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Post by sparkotronic on Jul 24, 2007 16:20:07 GMT -5
Just finished fitting a sustainiac to this guitar. My first attempt a making a pick guard, I'll have to do it again as I got the pick ups slightly off centre. The sustainiac sounds excellent, quite tricky to fit.  |
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Post by sparkotronic on Dec 21, 2009 9:50:05 GMT -5
I made another scratchplate and ditched the tone pot for a coil tap.   It sounds even better now, no doubt I'll add the tone back next year  |
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Post by sumgai on Dec 21, 2009 12:46:37 GMT -5
sparky, Welcome back! ;D Ya know, it's been a long time and all that, but around here, we normally see people resurrect threads that are several years old, but they weren't the original poster. You might have set a record by reviving a 2½ year old thread that not only are you the OP, but you're the OP (only poster)! Seems kinda worth a +1, I think. Not to mention, nice job, looks very good.  Stick around, I'm sure there's a whole new crowd that will wanna pick your brain about the Sustainiac and/or your circuitry in general.  sumgai |
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Dec 21, 2009 15:57:51 GMT -5
Firstly, I have to say I am amused.
Secondly, I am interested in that sustainiac. I've looked at them before, but I've heard that they don't sound the best (pickup-wise). It might be worth putting into a HSH guitar. Can you give any input on the sound of the pickup?
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Post by sparkotronic on Dec 22, 2009 5:31:02 GMT -5
Firstly, I have to say I am amused. Secondly, I am interested in that sustainiac. I've looked at them before, but I've heard that they don't sound the best (pickup-wise). It might be worth putting into a HSH guitar. Can you give any input on the sound of the pickup? , I never left, I just didn't have anything to say  Mines is a single coil version and it sounds okay, not great but usable. But then if you were fitting a Fernandes one it would have no sound at all! The Humbucker version has the same driver/pickup, it just has a different EQ circuit to mimic a HB. If you've been thinking about it, the sustainiac is ther easiest option as all the added spaghetti fits nicely under the scratchplate and no extra routing is needed. The sustainiac is awesome, it totally changes your approach to the guitar, the hardest part is keeping the thing switched off! There are a few examples of mine on this site www.myspace.com/colinmacphailThe keyboards on the first track that start at 2:15ish are done with the Sustainiac, you couldn't do that kind of thing with a conventional guitar set up. |
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Post by gitpiddler on Dec 22, 2009 15:10:09 GMT -5
Nice work Sparky! Peace At Last & La Villa are impressive. Any other guitars besides the Hohner in there? Are you amping or D.I.?
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Post by sparkotronic on Dec 22, 2009 16:44:01 GMT -5
Nice work Sparky! Peace At Last & La Villa are impressive. Any other guitars besides the Hohner in there? Are you amping or D.I.? Thanks for the kind words ;D The cover of La Villa was recorded about 20 years ago with a portable cassette recorder. We had to teach it to the drummer as he had never heard of Rush and said he had no intention! The rest are recorded in FL studio or Reaper. The guitars I used are the RTS and an Ibanez Roadstar 2 I don't use amplifiers any more, I use NI Guitar Rig. With G/rig you can do just about anything sonically. It's the best £400 that I've ever spent. Colin |
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Post by gitpiddler on Dec 22, 2009 23:42:46 GMT -5
Blasphemy. I'm relieved that wasn't you, he sounded a little p  d off at Neil Peart ;D I've got a demo done 16 yrs. ago on a boom box sitting in the hall of my first time with a GIRL drummer. Pretty good mix. They had a tune called 'Angel' they were working on, and I came in to do leads. We started rolling tape after warming up, still talking it out. Julie looked up at me, kicked up the tempo, and I busted a lead out of nowhere-magically-on a 3-month old Fender chorus amp. We eventually spliced together several takes, added vocals, etc. I only have the one copy though, I got too busy at work to stay with it. I worked with her father, and the bass player was an old friend from our little league football days... I had so much fun on that job, I missed out on a lot of other opportunities. I learned the value of getting that first take energy on tape, and of having a job that put me in the ZONE for several years non-stop. Magical times indeed. Also, how about a rear view of that RTS to go with the inevitable wiring discussion. They say the Scots fell in love with East Tennessee when they got here. I've met several driving an airport taxi the last 3 yrs. as well as being a mostly U.K. mixture myself. Cheers! |
