synrgy
Ya ya ya I am Lorde
So for the few of you who may be familiar with some of my other threads, I had bought a Graph Tech LB63 and Hexpander preamp kit to install in a Jackson RR that I stripped and tung oiled. What I wasn't thinking at the time of purchase was "Is there enough room in this guitar to route for the necessary electronics?"
Unfortunately, there wasn't. So, I've been trying to figure out what to do.
On Saturday, I couldn't stand it any more. I made a trip to the Guitar Center in Arlington/Falls Church/7 Corners, and it was a complete fail. I consistently forget how completely that location FAILS. SO, back in the car, and down the road to Guitar Center in Fairfax. Point of order here: The guys at the Fairfax Guitar Center treat me like a KING, and I have to give them the appropriate props. They ALWAYS take good care of me there. Talk to Jason on the guitar side (or the bald-headed guy who's name I didn't catch -- he's an Ibby nut, which is good.) or Peter on the pro audio side. I know GC is supposed to have a 'no haggle' policy these days, but those guys NEVER let me pay full price.
Anyway, I found myself on my way home not too long after that, and.... Wait a minute... What's THIS in the back seat of my car??
Why, it's a brand new Ibanez RG350! How about that!
Gosh, she sure is purty!
Why, even TEH NINJA KITTEH approves!!
Well, enough of that nonsense. Time to take this bitch apart!!
YOINK!
and YOINK again!
Whew! That was fun! Now then, it's time to test fit the LB63...
Uh oh.. HUSTUN, WE HAZ PROBLUM:
Never fear! Good thing I got a Dremel tool for Christmas! Let's just shave off a little of that square corner of the trem... and...
LIKE A GLOVE!!
Now that's settled.. To plot for the electronics and output. I spent half the day agonizing over this, and I didn't take any pics during the mock ups or some of the resulting mods. I couldn't decide if I wanted to run the analog output and MIDI output individually, or if I wanted to use GT's PIN-7 harness to route the analog output directly through the MIDI output.
Eventually, I chose the latter, and decided it would directly replace the existing output jack, rather than trying to have it sticking out of the pickguard.
For this part of the process, I followed the examples set by Shotgunn in his RG-2228 thread.
Here's the 'almost there' shot of the output route:
That's some scary shit, let me tell you. When you've *never* taken a router to a guitar before, and let the first time be on a guitar you just bought that day.. Yikes.
Now I just needed to drill a big enough hole for the interface harness to get from the output to the under-pickguard cavity... SUCCESS!!
I forgot to take pictures, but at this point I'd already test fitted and drilled the pickguard for the 2 extra switches, so we're ALMOST done. The one thing I overlooked is that in order to run the analog outs through the MIDI out, I need to use a 250K ohm pot. According to the GT instructions, a 500K ohm pot won't work. Once I have the pot, I can finish the wiring and test this puppy out!
In the meantime, I thought this was a good time to set up a date with my old flame Copper Tape:
Finally, here she is back together to make sure everything fits:
I also forgot to take a picture of the MIDI output installed, but I'll try to get that up ASAP.
I'm really excited. I **CAN'T WAIT** to try this MIDI tremolo!!!
In a couple of months, I'll have the money together to replace all the pickups, and then it'll be more than just a MIDI guitar.
Thanks for looking! I'll be posting updates as I finish up the project, and maybe even a video of the MIDI in action! Stay tuned!!
Unfortunately, there wasn't. So, I've been trying to figure out what to do.
On Saturday, I couldn't stand it any more. I made a trip to the Guitar Center in Arlington/Falls Church/7 Corners, and it was a complete fail. I consistently forget how completely that location FAILS. SO, back in the car, and down the road to Guitar Center in Fairfax. Point of order here: The guys at the Fairfax Guitar Center treat me like a KING, and I have to give them the appropriate props. They ALWAYS take good care of me there. Talk to Jason on the guitar side (or the bald-headed guy who's name I didn't catch -- he's an Ibby nut, which is good.) or Peter on the pro audio side. I know GC is supposed to have a 'no haggle' policy these days, but those guys NEVER let me pay full price.
Anyway, I found myself on my way home not too long after that, and.... Wait a minute... What's THIS in the back seat of my car??
Why, it's a brand new Ibanez RG350! How about that!
Gosh, she sure is purty!
Why, even TEH NINJA KITTEH approves!!
Well, enough of that nonsense. Time to take this bitch apart!!
YOINK!
and YOINK again!
Whew! That was fun! Now then, it's time to test fit the LB63...
Uh oh.. HUSTUN, WE HAZ PROBLUM:
Never fear! Good thing I got a Dremel tool for Christmas! Let's just shave off a little of that square corner of the trem... and...
LIKE A GLOVE!!
Now that's settled.. To plot for the electronics and output. I spent half the day agonizing over this, and I didn't take any pics during the mock ups or some of the resulting mods. I couldn't decide if I wanted to run the analog output and MIDI output individually, or if I wanted to use GT's PIN-7 harness to route the analog output directly through the MIDI output.
Eventually, I chose the latter, and decided it would directly replace the existing output jack, rather than trying to have it sticking out of the pickguard.
For this part of the process, I followed the examples set by Shotgunn in his RG-2228 thread.
Here's the 'almost there' shot of the output route:
That's some scary shit, let me tell you. When you've *never* taken a router to a guitar before, and let the first time be on a guitar you just bought that day.. Yikes.
Now I just needed to drill a big enough hole for the interface harness to get from the output to the under-pickguard cavity... SUCCESS!!
I forgot to take pictures, but at this point I'd already test fitted and drilled the pickguard for the 2 extra switches, so we're ALMOST done. The one thing I overlooked is that in order to run the analog outs through the MIDI out, I need to use a 250K ohm pot. According to the GT instructions, a 500K ohm pot won't work. Once I have the pot, I can finish the wiring and test this puppy out!
In the meantime, I thought this was a good time to set up a date with my old flame Copper Tape:
Finally, here she is back together to make sure everything fits:
I also forgot to take a picture of the MIDI output installed, but I'll try to get that up ASAP.
I'm really excited. I **CAN'T WAIT** to try this MIDI tremolo!!!
In a couple of months, I'll have the money together to replace all the pickups, and then it'll be more than just a MIDI guitar.
Thanks for looking! I'll be posting updates as I finish up the project, and maybe even a video of the MIDI in action! Stay tuned!!
Then again if you're planning on using it exclusively with your midi setup I guess it doesn't matter since the 13 pin cable has an analog signal out as well 
. So I would get the same ghost pickup bridge with the Acousti-Phonic set.
