curtisa

Yamaha EG112 - that's essentially the budget Pacifica, isn't it? This old refurbishment thread of mine may be of interest to you. It looks like it's going to be pretty garish, but black on yellow gets my vote. Be gentle with the chinese Floyd copy. That way lies stripped threads, poor plating and easily-worn knife edges.

Had some free time today (in these weird times, who hasn't?) and decided to fix something that had been bugging me for a while on one of my old builds. The open high-E string on this guitar has always had a sitar-like buzz. The instrument has a made-in-Germany Floyd Rose Original double-locking tremolo with matching locking nut. A quick Google reveals that this is not an uncommon problem with the nut, mainly due to the nut being a cast metal item where, unlike a traditional nut where each slot is cut by hand, there is essentially no further refining to the slots after it has been powder coated at the factory. This can lead to the possibility of non-uniform paint coating in the slots and/or minor casting imperfections that can change the height of the break point of the nut slot enough to cause buzzing on the open strings. The video below illustrates the issue. By pinching the string into the nut slot with a flat-bladed screwdriver it is possible to make the buzzing noise disappear: Under Superman-vision, it may be possible to see that the string has rubbed through the black plating immediately behind the slot, leaving the black coating in the gullet of the slot unworn. This indicates that the edge is ever so slightly lower than the string as it leaves the nut, which is where the source of the buzzing is occurring: By carefully filing the back of the nut slot with a downwards angle using a 0.013" nut slotting file it is possible to re-introduce a slight ramp up to the nut slot. This gives the string a chance to exit on the leading edge of the slot again, hopefully eliminating the buzz. If you don't have access to nut slotting files this narrow you could probably get away with some 400 grit sandpaper folded over a razor blade. Superman vision again: The above shot shows the filed area in the gullet of the high-E slot extending towards the tuning peg by about 1mm; probably no more than about 6-8 strokes of the file is enough to add the required ramp. After making the above tweak the buzz is gone for good:

The choke (inductor) is in there. It can be seen in the 6th picture down looking into the pickup cavity, where the two green wires and the black wire disappear.

Stereo Varitone schematic is here: https://forum.gibson.com/topic/127119-varitone-wiring/ Without being able to handle the guitar myself, I'd take a guess and say the two green wires are coming from each of the two inductors. The schematic indicates that each inductor is connected to terminal 5 of the Varitone assembly (the thin, blue 8-legged component on the back of the switch, one for each pickup). Terminal 5 on the Varitone looks like it is counted from the end marked with the red dot. The problem you will have is that, in your photos, this terminal is snapped off pretty much all the way to the blue epoxy, which will make it difficult to re-attach these wires to the Varitone. Has somebody else modified the wiring in this guitar before you got it? I'm not sure that second green wire should be soldered to the switch (looks like it has been soldered to terminal 2 of the bottom Varitone in your pic?). On this page it looks more like each green wire from the inductor assembly goes to each Varitone, and there should be a black wire from the inductor canister which should be connected to ground

Or trilobites? There's always a certain improvised organic-ness about your builds, Scott. They kinda grow rather than assemble. I like that.

You can get cutters designed to work with natural shell, but I've not tried it myself (yet). I imagine cutting coolant would also be required, which increases the messiness factor considerably. I've no idea how you'd secure such tiny pieces while machining them. I guess you could mill some tabs into each piece so that they have something larger to 'hang on' to. After machining you cut them free and clean the edges up by hand (see my previous thread update, above).

The General. General Dissaray.

The J refers to the tolerance of the capacitor's value, in this case +/- 5% of the marked capacitance.

Yes, this build is still alive. Just waiting for the finishing regime to dry properly in this autumnal air that's now starting to cool off a bit more than expected. Time to start checking the fit of some of the key components. First I need to add an extra wiring channel (if I'd planned this better I would've added it in while machining the body: In the absence of using shielded wire for the single coils, twisting the pickup leads makes them a bit less susceptible to the effects of external hums and interference. Chucking the two wires up in the cordless drill is (surely?) the oldest trick in the book for this?: Couldn't resist a quick dry assembly to see how it will look: First problem: the Oak Grigsby 5-way switch I bought for this project is too tall to fit in the cavity without bottoming-out on the control cover, so I'm having to order a low-profile Gotoh 5-way switch which will delay things a bit. Second problem: I need a way to mount the individual headless string locks that doesn't involve passing a mounting screw through the truss rod access at the end of the neck. If I just mount the D and G string locks direct to the end of the neck using the provided wood screws, the screw holes fall pretty much inline with the truss rod access hole. Not good. So it's back to the computer and CNC to come up with a mounting adaptor plate to allow me to install the string locks without encroaching on the truss rod access: After cutting the plate free of the aluminium (or aluminum, if you prefer), and cleaning up the surfaces and edges a bit I get this. The six larger holes are tapped for an M3 thread to secure each string lock while the six smaller holes are designed to accept the tiny metal pins cast into the underneath of each string lock, which help stop them swiveling around as the string locking screws are tightened up. The two countersunk holes provide an easy attachment point for the mounting plate into the headstock spaced far enough apart to avoid punching through to the truss rod access: Dry run: The plate itself will be spray painted black and then recessed into the headstock to provide the correct amount of downward force the strings require as they pass over the nut.

Interesting wiring schemes you've come up with. Some observations, if I may, for other people who may want to try them out in their own builds: The combinations listed don't include the pickup options that are common between the variations. For example, in the first diagram with all mini toggles in the 'normal' position the column shows the available options on the 3-way toggle as Bridge/Bridge + Neck/Neck. The second option listed (neck phase reversal switch engaged) only indicates Bridge + Neck Out of Phase, but there will still be the standard Bridge and Neck options on the 3-way toggle as well. There are grounds missing on the tone and neck volume pots in the first diagram. There's a ground missing on the phase reverse switch in diagram 2 (bottom-right terminal on mini toggle). The ground connection from the output jack in the second diagram also needs to be made to one of the pot cases. The listed capacitor codes on diagram 2 aren't quite right. '2223' is shown, but I suspect it should be '223', aka 22nF. Bridge grounds are not shown on either diagram but are implied.

Running the wires alongside each other won't cause a serious issue in itself. Long runs of unshielded wire may make them more susceptible to picking up external noises though, so you may want to consider running them as a shielded cable(s), with the shield/braid connected to ground. I suspect that's more to do with running signal cables near pedal power cables.

Depends if you want position 1 to be the most clockwise notch on the rotary when mounted on the guitar or the most counter-clockwise. My gut feel would be to put position 1 (Neck) on the most clockwise notch on the switch, so that rotating the switch counter-clockwise steps you back through the pickup combinations in order of proximity to the bridge. But that's just me. Put it this way: if you want it the opposite order all you need to do is just "mirror" the terminations on each group of six outer lugs on the rotary switch, so that instead of stepping through Neck -> Bridge in positions 1 -> 6, they step Bridge -> Neck in Positions 1-> 6.

Yes. Yep. Assuming the wiper element of each switch moves clockwise (-> 1-2-3-4-5-6) around the contacts you will get: Bridge + Neck Bridge Bridge + Middle Middle Middle + Neck Neck I'd personally not recommend you modify the pickup to provide a coil tap wire. Playing with the factory coil terminations and fiddling with the hair-thin wiring on each coil, it's quite easy to end up with a humbucker that suddenly doesn't work.

My problem was playing with the completed model and expecting it to magically stay in one piece despite my animated VROOOOOOOMS and divebombs.

You need the hot leads from each pickup to attach to the middle lug of each associated tone pot, while keeping the middle lug lead in place from the tone pot to the rotary switch (ie, two wires on the middle lug of the tone pot, leftmost lug un-terminated).

Takes me back to my Airfix kit days...

Your (red) leads from the pickups to each tone pot need to go the centre lug of each, not the leftmost lug. But otherwise it looks correct. Another way to look at it is just consider your wiring scheme as the same as a standard Strat with the addition of one extra tone control for the bridge pickup. Phasing will be limited by how each pickup has been wound and constructed. Because you're using dissimilar pickups you'll largely be stuck with what you have bought. While you might get lucky, don't expect that familiar Strat 'quack' and inherent hum cancellation in switch positions 2 and 4. The shaft length itself won't be an issue, as there are plenty of options out there for long shaft rotary switches (Google to find results). I suspect where you'll come unstuck is finding a rotary switch with a tall threaded mounting collar, which won't be easy as they're not a standard implementation of a rotary switch (historically they were designed to be mounted on thin bits of sheet metal in radios and TV sets...and scratchplates) Your only real recourse is to (carefully!) modify the body cavity such that there is sufficiently thin clearance to accommodate the more 'standard' threaded section of a rotary switch. Cavity surface thicknesses of 3-4mm should suit most rotary switches, and still retain enough strength to withstand rock 'n roll.

This should get you close. I've omitted grounds, pots, jacks, pickups for clarity. Wiring colours don't mean anything in particular other than to make following it easier. Note the large number of jumpers on the Megaswitch which will be a bit of a challenge to wire up. In practice it may pay to re-arrange the wiring slightly such that you don't have more than two wires on any terminal. The mini toggle shown could either be a dedicated switch or the switching element on the back of a push-pull.

Using a basic push-pull pot (or mini toggle) can get you there, but there are a couple of caveats: The changeover from middle single to dual humbuckers will work, but will give you some odd pickup combos in positions 4 and 2 if you forget to return the push-pull back to the 'normal' position. You'll effectively get the 'both humbuckers' option in positions 2, 3 and 4 until you put the push-pull back to normal. If you want the mini toggle/push-pull to have some kind of 'auto-defeat' function to automatically return positions 2 and 4 to Hum+Single it will require something like the 4-pole 5-way Mega Blade Switch to operate, so you'd need to factor a bigger, more expensive switch and more fiddly wiring into your build.

Hur hur. You said, "passing wind". Does Covid-19 give you the shits? All those people hoarding bogroll seem to think so. Congrats to you, Andy. All smugness aside, you can't get much higher praise than from a very satisfied customer like Matt who is willing to advertise your hard work for you like that. I'd buy you a pint, but I'd suggest it will be a bit on the flat side by the time it's air-freighted to you.

Projectguitar's search function is a bit clunky, but here is the entire content of Metal Matt's output we have on our records. You can filter down his posts further using the menu on the left of the screen: http://www.projectguitar.com/profile/2308-metal-matt/content/ He hasn't been active here for 10 years, and the forums have undergone many changes since then, so be warned that links and file attachments may be long gone.

You've possibly overcooked the pots. Got a photo or three of the wiring? Active or passive pickups?

Interesting. You've inlaid after the frets have gone in. Care to share your brainideas about your choice there?

The tricky thing would be machining such fine details into an extremely fragile material, and keeping it all together in place while it was worked. The inlay channels would be a doddle. The inlays themselves more problemmatic. You could do them as V-carve (see my current build thread) to get the really fine detail required, and the pieces to be inlaid would exist as a single substrate that just gets 'plugged' into the channels until such time as you need to flush-trim the excess off. The drawback would be is that the material to be inlaid would need to lend itself well to being machined as an embossed design on a large substrate. That'd discount shell. Another catch would be that V-carving only works on flat surfaces unless you can machine the channels and inlay pieces to conform to the eventual radius of the fretboard, otherwise you'd end up with the middle (highest) point of the radius'ed fretboard having the inlays appear with the intended lineweight and the edges of the inlay gradually thinning out to nothing as the radius falls away at either side. You'd also need to ensure that any subsequent sanding of the fretboard after the inlay is installed is kept to a minimum, as every bit of material you remove from the surface thins out the inlay lineweights due to the inlay being a V in profile - as more of the top of the V is removed the width gets narrower. Doable, but challenging. Unless you've got access to some very talented and confident CNC operators, I'd stick with inlaying it using the techniques you're already comfortable with.

I can't see any issues with your post from here. Windows 10 - Chrome/Firefox/Edge all display your post identically. Oh, and welcome to the forums BTW.