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caden_vekk
New
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 8
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 3:21 pm:   Edit Post

Oy i'm back. I've got another question. I was talking to one of the guys at the local Ken Stanton and I asked about jack plates and if they were absolutely necessary, he said "No, as long as your wiring is grounded somewhere else, like to the bridge". I've only ever heard of grounding/earthing to the bridge but is grounding to the jack plate an option? Could i ground it to any random bit of metal, say a embed a nail or screw into the electrical cavity, could i ground it to that if its not touching any hot wires?
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 271
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 4:29 pm:   Edit Post

The more 'cold'(as opposed to hot) conductive metal you have the negative on the jack connected to the better the ground...even better if that 'cold' circuit surrounds the hot, sheilding it from incoming waves of energy...hence the silver paint inside the cavities of our beloved alembics.

I hope others will chime in...sometimes communication isn't my forte'
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 312
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 5:01 pm:   Edit Post

Your pickups are a coil of wire surrounding a permanent magnet which projects a magnetic field in the area of the strings. The strings are at least partly made of ferrous metal, so when you play, they upset this magnetic field. The changing magnetic field induces a voltage in the coil, which is the output signal from the pickups.

The pickup coil not only picks up changes in magnetic field, it will pick up any other electromagnetic fields as well, which includes electrical noise from dimmers, power supplies, computers, etc.

To reduce extraneous noise, you shield the electronics to try to prevent EM fields from getting to your pickups. One important part of this is to shield the electronics cavity. By making a conductive "cage" around the electronics in your guitar, you can block out weaker interference. Making this cage is usually done by using metal or conductive paint all around the control cavity and in the pickup cavities.

The better the shielding, the more noise you can eliminate. In guitars, the bridge is often attached to the grounded shield. This makes the strings act as part of the shield which blocks off more EM from the pickups. But when you touch these grounded strings, YOU become part of the shielding as well. Since you're big and filled with water, you are a much more effective shield than the measures you've taken on your guitar.

To have the shielding work, you want to completely surround the electronics. Every part of the shield needs to be connected to a common point electrically, and that point needs to be connected to your signal ground. I'm not exactly sure what a "jack plate" is (I assume that this is a plate that the jack is mounted on, like on a Strat or Les Paul), but you want this to be part of the grounded stuff.

On a guitar like a Strat, you want to shield the bottom of the pickguard, but you also need to make sure that the foil shielding there is in full electrical contact with the rest of the grounded stuff. If it's not a zero-resistance connection, then you will compromise the shield effectiveness, but it will still work to some extent. The best kind of grounding be what's called "star grounding" where a wire connects every piece of the shield to a common point. Obviously having your back plate or pick guard connected to the electronics compartment by a wire is a hassle for maintenance.

While we're on the subject, you make a good ground for your guitar, but you do so at some risk. A regular electric guitar has an unbalanced signal which is carried on a single conductor and on the shield braid in your cable (versus the balanced signal of a microphone where the signal is carried on two conductors in the cable and the shield is a separate line). In the amp, the signal ground and the electrical ground are usually connected together.

If there's a wiring problem of your amp relative to other AC-powered stuff on stage, you run the risk that the signal/power ground might actually be connected to the AC live power. Since the guitar's strings are grounded and you are touching them, you become the path for full line power if you touch something which has opposite ground - really unpleasant or even fatal if that turns out to be a microphone. These days, shock hazard is reduced by 3-prong grounding, but there are lots of opportunities to play in places where the outlets might be wired incorrectly or the ground line might not be connected. If you've every used an old tube Fender Bassman or the like, you are certainly familiar with the "death switch" which reverses the live and ground lines! When you use an amp like this you have a 50% chance of getting zapped, depending on how everything else on stage happened to be set up!

There are ways to avoid the shock hazard, but most of them compromise your shielding. On guitars equipped with active EMG pickups, they recommend that you NOT ground the strings for safety. The reason that this can work is that the EMG active internal construction is designed to reduce hum (they are all hum-cancelling designs) and the electronics module inside the pickup itself is heavily shielded.

David Fung
pauldo
Junior
Username: pauldo

Post Number: 43
Registered: 6-2006
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 5:36 pm:   Edit Post

yep - that settles it.
Electricity is magic.

If you see the magic smoke come out of an electronic component it will never work again, because you can't put the magic smoke back into it.

