ToddW

Hey Tim, I'm going back to the other thread so we don't hijack this one. Todd

I wish I could make a laminate neck, but I don't have the power tools to make it. so it's gonna be solid. but I'm still tryin' to see what I can do about that. and maple is almost impossible to find here in brazil. Hi Hector, Since you a guy who'd consider trying to shape an ipe neck without power tools . . . you can do it. You have a saw. . . or you couldn't have made that body. So if you have a plane, some course sandpaper, and a very flat surface, you could make a laminated neck. I'd stick to just three pieces since it's bit of work, but it can be done! Once you get close to flat using your starting surface, you basically make three strait edges the old fashioned way. A roll of stick on sandpaper makes this easier because you can match the edges by rubbing the boards together and changing which has the sandpaper and their orientation. Your reference board is the one with the sand paper on it. . . . Here's a sight a quick yahoo search turned up: http://home.comcast.net/~jaswensen/machine...aight_edge.html Todd

I would, gently, disagree about the "no glue line". I think if you can always find the line if you look for it. That said, I agree with everything else Swedish Luthier wrote. Realize that some glue may leave a more obvious line due to glue color or expansion. Gorilla glue may foam and create a visible line if not clamped well. . . According to Bruce. Hoadley, using a lower grit may leave gaps and that results in a poorer bond, it depends on the gap filling ability of the glue. So it might not matter if you use a marine epoxy like System 3's T88, but could matter with other agents like a resourcinol / urea glues. One tip, if you are using a standard wood glue, wait a few days before planing and sanding the surfaces flush. The glue might add moisture to the woods, and since they could expand/contract at different rates, if you sand them flush before the MC equalizes at the joint, you may wind up with a visible edge. You also might wind up with a dip at the joint when you sand it flat and the wood later shrinks back to an equal moisture content with the further away areas. I don't believe epoxy will do this, but yellow glue like titebond will. Good luck, Todd

I like the shape. You move faster than me, that is for certain! I vote for purple heart. Stiff, strong, not as heavy or hard as Ipe, and local to you. Oh, and the only wood I can think of the might move as little as mahogany. of course . . . it's purple I still think Jatoba is good too, but it's also super hard and heavier.

Hey Rich, I wasn't trying to say that vibrating the bridge would be a good thing, but earlier in this thread somebody had mentioned that the change in overtones on their guitar after altering the angle was more apparent when playing it sans amp. How all this relates to the amped sound is way beyond me and I'll have to think about it. I don't know if the strings or the guitar body picks up the vibrations from the amp better. I would have thoght the stings, but hollow bodies feed back more so I'm not sure. I also would have thought a super stiff neck would sustain more, and by default a less mobile bridge, but really, no clue. Is one system going to sustain more at low volume, and another more if your at concert levels? Todd

Hi Hector, I don't know much about bass necks, but I know a little about wood. I don't think it is a denser wood you want for the neck, but a stiffer one. If you're in Brazil, you have a lot of options. You could get a piece of flat sawn Jatoba, and laminate it in between the quarter sawn mahogany for your neck blank. The radial to tangential wood change will match up nicely and Jatoba is very stiff. Personally, I'd use two pieces to get the nice striped effect. Turning the flat sawn Jatoba to make the center or outside laminates puts it in the appropriate growth ring orientation for a very strong neck. And even though you now have your mahogany oriented like flat sawn, that's not a bad thing since in a neck through the wings will be glued on and in that orientation. It means your neck wood and wing wood will expand and contract the same amount which might be a good thing in Brazil where your humidity varies a lot. http://www.exotichardwoods-southamerica.co...iliancherry.htm http://www.exotichardwoods-southamerica.co...ganygenuine.htm Bloodwood is also stiffer, and it's not as dense as Jatoba, but I like the neck through look with lighter woods in the middle. Anyway, just thinking out loud so to speak. I'll be interested to see what you decide on. Todd

It would seem fairly obvious that with a lower angle over the top of the bridge, you would let the bridge vibrate more. This is very smilar to lengthening the the backscale on a piano where the bass string stiffness is actually sufficient to decrease transmision to the soundboard if the backscale is too short. With a steep down angle on a guitar, for the bridge to vibrate, it has to stretch the very short back scale, or move both the bridge and the tailpiece. With a string through, it would either stretch the string or compress the wood of the body. With a more shallow angle down, you don't tether the bridge as much because you can bend the short length of string much more readily than you can stretch it. All this brings up a whole host of questions though about one piece bridges versus bridge and tailpiece, and I guess I'll have to make sure I leave a sufficient back scale on my next project and do some more searching on the best bridge angle in your archives here.

