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epizootics wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:27 pm

Talking about pickups, I am still on the fence. I really want to use the soft ferrite rods I have in a drawer, maybe combined with ceramic magnets in a P90 design. That would be an atrociously bright and spanky pickup - the only ferromagnetic material being the copper wire, eddy current losses would be minimal. JM pickups are too much fun to make - you can pretty much fit anything you like in those large covers.

Maybe do that but shield it the covers with copper tape in a little Faraday cage? I've done Strat pickups like this and without a gap you end up losing a lot of treble (which you probably want with that kind of construction). Wouldn't necessarily show under the covers, and it might just be horrible, but you never know until you try it.

HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:02 am

epizootics wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:27 pm

Talking about pickups, I am still on the fence. I really want to use the soft ferrite rods I have in a drawer, maybe combined with ceramic magnets in a P90 design. That would be an atrociously bright and spanky pickup - the only ferromagnetic material being the copper wire, eddy current losses would be minimal. JM pickups are too much fun to make - you can pretty much fit anything you like in those large covers.

Maybe do that but shield it the covers with copper tape in a little Faraday cage? I've done Strat pickups like this and without a gap you end up losing a lot of treble (which you probably want with that kind of construction). Wouldn't necessarily show under the covers, and it might just be horrible, but you never know until you try it.

That's a very good idea! Those are cheap Aliexpress JM covers (almost...but not quite...the right dimensions). There would be plenty of room for treble loss in that design.

epizootics wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:14 am

HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:02 am

epizootics wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:27 pm

Talking about pickups, I am still on the fence. I really want to use the soft ferrite rods I have in a drawer, maybe combined with ceramic magnets in a P90 design. That would be an atrociously bright and spanky pickup - the only ferromagnetic material being the copper wire, eddy current losses would be minimal. JM pickups are too much fun to make - you can pretty much fit anything you like in those large covers.

Maybe do that but shield it the covers with copper tape in a little Faraday cage? I've done Strat pickups like this and without a gap you end up losing a lot of treble (which you probably want with that kind of construction). Wouldn't necessarily show under the covers, and it might just be horrible, but you never know until you try it.

That's a very good idea! Those are cheap Aliexpress JM covers (almost...but not quite...the right dimensions). There would be plenty of room for treble loss in that design.

Either that or just do the ferrite rods but stick a couple of copper rods sideways around the neck & bridge sides of the coils just to screw with the eddy currents for shits & giggles/fun & profit (depending on how well it works out). Dunno how well that'd fit in the covers, but if you go with like 45awg or something ridiculously OTT for a JM pickup, you could probably get it to sound okay even without anything screwy under the hood to tame it.

Well...I made some flatworks this afternoon. Now let's see. We have forbon...we have soft ferrites...we have a bunch of different wires to play with...what could go wrong?



I also got started on the next project(s) since I don't think I'll be able to paint anything in the courtyard for a bit:



Two cherry Bobkat-inspired machines are on the way. One for my bandmate, one for me. I'm thinking going reverse colors for maximum cheese. Necks will be European ash - I got a bunch of blanks planed from perfectly straight, quartersawn stock last week.

You're keeping rising the bar for all of us.
Such a clean work

The reverse colours is a cool idea. Are you going for black & white (positive & negative) or do you have other mighty combo in mind to play with?

A bit of an update on what has been my slowest build in a while!

I did something I rarely do, even though I probably should? I assembled the guitar before finishing it, because (1) I was starting to feel like a kid on Christmas day and (2) I wanted to make sure everything worked before splashing paint onto it. I wasn't sure how the 4° angle at the headstock and the POM nut/locking tuners combination would do the trick.

Here it is, assembled...and naked...











Now I'm not sure that most people would find that nut/string guide less ugly than a locking nut, and it still needs refinement, but it seems to work! I need to file the grooves a bit deeper as the strings are still resting on it, when they should only just be kept in place laterally. Even then, the damn thing stays in tune despite my abusing that trem arm.

I ended up fitting it with standard JM pickups I had lying around just to see how those would sound combined with a Floyd Rose. Sadly, I ordered my height screws too short in regards with the string height and they sit very, very low. The right screws are on their way.
I was expecting many things...But not twang! Here's a quick and dirty sample.

https://soundcloud.com/model-beirut-rec ... IiCePQsUDO

So...The weather doesn't look like it'll allow me to paint in the yard for some time, it seems I'm better off getting started on my other projects and wait for Spring

Looks and sounds great!! Just happens to also answer a question I've been wondering about regarding headstock angles, so I think I'll go with 4 degrees and no string tree as well. It happens to fit well with some parts I have brewing... Also really love how neat the fret indicators are, might need to steal that approach

bodhi wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:22 am

Looks and sounds great!! Just happens to also answer a question I've been wondering about regarding headstock angles, so I think I'll go with 4 degrees and no string tree as well. It happens to fit well with some parts I have brewing... Also really love how neat the fret indicators are, might need to steal that approach

Be my guest - I am pretty sure I stole the idea from someone else already

Regarding the headstock angle, 4° seems to be enough, as put forth by Ken Parker. However, I'd add a couple of things to factor in.

(1) Fretboard thickness. Obviously, the thicker the fretboard, the more break angle you'll get for a certain angle at the headstock. I used an 8mm / 5/8"-thick blank on this one.

(2) Headstock thickness. On angled headstock guitars, the thicker the headstock, the farther down the point where the strings meet the tuners will be. I used a 1" thick neck blank, and after calculations, I trimmed the headstock down to 14mm/9/16". In practice, this means that the string angle behind the zero fret is about 6° for the low E string and about 4° for the high E string.

The cool thing is that a 4° angle allows you to build a neck with a tilted back headstock from a 1" blank without having to use a scarf joint. I simply planed down the face and trimmed the back with a router sleigh. I don't think this weakens the neck anywhere near as much as a 14°, Gibson-style angle would, by shortening the grain.

I'm liking how this has turned out. The body has an almost Bo Diddly vibe to it. Always good to hear a guitar twangs too.

Really like the sound of that!

Really liking the design on this!

Wow! So many cool details going on here. I especially love the inlays and those 12th fret side dots. Your builds are always so inspiring.

Really really cool guitar.
I think it can safely be said that you have Made the Floyd Great Again.

This thing is really cool, and it sounds great.

Glad you're recovering and sorry you got so sick.

Yay! We just had a few days of warm & dry weather. Time to disassemble, add a belly cut, and drag the Church of Paint down from the attic and out into the yard.

No grain fill. Half a can of Quince yellow and a couple of coats of matte clear.





Everything is back up in the attic. Final re-assembly next week.

I also found the time to get the bridge roughed out for my buddy's Bobkat-inspired build: