GregP

The cover doesn't need to be potted. Pickup microphonics are created by vibrating coils, not vibrating pickup covers. To top it off, pickup covers are generally non-magnetic metals such as aluminum or... tin? Not sure what it is, to be honest, but they pick metals that do not interfere in any significant way with the magnetic field. That's why you can get pickup covers that don't have any polepiece holes at ALL. I missed the earlier thread, but I imagine it's one of those 10-page affairs in which people get carried away by the details instead of paying attention to common sense and scientific principles. You can argue all you want that a stainless steel pickup cover can contribute to microphonics, but until you buy and hold one in your hands, it's a moot issue anyhow. The cover you purchase will be aluminum or whatever the heck that stuff is. Greg

I used CA found at a local hobby shop. People who build models use the stuff. Greg

As discussed in another thread, my apartment is a hotbed of noise. Lace Sensors, from what I've read, don't operate in the same way as magnetic pickups with a traditional coil construction. Will they operate in a noise-free way in an apartment riddled with electromagnetic interference? Next: if they ARE mostly free from electromagnetic noise, anyone have a neck pickup they're parting with? I saw that blue one for sale the other day, but alas I didn't have the money at the time. Greg

coulda sworn this was the Supply Zone->Auction and Website Supplies area. Since he has a website with supplies, I don't see the violation.

I agree, Devon. That said, I will probably always choose to glue ears from now on. It was a real pain in my ass making a bandsaw jig and then trying to get the angles flat to one another. It looked "perfect" but it wasn't. So, to answer the question: I used a bandsaw and jig, but henceforth I will use a table saw. Greg

I echo what's already been said regarding the router (use the right-sized bit!, make sure it's into the collet), but to add something new: I started off by borrowing my pop's router. I definitely had the right-sized bit and had it 'in' far enough into the router. However, no matter how much I tightened it up, it always seemed to manage to either not grip the bit tightly enough to begin with, or it would work itself loose. I never found out which it was for sure, but the bottom line is that the bit wouldn't stay put. If you know for sure you're doing everything right, you might need a new collet insert, or just a whole new router. Luckily, a reasonable one can be had for much much less than most of your other tools, so hopefully it won't break the budget of your project if that's what it comes to. Welcome aboard!

I'd live with'em, but I'm also the guy who took a staple-gun and screwdriver to my strat (don't worry, just a Mexi, though I still loved it!) once during a jam. Regarding the intonation--it DOES look like it could be off, but intonation's never something you can tell by eyeing... I've seen weirder saddle 'patterns' before. This one's fairly normal by comparison. Greg

Absolutely there have been super-teles. Mick Mars had one made by Kramer. The shape wasn't actually all that "pointy", though... it was more like what Van Halen did... his axes weren't actually pointy, either. (Heh, bet you thought you'd never see the day Mick Mars was compared to VH in a sentence!) I imagine if you took the Kramer idea but put it on a Pacifica shape, you'd pretty much have a super-tele. Greg

Looks great. Not sure how 21 frets is a deal-breaker, though. That's only a semitone of range lost compared to his usual 22-fret guitars. Greg

I don't know that I'd do it exactly this way, but it gives me a GREAT idea for future tele projects! --> Since I'm not looking for an exact replica, a cheap-@$$ tele knock-off would serve well enough for me as a template-- and you'd get all the horrible electronics as a bonus, for other mock-ups and projects 'n stuff. I wonder how cheap the cheapest knock-off is going for on eBay.... Greg

Holy heck. That's what I call a mirror finish! I like the look of it, too. ANY paint job is doable by anyone with the right skills and equipment. So the question isn't really, "can this be done at home," but, "is this a very complicated finish for a new finishing painter to attempt?" Which I couldn't give you an answer for. I'll leave that to the experts. Greg

HOLY SHNIKIES!!! I don't know if this has anything to do with my noise, though I suspect it doesn't help: Finally got my hands on an outlet tester and: NONE OF THEM ARE GROUNDED! Worse yet, one of the outlets I use regularly has... you guessed it... REVERSED polarity!! Holy heck. Now, I'm going to get it sorted out, if for no other reason than safety. But since this is a guitar forum, I gotta ask: Will this be affecting the 'interference' noise levels in my gear and in my apartment in general? Greg