:p
keurosix
Advanced Member
Username: keurosix

Post Number: 278
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 7:02 pm:   Edit Post

Dave,
Does it make sense to put a shield in each pickup cavity, such as conductive paint, or a copper foil? Would this reduce the directional hum I sometimes experience when I stand too close to my amp or light dimmers, etc? If I understand your post correctly, would these shielded PU cavities also need to be connected to the control cavity shielding too, say with a connecting wire?
Kris
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 464
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 12:45 am:   Edit Post

Keurosix - I shielded my Squier Strat with copper foil and it cut the hum a lot, that included the whole cavity.
Dfung..I installed a capacitor, can't remember the farad number but it was a mod that was recommended to protect you from shock hazard, it is soldered between the hot wire and the jack lug.
I did once experience a 'tingle' due to faulty equipment..not nice at all!!
paulman
Advanced Member
Username: paulman

Post Number: 286
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 5:28 am:   Edit Post

I knew an electronics guy that said "Solid state electronics run on smoke." I said "What? That's crazy" his reply was "Well do they seem to work after you let the smoke out of them?"

We both let the smoke out after that :-)
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 3020
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 6:14 am:   Edit Post

David wrote:

"Since the guitar's strings are grounded and you are touching them, you become the path for full line power if you touch something which has opposite ground - really unpleasant or even fatal if that turns out to be a microphone."

I have but one word in response: "cordless, man, cordless!"

Bill, tgo
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 274
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 9:06 am:   Edit Post

I remember reading that Bobby was pretty pissed at Bear one show when the hot signal got to the microphone chassis...very scary stuff.

...good advice bill
caden_vekk
New
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 9
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 2:11 pm:   Edit Post

Thanks alot for the reply dfung, I appreciate the effort but you didn't answer my question.

[YES] or [NO]
Can the jack plate (yes the metal plate to which the jack is secured) be used as a ground/earth?
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 276
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 4:47 pm:   Edit Post

...the water analogy applies...if your ground is only the jack plate,it's a very small sponge for alot of rain...again I'm in the clouds,

best of luck
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 467
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:17 am:   Edit Post

caden vekk yes it can since the ground lug is attached to the outer barrel of the socket which in turn is bolted to the mounting plate.
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 277
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 5:32 am:   Edit Post

David,
I wanted to thank you for being clear and detailed,
I refer to you posts when I need some in depth info.
peace
caden_vekk
New
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 10
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 10:56 am:   Edit Post

Thanks alot guys. Sorry, i dont mean to be a bother or anything but i only have until April 15th to finish it and I'm in a hurry so I am a bit jumpy with all of this. Again i appologize for any rudeness that may have come about.
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 468
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 2:39 am:   Edit Post

Is this a school project for an exam??
Good luck if it is...deadlines..they all come around too soon
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 11
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 1:03 pm:   Edit Post

yeah its the Senior Project, basically if i fail it, there is no possible way (even if i have a 100% in all my classes) that I can graduate
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 313
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 1:16 am:   Edit Post

Hey guys... Been swamped with a project and haven't visited in days.

terryc already responded on the jack plate question. The shield in the cable is connected to the "sleeve" connector of a phone plug (the big connector that comprises most of the plug length). The center conductor is treated as the "hot" signal line and is connected to the "tip" portion of the phone plug. The threaded barrel portion of your output jack (the part where the locknut holds it in place) is normally grounded, so the jack plate would be too.

However, I don't think it's good practice to use the jack plate as ground. You wouldn't use one on a guitar, but there are plastic bodied output jacks (cheap ones) that may not even have a metal barrel and might not automatically ground the jack plate. Even if the barrel is metal and grounded, if your output jack becomes loose (and who hasn't had this happen?) then you'll lose your grounding.

The right way to do this is to attach a wire to the ground lug of the output jack and run that to a central location in the control cavity that can provide a ground for everything in the instrument. On most traditional guitars, there's a wire from the jack ground lug that's soldered to the back of one of the pots. Wires from the other ground points on the guitar (which would include the bridge and internal shielding) also run to that point. In theory you can chain grounds together and it should work, but it will be more reliable if they all come to one point. If you want to have a fancy ground setup, you put a threaded insert into the wood in your control cavity, put ring lugs on the wires that run to ground and screw them all together using a machine screw into the insert.

Using foil or conductive paint shielding in the pickup cavities blocks interference coming behind you, and will help keep your guitar quiet. If you doing shielding anywhere in the body, you need to have a quality, low-resistance electrical connection between the shielding and the ground. The way that this is typically done is that you cement a piece of copper foil into the cavity, then paint over it with the conductive paint or touch it with the copper foil. You scrape the paint off of part of the foil, then solder a wire to the foil. The other end goes to the normal ground point.

You want all parts of your grounding system to be well connected electrically. Remember that your electrical ground is the same signal as your signal ground. If there's a poor quality connection anywhere in the ground connections, that looks like a resistor was inserted inline in your signal. That can reduce your output level and affect your tone. Proper shielding should have no affect on your guitar tone, just on the noise. But if you have a cold solder joint or other poor connection, you can easily end up losing treble.

When I was in junior high, I had a Fender Bassman tube amp and my guitarist had some similar setup. We'd practice in a basement, so we had all the elements of doom - good ground on the basement floor, 2-prong plugs, two amps which had polarity "death" switches, and a little PA. You'd kind of play a while until you got shocked, then you'd flip your polarity switch and play until you got shocked on something else. I guess we were too dumb to use a continuity checker. In Europe with 220v, I think this is a lot more serious than a tingle.

Good luck with your project. Write again if this doesn't make sense. I'm still in the thick of my project, but will find time to visit again.

David Fung
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 469
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 2:06 am:   Edit Post

David..yes 240 in th UK so even more 'tingle' which I can vouch for!!!!
Over here all sensible people use RCB plugs to protect ourselves.
Caden vekk..The only advice I can give is that although the deadline is soon don't try and cram every hour of the day into it..take a break from the build and go back to it..it makes all the difference.
cozmik_cowboy
Advanced Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 291
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 5:03 am:   Edit Post

And, of course, post lots of pictures of the finished product (and the build, if you have them).

Peter
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 471
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 6:52 am:   Edit Post

yes let's look at all that hard work!!!
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 12
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 10:37 am:   Edit Post

I've got tons of pics of the build and progress as of yet, I'll post up some of the pics i have. Would this be the place to post them?
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 13
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 9:15 am:   Edit Post

I'm back again and ready to make my baby a cyborg so I need some help with the electronics. My setup is two humbuckers with a 3-way toggle switch and a master volume and master tone. I've got both 250 and 500 pots for those and I've forgotten which value goes better with which function.
Anyway, I'd like to have the toggle functions as:
Top Position (switch head pointing towards sky): Neck Pickup
Middle Position (switch head pointing straight out) Both pickups
Bottom Position (switch head pointing toward floor) Bridge pickup. With the given photo's, do you think this setup will be possible and if so how would I connect all the wires and such?

The Setup, basic i know
The setup

Setup in the back
Setup back

Position "Top" as seen from playing position, I would like this to select the neck pickup.
Toggle Top

Position "Middle" as seen from playing position I would like this to select both.
Toggle Middle

Position "Bottom" as seen from playing position, I would like this to select the Bridge pickup
Toggle Bottom

Wires. White is neck, Yellow is bridge
The Wire selection, white is neck, yellow is bridge
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 319
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2008 - 8:37 pm:   Edit Post

A fairly easy setup. This diagram shows you how:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w

You normally use 500K pots for humbuckers, 250K for single coil pickups (the 500K pots will have less treble roll off which generally mates better with humbuckers that have less treble to start with).

I'm not quite sure exactly what I'm seeing with the the wiring. If these are normal passive humbuckers without coil taps, then the pickup hot wire will normally be the center conductor inside the fat yellow or white coaxial cables. The signal ground is the foil shield around the center connector. I'm not sure what the red and white wires are and your fingers are covering up where they're emerging from in both cases. Looks like they're emerging from the heat shrink cover that's been applied on both pickups and I don't know what they're there for.

In the Duncan diagram, they have the red & white wires from the pickups tied together. These are outputs from the individual coils which would be used if you had a single-coil or series/parallel switch. You can just ignore those.

The best way to get your 3-positions switch set up properly the first time is to test for continuity with an ohmmeter or continuity light so you can see which position of the toggle turns on which terminal. Write back if you need more info.

David Fung
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 14
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 7:19 am:   Edit Post

Mucho Graciasness, Dfung. Yeah that helps a good bit. All i have to do is figure out which wire color i have matches which color of the black, green, and bare of thiers'.

