Blue Flame Tele
- Thread starter -CB-
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jackthehack
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CB - How did you get that 3 way toggle installed???/
Using the R/T ring, I located the a suitable visually appealing location, and marked the center of the rings opening.
Measured the DEEP nut (needed for a Switchcraft switch), and found it was just a bit bigger than my closest forstner bit. The next larger bit (in my set) was too big.... so
I made the hole using the very slightly undersize bit, and eased the hole just a tiny bit larger using a sanding drum on my dremel, carefully holding it square to the body.
The pass thru for the wiring is at the back of the bridge pickup route. I enlarged the existing hole on the lower side, and made (VERY CAREFULLY) a new hole on the upper side. The wire was passed through from the pickup route, into the upper and lower chamber areas.
I attached the wired to the switch, keeping track of the colors used for what. Then I lost the notes..... So, later on, a few seconds with the DMM said, ok this is neck, this is bridge...
The tip was removed from the "shorty" straight switch. I passed some monofilament thru the hole I made, and fished it out of the f/hole. Then the monofilament was tied to the switch lever. The switch was passed thru the f/hole. The fishing line was pulled gently, and the switch was pulled into its opening. The washer and nut were slid down the line onto the switch and tightened. Done. Line removed. Tip put on.
The only thing... is ya gotta be careful of any bare wire ground etc. I just used the "green" wire for ground and removed the bare, that way if the switch and wire twisted, I'd not have shorts on the leaves of the switch.
That oughta get you by. I thought it would be a pain in the ass, but it wasn't.
Measured the DEEP nut (needed for a Switchcraft switch), and found it was just a bit bigger than my closest forstner bit. The next larger bit (in my set) was too big.... so
I made the hole using the very slightly undersize bit, and eased the hole just a tiny bit larger using a sanding drum on my dremel, carefully holding it square to the body.
The pass thru for the wiring is at the back of the bridge pickup route. I enlarged the existing hole on the lower side, and made (VERY CAREFULLY) a new hole on the upper side. The wire was passed through from the pickup route, into the upper and lower chamber areas.
I attached the wired to the switch, keeping track of the colors used for what. Then I lost the notes..... So, later on, a few seconds with the DMM said, ok this is neck, this is bridge...
The tip was removed from the "shorty" straight switch. I passed some monofilament thru the hole I made, and fished it out of the f/hole. Then the monofilament was tied to the switch lever. The switch was passed thru the f/hole. The fishing line was pulled gently, and the switch was pulled into its opening. The washer and nut were slid down the line onto the switch and tightened. Done. Line removed. Tip put on.
The only thing... is ya gotta be careful of any bare wire ground etc. I just used the "green" wire for ground and removed the bare, that way if the switch and wire twisted, I'd not have shorts on the leaves of the switch.
That oughta get you by. I thought it would be a pain in the ass, but it wasn't.
OK...........let me catch my breath.....
Just got done playing this wonderful axe for about 2 hours and WOW!
Another great set-up by CB but that's just the beginning....
What doesn't this guitar do? A much shorter list!
The 3-way rotary, the 3-way switch, treble & mids knobs = twang to grind and alot in between!.
The sweeps of the treble and mid knobs are incredible.
It's very woody at times - soooo Hollowbody Jazz-like but it can also be a real flame-thrower!
Pups are well balanced. All controls are easy to get to and it's NOT complicated at all.
CB, you've done it again!~
Just got done playing this wonderful axe for about 2 hours and WOW!
Another great set-up by CB but that's just the beginning....
What doesn't this guitar do? A much shorter list!
The 3-way rotary, the 3-way switch, treble & mids knobs = twang to grind and alot in between!.
The sweeps of the treble and mid knobs are incredible.
It's very woody at times - soooo Hollowbody Jazz-like but it can also be a real flame-thrower!
Pups are well balanced. All controls are easy to get to and it's NOT complicated at all.
CB, you've done it again!~
Superbeast520
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Nice work CB, looks awesome, hey Vic those stainless are something else huh?, bending heaven......curious to hear your take on the tone of stainless compared to nickel, pro / con ? any differences? I know ya got that discriminating Blues ear.....
Superbeast520
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CB's right, thats like whippin your Schmeckel out at the bar, ...hahahahaahahaa............nice collection though........and I know all the guys down here, love Shameless pics......... :headbang:
Patrick from Davis
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Quick note on the color separation... It is exactly what you thought with the paper towels. The dye is originally a number of dyes to get the initial color. The distinct dyes start at the same spot in the wood. But because of the chemical differences to make the dyes different colors they stick to the wood at different levels. From what you said I would guess that one of the dyes move a lot quicker through the wood than the rest, or to say it another way it doesn't stick as well to the wood. It will diffuse faster and on a top that has different rates of absorption (a figured top) the color will change. If the other dyes are not stuck like glue in place they will diffuse in the wood but at a slower rate. The scientific term is chromatography and there is a lot of info out there on it. But, in essence it is the same thing as when you ground up a leaf in science class and put a drop of it on filter paper and put that in a jar of solvent. The dot spreads into the different color compounds in the leaf. The color compounds that like the filter paper don't move much, the ones that like the solvent move a lot.
