Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

K

kaimiloa

New member
Ok here is the deal, I am working on a guitar for my next album! It is seriously custom here is an uncomplete photograph.

Before I tell you my plans for this guitar I will tell you my problem and hope someone can give me ideas. Because it is using steinberger parts there is no need for the body of the guitar to be larger in the back. Where most tremolos requier a larger guitar body than steinbergers. For this reason I can not place my Volume and tone Pots back behind the wammy bar as is most cases. So what may end up happening is Pots get in way of picking hand.

Number 2 reason the violin shape is more archtop not flat so the pots would not sit flat and may look odd. And lastly I simply dont want standard pots.

My idea was to have all the pickups wired to Slider Pots like an EQ, Each pickup having its own vol&tone slider would not need a switch because you can slide each one for the perfect mix any way you like.

So if I where able to find sliders under 1.1/8" long they would fit on the top side of the guitar in that violin nook! and it would be quite cool kind of like acoustic guitar controls!!

How ever I will have a total of 3 Splitable humbuckers which is 6, and an acoustic bridge system so total is 7 pickups which will need a vol and tone for each totalking 14 slider pots!! and no way will 14 fit in the nook I have so now I ask the serious question!!!


Is there a such thing as a computer control for guitar pickups?? Why could I not have a LED on the side with up & down bottons and be able to program what pickups and how much vol and tone. Hell with a small computer control I shoudl be able to program a few memory settings also?? Has anyone heard of a company doing this?

This guitar would be very nice with a little LED on the top side tucked nicely in the nook above the F note!!


Ok so if anyone can help me with ideas !!!! :banghead:

Now to explain my plans and hopes for this guitar!!! The following text is from my website!!

This little Gem here is My own Design Built for my self and my particular style of music. This guitar has the quality of being Both Acoustic and Electric or a mixture of Both. The body is 90% Hollow with a Spruce top, maple sides, back and a solid block through of Swamp Ash. The neck will be carbon Fiber with graphite fret board and solid mother of pearl Inlays made to look like piano keys. Steinberger Transposing Tremolo with Acoustic Bridge system Installed. 3 seymour duncan split phase humbuckers No volume and tone pots I will use EQ sliders in the top side above the F note. Being right out of the way and an independent volume and tone for each pickup with a Mega switch to boot.

All these features allow me to use the acoustic pickup for an acoustic
sound or a mixture, Giving me 2 guitars in one. Yet the theme to this design is music. When This design first came to my mind I had no plans on making it
hollow or having a carbon fiber neck. But as this idea came to life it ended up
becoming a quite innovative piece of Musical Art in itself!

Not only does this guitar make a masterpiece recording instrument but it also makes a great performance piece, as it looks like nothing I have seen before. This guitar was made to be something only the leading rockstars would have. Yet my idea to design "Out of the box" style guitars has become a reality!

The cost to construct this guitar is over 5 grand and counting so anyone
who has any ideas about such a guitar best be ready for a reality check!! As
you can see in the Photograph this guitar is not yet complete!

Once it is complete I will be using this guitar to record an album, this will give you a chance to hear what this guitar can do. I will perform my album with this guitar and I may Auction it off if I decide to part with this model.

This design is Copy Protected so Please do not duplicate © Copyright All Rights Reserved.
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

First of all let me tell you that this guitar of yours looks like nothing I've ever seen before (in a good sense ;))!
Simply amazing!

I am not aware of an electronic device to do all the splitting/pickups swapping etc. you mentioned. I guess theoretically it could be made but if it indeed has... dunno.

As for the sliders...
I really can't tell from the photo their size in regards to the nook over the f hole but I guess you could also use the nook on the OTHER side, you wouldn't be able to see them but I think after getting used to it you could do it by touch, especially if you were to come with a way to tell them apart (i.e. orientation/position or use of different tips or sth)

In truth however it sounds like way too complicated.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to put you off or anything but if you aren't 110% sure you''re going to need all of the combinations I'd seriously suggest to first try and simplify things...

