Swamp Ash Floyd Rose wang-a-phon Warmoth neck

[JoeA]

Nice one. I just find the floyd cavity a little weird.
Btw, this guitar looks really nice. Congrats

 

[amigarobbo]

The Lion Claw cutout?

I thought they were quite common? Or if only Jem style?  :icon_scratch:

Picking it up tomorrow, should be able to get some sound samples..  :headbanging:

 

[amigarobbo]

Very quickly recorded, and tuneless noodlings,

[youtube]sXIUNVLVvJ0[/youtube]

First bit going through the pickups bridge to neck, then different types of sustain. and a tasteful dive bomb to finish.  :evil4:

I like the trem, the Sustainiac will take some getting used to, the guitar is nice to play, and the sustain is great, the only thing I'm not totally in love with is the bare knuckle pickups which have a slightly overwound thickness to the sound.

That may be due to the fact I've been playing mostly my very bright Esquire thingy, and a solid bodied 12 string Rickenbacker.  arty07:

 

[Logrinn]

The clip is private ...  :-\

 

[amigarobbo]

:doh:
Oops!

Fixed it.

I think it was the Ditto Looper that caused the distortion at the start, that update didn't fix it.

 

[Logrinn]

Sounds super nice! :icon_thumright:

 

[amigarobbo]

I'm not totally in love with is the bare knuckle pickups which have a slightly overwound thickness to the sound.

Fixed with a -1 to the bass and +1 to the treble on the amp,  :icon_scratch: Wonder why I didn't think of that before!

Spent a happy afternoon making Flying saucer attack noises*, ah, the joys of a ring modulator and a delay, and infinite sustain.

I needed a lie down after that...


Only one slight problem the back cover is fouling the Floyd Rose block, I'll get a shorter Floyd Rose 32mm to replace the standard 37mm block, probably in Titanium, just to add a bit more natural high end presence. Until then I'll run it without the back cover on, simples!

*Sounds like both the Group Flying Saucer Attack,  :headbang1: and an actual Flying saucer attack.

 

[Cagey]

Titanium is a wonderful metal compared to steel. It's non-corrosive, biologically inert, has much broader temperature stability, a high strength-to-weight ratio, and is about half the weight of steel. Unfortunately, none of those qualities are necessary or even useful in a guitar, while the raw material costs ~10 times as much.

Steel is harder.

I'm not sure why anyone would pay the heavy premium for titanium parts on their guitars. Of course, it does sound cool to say you've got titanium parts, so there's that. But as for the sound of the guitar, steel is almost certainly gonna be a better material, at least for vibrato sustain blocks. Theoretically, it'll be brighter and have more sustain than titanium due to its hardness and mass.

Most sustain blocks are die cast from zinc, which is probably fairly close to the bottom of the list of good metals to use for that duty, assuming the material makes any difference at all. But, it's a very easy way to make blocks super-cheap.

If I were going to "improve" a sustain block, I'd be making them out of steel or brass before titanium, even if titanium weren't so expensive.  At least those materials might bring something to the party other than a cool name.

 

[amigarobbo]

Brass adds warmth, and sustain, Titanium add bite, and sustain, apparently.

I want more top end fizz. I don't really want the (reported) thickening of the sound that Brass brings. Tungsten apparently has both, and is 'Teh BEST!' It's also by far the most expensive.

Now I've not had a chance to compare it myself*, but my Tele (style) guitar has titanium saddles, and that's got the top end I want.

I mean it must be the titanium saddles init? Not the pickups, different guitar construction or any of the other 345 possible differences.

* It's pretty hard to compare them, unless you want to get one of each, and then trust your memory, setup, how you're playing the stings etc etc.

I'm sure when I started I had a point to all of this, but nope it's gone.

 

[amigarobbo]

Hmm, apparently the Original Floyd Rose already has a zinc coated Brass block, that would explain the good sustain.

Also, an official Floyd Rose Ti block is $60 USD, a big brass one about $30, the FU Tones big block Ti at $440 can err.. FO.

 

[amigarobbo]

:icon_scratch:

Wonder what that picture was?

Anyway, look ma! No hands! Didn't actually fret any notes, I think you get the general idea:

[youtube]HOayFtBchAw[/youtube]

I've still not tried it with the ring modulator, distortion and delay all at the same time..

Oh, yes I have...


[youtube]jlIojq33qNw[/youtube]

More the sound of Ring Modulator in daft setting to be honest. Enjoy!

 

[Fat Pete]

*SIGH*

Adds Sustainiac-equipped guitar to (long & may never happen) project list.

 

[amigarobbo]

Still waiting to see if I can pick up a 32mm sustainer block, I'm in no rush so I can wait for a good price, but I did get some titanium string blocks,

I'm possibly putting it down to expectations, but the guitar did seem to have just a bit more bite, that's a good thing.

But other than that, I think this is done. 

Well, almost:

Here's the canary the guitar is named after:

 

[JoeA]

The Lion Claw cutout?

I thought they were quite common? Or if only Jem style?  :icon_scratch:

Picking it up tomorrow, should be able to get some sound samples..  :headbanging:

Nope, it seems that the cavity is too large for the floyd you mounted. Maybe it's due to the picture?

 

[amigarobbo]

:dontknow: I've not really spent enough time with other Floyd Rose Guitars to notice, or care.  :evil4:

 

[amigarobbo]

It's finially here! I now have a Tungsten block, and can now get the back cover on!

Does it sound any different? have you doubled the natural sustain?  I need to experiment further, but first impressions, not really.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/mcOZcfeX1rQ[/youtube]


Before Open E chord 00:01
After Open E chord 00:34
Before Octave E barre Chord 00:20
After Octave E Barre Chord 00:55

 

[Cagey]

I'm not surprised. If you want the strings to continue vibrating longer, you need to prevent the anchor points at either end from absorbing any energy from them. That means good, firm, solid anchor points, which are difficult to get out of sloppy tuners, a soft nut, an elastic neck or a spring-loaded bridge that's designed to move.

Solutions for the first three are obvious, but if you must have the bridge move, as you do with a vibrato, then the best way to hold it in place is with inertia. Trading the string anchor block for something with less mass, such as aluminum or titanium, is going to reduce the inertia in the bridge.

That's why hardtails typically have more sustain than vibrato-equipped guitars. They don't move.

Of course, when you describe the materials your pieces and parts are made of, it's tough to beat "titanium" for cool factor. Beats the snot out of "pot metal" :laughing7:

 

[amigarobbo]

On second thoughts, it does seem to have more body to the attack, and it does seem to have slightly more sustain, although to be honest, it did seem to have good sustain, for a stratomcaster Floyd rose sort of thing before.

It's not night and day, but it's there... At least, in my mind..  ccasion14:

I did get some black and gold knobs for it,

but I didn't like them and they got in the way of serious wang-a-ton action, so I went back to the little black ones.

Now I just need to fine adjust the intonation, now I've gone from 10s to 9s, #pray4me!
And fit some of those fancy gold stings, (Optima 2028 EL) and that's it, it's
done!

Unless I do get a fretless neck for it...  :turtle:  :cool01:

 

[Cagey]

You have up to six strings vibrating, each of which has a different mass, cross-section and tension, so some frequencies are going to have more energy in them than others. The higher frequencies, and all the harmonics in particular, are going to be weaker. So, absorbing what energy they have is going to be easier. Depending on a number of other variables, some frequencies are absorbed more easily than others, which changes the overall tone or character of the sound. Change anything, and the end result changes. Question is: how much?

With electric guitars, very few things outside of the pickups, neck and bridge make "night and day" differences, and the differences you get from changing the neck or bridge are more like a dark cloudy day vs. a moonlit night, and the bridge change has to be a dramatically different design. Everything else is a game of inches that only has a subtle effect on the end result. All those subtle changes can stack up a lotta different ways, though, which is what gives each guitar its character.

 

[TBurst Std]

On second thoughts, it does seem to have more body to the attack, and it does seem to have slightly more sustain, although to be honest, it did seem to have good sustain, for a stratomcaster Floyd rose sort of thing before.

It's not night and day, but it's there... At least, in my mind..  ccasion14:

I did get some black and gold knobs for it,

but I didn't like them and they got in the way of serious wang-a-ton action, so I went back to the little black ones.

Now I just need to fine adjust the intonation, now I've gone from 10s to 9s, #pray4me!
And fit some of those fancy gold stings, (Optima 2028 EL) and that's it, it's
done!

Unless I do get a fretless neck for it...  :turtle:  :cool01:

Where did you source those knobs?