whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 11, 2005 17:07:48 GMT -5
i have built a guitar its like a strat with 1 volume and 2 tones but with 2 humbuckers but they are set up as single coil pickups but when u putt the top tone up it switches the neck pickup to a humbucker and when u pull the bottom tone up it changes the bottom pickup to a humbucker and fitted with a Floyd rose and a custom hand made neck the guitar is built but with 2 problems one it does not sound rite when tuned up and 2 its quiet does anyone know what could be causing this problem i have a pic of it bur I'm stumped on how to add it here
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Post by RandomHero on Oct 11, 2005 18:39:33 GMT -5
Welcome to GuitarNuts. Great to hear you make guitars! Check out "Image Posting" in the top boards and if you can't get that to work, PM me or a mod and we can help you.
What exactly do you mean by "doesn't sound right?"
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 11, 2005 18:49:56 GMT -5
how far are the pickups away from the strings?
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 12, 2005 0:41:26 GMT -5
they are level with thescratchplate at the moment dont know how to explain it but it doesnt sound like my squire showmaster or any other guitar i played allways sounds out of tuine
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Post by RandomHero on Oct 12, 2005 0:48:27 GMT -5
If it always sounds out of tune, there's a good chance the intonation is wrong. If you could list off the following measurements for me, as carefully as you can:
The distance from the point where the string leaves the bridge to the 12th fret, and the distance from the 12th fret to the nut.
Did you use a pre-made neck?
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 12, 2005 10:37:21 GMT -5
first and LEAST important, sounds like you have a huge distance between the pup and strings. when you hold a string down at the 22nd fret (or whatever the last fret you have), adjust your pickups up so that you have no more than 10mm gap between the pole-pieces and the strings. some folks like it better when the gap is smaller (3~5mm) and thats okay too. the closer you get, the stronger the signal. a little too close and the sound is muddier. way too close and the strings sometimes collide with the pole-pieces -- sounds like $#!+.
more importantly work with R.H. on that intonation issue. louder out of tune is no improvement on quiet out of tune!
U.M.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 12, 2005 12:45:27 GMT -5
this is a attempt at shoing the mesurments
|----- 467mm-----| | |==========={ } |300mm|-------340------|
think thats rite will do some photos when i have chance the neck was allready made and matches my squire showmaster
thanks for your help unklmickey and RandomHero by the way
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Post by wolf on Oct 12, 2005 13:29:04 GMT -5
I hope this drawing helps out. It is drawn for a guitar that has a scale length of 25 inches. Therefore, the nut to 12th fret distance equals 12.5 inches and equals the 12th fret to bridge distance. It would seem your scale length is 640 mm which would seem about right. I'm not sure of your other numbers though.
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Post by RandomHero on Oct 12, 2005 13:48:20 GMT -5
Yes, no matter what scale length you use, the distance from the nut to the 12th fret must be -exactly- the same as the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. Otherwise the spacing of the frets all over the neck will be wrong to produce notes on a chromatic scale; thus it will all sound out of tune. Did you model your parts from measurements of other instruments?
It looks to me like you're using a replica of a Strat body. Strats (most of them anyway) are set up with the neck pocket and bridge location to accomodate the intonation of a neck carved for a 25.5 inch scale length. If you took the measurements for that neck from any other instrument, say a Dean ML (it looks like that to me,) then it wouldn't work; the Dean ML's neck is made for a body with a 24.75 inch scale length.
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Post by wolf on Oct 12, 2005 15:00:33 GMT -5
One solution (at least with Les Paul / SG type guitars) would be to move the bridge to the approprate location. However, when you are dealing with a Floyd Rose locking tremolo type bridge (or any tremolo bridge), that type of "move" would require some serious routing (gouging) of the guitar body.
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 12, 2005 16:42:08 GMT -5
hey guys,
i have a related question. are all neck / body combos designed around the same "nth" fret equivalent joint location? i know that sounds confusing. let me try it again. is the location of the neck / body joint at a standard percentage of the scale length? still not great, but i think you might be able to understand what i'm asking here.
in regards to whynot's problem, assuming the above were true (and that's a stretch), that infers that if the body was made for a 25.5" scale length and the neck for a 24.75" scale length, he presently should have a distance of 25.125" from nut to bridge if they were joined at the 12th fret (we know that's not true!). rough guesstimate is just about 25" even. that assumes that the neck accounts for 2/3 of the length and the body accounts for 1/3.
if it turns out that way, that would mean that the bridge saddles need to go about 1/4" closer to the nut. would it be possible that there is enough room in the saddle adjustments to accommodate this.
i realize that some pretty loose assumptions were made here, but i'd like to hope that there might possibly be a way other than moving the bridge or re-working the neck pocket of the body.
i'll leave it to someone with more fender / floyd rose (and lutherie) experience to determine if any of this has merit.
