djhollowman

@ Tyrs.... I hope your first guitar gets as interesting and thought-provoking a reaction as your first topic on Project Guitar has! Loving the discussion going on here. This is why I keep coming back to PG Forums. DJ

+1, esp. if you're playing with any amount of gain, like metal for example! If you ask for opinions, you will get opinions. If you ask for facts...hmmm, that's another story! I know it's a cliche, however: if Steve Vai walked into my house and picked up any of my guitars he'd sound like Steve Vai. But if I walked into Steve's house and played Evo...I'd still just sound like me! :D DJ

That looks like a two-way rod. According to this it sits in a flat-bottomed channel, which makes sense, but then it goes on to say that it's free-floating so you don't epoxy it in place? (Is this always the case? Maybe some of the more experienced members could comment on this bit please ) So, if it sits in a flat-bottomed channel you would not need a filler strip on top of it. You would rout a channel which is the same depth as the rod assembly, so that the rod's upper surface is level with the top of your neck wood. Then, when the fingerboard is glued on, the rod is covered. DJ

Hi, What kind of rod are you using? If it's one inside an aluminium channel, then this might help. There are plenty of tutorials online regarding truss rods. DJ

I have 18+ years of working for a jewellery company, and I handle various gold alloys every week. Believe me, you do not want frets made out of real gold! Gold coloured yes, real gold no. Just in case anyone is confusing things here! DJ

Hi all, I just came across this on eBay. My very first electric guitar was a Pulse, still have it in fact! It's a kinda Explorer-meets-Vee shape. I've been looking on the 'net many times since for any mention of Pulse guitars, but to no avail. I remember you got a choice of at least 3 bodies: strat, vee and the-one-I-have. I think you could have about 4 colour options - I had white, and I've since seen red and black ones on eBay. Think you could get blue as well?? 24" scale length, cheap lightweight plywood bodies, awful open tuners, soft plastic nut, scratchy electrics, 21 (yes, 21) frets. But: bound fingerboard (ooooo!!), reasonable pickup, OK fulcrum trem bridge, nicely balanced, slim quick neck. Just wondered if anyone here knew of them, or could point me to more info, just for nostalgia's sake really! DJ

Hi, Well really I guess the answer is that it's up to you! Whatever you find most comfortable to play. This is the beauty of making your own neck and nut. You can use a bought pre-cut nut, which will already have the end spacing determined. But since you say you're making your own nut, then you can make it as you wish. You could make as narrow a neck as possible, but obviously you won't want the outer strings so close to the edge of the fingerboard that you end up bending notes off the 'board. On the other hand you could make the 'board wider to accomodate a wider string spacing, but you probably don't want the 'board overly wide either, as that can make it harder to get your hand round! The profile of the neck will also affect the comfort of course, as will the type and height of the bridge. I don't know if you'll find a definitive answer to your question. I think it's a case of making what feels right for you. Hope this helps! DJ

Right then! Got the .pdf converted - sorry about the watermarks! 4 pages: comments welcomed! Thanks! DJ

haha yeah thanks! The amp already has a thing called a Powerator - quote "A power attenuator located AFTER the power stage so that the sound of an all tube amp can be obtained at low volumes This is not equivelant to the preamp gain/master volume type circuits which starve the power tubes. This POWERATOR allows the power amp tubes and transformer to run "full out" but have the output volume from Speaker Out attenuated to the desired volume." And yet, as you rightly say Todd, here I am about to fit something which would appear to do exactly the same! I don't fully understand that. Is the fact that the existing attenuator is AFTER the power stage that's significant?? Is this new one going BEFORE it??? What I know for certain is that when you have the amp up and running through the owners 2x12 Marshall cab it is just FAR too loud for "bedroom practice" levels! This is the owner's grumble - he wants to be able to use this amp at low volume levels but getting the tone of the valves being driven. (Which is what I thought this Powerator did!) I think I've found a way to let you all read the instruction I got on how to do the job. I'll try to post it next. DJ

Ow! Yeah, I really want to take the job on. Right now the amp is back with its owner, who has a mate that will discharge the caps. However, I'm still going to want to do that myself as soon as I get it back, just to be sure, and so I know how to do it for future reference! The amp is a Rhino YJM50 50-watt head, here'a link to a Harmony Central review with photos: http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2002/YJM-50.html and another page with views of the inside: http://www.yngwie-megafan.org/articles/RHINO.html rhinoamps.com seems to come back with some kinda adult listing!!?? Once I have it back I'll update this thread and be asking lots of specific questions! I have a .pdf file from the manufacturer detalling how to install the (what he calls) "drive control", which I would verymuch like you guys to read and evaluate - please tell me how I can make this happen? Can I save it somewhere and post a link to it, like you do with photobucket etc? I really feel it would help! Thanks! DJ

Thanks! Yeah, I have a multimeter - just don't really understand what I'm doing with it! I'm not even sure what the caps look like on the amp! I'm such a noob with this stuff. Argh! Help... DJ

