Aluminum strat project

[DangerousR6]

These might look pretty cool... :dontknow:

 

[DangerousR6]

I think I kinda like these better..

 

[Cagey]

Tough call. They both look good.

I would wonder about fingerprints, but that's probably a petty concern. Besides, that whole guitar sorta says we're not worried about fingerprints <grin>

 

[swarfrat]

since you got one of them thar spinny things, the idea would need to be scaled up for a guitar knob (deeper body) but how about the visible portion of  ...

 

[DangerousR6]

since you got one of them thar spinny things, the idea would need to be scaled up for a guitar knob (deeper body) but how about the visible portion of  ...

:icon_scratch:....wat... ???

 

[Kadmium]

when Mr. 6 finds out the aluminum body operates in a tonal zone somewhere between the icepickiest-Telecaster ever made and a sheet metal ripsaw

Magnetic pickups don't really work that way. It might be an issue with piezos (though much less pronounced than your post would suggest), but those are always going to sound like crap. A mahogany-bodied guitar with an EMG 81 in the bridge position is going to sound much more icepicky than an aluminium guitar with a PAF in it.

 

[stubhead]

Mr. Kadmium, I do OWN & OPERATE this:

Same year (1993), same factory (Spruce Hill), same aluminum, just a different shape. That was not an idle "prediction." But, they can be tamed, it just takes an approach to choosing tonal modifiers which might seem drastic to a wood-only owner. I can be quite assured in saying, "Don't go with the Alumitones!" They're good pickups for basses & pedal steels, where hi-fi cleanliness is a virtue....

 

[AutoBat]

I'm a page late to the party, but the bridge pickup screw is the pointer for my strat volume knob.  they might look upside down to other people, but the knobs are for me, not them! (the tones work, i guess, but i don't mess with them unless i forgot that they ruin the sound, then i turn them back up all the way)

 

[Cagey]

(the tones work, i guess, but i don't mess with them unless i forgot that they ruin the sound, then i turn them back up all the way)

Yeah, the upcoming Tele is going to be my first one with no tone control at all. I've been knocking it back to just a single vol/tone on the others, but I still don't use the tone control. So, to hell with it. It's just cluttering things up. I'll have the treble bypass on the volume pot, but that's it.

 

[DangerousR6]

Mine is wired up with 2 tones and a master volume. One tone is for the bridge the other for middle and neck.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Updown]

Make 1 tone pot, a push / push, for neck and bridge and all in  arty07:

 

[Cagey]

Or, if you must have a tone pot, then just have one so that no matter what you do you always have a control that's always in the same place and always does the same thing. Why play games with switches and leave naked wires out to have noise induced into them? You either need a filter or you don't. If you don't, leave it on 10. If you do, back it off.

 

[stubhead]

The issue with leaving OFF a tone is that the ones you had but didn't use, still contributed a 500K or 250K load in the circuit there. I've had a few surprises in that way.

 

[Cagey]

The issue with leaving OFF a tone is that the ones you had but didn't use, still contributed a 500K or 250K load in the circuit there. I've had a few surprises in that way.

That has occurred to me, but I'm unconcerned. I can always put a 500K resistor and .022μf cap in series across the output jack to dummy up such a load if I need to. I may do that experiment here, as I'm using a pickup I haven't used before. Depends on what it sounds like first crack out of the box. I have a feeling I'm going to be tickled pink as built, so I'm wiring permanent.

 

[stubhead]

This is a neat tweak:
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/potm.htm

In short, you can always change a 500K volume pot to 300, if you have some 750K resistors. And since 500K pots are usually somewhere between 420 and 480 (I check every one, these days) you're actually turning them into 250's, which means there's never any reason to buy 250's.... because they're usually 220's! Yes, even from the good guys, unless you pay extra for specifically-correct values. And another tweak is simply that capacitors are additive in parallel, so you can always start a guitar with a 500K pot and a .015 cap, and leave yourself room to pack in more if it needs it. It won't look like Boy Scout wiring, but I don't play like a Boy Scout either. :evil4:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

In my current build I have a 500K pot, with a 500K resistor in parallel when the switch is in single-coil modes, and not there when there's a humbucker active. I have no idea if this will affect anything at all but it was fun planning it.

 

[DangerousR6]

Got the quantum view, my neck will be here next week... :headbang:

 

[keeper006]

Alright 6! Let's get this show on the road. And Cagey, you will be tickled, I've been wiring with no tone knob for the last ten years and wouldn't think of using one now.

 

[Great Ape]

]Well, I don't know a whole lot about wiring, but I just
did up a BK Tele w/TV Jones p-ups, one vol., 500k pot, no tone control, and I got....TONE!!!

 

[DangerousR6]

Thinking about doing some engraving... :icon_biggrin: