GregP

No answers here, just more of the same line of questioning-- I've noticed that my unwound G on a "light" set of strings (0.010 - 0.046) is just awful. Dead-sounding, tone-deprived, sustain-impaired. Is that typical? It seems to me just intuitively that this is pretty much par for the course... the unwound G has always felt a bit funny... but I never noticed it as acutely as I do with my new guitar... and confirmation would be appreciated. Sorry for the semi-hijack. Greg

A mix of beeswax and paraffin (sp?) works, too. Not quite as soft as most beeswaxes tend to be. There are safety precautions to take when melting wax, so beeware. Greg

Hold on a sec.. Did you take out the old nut already or not? What was the bottom like? And then with the remaining slot (assuming you took out the old one), is it flat or not? Confused.

Just did this quick mockup of my "star grounded" version. Different electronics, but you should be able to see the idea. Original SD: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schem..._1t_3w_1pp.html Greg's *: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v137/Gre...arGroundedl.jpg Note that on my diagram, I have 2 "stars" but they represent the SAME physical star. There just wasn't space on the diagram to keep it neat otherwise. Greg

Definitely a valid approach, especially if you're at your wits' end. I used an SD diagram myself, actually both of the most recent times I rewired a guitar. But I *also* used star grounding. I honestly don't fully understand how switches and pots work in terms of which lug does what, so you'll see in my guitars that the lugs themselves are always connected up identically to my source diagram (SD in this case). The modification I make is: 1. Any wires that go to ground (indicated in the diagrams as either "ground" or "solder" on the back of a pot, which is also ground) go to the star and ONLY the star (pots' shells that are connected to each other for ground get removed, vol lug gets desoldered from back of pot), instead. 2. ONE wire goes from the back of a pot (which is electrically continuous with the shielding material) to the star. 3. The jack ground wire goes to the star That's about it. Except for those things, I still followed the SD diagram. Note that I did not do the "big capacitor" mod. I'm not sure if that factors into anything, but it's worth mentioning. Greg

@ the Punched Cow Trample (all rights reserved).

I dunno. I wrote a whole explanation in an almost identical thread, but I'm loathe to retype it. Your symptoms are EXACTLY what would happen when the shield is not finding its way to ground. That's all I can say. The pictures unfortunately aren't going to help decipher what's going on very easily. A wiring diagram would be more helpful. I have my suspicions, but a bunch of speculation would probably just get confusing. Nothing wrong with the SD diagrams, but you'll learn more by trouble-shooting your current wiring. When you find out which step you missed, it'll be a nice "eureka!" moment. Greg

You have made all the shielded areas continuous with each other, but you haven't sent it to ground, from what I can tell. I had the exact same symptoms, and after looking at my wiring I realized what was missing. My solution was to solder a wire to the back of a pot (just 'cause it's convenient. You could theoretically solder to the shielding material) and then send it to ground. I used star grounding, so I'm not sure where you would send it to ground. Maybe directly to the ground lug of the output jack? Greg

That's cool-- but something was still amiss that's worth addressing for future readers of the thread. Your shielding should make what's essentially one continuous "surface"... when the pots touch the shielding material they just sort of "add on" to the shielding. Then you need ONE ground that goes from the entire "shielding" to the star. The back of ONE pot makes a convenient spot to solder a wire for sending to the star. Make sure that NO other ground wires touch the cavity or pots (ie. bare wire is covered up) and the star itself is insulated... a bit of electrical tape is all you need. I used an SD wiring diagram as well, but for every "solder" blob (which is just their way of indicating ground) I just modified accordingly and sent to the star. Greg

I think the ideas connected to the stereo (TRS) cable gives you the best match of "typical non-weird" hardware and accomplishing your goals. Er, except it wouldn't be wireless. <chuckle>

The vViper's silhouette and stuff is fine by me. I like it even... but that "wiper" pickup has GOT to go. I don't mind the "Hybrids" either. I dunno. I don't see them as particularly "awful".

Now THAT I would pay to see. I like the new design better. But that's just me.

That really IS a nice V... and here's the Youtube link. (Launch didn't work for me, though I found the video easily enough) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcxUpQGj5Xk

What the heck, Prostheta? I don't remember singing for your band!

Whatever you come up with, I hope you make the guitar switchable in the conventional way as well-- you don't want that foot unit to become a ball and chain. +me interested in this thread, too. Hope cool ideas pour forth.

I hear they add nothing but "air" to your signal. OK... I'll just get me coat.

It's funny because it's true! I was having a great day, too, despite being at work, and BAM... unexpectedly...MIDLIFE CRISIS. Thanks, Wes. Now I have to go buy a sports car on "no money down, no interest until 2009", get my receding hairline plugged, and have an affair with a younger woman, thereby ruining my stable relationship. Talk about a way to ruin a guy's day. Greg

<looks at Jon's signature> Heheheh! Knew I'd accidentally offend someone, but it's just my personal opinion-- I just don't get it. I think 5 (or max 6) strings is PLENTY of range for someone playing bass. That's probably for another discussion, though; I apologize for dragging it a bit O.T. I'd love to discuss it via PM or something, though, if you have the urge to convince me I'm misguided. Greg

9-string bases make me do this: Not intending to insult people here who play or make them, but I just don't get it. And they look HEEeeaaavvvyyy! But, that's only one minor point, with the overall one being: some wicked stuff there-- thanks for sharing! It's always cool seeing what's on tap from people on the cutting edge or from companies not necessarily as huge as we're accustomed to. That "Box" guitar was very interesting; I want to know more about the one tuning knob! I wonder how it "switches gears" from one string to the next. Greg

The "will it be worth it" comes down to a few very very basic things, IMHO: 1. Is the neck any good (including fretwork unless you have definite plans for a refret) 2. Despite any description of the wood (10-part pine plywood with an MDF core... ) does it sound good to you, even before a pickup change? Ie. does it have the sustain and resonance you're looking for? If the answer to both of those questions is "yes" then I don't see why not to go for it. Part of the cool thing about being a guitar "modder" and able to do your own electronics, etc., is that if time proves your guitar to be a POS after all, those EMG's can still be transplanted into the next guitar you deem worthy. Not a waste! Ditto for the Kahler. Greg

I dunno. I don't think it would work, but I keep getting proven wrong. Prove us wrong!

I just like the 'breaker' switch, whatever it's called. I think they're on Planet Waves, too, no? Saves you from that hummy "plugging in your guitar" noise (and crackle, too)... unless of course, you're recording a song and you WANT that sound as a part of the overall vibe. Greg

That's a heckuvan inlay! Must be cool to have something of yours on display at NAMM.

But man... just a stylized dragon head on the TR cover, and a fully full-on detailed masterpiece on a control cover... THAT would be awesome!