U.M.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 13, 2005 16:58:00 GMT -5
is the mesurment from the 12th fret wire down from the top or from the middle of the 12th fret
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Post by RandomHero on Oct 13, 2005 17:09:00 GMT -5
It's from the wire itself.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 18, 2005 6:39:08 GMT -5
;D ;D ;D changed the mesurment from the 12th fret to the bridge and it sounds good and adjusting the pickups made it sound loude but sadly i nocked some wieres out of place so back 2 the soldering iron thanks for your help couldnt have done this with out without all your help my friend is amazed that i have made a guitar lol
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 18, 2005 11:00:28 GMT -5
glad to hear things are getting better.
were you able to get where you needed by adjusting the bridge saddles, or did you have to do something more serious?
U.M.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 18, 2005 12:50:42 GMT -5
just moved the neck down a little bit got to get the wireing done after i nockd a wire off now now thats the bit i hate
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 18, 2005 15:50:47 GMT -5
its all good but theres a buzzing from the strings when i use the 5th fret anyone have a clue whats going on i think its touchin the 6th fret but all others are fine apart from 5
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 18, 2005 16:15:58 GMT -5
either your 5th fret is too short or your 6th fret is too tall.
quick fix: raise the bridge saddles a little. the action at all positions will be a little high (worse at the frets furthest from the nut). but you might be able to get enough clearance to get rid of the buzz.
right fix: get a sharpening stone and level the frets.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 20, 2005 13:02:43 GMT -5
im having a timy problem with the wireing i cant get the 2 ground wires to stay solderd to the pots tryed sanding the puts tryed soldering them then gluing the solder down tryed even salotape any help
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 20, 2005 15:21:34 GMT -5
well the cases of the pots don't HAVE TO be connected to ground. we like to do that when we can so that the metal case give a bit more shielding. if you have already sanded the metal of the case, and that didn't work, maybe don't worry about it. tape won't hold and most glues aren't conductive anyway. it will still work as long as the ground wires are connected to all the other stuff like the pickups, bridge, proper terminal of the volume pot, output jack, and all that.
good luck,
U.M.
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Oct 20, 2005 16:10:51 GMT -5
wen they discontedted from the pots it buzzezlike hell when they on its fine and the diogram says they go on the pots
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Post by UnklMickey on Oct 20, 2005 16:31:40 GMT -5
wen they discontedted from the pots it buzzezlike hell when they on its fine and the diogram says they go on the pots well, we can't have that! so lets see, what would be the easiest way to make a connection to the case of the pot? at your hardware or home center, you might be able to find some specialized washers with LONG tabs sticking out from them. you could solder the wires on to them. the washer goes between the pot and the pickguard. but unless the tab is really long, don't attach the pot to the pickguard until after you do the soldering. that way you wont accidentally melt the pickguard. another way might be to use a loop of wire between the pickguard and the pot. any way that makes a good electrical contact and is mechanically sturdy. U.M.
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Post by JohnH on Oct 21, 2005 15:18:37 GMT -5
I have the same problem - I cant get enough heat to get a good solder to the pot case. Anyway, I think pots with blobs of solder look like a mess. Also, the inside of the pot has some plastic bushes and reasonably delicate parts, so all that heat cant do it any good.
I use the washer idea. For the volume pot, I have used just a normal washer, with a piece of solid core wire soldered to it. This then loops around the back of the pot to connect to the volume pot ground lug, and forms a handy star ground position, and is the one and only central signal ground position to which other grounds are attached. All the other pot cases and switch cases (but not signal grounds) get grounded by contact with the foil of the pickguard
John
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Post by wolf on Oct 27, 2005 9:42:26 GMT -5
To "rough up" smooth metal (such as that on a potentiometer cover) I've found that using an awl, or other sharp tool (heck even a nail) will do the job quite well. It seems to me that in this instance, the cruder the approach, the better. Sanding has a tendency to make metal surfaces too smooth. Moving an awl back and forth will dig into the surface, creating "nooks and crannies" that solder just loves to flow into. (You don't have to overdo the use of the awl either. By that I mean, you don't have to have every square millimeter of the pot scratched up. Just a few scratches should do it.)
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whynot
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Post by whynot on Nov 2, 2005 4:31:38 GMT -5
i have got the wiring sorted wow was that ever easyer and sound loads better but i still cant get the guitasr its selph to sound good is there a way of adding 2 mp3's 1 of my guitar and 1 of the 1 i am making mabe u can tell whats wrong by the sound
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