Ideas on how to stop it? Well this is just off the top of my head but look at the color distribution on a paper towel. If you can see what color moves on leaving the green behind, try to match the fast moving color and dye the guitar once with that color, and continue with the blue dye. Don't know if it will work, but you'd be fortifying the color that seems to move on, reasonable in theory. I suppose it sort of relies on being able to get the individual dyes though. Rats. Another theory down in flames. Good luck
Patrick from Davis
Ideas on how to stop it? Well this is just off the top of my head but look at the color distribution on a paper towel. If you can see what color moves on leaving the green behind, try to match the fast moving color and dye the guitar once with that color, and continue with the blue dye. Don't know if it will work, but you'd be fortifying the color that seems to move on, reasonable in theory. I suppose it sort of relies on being able to get the individual dyes though. Rats. Another theory down in flames. Good luck
Patrick from Davis
TroubledTreble
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That's a right nice tele! I may have missed the answer here somewhere, what does the chicken head knob do?
Cheers from a former fellow Floridian!
-TT-
Cheers from a former fellow Floridian!
-TT-
The chicken head.... its a three way switch.
Center position - both pickups, in parallel, the toggle switch will give you neck, both, bridge
Left - both pickups - in series, the toggle is deactivated (as both pickups are needed for series operation)
Right - both pickups - half out of phase, the phase is done thru a capacitor, so its not quite 180 degrees, plus there's some filtering with the capacitor, and the toggle is deactivated (as both pickups are needed for this to work)
The idea there, came from the Lawrence designed L6s, doing it in a way that Bill originally conceived (sort of), and takng the best five tones from the L6s. The shortcoming of the L6s is the rotary switch. Terrible for live use. The blue flame tele retains the toggle for regular live use, plus it give two extra "special" tones.
Center position - both pickups, in parallel, the toggle switch will give you neck, both, bridge
Left - both pickups - in series, the toggle is deactivated (as both pickups are needed for series operation)
Right - both pickups - half out of phase, the phase is done thru a capacitor, so its not quite 180 degrees, plus there's some filtering with the capacitor, and the toggle is deactivated (as both pickups are needed for this to work)
The idea there, came from the Lawrence designed L6s, doing it in a way that Bill originally conceived (sort of), and takng the best five tones from the L6s. The shortcoming of the L6s is the rotary switch. Terrible for live use. The blue flame tele retains the toggle for regular live use, plus it give two extra "special" tones.
jackthehack
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chuck7 said:
Magic capacitors!
DiMitriR33
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an inductor and a cap in series, an audio transformer might work as an inductor if you have an old 56k modem lying around.
DiMitriR33
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the cap has infinite dc resistance, and very high resistance at bass frequencies, an inductor has an impedance curve inverse that of a cap. in series there will be a frequency where the two have a similar resistance and the total will be about half of each one, this is the resonant peak. at higher frequencies the inductor has such a high resistance that it looks like a nearly open curcuit, so even if the cap looks like a closed circuit no signal will pass. at low frequencies the cap is nearly open and no signal will pass. of coarse this being a notch filter we are talking about passing signal to ground and cutting it from the original signal.
you mat want to ask CB what size inductor and cap he used, smaller on either one and you might cut treble or upper mids and leave presence, bigger and you'll cut lower mids or bass and leave deep bass.
bill lawrence sells his Q-filters which is an inductor, i believe 900mh or 1h, in that range. his schematics show it in series with a .022 cap and the cap has a parallel resistor on it. i believe the idea is that parallel inductors(the pickup being one) have a lower total inductance, so the Q-filter in series with a resistor that has a similar DC resistance as the p/u wired to ground will lower the inductance of the circuit and raise frequency of the resonant peak as well extend the overall range. the cap provides a notch somewhere but i'm not sure if bills design is intended to be a mid cut. it may still cut treble without cutting presence, not really sure.
you mat want to ask CB what size inductor and cap he used, smaller on either one and you might cut treble or upper mids and leave presence, bigger and you'll cut lower mids or bass and leave deep bass.
bill lawrence sells his Q-filters which is an inductor, i believe 900mh or 1h, in that range. his schematics show it in series with a .022 cap and the cap has a parallel resistor on it. i believe the idea is that parallel inductors(the pickup being one) have a lower total inductance, so the Q-filter in series with a resistor that has a similar DC resistance as the p/u wired to ground will lower the inductance of the circuit and raise frequency of the resonant peak as well extend the overall range. the cap provides a notch somewhere but i'm not sure if bills design is intended to be a mid cut. it may still cut treble without cutting presence, not really sure.
I used the excellent (and humbucking) Lawrence Q filter. You might want to order two of these... just to play with. Using two, you can wire two in parallel, or in series, or one alone.... the effect there is to raise and lower the higher end, controlling how much 2nd harmonic and fundamental is retained on the top end - "the sparkle". The capacitor controls how much low end is kept. By tweaking these carefully, you can end up with a pretty slick arrangement. You can also combine this with a standard treble control. When you use both together, at extreme filtration, you can get that MuTron tone, popularized by early Queen work (think in terms of the end of "Killer Queen"). Thats not something I'd use daily... but hey... its there, and its a passive effect too.
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