8-string. ergonomic. headless. fanned fret. phase 1::design

[ElRay]

You mentioned the ABM Single String Bridges. Are you using the ones with the built-in tuners? Are they the same ones on you previous build?

Ray

 

[helferlain]

You mentioned the ABM Single String Bridges. Are you using the ones with the built-in tuners? Are they the same ones on you previous build?

Ray

Yes, I'm using the tuner bridges ans some other parts from my first build. I will keep this axe for decoration only...

 

[flo]

Hi! I really really like the progress so far, and the way you explain how you came up with your design. Ergo guitars ftw!

The only thing that I'd consider is the bridge pickup. From my experience with eightstring homemade fanned frets guitars, it's important to slant the bridge PU so it's got the same angle as the bridge. You might need to use the emg 45 in this case. But trust me, the guitar sounds much more homogenous that way, with pickups at 90° angle to the strings the bass strings will have very little brightness and the high strings will have extremely much in comparison.

In short, the axe woun't djent nicely.



But apart from this little feature, I think you're building a winner here

 

[Konfyouzd]

This is an interesting build... This man is hooked...

 

[helferlain]

Hi ... The only thing that I'd consider is the bridge pickup. From my experience with eightstring homemade fanned frets guitars, it's important to slant the bridge PU so it's got the same angle as the bridge. You might need to use the emg 45 in this case...

Hi, nice to meet you in my thread again

No worries about the pickups: selfmade-low-impedance pickups with active state-variable-filter are already planned. The bridge angle will be considered.

Some of you might know this: a head full of ideas and plans but no time to realise it all. It needs a lot of self control not to rush any step. But it will be worth all the patience...

stay tuned!

 

[UnderTheSign]

Just a random question, might've been answered before - why would pickup angle matter? Wether the bridge is angled or not, the strings aren't, right?

 

[CooleyJr]

The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.

 

[helferlain]

Just a random question, might've been answered before - why would pickup angle matter? Wether the bridge is angled or not, the strings aren't, right?

The pickup should have a equal distance to the bridge over all the strings. This has a big influence on the sound of the guitar. Otherwise, the lower strings would sound like the neck pickup and the higher strings sound like the bridge.

The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.

I can not agree with you. Or maybe I missed your point. On all my guitars the neck pickup has alwas more bass. The bridge position has always more attack and sharpness, but for a full low sound I have to combine it with the any pickup in neck position.

Anyway, it will be a challange to find the right position for the pickups on this build. At the moment this step is still far away...

 

[Variant]

My name is Ryan and I approve of this thread.

 

[CooleyJr]

I can not agree with you. Or maybe I missed your point. On all my guitars the neck pickup has alwas more bass. The bridge position has always more attack and sharpness, but for a full low sound I have to combine it with the any pickup in neck position.

Anyway, it will be a challange to find the right position for the pickups on this build. At the moment this step is still far away...

What I meant was, the low end attack on the lower strings. If the pickup is too far away from the bridge, it will sound muddy and lose its response and clarity with the low end.

 

[schecter4life]

If i were you i would reconsider the bridge pickup route while you still can, without being angled the same as the bridge your gonna have some serious mud on the lower strings, if you look at it, the top of the bridge pup is almost where a middle pup would be if all the strings had the same scale as the low f#

 

[schecter4life]

The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.

sorry for the double post, but i believe you are bass ackwards xD

 

[flo]

By the way, I applaud your courage to try and make your own pickups!
Have you done it before?
I've heard it is fairly simple to make a working pickup, but for beginners it's almost impossible to guess what it might sound like. I guess that making it sound the way you want is part of the fun

Please keep us updated on your pickup progress

 

[helferlain]

small update:

at the moment I'm really busy with some non-guitar-related things. No time for routing the templates.

Last week I made some experiments for the pickup flatwork. I have a pack of nice veneer and I'm trying to use it as flatwork material for the pickups. one layere veneer is to unstable. I've tried to laminate 2 layers with wood glue, 1 layer with epoxy. The results were not satisfying but encouraging. Today I laminated 2 layers of veneer with epoxy:



Letting it rest a bit and now pressing:



If this fails I may use some standard materials...

The wood for the fretboard is on the way, I got my hands on a piece of marblewood. I could not find many informations about this kind of wood but it has a very nice look and was offered for fretboards. Pictures will follow...

stay tuned!

 

[ixlramp]

To have the equivalent spacing from the bridge as a non fanned guitar, the pickups should be angled as if they were fanned frets themselves, not at the same angle as the bridge.

 

[Vicissitude27]

This is going to end up sooooooo EPIC. Your last build was just fan-freakin-tastic.

 

[helferlain]

Only small steps these days...

- epoyx-veneer-laminate looks good so far.

- made some MDF body templates for outline, neck pocket, pickup and electronics carving

- ordered wood for the guitar: 3pc maple neck, alder body and 2 fretboards. Couldn't decide on the fretboards. One is a wild ziricote, the other one flamed!!! ebony.

pix will follow, stay tuned...

 

[BlackMastodon]

Woah woah woah. Flamed ebony? Definitely gotta see that, though I do love me some Ziricote.

 

[scherzo1928]

Woah woah woah. Flamed ebony? Definitely gotta see that, though I do love me some Ziricote.

 

[helferlain]

This is a picture from the shop. I've ordered the ziricote in the middle and the ebony on the right.

#

We will see how it looks in reality...