out of aluminum and I'm sure you'll hear the difference. I'm not saying that it's the biggest factor, I'd say that's probably the pickups and wiring followed by the guitar's build quality, but I do believe it is a noticeable factor. Edit: I should have said something more along the lines of 'mild' loss, I didn't mean to infer that you'd loose ALL the character in the sound. Sorry, it does kind of sound that way.

Open chamber might sound ok... your removing wood you know. I'd expect a loss in 'fullness' in the sound though. I'd do it like Juntunen said, however if your worried about finish issues, you could do it differently with a similar effect. It's the same process as making a control cavity with a cover. You need three templates, one to route a ledges for the wood covers to sit on, one for the chambers, and one for cutting the covers. Work to get a tight fit. You can apply a closely matching finish and then carefully glue the covers in making sure not to get any leaking. If you want or need to, you could blend the two finishes together at the seams. I think you could probably get a better sound this way. Expect an increase in unplugged volume as well.

This should work nicely as is. JFET could be J201, MPF102 etc. There are many, many tutorials on making guitar buffers, google might help you there. As for the gain pot, it's very possible to replace it with a resistor. Check the resistance of the gain pot when you have a working setup, then replace it. The reason this isn't a standard value for everyone is because everyone does not have the same guitar with the same pickups. A trim pot will allow you to hone in on the best value for you, then you could install the circuit and just forget about it. The real question is what is to gain? My trim pots cost like what, $0.25 USD? If you have a breadboard you could try different value resistors but it seems like a lot of extra work.

Hmm... Col is right about the resistance, my first try was a bit over 8ohms and didn't quite work well, so a multimeter is necessary. Just from the looks of things, you might try using just one of the cores for your driver, but I can't say for sure. I don't know if the coil would fit on just one, but it did look like it might. Just an idea, not the cause of the problem. 108 turns seems a bit low to me, I usually needed about 120 to 130 but of course it will be different for your exact bobbin. 0.2 mm or 32 gauge wire should be correct. Also, PVA or white glue should be used to pot the coil, this can be a big problem if done wrong which will decrease the efficiency of the coil. Efficency = less power, part pete's design. A buffer is necessary for the amp to be happy, here is a GREAT source of information on the subject http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm This also makes me curious as to your volume and gain controls. These are a VERY important variable as well, if both are full on and you gain is set to the highest(up to 200) your not going to get sustain. Gain is controlled by the resistance between pins 1 and 8, Volume is controlled by bleeding off some current to ground, it's usually a pot before the input to the circuit, pin 3 inverting, pin 2 non-inverting.

I'll assume your following psw's tut. If you get zero sustain, something is very wrong. The lower three strings will almost always react even under less than ideal circumstances. As always, photos are best for diagnosis, but I can try to help. Have you tried replacing the driver with a speaker? This is a pretty important step, you should be getting a crisp clear sound, no clipping. Ok, some basics, what gauge wire did you use, coil thickness, is there a buffer before the amp(usually just a JFET transistor), did you build the circuit or buy one, did you swap the normal 220uf cap at the out for the recommended 100uf.

Alder is a classic, though I think most things with a large pickguard tend to sound very similar. Personally, I'd go for a lighter wood, weight wise that is. But that's just what I like.

Yup, but not TOO hard to figure out. My jag had me stumped for awhile, but I finally found that one loose wire that was suppose to shield one of the control cavities. Too many wire all in one place. Also, try plugging in the guitar and touching the shielding. If it doesn't go quite, it's probably not shielding.

Haha, I just ordered stuff to make a piezo pickup today! I'm getting the piezo elements and parts for a buffer from mouser. Graphtech makes a very nice 'invisible' pickup called "Ghost" pickup. The piezo element is actually inside the saddles. Another cool feature is that there are 6 separate outputs which could be fun to record with. They also sell a preamp for those that want to mix in with magnetic pups. Other piezo pickups will work fine too, but you might consider investing in a preamp/buffer and grabbing a piezo from radio shack or online instead. Something else, most under saddle piezo pickups(graphtech excluded) will fit under a 'classic' wooden acoustic bridge, in fact most 'amped' acoustic guitars use piezos.

Nothing unless you actually use your tone knob. I like orange drops for cost and effectiveness.

A few others to try: No-load Volume pot *Dual-gang pot High cut Low cut Tone If you like a high cut and have you tone knob labeled to find the center(neither high nor low) *need a special TRUE blend pot, source Fender replacements Treble Bleed... Again *Dual-gang pot, or not Also, you can make a switch or pot to change tone caps. Blending options are also something you could explore. And yes, it sounds like you use quality components, though some people never give it a second thought, so just saying... These are only passive options, active electronics are something else completely.

Just another thought about electronic upgrades, have you though about getting some good quality components? I know some people will tell you a cap is a cap, but I like orange drops. Be sure to tailor your caps to you pups. There are also better quality pots you can buy.

Ok, so I'm about to link you to another forum that deals with guitar electronics, but they have about everything you want to know and more. Here's something I've been really wanting to try out, a treble bleed that could give you more out of your volume control GuitarNutz2 I still need to get the right pot though... P.S. You can try out version C with mostly normal stuff. P.P.S. Don't miss the Sub-Forums! There are a lot of cool things in the modules forum

Are you looking for active electronics? Not a fan myself, but there are quite a few things you can do there. The big downside about active electronics, at least the part I could never get over after buying a low end bass with them, was the need for a battery at all times or it wouldn't work. There are other reasons too, but after forgetting to unplug the bass and have it not work two days later was a deal breaker. A built in tuner might be useful and pickup selector rings are discreet and give you some cool options. Maybe a discreet kill switch? Or if your adventurous and want something more exotic, you could try out a sustainer and mount it next to a single coil...

It's probably the string gauge, but you might try to play around with the out caps a little. Something a little smaller might help out there, but your probably better off swapping it into the strat. I've been thinking about trying a split coil type thing too. PSW pointed out an issue with strings bending in the middle, so I'm having some reserves there. I'll probably be satisfied with just the basic thing, but I'm starting to get that lil bug in me after winding my first coil. I'll post pictures a lil later today.