Z4 Short Scale

[rockandroller]

I haven't used them in years, but the 'White' Labella (copper, gold, etc) tapes are amazing strings: very bright sounding, very flexible, and easier on the fingers than metal flatwounds

 

[rockandroller]

Got a tiny bit of work done today, installed the EMG 35 TW. This was a lot more work than expected as the hole routed for cable passage was too small to pass the triple molex connectors on the control cavity side. (The pickup side has a 7 pin molex - fugeddaboudit!!)

I looked at widening the hole but it was super awkward ! My solution was to very carefully strip off about three inches of the vinyl cable sleeve and unbraid the cable - separating it into three cables and feeding each molex through the hole one at a time. Barely big enough to get one connector through but somehow i got thr three doubles and one single over to the control cavity!!

Then i was able to mount the pickup, which took two tries as the first time I made the rubber tubing 'springs' a bit too short.

Now trying to work out the most aesthetically pleasing knob layout, which will then have to be confirmed that its actually got room to mount the components inside, before I drill...

Work in progress!!

 

[rockandroller]

Still haven't locked down the knob positions, wanted to check how much slack I'll have on the harness first. Fair bit of spaghetti there, but looks like only three solder joints to make, being as lazy as possible...


One thing for sure, that default volume location does not have a lot of room for the TW Pull pot with its eight attached wires - especially with the pickup leads and battery box coming in right at the same spot! I'd suggest anyone planning an EMG install in one of these to not order any predrilled control locations! (Give your controls a bit more breathing room!!)


*Edit: come to think of it, that pullpot can be configured as the tone control, IIRC... Which would be more logical as the pullpot, and also have more room for wiring (in middle position). Gotta check the docs!!!

 

[rockandroller]

Finally... moving right along with this

 

[rockandroller]

That all went together very nicely! This thing sounds warm but at the same time very articulate. These D'Addario blacks have a bit more tension than Labella and they are a lot darker sounding. Very happy with how this turned out. I haven't done any setup whatsoever (just screwed it together) and its 100% playable "right out of the box". I haven't touched the nut or truss rod or anything yet! Weighs 6.99 pounds and balances perfectly on a strap










Btw, the Controls are:
1)Volume
2)Passive tone (Pull to switch the 45TW into its stacked singlecoil mode)
3)EMG Sweep mid control (concentric mid freq with +/- mid gain)