Good to know. Thanks, and apologies to Perry for not realizing which post was his. My post wasn't placed so much to correct that as to point out that the back length does count in certain modes. Also, after finishing, I realized there's another point. On thing designers of pianos learned was that that the back length of a string is important, as is it's angle. Too short a backscale can limit bridge motion. On a hollow body guitar, changing the backscale angle might alter the spectrum. Not sure if it would matter on a solidbody electric. Either way, the lower angle of the string over the bridge could alter the longitudinal mode speaking length slightly. The bridge may have been the termination before he modification. Now the termination for LM's may be at the inserted piece. If you put the open strings recording on a spectral analyzer, you might be able to see what is going on. The only reason I've learned about this stuff is because my rather expensive piano has a LM near the 13th partial that I don't like and it's getting some new strings to fix that problem. Todd

Hey, Newbie here, but I've read through this and have to comment. Rog/Badsnap mentioned changing the tension between the nut and bridge but not changing the pitch. I don't want to create an argument, but unless the sting was changed, if the speaking length is the same, that isn't the case. I don't know who Perry is, but Rhodes56 was correct and I liked that post. For any stringed instrument, the speaking length of the string is what you are tuning. On an electric guitar, the transverse vibrations are the only ones the PUPs will amplify, and that speaking length is from nut to bridge (you hope). However, the strings also have a longitudinal mode. Remember, their length changes as they vibrate. The speaking length of this longitudinal mode does not always terminate at the bridge and the nut. It will be transmitted to the guitar body, and will likely be more obvious when you are not amplified because when you only amplify transverse modes, you make the LM mode smaller in proportion. I suspect the magnitude of the LM that can go from string LM to body, and then create a TM that the PUPs sense, is very small. If some of the overtones you don't like or feel are changed, when the bridge to nut scale is unchanged, it is quite possible they are LM's. Changing the guage of an unwound string will alter the LMs. For wound strings the LM will be related to core/winding ratios, so you may not need to change gauge, but simply the brand of strings. Jim Ellis of the PTG (piano technicians guild) wrote a nice book on LM's, and you may be able to find some stuff by searching for Longitudinal modes and strings. There are some articles I've read from MIT so add that too if you like. Anyway, for TMs, changing the tension will change the pitch. It will have less of an effect on the LM IIRC, so one way to check this is to detune the string slightly and see if the overtones stay on pitch. Often LM's are out of tune with the TM, and if they are close to an odd partial, the detuned string might sound better. You leave the LM on pitch and move the TM partials away from it so they don't beat. If the issue is/was a longitudinal mode, you have different options on trying to modify it. Regards and good luck, Todd

Got an answer at guitar nuts. Also some help on what to use for the coil and some physics help if anyone is interested. http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...read=1175786769 -Happy Holiday, -Todd

OK, No replies, but I've been thinking about this, and I don't think that the q-filter is what I said. It doesn't make sense. I'm guessing the q-filter is very close to the varitone but it sounds like it has a smaller inductance so less resistance to passing the lows, or the cut is at a higher frequency, and maybe the cap is bigger so the high cut is greater. It also sounds like the varitone is a switch, but the q-filter is a high cut or notch with a varying resistance to ground. Todd

Hi, I've been doodling schematics for a control set up. Using a 2 deck DP6T rotary switch, I'm trying to layout (sans values) how to use the first five positions to have a varitone and a standard tone control with possibly different caps of the tone control based on the varitone setting, and to use the last position to put in a q-filter like setting. Problem is, I don't know the order of the LCRs. Is the varitone : Coil to varying caps to ground, in parallel with a 250k to ground? And is the Q-filter: Coil and cap in parallel, to the pot wiper/variable resistor to ground also in parallel to a 250k to ground? If that is correct, I think I can get this and use the pull DPDT on the tone pot to bypass the 5 varitone choices so they can be flipped on mid song, and I'd have 4 controls total counting the pickup selector switch. Thanks, Todd PS) Why do the 42TL021 transformers at mouser give inductance in ohms? I don't know how to interpret that???

MCH, Libraries own their copy. Like you, they can loan it out to anyone they like. They can't copy it and loan out or sell copies. Melvin, I am really sorry you're having to go through this. I've been reading and re-reading parts of your book for months, and got a huge kick out of finding you here when I signed up. Google was going to try and do this for books out of print and people got justifiably mad. It would take away any incentive for a publisher to put the book back into print even on a limited basis. You're dealing with it on a book that is still in print! Hope you get lots of money from who ever sells copies of your book. Todd

Sorry, missed that. Since you really only care about the cut being perfect on the top surface, you could under route with or strait bit and then use the downcut spiral bit to get the surface edge perfect. Or you could have a 1/2" shaft spiral bit ground down to let you mount the bearing on top if it were that critical. I'll just make shallow careful passes with a sharp strait bit until someone makes a top bearing spiral bit for under $50. Todd

I think this is what you were describing, carbide 1/4" spiral bit with bearings. http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc...s/bt_solid.html Todd

I like the LMI truss rod, but didn't see a spoked nut as an option. I wasn't thrilled with the StewMac HotRod. Todd

I'm going to be using LMI's truss rod in a neck through guitar I'm working on. I was thinking about getting StewMac's spoke wheel nut with my next order from them if it will fit on the LMI truss rod, and then putting the adjustment at the body end. Anyone know if this is possible? Thanks, Todd Edit: My first post, and it's a dud. I realized that LMI welds the Nut on. Scratch that idea. Sorry to waste your time, and sorry I can't delete the post. Todd