First of all I don't get why you need a different volume/tone pot for split/unsplit mode of the same pickup. Are you planning to wire each coil of the pickup as a single pickup
(i.e. each humbucker as two single coils)? I'm not an expert in wiring but I really can't see how this can work efficiently...
If not, will you split each pickup on its' own or will you use one global split switch?
Are you going to use the middle both split and unsplit on it's own or will you use it one or the other only in conjunction with the neck/bridge etc.?

Space issues aside this appears to me like an extremely complicated wiring scenario which translates into way too many nods for the signal to pass through which means serious signal degradation.

There actually is a reason guitar makers nowadays try to make their wirings as simple and direct as possible.

I really don't want to come off as putting you down, you have a great idea there, I just wanted you to think which tones you'll be wanting to use and then simplify things, both from a construction perspective as well as ease of use.

Finding a way to put 14 sliders there is one thing, effectively using them (and especially in live situations) is an entirely different one!!!

CheerS!

(P.S. did I say how totally amazing I find its' shape? Single-cut with a horn! Just wow!)
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

Not sure if you really so many controls, but I recently purchased sliding pots similar to what you're looking for from Mouser.com.
The ones I got were too large for your application but I'm sure there are others that will fit the bill.
The only real issue will be finding them 250K or 500K and fitting them into the available space.
A typical full hollow body guitar is 3-4" thick and you might have a bit of trouble wiring enough sliders side by side.

I like the design and the TransTrem idea(I've always wanted to do a project with one).
Not sure about the full hollow body idea unless you plan on playing at relatively modest volume levels or away from your speakers, otherwise the feedback will be a bear to control.

I've seen custom guitars that put regular pots along the bottom edge of the guitar, in front of the jack. I'll see if I can dig up the link later.
You could easily use appropriate mini pots, recessed a bit, down along the bottom edge as well as the top edge or combine them with the sliders.

Sounds like an interesting project, I wish you luck.

Edit: Some inspirations/examples: Auerswald, Myka, and Myka, Atlansia, and Gander.

And I think I agree with Keeper... there's no good reason to have so many options... you're not going to get that much difference in the sounds beyond the complexity of say, the Jimmy Page mod.
Triple humbucker means you want to seires/parallel or split each pickup and maybe select individual coils from each.
Plus you'll need a selection section to determine which coil/pickup combinations you want.
I think a 5 way superswitch for each pickup might be the simplest way to get the most usable sounds.
Plus, if you use the recessed side mounted knob idea, you can still use either 4 Push/Pull knobs(3 tone/1 volume) giving you 4 extra switches or 3 concentric pots controlling the tone and volume for each.

If you want to make this thing *really* complex/versatile, look into adding the GraphTech Ghost system which gives you the addition of a hex pickup(13 pin) and a stereo jack running your magnetic pickups and the signal from a piezo pickup. The downside is you have to use custom saddles and the only trems they make them for right now are Strats and Wilkinsons.
But that system alone will add 3 switchs and 3 knobs. :)

Or heck, maybe even throw a Sustaniac into the neck position.


MM
 
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Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

This little Gem here is My own Design Built for my self and my particular style of music. This guitar has the quality of being Both Acoustic and Electric or a mixture of Both. The body is 90% Hollow with a Spruce top, maple sides, back and a solid block through of Swamp Ash. The neck will be carbon Fiber with graphite fret board and solid mother of pearl Inlays made to look like piano keys. Steinberger Transposing Tremolo with Acoustic Bridge system Installed. 3 seymour duncan split phase humbuckers No volume and tone pots I will use EQ sliders in the top side above the F note. Being right out of the way and an independent volume and tone for each pickup with a Mega switch to boot.

All these features allow me to use the acoustic pickup for an acoustic
sound or a mixture, Giving me 2 guitars in one. Yet the theme to this design is music. When This design first came to my mind I had no plans on making it
hollow or having a carbon fiber neck. But as this idea came to life it ended up
becoming a quite innovative piece of Musical Art in itself!
Click to expand...

I really wish you all the luck of the world to be able to get at least one useable tone out of that "little Gem that's My own Design Built for my self and my particular style of music". Looks like you're going to need it.