It looks as though the black(mine) is black(SD), that's good. That only gives a few possiblilities on the other two. Looking at this, though, it seems as though, it doesn't really matter as long as the black wire of the neck pickup goes to the 1st position tag of the 3way. I'll give you a mock up with mechanical connections later on today or tomorrow. Thanks D
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 321
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 3:30 pm:   Edit Post

Having 3 wires on the pickups is pretty odd. Where did you get these pickups?

EMG actives (e.g. not HZ or Select pickups) have three wires - a hot and ground for signal which is a coax cable (the ground is a shield around the hot signal conductor). The third wire is the DC power (9-27 volts) to power the pickup's internal preamp. The power ground and signal ground are the same on EMGs. These pickups aren't EMGs, but if they are active with that sort of setup, then you won't get any output unless power is applied to the proper wire. Also, all the lines will look like open connections to your ohmmeter.

Humbucking pickups (like your picture) have two coils, each of which has two end wires, which are the normal 4 wires you see on many humbuckers. If you connect up pairs of wires to an ohmmeter, you can see which wires are on the ends of each coil - you'll read a resistance when you have a pair that are on the same coil, open circuit otherwise. If you switch one of those pairs to the output, then you'll get a single coil sound (wimpier than a Strat or Tele pickup, but brigher than the humbucker). Wire both coils, either in parallel (normal) or series and you'll get a humbucking sound. To get the humbucking right, you have to pair the right ends of the coils together, otherwise the result will be a thin, out of phase tone.

Three wires is weird as it's not any of the obvious possibilities. I'd be interested in getting a close-up picture of where the white and red wires emerge from the bundle. The "black" wire (actually not black, but that's the color of the shrink wrap insulation tubing that was applied over it) is probably a coax cable - if you strip the outer insulation, you should see a braided metal shield which is one of the conductors. If you push that braid back, there should be an insulated wire inside of it which is the signal hot conductor. That center wire is the one that goes to the switch; the braid would connect to the ground, usually on the back of one of the pots. If the "black" wire is coax, then you do have 4 wires total and the pickup is slightly less weird, even though it's odd that all four of the wires weren't in the shield.

David Fung
u14steelgtr
Member
Username: u14steelgtr

Post Number: 72
Registered: 7-2003
Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 9:14 am:   Edit Post

Will; David Fung did a superb job of covering a lot of important points; so kudos to David! But I thought I would take a stab at re-stating what he wrote in my own words and adding a bit more information and explanation.

First a couple of terminology points which may prove helpful to you and others now and in the future. The terms "ring" and "sleeve" tend to be used interchangeably by guitar players and builders but they are not exactly the same (this is pretty banal stuff but it matters when one is discussing the nuances of electrical shielding). A "sleeve" is the portion of a connector which provided shielding. The "ring" is the outside contact on a coaxial connector; however not all coaxial connectors are shielded. For example the basic no-frills 1/4" jack which is mounted on the front of a pre-amp or an instrument amp has a ring and a tip but is not shielded connector by design; when these connectors are installed the shielding is usually provided by the conductive chassis.

It is conventional to ground to the ring of the output jack as this continues the cable shield circuit in to the guitars shielding system. If you have a conductive jack plate connecting the ring of the connector to the jack-plate can enhance the shielding of the instrument. Some output jacks insulate the ring on the connector from the mounting nut and some do not; when the ring is insulated from the mounting nut it is normal to add a jumper from the ring to the jack plate (if the jack plate is conductive) to further enhance the shielding system.

The guitars shielding system is typically comprised of copper foil inside the pickup cavities, the control cavities/cavity, and in some cases (like stratocaster instruments) between the pick guard and the various cavities. All of this foil is all connected (or literally wired) to the ring on the jack ultimately. Some companies including Alembic use conductive-paint instead of foil as a shielding material. Also one usually also runs a ground wire from the shield/ground/earth to the bridge so that the bridge, and often the strings will further shield the electrical components of the instrument. The grounded bridge is why touching the bridge and/or strings will reduce the hum on many older and more primitive instruments.

On instruments which have a non-conductive or poor-conducting bridge saddle or saddles (usually this only occurs on instruments with synthetic saddles) it is sometimes a good idea to ground to the metallic tail-piece or the retainer on the ball-end of the strings. But this is the exception and to the rule The objective in this case is to electrically connect the strings to the instruments shielding system.

