Franky

Hum I use a J201, which is loud, but for the replacement I found this: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-69082.html

Okay, I'm not sure to find that kind of stuff around there, I'm in France and our electronic shops are not well-furnished... We miss some Radioshack stores.. But I keep on searching, maybe if I can motivate some members of my forum for a common order at wires.co.uk, it can worth it.. What do you mean by 25M? 25 meters?

Ok thank you Pete, i'll try to find some 0.2mm wire, cheaper than on wires.co.uk if it is possible... They measure the amount of wire by bobin's weigh, the smallest value is 50g, how many drivers do you think I can wind with that?

Wow, glad to see that the "feedback is holding on"... I just tried the Fetzer/Ruby on breadboard, it works with some distortion, but I think it's due to my speaker, and I didn't include the output stage to decrease the level. I'm about to make the driver, and the only wire i can get so far is some 0.15 or 0.3mm, so comes this question: do i really have to use 0.2mm wire or will it work with thoses? And which one is better? So far this is just a test, i don't care about magnetic distortion or buzz, i'll bother later.. The bobin lenght is 200m, think it should be enough... Concerning the driver, I extracted some metal bars out of a transformer, this is layered so I can pick up the right width. I'll use an old pickup magnet, but if I can find rare earth magnets or neodymium ones, could be great...

Hum that's a good idea!! It can sound great, or different... Let's hope it wouldn't need thousands of coil turns to be powerfull... [Hors-Sujet] FlashBandit, is that you that registered on ThereminWorld's forum and posted about the SimpleTheremin project? Or are there several FlashBandits on the web? [/HS]

How can I know where the poles of a magnet are located? On a bar magnet for example.. I try to extract iron core from my old transformer, but do I have to take a particular side, due to its former magnetical use, or it doesn't matter?

I picked up a magnet from an old pickup, its size is 55mm long, 6mm high and 5mm wide, can I use it as a core? Hum and I wondered if I could use epoxy plate coming from a copper plate (to make PCBs), without copper obviously, to make the top an bottom plates (instead of a CD case, that i've got some problems to work on...) I found some 0.2mm enameled copper wire: http://www.wires.co.uk/acatalog/offers.htm...BR_2d0200_2d050

Long live the DIY!! Hum do you think I can use the metal plates inside a transformer to make my core? Or there will be some magnetic interferences due to its former use? (I don't know anything about transformers...) I just hope the dimensions will be right, I have to check it out... Hum, and does aluminium plates have some magnetic properties, well, can I make the chassis of the driver out of plates of aluminium?

Thank you a lot Pete... I think for now I will try to do a little driver coil with metallic non-magnetized core, and put it on the top of my neck pickup, using the polepieces as magnets for the driver. Hum about the switching, do I need to switch the neck pickup off with the sustainer bypass switch, or can I just use my 5-positions selector to switch it off? (if I use only 2 positions on the selector then) For the general installation, I think I will put the circuit in an external box, taped on my guitar strap, a wire running to the driver (will it magnetically stick on the pickup or do I need to fix it?), jack input made out of a former guitar cable, plugged into the jack of the guitar, and a female-jack out, to plug the cable to the pedalboard... And I will probably do another sustainer for a friend, but there will be no pickup problems, cause he wants to keep only his bridge pickup.

Hum okay, I will try some differents drivers and i'll choose the best... This seems to be the best solution for me, to put the driver onto my neck pickup, close to the strings (about 3mm would be ok?), and disable it when sustainer engaged... Once again, I think I will have to try some differents drivers... I will try to find 0.2 or 0.25mm wire, seems there's no real choice... Do you know if I can use old single-coil's polepieces (I don't know the material, but I know the pickup was very cheap) to make a 6-magnets driver, looking like a pickup? (but obviously, with a lot of empty space inside) Hum, I'd like to know something, Fernandes and Sustainac's drivers are magntically shielded, aren't they? Cause I've seen (for example) on Matt Bellamy and Steve Vai's guitars drivers that were located close to a pickup, and I think it is active when the driver is engaged.. But those are professional indeed (and it could explain their price..). Am I right?

Hum okay.. I saw a modified black LesPaul in the thread with a driver and a single-coil taped on the neck position, and you tell me not to put the driver close to the pickups, so is that one disabled when the sustainer is engaged or anything else? I know also that on some artist's guitars (like Steve Vai or Matthew Bellamy), the driver (coming from Fernandes' sustainer) is taped to a single-coil or a P90 soapbar at the neck position.. Do you think that if I put the driver close to my neck pickup, I would be able to play with bridge and middle pickups as sensors, and with the neck pickup disabled when the driver is on (without magnetic interferences as well, especially for the middle pickup)? I've also thought about something.. If you build a driver higher than wide (for example 17mm high and 4mm wide), the magnetic flux will be spread straight ahead out of the coil, and will less diffuse on sides (to the pickups) than a flat driver, which field lines will make loops around the coil, going thru the pickups... Is my theory correct? [once again, sorry for language mistakes]

Hum, okay, the wire is enameled, and available diameters are: 0,1mm ; 0,15mm ; 0,3mm... but I think 0,15 or 0,3 can be okay, even if it's not in the range, don't you? About the dual-core driver, do you think it can work without (or with the fewest) buzz if I keep my neck pickup, and if I replace the middle pickup by a HotRails-like dual-core driver? The problem is that I usually play with both of the humbucking configurations on my 3 single-coil strat... And with 3 or 4 layers of aluminium shielding tape covering the driver, connected to the ground? no effects? Hum, I think I will have to build a custom pickup... Pickup on bottom and dual-core driver on top..

Hi, I follow this thread for a while (but i didn't found the courage to read it all, like many other members) and i'd like to build a DIY sustainer (I think it will sound great with slide) I think I will have no problem to build the circuit, I have a little experience on DIY guitar effects.. But about the driver, I'm a newbie, and I have some questions: Can I replace the metallic core by a rare-earth Neodymium magnet (with a custom size to fit the core)? What is (approximatively) the length of wire needed to wind a driver? I found a website selling 700meters of #38 copper wire, will it fit? And finally, I saw some members making some "humucker-drivers", with two drivers gathered, what are the advantages of doing this? uh, and can I put it close to an other pickup (for example between neck and middle pickups on a strat), without causing some noise or magnetical buzz? (what kind of shielding do I have to use?) [sorry for my english and for the flood of questions.. ]