Crossing fingers by default,

Pepe aka Lt. Kojak
Milano, Italy

PS:
This design is Copy Protected so Please do not duplicate
Click to expand...
I don't really think there's any danger at all in seeing your design stolen by the chinese and flooding the marketplace at a rip-off price...
 
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NEW Computer Control Design!!

NEW Computer Control Design!!

First of all THANKS to all of you for the compliments and advice. Recently talked to a rep of fishman and they are interested in helping me design a new guitar electronics control. This will be a simple LCD screen with 3 buttons (Up, Down and Menu)

I know some of my ideas may seem to far but I am really working to push my designs out of the box, I never know how something will sound or come out till it is complete and I have something or I will not..

But here is what I came up with. On my violin shape body I will install this computer on the top side above the f note hole. It will not get hit when performing and it will be on top so I can see it and push the buttons easy.

The menu will be of 20 memory banks, Numbered one through twenty. you will turn on the guitar and it will power up to the most recent setting you used? For example if you turn the guitar off and it was on bank #4 it will turn on to bank #4.

Ok now what are the memory banks for? They are custom settings for each pickup and each coil. This guitar is going to have 3 humbuckers, a acoustic microphone and an acoustic bridge pickup. When I turn on the computer and scroll to bank say #3 it will then ask me what pickup to select and I can go to that pickup and adjust the volume and tone of that pickup and save it.

Now I will not need any switch or Pots, all the controls will be in this computer inside the guitar and it will be really small and easy to work. It will be easier than using a guitar fx rack.

I really do not know how this machine will sound once complete but I do know the graphite necks are sooooo nice and the sound is amazing, added a hollow body, which I will add I just made the pickup holes Deeper so there is hollow behind the humbuckers creating a continus acoustic flow. Allready just knock on the body and it sounds like a drum.

Some of my ideas are extremely hard to make into a reality. But I started building guitars because I wanted what I want. Having my pickups controlled by a small computer is what I would like to have and it may come down to me having to find a circut board tech and have him build my computer for this guitar. But in the end this will be complete and I think the idea will take.

The reason I think this is because the pickups can do so much more than standard pots and toggles can do. Unless you want a guitar with 15 pots on it;) and then you still have no memory so every time someone bumps or turns a knob you have to start over.

I think with 20 memory banks should cover enough combinations for me:)
This idea is really a lot more simple than it sounds when you compair it to a standard 100$ guitar fx rack. For example my guitar fx rack has an LCD and 3 bottons. Of course it is way to big to put inside a guitar but then it is full on FX processor. You would only need a really small computer to control simple guitar pickups.

Once I get this complete and show how much it adds to my guitar's abilities. I think others will want to replace pots and switches with this little computer. Stew-Mac is interested and Fishman may be interested in helping me to develope this computer. It would be a smart move for fishman seens how Stew Mac is ready to sell it.

My efforts are to make this guitar sound the best it possibly can sound, Look the best it can possibly look and do everything it can possibly do!! If you think it was easy to get some of the large figured mother of pearl blanks for the piano key inlays you have another thing coming. I still have not completed the inlay into the graphite but as you can see the start the figured MOP is going to be amazing. The paint job I plan to paint the channel. On a violin there is a channel around the outside, on this I will paint one in. I plan to do a crackling effect in the middle of the guitar and shadow some grey color in. During this painting the sides will be masked off I will run the masking tape all along to cover the sides and make a line appear where the channel was on the violin body. So the sides will be pure white wile the cracks and shadow will start where the grouve normally is on a violin.

Once i airbrush this I will spray a clear pearl/ chameleon over it so it will have the pink, silver and white in it. Like the cars that drive away and turn 4 colors this will have 2 or 3 colors of clear pearlizer over it. So when you get the reflective pearl from the mop fret board you also get that pearl look from the body. Itl be a loocker!!!

Again thanks all for the welcome, glad to be a part of the forum!! and as we say here in Hawaii islands Maholo nui loa!!!

Ka'imiloa wayne
 
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Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

KeeperOS said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.

(P.S. did I say how totally amazing I find its' shape? Single-cut with a horn! Just wow!)
Click to expand...


