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Post by dannyhill on Dec 6, 2013 16:54:46 GMT -5
True. To be honest, as dumb as it sounds. I never really checked that the guitar intonated all up the neck using a tuner. I just used to check the pitch at the 12th and open/12th harmonic with the tuner and then let my ears do the work, or not. The BB copy is actually quite nice now, action at 2mm and 1.5mm and could go lower possibly. Lovely open chord sounds, and it does intonate all the way up, unless I press to hard and/or press down at a slight angle - according to the tuner. My ears say? BTW How much difference in pitch can fretting 1-2mm closer further from the fret in first 5 frets? Thanks all! Gonna go shave the ends of its new nut now so it fits the line of the neck. Don't worry I will remove it first :-)
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 6, 2013 15:28:35 GMT -5
Hi Newey, Thanks man! Sorry, must of confused you. The widening of wiring cavity between the pickups is still under way. Stabbing/chiselling with a screwdriver and push/pull/rub a narrow strip of 50 glass paper which is folder over once or twice over itself. No, the screw up just now happened in widening the two holes between the bridge pickup cavity and the control cavity for the switch wire bundle and two pickup wires. Actually, due to the angle I had to drill new holes. The first came out just made it under the cavity cover for the switch cavity wire bundle, the second, which as it happens was quite easy to sand wider I tried first two to drill down into, although the angle was steeper than I realised and ouch! Enclose some photos: I guess I should use a dark stained wood filler and then a dark red dyed superglue drop filling? Danny
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 6, 2013 10:40:31 GMT -5
Aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I was drilling the holes down from the neck pickup cavity into the control cavity and of course I do not have a jig for holding the guitar and the drill bit wobbles as I hold the guitar with one hand the drill with the other. So there was no way I could get the same angle into the cavity as they could, how do they do that? One went through and JUST came in and under the level where the cavity plate would lie. The other? It came out just the other side. So I now have a 1x2 cm hole to the LHS of the bottom left hand corner of the cavity cover. I could have cried. How on earth do I cover up this 'mojo'? Help!! Found a few plates of varnish which I can cover part of the filled hole with. And I was worry about a few slight shallow scratches in the varnish on the front!
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 5, 2013 10:56:28 GMT -5
Just found this:
If you move the nut toward the first fret by, say, 1.0mm, you'll get ~3 cents pitch rise (100/35). If you then drop tune the open string 3 cents back to concert pitch the note on every other fret is 3 cents flat. So the nut compensation effects all fretted notes by a constant amount.
If you move the saddle say 1.0mm, the open string shifts 3 cents in tuning, but the string fretted at the 12th fret will shift twice that amount i.e. 6 cents from however sharp, flat or accurate it played before. So every fret will have a different pitch change for a 1.0mm shift in the saddle position.
I seem to be getting sucked in deeper and deeper.
D
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 4, 2013 17:46:50 GMT -5
OK, so this is weird. For 24.75" scales the first fret is supposed to be located 35.3mm from the nut, give or take 0.3mm, given manufacturing tolerances. I measured along the 1st string at 35mm, could have been 34.9 and there could be a hairline gap between edge of fretboard and the nut now. But along 6th string I measured 34.5mm! Now, I'm pretty sure I took nothing off that side, but as I said the nut channel was pretty grim when the guitar arrived. Should I be worried, or is this potential audible difference in pitch going to get lost in how hard I fret anyway?
