Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

[Yves de Denholm]

Hi,

Me and my son are at the design stage of a guitar we plan to build from scratch. He is the music expert while I am the woodworking one ;o)... Please read that I know nothing about music.

He really likes the sounds of the « LW-Hmet LiveWire Metal Humbucker ». So the plan is to have this pickup at the bridge.

After reading the book “Make Your Own electric Guitar” by Melvyn His**** (very interesting book by the way) we still have a couple of questions regarding the pickup:

1. We plan to put a camber in the fingerboard (7” radius). This mean that the two center strings might be 1/16” to 5/64” higher because of the camber. Is this feasible with that sort of pickup? Should I bother with such a small difference? Is the high output delivered by the pickup will compensate? Am I missing the point ;o) ?
2. What would be the optimum string spacing to use with such pickup?

Is there anything that you think of that I should research more? Let me know if there are some more reading you think I should do (books or Web site).

Best regards!

Yves de Denholm

 

[theodie]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Are you sure you would want to use a 7 inch radius? The pickup would probally work OK with that radius and as far as the spacing, I think the livewires use blades under the covers so you could probally use any popular spacing.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

I don't see it having much (if any) effect, as the LW-Heavy Metal is rediculously hot. I think 'odie is right about the rails, so the spacing shouldn't make any difference, either.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Oh yeah... welcome to the forum

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Hi,

Me and my son are at the design stage of a guitar we plan to build from scratch. He is the music expert while I am the woodworking one ;o)... Please read that I know nothing about music.

He really likes the sounds of the « LW-Hmet LiveWire Metal Humbucker ». So the plan is to have this pickup at the bridge.

After reading the book “Make Your Own electric Guitar” by Melvyn His**** (very interesting book by the way) we still have a couple of questions regarding the pickup:

1. We plan to put a camber in the fingerboard (7” radius). This mean that the two center strings might be 1/16” to 5/64” higher because of the camber. Is this feasible with that sort of pickup? Should I bother with such a small difference? Is the high output delivered by the pickup will compensate? Am I missing the point ;o) ?
2. What would be the optimum string spacing to use with such pickup?

Is there anything that you think of that I should research more? Let me know if there are some more reading you think I should do (books or Web site).

Best regards!

Yves de Denholm

Don't worry about knowing nothing about music. The only music that Leo Fender (the guy who gave us the first mass-produced and, arguably, the most popular electric guitars to this day) was on the radio.

The optimum string spacing shouldn't be a big deal with that pickup, since it uses a blade, and I'm assuming that you're going to use an available aftermarket bridge, which pretty much any bridge you can find would work with that pickup.

The only problem I see you having is putting such a round fretboard on that guitar. 7" is actually a little rounder than vintage Fender (which is 7.25"). Even Fender has moved almost all of their modern (non-vintage recreation) guitars to 9.5", and some of them to 12". If you're looking at a heavy metal pickup, I'm assuming that you're kid's into some pretty heavy stuff, which may lead to him to eventually (if he's not already) playing lead up on the frets closer to the body. With such a round fretboard, the action (height above the fingerboard) has to be higher on the outside strings than on the inner strings for playability's sake, ESPECIALLY if your son is into string bending. Bending a string on a round fretboard with comfortable, low action causes the note to choke out after very little bending.

Give us some more details on which bands your son listens to and what kind of guitars he's already tried out that he likes. That would give us a good, solid idea on how to help you out.

 

[scooter]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Welcome to the forum Yves. You may want to consider putting a 12" to 16" camber on the fingerboard. I think that this will give the guitar easier playability. 7" is just too much in my opinion. There may be a noticable tonal effect in using such a small radius assuming that you will be using a bridge that has adjustable string height. You would need to adjust the string height at the bridge to match the fingerboard camber. Thus, the center strings will be at a greater distance from the pickup than the outer strings as you pointed out. The string spread won't be a problem.

On a side note, you may want to check out the project guitar website. They have a nice section on making radius sanding block using a router. I've made them in the past by cove cutting a block of wood on a table saw but this is more tedious. Good luck.

 

[Yves de Denholm]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Thank you all for the replies.

Pierre Yves own a Yamaha Pacifica and a DeArmond S67.

Some of his favorite bands are Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Skinless and Korn.

He plays his Pacifica most of the time, he like it’s light weight but find it’s sound average, indeed, he only use the bridge pickup (the only one not giving him annoying feed backs). His 7 Strings DeArmond cover some Korn’s tunes, but since this guitar is pretty heavy combined with the fact that it is not very well balanced (a little head heavy) he’s not using it often. His Friend’s Ibanez rg 2550ex, according to him, have a very sensitive touch on the frets.

He uses these guitars on a Peavey Rage 158, barely uses the amp’s Lead Channel, plays with a Boss Metal Distortion MT-2 pedal.

He didn’t complain about the camber on none the guitars he tried. Therefore I sat down and draw for him several different cambers’ radius from 7 to 12 inches. We concluded that since there were not a whole lot of differences between all of them “design” wise, we will go for a 12 inches radius as recommended.

On another topic, I have been told that this type of pickup might be battery powered. Is it why we call it “active”?

Best regards

Yves and Pierre Yves

 

[theodie]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

Yes, the live wires metal pickup is powered by a battery and it is an active pickup.

 

[scooter]

Re: Metal Humbucker vs camber fingerboard

On another topic, I have been told that this type of pickup might be battery powered. Is it why we call it “active”?

Best regards

Yves and Pierre Yves

This pickup actually uses two 9 volt batteries. When you route the control cavity into the guitar body, you may want to keep this in mind. Make sure that there is enough room for the pots, switch and batteries. Some people rout a separate cavity for holding a battery box.