Thanks! Hmm, interesting! Gotta ba honest, I'd never heard of this pedal before, so I Googled it and one of the first search results was a link to an article by yourself! Small world. DJ

lol, I just googled for some pictures of a theremin and found a photo of a woman playing one with her breasts! DJ

Hi, have you tried the site at guitarelectronics.com? Lots of diagrams there. DJ

I recently found an old wah pedal I had forgotten I had. It does work, but it's very noisy during use, so I'm wondering what else I could do with it. (I have a couple of better wahs now anyway.) Could I convert it into a volume pedal? If so, how would I go about doing that? That's just one idea, but I'd welcome any thoughts, even crazy ideas! Thanks, DJ

In your photos you have only one string fitted - I'm assuming you had them all fitted when you noticed the problems? Cos you'll need all the strings fitted in order to accurately gauge how much pull there is on the neck. One string will not be enough, and may not pull the neck out of any backbow it may have. You have (mainly) two options here: either angle the neck (by shimming one end of it, or routing an angle into the neck pocket of the body); or lower the bridge by routing a recess into the body where the TOM (=TunOMatic bridge) sits on the body. Hope this helps! DJ

FB = Finger Board DJ

In UK: a company called Craft Supplies sell slotted radiused 'boards. Don't even bother with their useless website, you need to phone them or get their printed catalogue. Large stocks of different woods, scale lengths and radiuses. DJ

Hi, and welcome to the Forum! From your description of your truss rod I'd say you need to go with the Hiscock method. You will need to rout a flat bottomed channel the same width and depth as your rod (but allow a tiny fraction of a gap at the sides for gluing), and you'll need to work out the length and position of where it will go by placing it where it will go on the neck. You won't need a fillet on top of the rod. You will already have decided if it's adjusted at headstock or body, of course! Assuming headstock adjustment, you need to work out where the nut will sit so as to have room to get an allen key into the truss rod nut! You should rub the round steel rod part and the threaded parts with lubricant like a candle or similar. Place some masking tape along the open side of the rod casing (having re-assembled the rod first of course!) to prevent glue going in there and preventing the rod from working. Glue the rod open side down (ie. away from fingerboard) into the neck channel using epoxy, wiping off any excess. Let the glue dry for a few hours. Sand top surface smooth again if necessary. That's you ready to stick on fingerboard....but that's a whole different subject! Hope this helps! Hopefully some of the more experienced fellas here will chip in as well. DJ

i would say thats a spray job - not a stain - a pretty standard 3 tone sunburst if you take away the fancy maple Which link? The Ibanez? Or the Warmoth? Or the other one? I ask cos I thought they were all stained and clearcoated, but I want to learn more about this. Thanks, DJ

lol....ok: http://www.kissfanshop.de/KissTours/1985USA.htm Pic 4, and read the text. Also, I have at least one bootleg video which has it on film. I was a pretty big fan too, back in the day. Now, where's that smiley for "smug"...?? (Only joshin'!) DJ

Sorry for hijacking, but are those ebony neck screw ferrules on that Zachary in the link?? DJ

Funny, I've just started making an Explorer shape as well! I also got nowhere trying to get a free template, so I just took a really good front-on view photo of what I wanted from the internet and drew a template myself. I scaled it up by measuring known distances, like pickup size or neck width or whatever, worked out the ratio (in my case it 1:3.6), then to make life easier for myself I printed out a speadsheet containing the scale conversion formula. I got a LARGE sheet of paper, drew a centreline, and drew it all out. I measured angles with a protractor. Obviously this isn't going to be an EXACT replica of a real Explorer, but that's not what I want, I want MY version of it, so I changed little bits here and there on the template. I'm really happy with it! I then made a plywood template based on it. The neck pocket, pickup routes etc will only be marked once I've made the neck. Just another idea..... DJ

That's what I did on the guitar I'm making just now. It also has a Carvin Graphtec nut, but I also wondered about the nut height on this one. I specifically wanted a nut which went at the end of the fingerboard (Gibson-style), as opposed to a Strat-style one which sits in a groove in the fingerboard. Hmmm, maybe I should compare the heights of Carvin and Gibson nuts......? Obviously you would leave a space the same size as your nut at the point on the neck surface where the fingerboard will go. You want the 14 degree angle to start after the nut, so that the nut sits on the flat top surface of the neck. Does that make sense? DJ

Was gonna suggest the EMG89 for the bridge because you can coil-tap it into a single for that Strat-ness. I'd never heard of the EMG81TW before! Just looked it up on EMG's site. No idea what it'd sound like in single coil mode. I have an 89 in the bridge of a BC Rich STIII I have (very SuperStrat-y!), and it's great: only thing I have is that it doesn't do quiet very well, or at least not with the supplied pots anyway! You go from silence to reasonable output, it doesn't really "dial-in" quietly and smoothly. I'm sure this could be improved however, maybe a cap on the vol pot or something??? I would certainly recommend the 89 for high gain metal stuff, but if you're into playing that then the fact it can coil-tap too is fairly irrelevant anyway. It's nice and silent in tapped mode, which is a great improvement over the other two (not EMG) active single coils in this guitar! The 89 is definately worth considering I would say. DJ