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 3, 2013 19:33:50 GMT -5
(The below have since been modified from last night). OK, slight brain fart. I hadn't realised that the new nut had lowered the action, and of course it was just resting there and not glued. Which might explain why notes fretted along the neck were sharp even when ok at the 12 fret. I did notice however that perhaps I was fretting too hard previously, as well as now. Once a bass player, always a bass player. So its all fine and dandy now, good intonation all the way up the neck across all strings, unless I fret too firmly. In correcting the terrible neck slot for the nut I may have filed too deep on the high E side however(slight lift on the nut height test using the 0.15mm high strip at the 1st fret when capoed at the fourth, the low E which I guess is more important as it swings wider is offers just the slightest drag at 0.15mm). Endeavouring to get a square cavity I filed some fretboard (can't be more than 1mm I would have thought)on the high E side until I finally realised that the part that was actually not square with the nut was the binding, which I may have done when trying to square the vertical part of the slot originally, as the fretboard is square with the back of the nut(I can fill that gap cosmetically with superglue/nut dust). Is this going to be a problem? Once you start fretting this does not matter so I guess this can be corrected by saddle positions? I will measure this again tomorrow,should be 24.75" +0.75" from centre of bridge to nut for low E string and 24.75" +1/8" for the high E. Alternatively it can be just 24.75+0.75" and 25.75" I enclose a photo to see if you can see if the nut is no longer parallel to the frets and/or is too close. BTW I just noticed that the low E stud of the stop tail piece might be mounted a little too far to the left as we look towards the neck as its bent slightly toward the other stud. Not worth returning it? I guess worse case scenario is that strings would go out of alignment/angle along the neck as the stud is wound up and down. I guess a bent stud is better screwed down for more resistance to further deformation? More sustain too? D
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 3, 2013 18:49:59 GMT -5
Hi John,
Thanks for that! But actually the current hole must be max 0.7cm diameter. Just enough for three shielded single wires and one shielded 4 wire, all insulated of course.
D
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 3, 2013 8:09:30 GMT -5
Unfortunately the jack hole is not on a suitable line, I think it would go through the bridge. I believe I need to widen the wiring cavity as the cable you speak of is more or less as thick.
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 3, 2013 6:01:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments everyone. newey, the guitar has neither a cap nor veneer. @b4njo, there is the five wire neck pickup cable plus another 8 wires (3 for the 3 way selector, and 5 for treble and bass cut switches for the two pickups mounted on the back cover of the three way). Those 8 wires are currently (screened) jumper wires, about 8-10mm in diameter once taped together in a bundle. Is there a problem of cross talk between the wires when not individually screened? Cheers, Daniel
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 2, 2013 17:29:06 GMT -5
Nah,4th. At 3rd the gap should be smaller still.
My electric guitars are anywhere between 2 and 1.5 to 2.5 and 2. There is more tone up there! Although it makes you work more and slows things down. I'm no shredder!
Inotation, but action and relief are fine.
Anyway, I swapped the nut out, cheap plastic, and the neck slot for the nut was cut terribly, gap under nut towards the tuners. With a little filing (very little) the low E side is snug, the high E needs 2-3 well placed and delicate strokes to get it snug underneath and tight against the fretboard - tomorrow night. Although the neck slot is not quite right yet and its not glued yet, The low position fretting is now spot on although which too much fretting pressure, especially on the 5th and 6th string it does go sharp. I hope the snugger fit and being glued in place remedies this.
D
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 2, 2013 12:20:32 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I am hoping to widen the channel running between two minihumbucker cavities of a LP in order to stuff more crazy wiring through from my extra switches. How on earth can this be done? The angle is too great with a long drill bit to connect from each, if I drill carefully so they meet. I cannot find a drill bit with 90º head to fit in one of the cavities to drill through. I guess they drilled this before gluing the neck in place? I know you can buy sanding/abrasive cord, or I guess fold over a pieces of rough glass paper and work it through gradually back and forth? Any other ideas? Cheers,
Danny
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 2, 2013 11:11:58 GMT -5
Hi there, I do think its the nut, but I do not think it is to do with the height, but the slot heights and widths. Some of the strings seem to be barely in the slots. Both the low and high E have a gap of 0.15mm at the first fret with the 4th fret fretted and the guitar in tune. WRT relief, I have 0.25mm at the 8th fret when I capo at the 1st and fret at the last fret. I will check that again tonight to make sure its at the 8th and not something stupid like the 6th Action height, 2.25mm above bottom of 6th at the 12, 1.75mm for the 1st string. Any lower and I start getting fret out/buzz here and there although this is a 14" radius neck? ? I just want to make sure the neck isn't twisted (it isn't to my eye at least) or anything else that would make it worth returning (again). Cheers, D
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Post by dannyhill on Dec 1, 2013 14:08:01 GMT -5
Hi guys,
Had the guitar out again today. I set it up so it intonates (same note open as 12th) but the wierdest thing, my open chords still sound out of tune. My barre chords are ok though even in lower positions. In fact when I used my tuner to check the notes in the first 3-4 frets of each string almost all were sharp - is this the sounds of a badly cut nut? Cheers,
Danny
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Post by dannyhill on Nov 30, 2013 13:04:27 GMT -5
Yes, strings after I decipher that it is not something worth sending it back about, the bridge, nut and tailpiece will get changed. BTW I am referring to the sounds not plugged in.
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Post by dannyhill on Nov 28, 2013 11:35:17 GMT -5
Dear all,
An update. I returned it and after waiting for a replacement they refunded me, tried somewhere else although sale didn't go through and went back to original seller after they had new stock (1) in. On receipt, this also seemed to be B-stock, although only minor cosmetic issues (run in varnish, pickup surround skewed, gold hardware tarnished..) that could not be fixed with time and money. They agreed to returning me 60€ of the 295€ sale price. Very happy now, especially after some 'home made' fret dressing has allowed me some lowish action up to the 22nd fret. I have to say, even when perfectly in tune it seems to sound out of tune or dull. Could that be old strings, poor nut and/or bridge? Thanks for following the saga. :-) Cheers,
Daniel
PS The original guitar with the badly drilled post holes is now on sale as 'ex demo' at 220€.
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 26, 2013 10:00:48 GMT -5
OK, I see what you mean now. The saddles should be all the same height and I need to check they are.
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 26, 2013 8:10:10 GMT -5
Hi Greekdude,
I don't quite follow you. Surely the saddles are all the same height? Its their mounting which follows the radius/arc of the bridge, and hopefully the neck!, and so they the same height above the fretboard, except when the bridge is angled (usually from low E up to high E)? Cheers,
Danny
PS Anyone got to say anything about using a roller bridge to get a smoother Bigsby action? I don't use the spacer and I changed the 7/8 spring for a 1" and that meant I could go up and down a whole tone without hitting the stop but it does make you work that extra bit to get down there compared to the 7/8" so I will probably change back. Mr 4Real? I have put photos on, but no words of wisdom yet! Are you 4Real?
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 26, 2013 3:41:38 GMT -5
OK, I think I got it now.
BTW I guess I can change all the series connections so they get picked out of the chain from ground to hot: N M B? i.e. NbypassXB, MxB, NxB, NXMXB, NXM - so in fact just the first two change their pup order in the chain?
Ta
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 25, 2013 15:28:54 GMT -5
BTW With regards to the Wildkat. How is my alignment? How is my bridge arc and saddles? I guess a roller bridge would help here? Perhaps Wilkinson's with the adjustable bridge angle? They sound like tone killers but I guess its better that than constantly going out of tune when having to strong arm the Bigsby? Sorry about the poor pics, must have had the wrong light setting (ISO) on the camera, they seemed grainy at the time. But I had to be quick as the wife was loitering. D
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 24, 2013 16:27:06 GMT -5
Here's another. That Wildkat, why are the central two strings (D and G) the same height above the 12th fret (from bottom of string) as the 6th (low E)? i.e. 2.25/2.1/2.25/2.25/1.9/1.75mm? It also uses a tune o matic. All my other guitars tune o matic, fender ashtray, fender modern tele, strat etc all have a gradual decrease from low E to high E, i.e. 2 to 1.5 or 2.25 to 1.75mm etc Is that bridge poorly aligned too? How does one align the bridge with the nut? Align the stop tail or bigsby first with the nut? How is that done? Cheers,
Danie
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 24, 2013 6:32:18 GMT -5
Hi John,
Seems your fire trouble is easing, lets hope it keeps going that way. Great on the lug change. I need to check again the whole rotary switch as I just realised that this would leave me with one less p/p - see if I can make the switch combinations more 'economical/smart'. Cheers,
Daniel
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 23, 2013 8:50:48 GMT -5
Hi John,
Sorry to hear about the bush fires, I've kept myself up to date at breakfast over CNN. The best of British! I see where you are coming from with the rotary option and its interesting, but I would prefer that which I mentioned. So, for now. Is the swapping of positions 1 and 2 feasible? Cheers,
Daniel
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 22, 2013 6:48:44 GMT -5
Still thinking about it John? :-)
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 16, 2013 4:20:45 GMT -5
Hi John,
Thanks for that! I use a 150K on all my non-middy pups (Strat, Jag, Tele etc), and 200k on middy pups (P90, HBs, minis etc).
For the rotary I'm thinking switching between no cap, 0.01 in series with neck, 0.0056 in series with neck, 0.01 in series with middle, 0.0056 in series with middle, 0.01 in series with bridge, 0.0056 in series with bridge. I use those caps for 'mild' individual bass cuts, HOOP (0.01) and mid freq hump (0.056 in series with one pup, 0.0068 in parallel with another - set from DP3Ts). What does that need? 3P7T rotary? I guess I could live without bridge pickup in series with 0.0056uF - so a 3P6T or 4P6T? Ideally, I would love to have a rotary that gave me either no caps/0.01 in series with one pup/0.01 in series with the other pup/0.0056 in series with one pup and 0.0068 in parallel to the other/0.0056 in series with the other pup and 0.0068 in parallel to the first pup - can that be done with a 4P6T, or do I need more poles?
Then neck on in parallel for the volume p/p, middle phase for neck tone p/p, bridge phase for middle tone p/p. 4PDT as per your design. 2PTT for neck treble cut (no cap/0.001uF/0.068) 2PTT for middle treble cut (no cap/0.001uF/0.068) 2PTT for strangle switch. (I have 3 toggles on the strat and room for another).
How does it sound?
D
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 15, 2013 6:17:45 GMT -5
Hi John,
I very much like the first schematic here, is there any way to swap NXM and NXMXB? What can I use the third pot for? A series tone control a la Strat lovers strat? Or Fade control? Or insert a rotary switch for different bass cut switches across outoput of different pickups? Cheers,
Danny
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Post by dannyhill on Sept 20, 2013 5:57:42 GMT -5
ok, so adjusting the inductance and capacitance only filters the generator source and that cannot be modded in SPICE to simulate different pup positioning? Nor the harmonic cancellations? Hmm.....
Interesting sounds in the two samples by the way. Thanks!
D
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Post by dannyhill on Sept 19, 2013 3:27:23 GMT -5
I agree with you on the HOOP, as the cap is in series with a pup when the pups are in parallel.
I'm talking about the series position, both in phase and out of phase. When I run Spice models for two pickups which are not identical (identical also produces same result, naturally) and swap their positions I get exactly the same dB vs freq trace. In series with the cap in parallel (to ground) the pups see the cap equally, this is AC remember! If the cap was in series with a pup, that is a different story...., it does matter which pickup it is in series with when the two pickups are in parallel, it does not matter which pickup is reversed though.
At least that's how I understand it.
D
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Post by dannyhill on Sept 19, 2013 3:23:40 GMT -5
Hi,
I assume that the broadcaster is the cap to ground (after a pot) between two pickups, whether they be single coils or HBs? Or have I not understood it? The HB will have more mids and the highs will be slightly lower. So I guess the question is how does the broadbucker affect, say for a 500K pot and 0.033uF cap, two single coils in series vs two HBs in series? I'm guessing the SCs together will sound more scooped in the mids (they start with less) with more stingy high end?
D
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Post by dannyhill on Sept 18, 2013 16:10:06 GMT -5
No worries. I modelled it.
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Post by dannyhill on Sept 18, 2013 15:59:10 GMT -5
Guys,
Option 2 and 3 are the same as 1U will sound the same. A cap parallel with one pup to ground affects both pups when in series exactly the same as if it was placed after the other pickup. Right?
BTW Why did you drop the Broadbucker?
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