Tech talk/setups/customs...

Zombienosh

Hey hey,

Im following some of the links in stickied resources section because lately ive come to realise im like the blonde bimbo you see driving around in a fancy new car and doesnt even know how to change the oil.

I've been playing guitar and bass for well over 10 years now and i know **** all about anything really, id love to know all about the workings of a guitar and amps etc...

talk about watts, valves, pick ups, nuts, bridges, action, intonation etc etc...

So im following some links in trying to master setting up my own guitars.. and it seems complicated..
I currently use an S series 7-string ibanez, and i have an old 6 string GIO id love to mess around with as a project of somekind..

Anyone have any tips/links on getting a bit more of a tech head on me?

rcaz

AlcoholicA wrote: »

Anyone have any tips/links on getting a bit more of a tech head on me?

Dive in? Get a guitar tool and a soldering iron, decide what you want to do, Google it, and if it doesn't work, try it again! That's what I did.
There's so much info available on the internet, I don't see any reason why you couldn't solve gear-related problems on your own if you wanted to.

Malice

El Pr0n wrote: »

Dive in? Get a guitar tool and a soldering iron, decide what you want to do, Google it, and if it doesn't work, try it again! That's what I did.
There's so much info available on the internet, I don't see any reason why you couldn't solve gear-related problems on your own if you wanted to.

Good post. The key really is deciding what you want to learn as there is a lot to learn. If I'm honest I am one of those people who knows enough to change guitar strings and tighten the input socket if it comes loose and that's about it. To borrow the car analogy, I know enough to change the oil and put petrol in the tank but to do anything with the engine I'll take it to someone who knows what they're doing.

Someone should put up a poll . I, for one, would be interested to know just how many guitar players are also interested in the hardware maintenance side of things.

rcaz

Malice_ wrote: »

Someone should put up a poll . I, for one, would be interested to know just how many guitar players are also interested in the hardware maintenance side of things.

I'm a physics student and a general geek (I'll read about anything with some fancy technology or anything going on), but I was a musician first. I got into modding stuff because I wanted to put a killswitch in my guitar so I could get sounds like Tom Morello (specifically Wake Up) and Jonny Greenwood (specifically Paranoid Android) do. Then I decided I wanted my old Squier strat to sound a little more like a Tele (again, blame Morello and Greenwood), so I took out the middle pickup and one tone knob, and put in a 3-way switch. Then I made a few cables from old scraps and jacks (if anyone wanted to go to the trouble of importing components, you can make your own cables of much higher quality, and for a LOT cheaper than buying ones from a shop), and apparently cable-making is the easiest route into DIY.

I always had it in my mind that I'd like to build pedals, and although I haven't done this yet, I want to build a feedback loop. Extra fuel for this fire is the Death By Audio Total Sonic Annihilation, which you can buy for $150, but it's about $15 worth of components (including case!). And Fuzz Factories are meant to be SUPER easy to clone, so that might be job #2 (or maybe a simpler fuzz or Distortion + first...).

If you've never even put together a guitar circuit, but you now how to solder, stuff like changing pots or pickups is a BREEZE, it boggles me that some people would pay others to do it for them :eek:

Anyway, since I've only got 9 hours of lectures a week now, I can't think of a better time to build some stuff

darrenw5094

I am going down that direction soon. I will have an experiment with an old guitar. Solder pickups etc. refret and respray bodies. I think the impulse buys are over.:rolleyes:

rcaz

darrenw5094 wrote: »

refret and respray bodies

Ooh, cool. I'd like to build a guitar some day, but I think I'd just buy parts and assemble them. I'm not too interested in the luthier side of things. Have you any experience woodworking?

I sprayed my Squier strat white with just normal graffiti art spray paint, I don't know if I'd have the patience to do a proper nitro job, unless it was a REALLY nice guitar...