Right you are, right you are. If I had cash, I would contact Jon. Anybody who's looking for pickups, custom or otherwise, should check Jon's site out anyhow, so I'm going to put a linkie linkie: http://www.swinesheadpickups.co.uk Greg

Mattia- the key difference, even if the output is the same, is that the polepieces for 2 'single coils' (ie. 2 halves of a humbucker if you want to look at it that way) are in 2 different PHYSICAL locations, which creates a different sound altogether. That's part of the reason a hot single coil and a mellow humbucker still don't sound the same. 5 Bartolini single-coils with coil-tap... that could be used to make a 513. <chuckle> Maybe if we convince Jon Bell of Swineshead Pickups, he might be able to find a way to do it with 'humbuckers' for a reasonable price. Greg

mattia: Cheers for the response, but you're describing a split, not tapped humbucker. A tapped humbucker will have another lead coming from somewhere in the middle of the individual coil windings. I just wondered how it was possible to pull that off, as in my mind it doesn't seem to be. Maybe when they refer to it as a modification, they still mean that they have to re-wind the whole pickup? Greg

Quick question: My understanding is that back in the day, a coil tapped humbucker (tapped, not split) was a 'modification' to an existing humbucker. Is that true? If so, how did they pull it off? Cheers for the diagrams, Lovekraft. I don't understand them completely yet, but if I ever get around to doing something like this, I'll be glad you made it up! Greg

Noiseless pickups sound like a great idea. 1 vote for Player's strat. Greg

I wonder if Marksound knew that the 'carvecaster' just features a belly carve, not a carved top. Looks great! I love that natural look for Telecasters. Greg

Drat. Well, at least easily fixed and you have a plan of attack. Ya know, I like stealth a bit better, too, come to think of it. Go fer it!

Cool. I say expose the P90, but that's just me. Stealth is cool, too.

Easy! Make a template with the biggest and most obvious cavities already on it... Why? Because if you screw up the cavity part, the 'outline' part of the template is still useful and THEN you can make separate templates. If you do it all separately, mind you, there's the advantage of being able to use the templates on different styles of guitars (though, if you're creative, you can STILL use the 'tele' body and just the cavity portions). The way I see it, you get a 'free' shot at doing it right. If you pull it off first try, great-- you have a most-in-one template. But if you don't, well, there's always other plywood/mdf/whatever to give it another go. I wouldn't put the neck cavity on it, though. I'd use one of the recommended methods similar to those used by the famous "neck pickup jigs", even if you don't build a full-time jig. A makeshift one-off jig is still a better idea, IMO. Greg

Oh, there's certainly no way of doing it without special pickups. I don't think anyone would have disagreed about that. I just re-read Sambo's post and even *I* had lost track of this important point: They are 5 coil-tapped single-coils, not 2 coil-tapped humbuckers plus a single-coil. I know, in a lot of ways it's just nomenclature (a humbucker really IS just 2 combined single coils, though the winding is usually a bit different than what they'd do for a straight-up single-coil) but I think it helps when visualizing to think of them as 5 tapped single-coils rather than HSH. Greg

Of course it can be done. Sambo's right on the money-- it's just a combination of coil taps, coil splits, and full humbuckers, with a single coil in the middle. The reason for the circuit board is to facilitate production and ensure consistency. As Sambo mentioned, it's a hell of a lot of wiring to do it without. I personally wouldn't want to be the one doing it, but of course it can be done. Greg

I suspect it's binding in the nut. Another possibility is that the 'coils' around the tuning peg are settling into place, which sometimes requires a lot of pressure and tension and doesn't immediately happen with your first tune to pitch. Could be your saddles or other bridge-side related problem, too. You don't say what kind of guitar it is, but it's possible that the ball end isn't 'seated' properly at that end of the guitar until it's pulled at the right tension or in the right way. Basically, there are literally only 3 areas where it could be happening: 1. Bridge area-- ball-end not 'seated', or string binding up in saddle 2. Nut-- string binding up/getting 'stuck' 3. Tuning pegs-- coils are settling into place or strings are not being 'gripped' tightly and are coming loose. Greg