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

[helferlain]

Was it difficult seating the frets against the radius with the fan? I had heard that it could be problematic and I'm interested to hear your experience with it.

Thanks.

I had less problems with the longer frets of the fan. Most problems occurred with the shorter frets similar to standard fretboards. But the fretboard design was the minor reason. The important factor is to cut the fret slots in the exact width. With the lack of experience in this matter I made some mistakes here. And, of course, the very brittle material was not easy to work with.

 

[CD1221]

I must have slept through the bit where you mentioned you were winding your own pups.

Bravo, sir. You are awesome.

 

[Skyblue]

This thing looks like the epitome of guitar awesomeness.

 

[SirMyghin]

I am more than a little skeptical about the string retainers, more than willing to be proven wrong however.

 

[helferlain]

I am more than a little skeptical about the string retainers, more than willing to be proven wrong however.

Me too ...

 

[helferlain]

update:

The body and neck are coated. The neck looks very nice. The body got more and more tiny dust particles with every layer of clear coat. Could be the different weather condition and the bigger surface of the body compared to the neck. After all it's the best I could achieve in the basement of the apartment building where I live. Now the coating has to dry and to harden for two weeks, then it's time to polish.

I started the pickups again after some errors with my first try.

Prepared for winding:

500 rounds of copper 0,15mm / AWG 34. Watch the plastic folder:

After fixing the wire with CA some reinforcement made of veneer is glued at the sides:

Now the pickup is wrapped in the plastic materiel from the folders back:

I did some cutting, cleaning, sanding, polishing and finally there are 3 pickups, coated and drying in the sun:

Thats all for this week.

Next steps:

- make the 3-piece-pickguard. I have some 3-layer white-black-white plastic as you can see in my first attemp of the pickups. An alternative for the volume / pickup select piece could be aluminium. I'm not sure about it at the moment.

- polishing body and neck. As written above, this needs some time.

- starting soldering the active tone controls. I have to clean the shop before...

I'm off now for the next two weeks, going on a trip to Ireland. Don't be afraid, the next update comes after that trip. Stay tuned!

 

[celticelk]

That body shape is sick - it's like a Teuffel mated with a Mockingbird. Nice work! Enjoy your visit to the Emerald Isle!

 

[SirMyghin]

Interesting pickup size, they look quite narrow.

 

[helferlain]

Interesting pickup size, they look quite narrow.

Yes. thats right. This will be a "blade-style" pickup design. I hope to get a decent singlecoil sound. Using the active tone contol I'm about to solder, I can emulate every kind of pickup. The only limit is the width of the magnetic field and the position of the pickup.

 

[jayarpeggios]

Been follow this for a while.. This looks like its going to turn out amazing! Love headless guitars.

 

[Justin Bailey]

Looking amazing so far, man!

You should totally let me have your old headless by the way...

 

[Hypnagogia]

Love the guitar! And the pickups look great! But maybe you or someone else here could help me. On your pickups it looks like you dont have any barrier between the magnet and the coil. Im starting to get into winding pickups on my own and Ive done some kits (which have the bobbin material between the magnet and the coil) but I really want to make my own bobbins but Ive always heard you should put something in between the two but didnt know what.
And I dont mean this to be a thread hijack. Just figured you might be able to enlighten us on your process

 

[helferlain]

... On your pickups it looks like you dont have any barrier between the magnet and the coil. Im starting to get into winding pickups on my own and Ive done some kits (which have the bobbin material between the magnet and the coil) but I really want to make my own bobbins but Ive always heard you should put something in between the two but didnt know what...

For the bobbins just be sure to use some insulated material. And for the magnets you are right: the magnets have to be insulated before you start winding the coil. I used some insulating tape for this.

 

[SilenceIsACrime]

Can't wait to see the finished product! The pick guards really pull the design together, methinks

 

[Hypnagogia]

For the bobbins just be sure to use some insulated material. And for the magnets you are right: the magnets have to be insulated before you start winding the coil. I used some insulating tape for this.

Ok, thanks a lot! That should help me in my projects. Cant wait to see this build finished. When its finished you should get a video up so we can hear her if you can.

 

[Jontain]

Thats looking awesome man, neat idea on the string retainers!

 

[helferlain]

I'm back @ home and I have still a few free days to work on my guitar.

I let the body and the neck rest for the moment and startet soldering the electronics. It's almost finished so far:

This is the "State-Variable-Filter" circuit I made from scratch. Normally it's used with 2 pots, one for the frequency and one for the quality.

The 4x3 rotary switch you see in the picture above will be used for some upgrading. As you see on the next picture I use some small trimmers that allow me to set 3 preset sounds, and on the 4th position of the switch the normal pots are enabled.

For the pickup selection I use another rotary switch. This time its a 2x6 switch, prepared for 6 positions:

1. neck
2. neck + middle (serial)
3. bridge + middle (serial)
4. bridge
5. bridge + neck (parallel) + middle (serial)
6. bridge + middle (parallel)

Today ended with some pickguard work:

Best news today: The pickups and the circuits are tested an work

Things to do:
- sanding and polishing all surfaces
- finish the pickguards
- final assembly

 

[RubenBernges]

That's one crazy guitar and I think it's great that you chose to make single coils, I don't think I've ever heard single coils on an 8 string. Are you going to do soundfiles or, better yet, a video when you're done?

 

[scherzo1928]

I'm very impressed with this build, even though I had seen your previous axe. Stunning work man.

 

[BlackMastodon]

Massive props on the electronics, still kills me that I haven't done much of any of this stuff in school and I'm halfway done -.-