All of this brings me to pointing out that the pictures of your control cavity which were posted last weekend did not show any shielding at all.

Regards
-- Eugene
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 325
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 4:18 pm:   Edit Post

Eugene -

Actually, I think you may have the conductor terminology mixed up a bit. The names "tip", "ring", and "sleeve" date back to phone company days and refer to the conductors of a 1/4" phone plug and jack. If you look at a regular 2-conductor 1/4" jack (like a standard guitar plug), the "tip", not suprisingly is the pointed tip conductor. It's the "hot" side of the signal pair and would normally be wired to the center conductor in a coax cable. The long conductor that reaches from the tip to the handle is the "sleeve" and is normally connected to ground.

If you look at a 3-conductor phone plug, which used to be the common plug for headphones and is the stereo 1/4" out on older Series Alembics, you'll see that there's another conductor that sits between the tip and sleeve. The conductor is actually shaped like a little ring, so this is, not surprisingly, the "ring". This conductor would normally be a second hot signal, for the other channel. At these levels, the ground is usually common between all channels. The 1/4" jack example you cite actually has a tip and sleeve connector, not tip and ring.

On coax connectors like the F-connectors used on your analog TV antenna or BNC connectors used on electronic test equipment, the rotating part which screws or latches down is electrically connected to the shield in the cable to continue the shielding all the way between devices you're connecting.

David Fung
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 15
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 1:50 pm:   Edit Post

I looked up the humbuckers Stewart MacDonald Vintage golden age overwound humbuckers. There are only the three wires. http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-GOLDEN-AGE.html

This is saying something about "To wire the pickups as a standard humbucker, the red wire is hot and the bare wire is connected to ground. The white wire should be taped off so that it won't come into contact with other wires or components."
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 327
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 12:57 am:   Edit Post

Boy, that's a pretty weird way to wire a pickup. The way that this works is that the coils are wired in series, so when you use the bare (shield) wire and red wire it works as a normal series humbucker. In this mode, it's like you're using the the black and green wires from a Duncan and white and red are tied together (you can see the color code for Duncan at http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes).

When you switch to using the bare and white wires on your pickup, you just get one coil. The white pickup wire is wired as if it were connected to both the white and red Duncan wires. The pickup red wire is no longer connected to anything, current can't flow in that coil and you get the single coil effect.

I guess they did this to make the coil select switch less complicated (it only needs to be single pole instead of double pole, which means it's only switching one set of wires instead of two).

Should work fine though!

David Fung
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 16
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 - 6:27 pm:   Edit Post

Would i connect the black wire to the 3way and the red to the volume pot? Should i just tape off the white wire then or what?
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 320
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 - 11:25 pm:   Edit Post

The humbuckers I just installed had white for the coil-tap, I just taped it off. They work great.


That gives you a black and red and the shielding...the red being hot ,the one you will attenuate with the volume potentiometer and switch(with the 3way) .
The black and the shielding are connected to the ground (pot chassis usually,which is connected the rest of the grounded parts of the guitar).
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 17
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 4:43 pm:   Edit Post

What humbuckers did you buy?
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 321
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 6:58 pm:   Edit Post

I just put some 'Velvet Hammers' into a '70 goldtop.
designed by Red Rhodes...seems everything that guy did turned out all right.He also designed the Trio preamp for Groove Tubes,and had a hand in the electronics for the peavey T-60 guitars (just got one...I'm gonna open her up and see how it differs from a 'normal' set-up for humbuckers).
dfung60
Advanced Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 329
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008 - 2:03 pm:   Edit Post

If you want a regular humbucking sound, then you want to connect the red wire to the 3-way switch and the black/bare/shield wire goes to the solder blob on the back of the pots. And you do just tape off the white wire until you want to make a dual-sound arrangement in the future.

This wiring set up is really weird, but the dual sound arrangement will be much easier than with most 4-wire pickups.

David Fung
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 19
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008 - 7:05 am:   Edit Post

Sounds simple, they're going in today. After that, I'm fixing up the nut, and I'm done. Absolute final day is the 15th, my judging is the 16th. I'll be done tomorrow. Thanks alot everyone. And you D, are amazing.

I'll have all the progress pics and a powerpoint of the progress online in the next few days.
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 20
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 8:40 am:   Edit Post

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen. She works. Lee, the first guitar I have built by hand, WORKS! Mind you, she still needs some fine tuning (mainly a buzzing fret board and intonation screws which have worked there way out of the bride) but no matter, she works. I plugged her in at 11am and tuned her up. No shocks or anything. Thanks for all your help. Here's a picture. Please excuse the blurriness, I'm still shaking, haha
This is Lee.
byoung
Senior Member
Username: byoung

Post Number: 1034
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 11:50 am:   Edit Post

Very nice. How are you thinking of finishing it?

Oil/Wax?

Bradley
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 21
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 3:10 pm:   Edit Post

I was thinking about just clear coating it.
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 22
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 3:24 pm:   Edit Post

To put a damper on things, It seems i have used the wrong scale for the fretboard. No matter, though, the judges will know that I made an electric guitar that works regardless of the noting problems. I plan to remove the current fretboard and replace it with one that is correctly spaced. Besides that, everything else works just fine.

Thanks everyone for your help.
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 324
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 6:28 pm:   Edit Post

congrats...
like making pancakes; the first one isn't always as predicted.
what scale is it now? ...the twelfth fret looks right in the middle...
Once intonated and a few adjustments for the buzz(does the neck have a little relief in the middle?) ...should be a great player for years.


Thanks for taking us along for the ride...success is so nice.
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 23
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 7:09 pm:   Edit Post

Honestly i don't know what it is now. I've forgotten i just remember going to my uncle's to work on routing the humbucker cavities and forgeting my fretboard and the measurements of such.
The problem with the buzzing, is this was my first fret job and i bent the fretwire by hand (never again) so they were un-uniform and many of the ends are raised.

I'll use all of this to my advantage, explaining that making a guitar is very measurement oriented and if something is wrong, it can throw off the whole thing.

Either way, i'll fix it later, I'm thinking of switching out the fretboard with a walnut one.
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 325
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 12:03 pm:   Edit Post

I did a hand bent fretwire job on a vietnamese acoustic...I know just what you mean.
I used my radius blocks and a little edge file to get it closer and playable.
I found some great NOS martin and gibson fingerboards on ebay for a good price. Are you making yours from scratch?
cheers
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 24
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 3:46 pm:   Edit Post

Lee's neck, unfortunately, came out fairly narrow so my only option is to make a fretboard from scratch. There's no big worry actually, it'll be a good learning experience. I plan on continuing this for a good long while now. And when my skills improve I'll talk to Alembic about a job (hehe). If, they see my work as worthy that is.

Either way, does anyone have any idea how to put up a powerpoint for everyone to see?
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 25
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 3:34 pm:   Edit Post

Alright guys, Just got done presenting. I had some random guy, a lady, and Mr. Wilkins (the guy who runs the woodshop at school). Well the guy was looking very interested and taking notes, commenting "Very impressive", the lady was in complete awe the whole time (and I'm sure some of it went over her head. She's a "Towne Lake Mom") and she commented as "EXCELLENT". Mr. Wilkins was even impressed (and he watched me build it)

* "Towne Lake Mom"-the parts around my school tend to be populated with "higher end houses" and therefore everyone thinks they're part of the OC or Laguna Beach or some sort of crap like that. Women trying to live up to the dumb blonde thing. Disgusting if you ask me
keurosix
Advanced Member
Username: keurosix

Post Number: 299
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 8:46 pm:   Edit Post

So I take it you won't be asking Towne Lake Mom out on a date?
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 26
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 6:56 am:   Edit Post

...hell no. hahaha
caden_vekk
Junior
Username: caden_vekk

Post Number: 27
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - 4:33 pm:   Edit Post

Does anyone have any ideas on fretboard removal? I used Titebond Original Wood Glue. Once finals and such are done with this week I have a very short period of time in which I can fix this before I head off to Germany
cozmik_cowboy
Advanced Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 304
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 7:13 am:   Edit Post

Project Guitar.com has a tutorial on that very subject here.

Peter
keurosix
Advanced Member
Username: keurosix

Post Number: 310
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 7:23 pm:   Edit Post

From what my luthier said to me years back, it's a good thing you used Titebond glue, because it will break the bond with a good wack. Some DIYers make the mistake of using Elmer's white wood glue and that stuff just won't give up - it stretches and stretches but won't let go!
A real pain in the arse for the professional.
Good luck, the tutorial on Project guitar is very informative and even entertaining!
Kris

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