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Post by sparkotronic on Dec 23, 2009 4:12:42 GMT -5
I should be ashamed of this picture!  I wouldn't win any prizes for the routing job, thank goodness for scratchplates! In my defence, I was trying to fix a real botch job as I fitted the switch about 15 years ago and did the original route with a blunt 8mm drill  The yellow bit is the sustainiac circuitry, you can pick a diagram up from the sustainiac site www.sustainiac.com/The only difference now is that I ditched the tone control for a coil tap on the bridge pickup. I suppose the main problem with the install is that there are a lot of wires and trying to fit them into such a small hole is a bit of a shoehorn job, still it looks nice with it's clothes on! I think the good thing about a first take is that you capture the excitement, you never seem to get that back, after 4 or 5 it seems to be more like a job Cheers, Colin |
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Post by dunkelfalke on Dec 27, 2009 14:57:20 GMT -5
Dude, you've got my favourite guitar type there, I've got two of them Revelations.
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Post by cynical1 on Dec 27, 2009 19:48:04 GMT -5
spark -
I checked out your tunes. Very nice stuff.
C1
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Post by sparkotronic on Jan 1, 2010 16:20:53 GMT -5
Dude, you've got my favourite guitar type there, I've got two of them Revelations. You wouldn't have a wiring diagram for the ATN circuitry? I took it out years ago, but I would quite like to try it in another guitar. |
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Post by dunkelfalke on Jan 4, 2010 4:22:09 GMT -5
  By the way, your Revelation always seemed rather strange to me, but I understand just now what it is: you have shortened the upper pickguard horn. |
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Post by sparkotronic on Jan 4, 2010 10:06:53 GMT -5
Thanks for that, I've been looking for that for a while now. I kind of killed my original pick guard with a blunt 6mm drill years ago(this guitar has a history with blunt drills!) as I wanted the ATN to switch on with a mini toggle. The RTS has to be one of the most under-rated guitars out there. I remember when I got it my other band mates at the time ridiculed me, but I don't think you can beat it for playability. There arn't many guitars where you can play chords comfortably at the 17th fret. I like it even better now as people always ask where the tone control is I'm off to dig out the ATN ball, pick-ups and soldering iron now! Cheers again, Colin |
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Post by dunkelfalke on Jan 4, 2010 12:06:30 GMT -5
When it comes to holes in the pick guard, I make them with an old soldering iron. It stinks and is somewhat dangerous, but works pretty well.
And yes, Revelation is a very underrated guitar. I've got the RTX, the RTS and am currently searching for the ATX version (the one with the set neck and 27 frets). The neck is the most comfortable I've ever seen.
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Post by sparkotronic on Jan 4, 2010 12:47:26 GMT -5
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Post by dunkelfalke on Jan 4, 2010 14:38:22 GMT -5
Yes, I know it. There also was a guy who owned like 20 of them, but he sold all of them off as far as I know.
My Revelations are also interesting - the blue one is shielded with silver lacquer, has got active pickups, a sound modeller, an overdrive, the tone monster mod, locking tuners and graphtech saddles (and I am currently replacing the old frets with stainless steel ones). The second one has got GFS lipstick pickups.
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Post by sparkotronic on Jan 4, 2010 15:59:59 GMT -5
Yes, I know it. There also was a guy who owned like 20 of them, but he sold all of them off as far as I know. My Revelations are also interesting - the blue one is shielded with silver lacquer, has got active pickups, a sound modeller, an overdrive, the tone monster mod, locking tuners and graphtech saddles (and I am currently replacing the old frets with stainless steel ones). The second one has got GFS lipstick pickups. It's one of those guitars that you can't help modding, the Wilkinson trem holds better than any FRose I've ever tried. I like the sound of yours! |
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