Would you build a guitar from scratch or buy raw parts (unfinished neck and body) and finish them and assemble them yourself?

darrenw5094

Jeyzus no. I couldn't build my own. Maybe assemble one someday. I have loads of decent parts lying around like pickups and swtiches etc. So i might throw them into the old Charvel. But painting is not rocket science. Google is deadly, isn't it. You could do a real good job with the right preparation on the body.

Soldering is something i should have tried long ago, and now i will have an experimental phase to see what happens.;)

rcaz

darrenw5094 wrote: »

But painting is not rocket science. Google is deadly, isn't it.

I know, I'm just crap at things that require thorough preperation and patience

ham_n_mustard

El Pr0n wrote: »

maybe a simpler fuzz or Distortion + first...).

+1 on the Distortion + as a first pedal to clone, handy job. Beware though, it gets really addictive. I've made about 10 at this stage.

Good info for pedal mods and builds etc can be found at:
www.banzaieffects.com
http://www.toneclonepedals.com/
http://www.buildyourownclone.com
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/

some of the sites have layouts and wiring diagrams that you can follow even if (like me) you're not able to read schematics.

rcaz

ham_n_mustard wrote: »

+1 on the Distortion + as a first pedal to clone, handy job. Beware though, it gets really addictive. I've made about 10 at this stage.

Good info for pedal mods and builds etc can be found at:
www.banzaieffects.com
http://www.toneclonepedals.com/
http://www.buildyourownclone.com
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/

some of the sites have layouts and wiring diagrams that you can follow even if (like me) you're not able to read schematics.

Deadly, thanks Been looking at Das Musikding a lot though, 'cause they're relatively near. Cheap, too. Good to know about Banzai though

Paolo_M

Here are some sites I'd recommend:

Basic Electrical/Electronics Theory
http://www.vias.org/feee/
You can download this as a free explorer help file.
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/funwithtransistors/Book_Contents.html
http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm
http://tubedepot.com/jttcoat.html?utm_source=newsletter3&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Spring_2009
http://www.falstad.com/circuit/index.html

Guitar related
http://www.alloutput.com/
http://www.playrecord.net/resource/articles/set-up-a-guitar.php
http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm

Pedals
http://www.runoffgroove.com/
http://www.muzique.com/lab/main.htm
http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://www.instructables.com/id/Simulated-woodgrain-for-metal-boxes/

Amps
http://www.aikenamps.com/
www.geofex.com
http://www.el34world.com/
http://www.tone-lizard.com/links.htm
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/
http://news.guitarchina.com/article.php/2392

DIY Parts Suppliers
http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/index.php?cPath=96
http://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/index.php/cat/c106_TT-Bausaetze.html
http://www.allparts.uk.com/
www.maplin.co.uk
www.radionics.ie
I've bought from and can recommend each of these suppliers.

These should keep you busy for a while.
All the info here is free, reliable and I've successfully a lot of this information on actual amps, pedals and guitars.

As you can tell, I'm a major tech head myself and do a lot of guitar/amp/pedal mods repairs and builds for myself and a few friends in my spare time.
I'm just starting out designing and building my second valve amp.
The first one was an 18 watter that can switch from 5 (Class A single ended), 10 (Class A Push Pull) and 18 Watts (Class AB Push Pull).
It had two channels; clean and overdrive and has a switchable feedback loop.
It's voiced like a Vox AC15 but has much more gain on the overdrive channel.

The current amp I'm working on is a 50 Watter for gigging.
It'll have two independant channels, each with multiple voicings. The clean will be voiced like a Fender Blackface Dual Reverb, the overdrive will have switchable modes for a classic Marshall "Plexi" tone or a Soldano SLO/5150 type voicing. The power amp can take 6V6, 6L6, EL34, KT77, KT88 type valves.
The channels will be footswitchable and there'll be a solo boost and a FX Loop. I can post progress thread if anyones interested, showing schematics pics, sound clip etc.?

Zombienosh

thanks for the links/replies everyone.

I'm gonna start today by using an the old GIO to practice setup's first, then ill start frankenstiening it. muhahah:cool: