Search found 100 matches

by Tristan Williams
Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:53 am
Forum: Electronics
Topic: PRS Narrowfields
Replies: 1
Views: 4431

PRS Narrowfields

Last weekend I was over in London and made my usual pilgrimage to Denmark Street - the highlight of the trip, easily, was the PRS Studio with 57/08 Narrowfield pickups. Really sweet sounding pickups! Partnered with a little Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister that was a phenomenal guitar. If it had 7 s...
by Tristan Williams
Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:35 am
Forum: Solid-Body and Chambered or Semi-Solid Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Flame top LP style solid body
Replies: 11
Views: 8972

Re: Flame top LP style solid body

Nice!
Thats pretty tight flame for birch, where did you get that from?
by Tristan Williams
Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:26 pm
Forum: Solid-Body and Chambered or Semi-Solid Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Japanese Phantom
Replies: 13
Views: 11990

Re: Japanese Phantom

Thats a lovely guitar! I really like your style - its modern but avoids being tacky.
by Tristan Williams
Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:55 am
Forum: Solid-Body and Chambered or Semi-Solid Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars
Topic: Neck/fret size on Baritone guitar
Replies: 6
Views: 7353

Re: Neck/fret size on Baritone guitar

StewMac have a free fret calculator on their site that works very well.
by Tristan Williams
Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:34 am
Forum: Electronics
Topic: Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?
Replies: 6
Views: 8486

Re: Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?

David King wrote:Another consideration is that some solders will dissolve or alloy the copper leaving it thinner. Many leadfree formulations add some copper to slow down that absorption.
Interesting! The leadfree solder I have is Sn99Cu1 - 99% tin, 1% copper.
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 31, 2012 3:16 am
Forum: Electronics
Topic: Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?
Replies: 6
Views: 8486

Re: Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?

You didnt mention it but are you using any kind of paste, flux to help? No, just the flux in the solder. Do you find that it helps? I'm not having any issues getting the solder to flow well onto the wire, just the breaking issue. Probably your biggest problem is that you aren't using a temperature ...
by Tristan Williams
Wed May 30, 2012 12:58 pm
Forum: Electronics
Topic: Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?
Replies: 6
Views: 8486

Any particular tricks to soldering pickup wire?

I've been futzing around with winding pickups for an 8-string guitar I've nearly finished. Winding goes just fine, nice and smooth, but the troubles strike when it comes time to solder leads to the pickup wire. I'm using 43AWG with Polyester 180 Single Coat, solderable wire. I tightly wrap the tinne...
by Tristan Williams
Sun May 20, 2012 5:31 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

Time to admit defeat, I think. I think theres only about 8-16 hours worth of work left in it, so I came close, but no dice this time. I got a couple of the bobbins wound, but its past midnight here and I have to work in the morning. I'm extremely happy with the result so far, however, and I'm glad I...
by Tristan Williams
Sun May 20, 2012 2:35 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

I don't think I'm going to make it by midnight, but I'm giving it a good shot. Frets are installed, levelled, crowned, and polished, pickup bobbins have been made and I'm in the process of winding them now. I've made all of the polepiece slugs. I'd love to stop for pictures but I'm off and racing! D...
by Tristan Williams
Sun May 20, 2012 8:41 am
Forum: Challenges
Topic: The "Local Materials" Challenge
Replies: 36
Views: 93824

Re: The "Local Materials" Challenge

What timezone is the server in, anyhow? Eastern Daylight Time?
by Tristan Williams
Sat May 19, 2012 1:26 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: $100 Local Materials Challenge, Chris Reed, Yew Soprano Ukulele (Completed 5/18/12)
Replies: 12
Views: 39565

Re: $100 Local Materials Challenge, Chris Reed, Yew Soprano Ukulele

Chris Reed wrote:Tristan. I've been watching your build, and you can't spare the time to look at my uke!
Hah, no kidding.. progress is being made, but I'm definitely coming in hot. Have to take the odd inspiration break to see how everyone else is doing though :)
by Tristan Williams
Sat May 19, 2012 10:42 am
Forum: Tools and Jigs
Topic: Random orbital sanders
Replies: 5
Views: 7087

Re: Random orbital sanders

Nice tips, folks. I did find the Mirka sanders locally and they look fantastic, but for someone that does this as a two-guitar-a-year hobby it was a bit of overkill. I'd rather spend that cash on some nice pickups. And Porter Cable are not available in Europe. I ended up purchasing a Bosh PEX 400 AE...
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 17, 2012 6:33 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

I was planning to fret it tonight, however it got a bit late for hammering so I thought I'd get the finish started instead. This will just get a couple of thin rubbed coats of Tru-Oil, for that lovely tactile finish it gets. After what seemed like an eternity of sanding I applied the first coat, bri...
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 17, 2012 6:24 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

Onto the side dots! I drilled a 2mm hole first, then glued in some more brass tube: DSCN0496.jpg After cutting it off, I filed it back flush with the fretboard and drilled it out to 1.6mm: DSCN0497.jpg Into that hole I glued ordinary white plastic side dot rod. The result is easy to see from any ang...
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 17, 2012 6:13 pm
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

Tristan, this is way cool! I looked back at the original post, and maybe you said something about it in the 4 pages here, but are you going for a Charlie Hunter style instrument? Yeah, something along the lines of that. I'm not putting a separate bass pickup on, however. At least not at first. We'l...
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 17, 2012 10:41 am
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

For fret markers I thought I'd inlay brass rings. I cut a short length of tube and chucked it in my mill to use as a drill: DSCN0488.jpg I glued the tube in with medium CA: DSCN0489.jpg I wiped off the excess, sprayed it with kicker, and let it dry. Then I cut it off close to the board with a fine m...
by Tristan Williams
Thu May 17, 2012 10:37 am
Forum: The Local Materials Challenge (Closed)
Topic: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish
Replies: 83
Views: 233039

Re: Tristan Williams - 8-string fanned fret Iceman-ish

Time for the fun bit! I hogged away a rough profile with rasps at the first and twelfth frets:
DSCN0482.jpg
I joined them with a spokeshave:
DSCN0484.jpg
And cleaned up with rasps, files, sandpaper, etc:
DSCN0486.jpg

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