Yeah it just kind of took form one day. I knew I wanted a violin shape body but I needed a cut away in order to play any leads.

My first Idea was a solid body in the shape of a violin but I wanted the sides to look exactly like a violin and having to rout the sides and all the nooks and crannys would be impossible!!

So I took a violin body and modified it into the body you see.

After having a steinberger with a transtrem and graphite neck I knew I loved the sound of that guitar more than any electric I had playd. So I decided to add those features to this Gem:)

Anyhow I really think I will end up with not only a really creative looking guitar but the possibilities of sound is endless. Anyone who has ever playd a Grimes guitar by "Steve Grimes" Knows he is really good when it comes to acoustic sound. His guitars are among the best in the world. I do Steve Grimes inlay work. He agrees that I will end up with some really unique sounds out of this project, He was rather impressed with this idea. Having been a personal friend and in business with Ned Steinberger he knew about graphite necks and transposing tremolos. Steve Grimes was the one who gave me the idea to install the acoustic bridge pickup into the Trans Trem.

LtKojak said:
I really wish you all the luck of the world to be able to get at least one useable tone out of that "little Gem that's My own Design Built for my self and my particular style of music". Looks like you're going to need it..
Click to expand...

Well I honistly I have never heard a guitar built by LtKojackoff, so Ill take your comments with a grain of sand;). Now I have heard the sound of Steve Grimes Guitars, My self and George Benson, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, Steve Miller, Willie Nelson, Patrick Simmons Doobie Bros, Larry McGee and a lot more of us who really admire Grimes ability to use cutting edge acoustics in his guitars. So I am glad you wish me the luck of god that I get "at least one" sound out of my guitar. But Steve Grimes seems to think I will get a lot more out of this idea than a standard electric guitar. Which is obviously what I am shooting for.


Thanks for all your tips and ideas!! I will keep you all posted with the progress and photos:)


Aloha
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

If you can actually get someone to manufacture this little board you think of (again, I know a little about electronics and I would think it plausible if you find someone that knows what he's doing) then you wouldn't only have a very unique hollow body electric guitar, you'd also have (as far as I know) the first electronic guitar made.

I honestly wish you everything to work out as you want them so that you can make this creation of yours a reality.

And don't let anyone dishearten you, every single idea in human history started out as something extremely strange or stupid, until strangely enough it worked. ;)
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

KeeperOS said:
If you can actually get someone to manufacture this little board you think of (again, I know a little about electronics and I would think it plausible if you find someone that knows what he's doing) then you wouldn't only have a very unique hollow body electric guitar, you'd also have (as far as I know) the first electronic guitar made.

And don't let anyone dishearten you, every single idea in human history started out as something extremely strange or stupid, until strangely enough it worked. ;)
Click to expand...

I once had a friend who spent all day putting circut boards together for litton! If fishman does not help me build this I will have to find a circut tech to help design and build this small computer!! Which I will do because I am frikken tired of using toggles and pots, this technology is from the 1950's! It is nearly 2008 and guitars still have this crap allover the world!!

It is time for some new ideas with respect to electric guitars. And not some gimmic like roland is trying to do but a real electric guitar!!

When I was a kid I use to call around asking companies if they would build this and that for me. I got tired of the word "No" after about a week and I decided if I wanted it done I would have to do it my self!!


Keeper0s You comment reminds me of the crap the write brothers went through shortly before the airplane they created took flight!! You can go back and read some of the slandar in the local papers of that day. Then you can read the papers from the day after they flew and compair!!!

Not to often does someone tell me that my idea will not work, I just often hear that I am trying to hard or going to far or putting to much effort into something that could be more simple.

But thinking of an idea that is usefull that has not been done before is not simple!! First you have to think of something that everyone is missing!!

Most of the time this happens purly by mistake!! such as this case. My first thoughts of this was a mistake because I did not know I would not be able to use standard pots till the guitar was nearly built!

It was when I had decided not to use a toggle simple because I wanted full mixing ability in my coils. IE I wanted to split the coils and control the volume and tone independently and If I was able to do this for each coil than why do I need a selector switch?

But then I was dealing with 14 slider pots to control 7 pickups. So I had to rethink this again!! This was when it hit me like a ton of bricks!! why the heck is every guitar in the world missing this small computer control? And why the Heck does seymour duncan not created and market this product?

Again thanks for the support and I will post updates!!!

Aloha
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

I wanted to add something about my idea. When someone says why go that far? 1 It is not really all that far beings the computer requiered for this would be about the size of a wrist watch.
2 you may not be able to outright hear the changes in the sound of your guitar but how will we know?

The standard pickup control is really limited to one volume and tone for at least 3 pickups together. In no way are you able to fully adjust your guitar when you have as much as 6 coils on it.

My computer could be built in a really simply way, I could build one using 12 500k pots and a selector toggle or 3. I would be able to adjust any combination I can think of between the 6 coils. I would have NO limitations.

Only 12 pots and 3 toggles may look a bit funny on a guitar. This is why the need for a small computer with an LED display and a few buttons..

Why would anyone want to pay for limitations when they can have full control?

Like I said toggles and Pots are 1950' technology, It is 2008 and time for the Guitar to be up to date;)
 
Update!!!

Update!!!

I got a Transtrem as hard as they are to find Ebay is the only chance at getting one these days!!

After contacting some major companies including Seymour duncan I can not get them to build a computer so I decided to use slider pots which I found some really quality 500k eq sliders that should work just fine!!

The guitar is still not complete but Here are some updated Photos of my guitar!!
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

Man...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I mean I gotta admire your spirit and dedication to this project, it just seems sooo through-the-roof. You said it's taken $5000 to build this thing already, and it's not even done yet. I'm sure a computerized pickup control system would add at least another $500 to that price so I'm kinda glad you ended up finding the sliders you wanted originally.

I mean it's a cool and unique guitar, and the whole computer with 20 memory banks thing is definitely a radical and new idea, but it just seems very superfluous. Most gigging electric guitarists find all the tones they need with one or two pickups and tend to use pedals and amps to change the tone further...having 20 very-finely EQ'd pickup options on a computer screen is just not something most guitarists are looking for.

Besides, with two humbuckers and four pots, you can do the Jimmy Page mod and have 22 seperate tones, that you can fine-tune further with the volume and tone knobs...that technology's from the 60's but is still more diverse than this idea.

Not to mention there's practically NO market for a $5500 guitar...they don't make rock stars like they used to man. You're lookin to sell that to 80's hasbeens who don't already have signature axes, or blues lawyers...it's not a guitar for the everyday working musician.

All that said, I really dig the body shape. I think if it had two humbuckers, a volume and a tone knob, and a 3-way switch on the top bout where it'd be on a Les Paul, it'd be perfect.
 
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Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

Did anything happen with this project? It's totally crazy but I'd like to see how it came together.
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

drew_half_empty said:
you can put a clickwheel on it & sell it to steve jobs
Click to expand...

No one will buy that... this is the result of a lot more money than common sense, if you ask me.

If he wanted to have a lot of different guitar sounds he could've put the electronics of a Line6 guitar in a really good custom body. Ed Roman has a Baker with Line6 electronics in sale right now. That would've made a lot more sense! With those p'ups if he could get ONE usable sound would be a great thing. But I doubt it.

Pepe aka Lt. Kojak
Milano, Italy
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

I was actually thinking of this not too long ago. I would be interested to hear how this played out.

I liked it enough as an idea. I sure hope he found a way to make it work :)
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

KeeperOS said:
I was actually thinking of this not too long ago. I would be interested to hear how this played out.

I liked it enough as an idea. I sure hope he found a way to make it work :)
Click to expand...

Even if he got through with the realisation of the idea, I don't think the outcome would be any good... I've always thought that it was a BAD idea.

My gut feeling tells me that it didn't get finished.

Pepe aka Lt. Kojak
Milano, Italy
 
Re: Really Seriously Custom!! I Need Tech Help!!!

i dunno -- a refurbished violin body with three Invaders and a graphite neck COULD be a tone monster...:smokin:
 
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