Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Modular1 on April 01, 2008, 12:16:09 AM
-
im looking for parts to build my own EVH style strat. (debut album cover style)
Where is the best UK site for cheap but good quality parts? Can anyone give me any pointers on the best place to get started?
Pickup-wise I fancy sticking a VHII Humbucker in it but am tempted by the Holy Diver. I want a pickup that does not rely on the player too much to make it sound great. hehe.
-
www.axesrus.co.uk are pretty good
I got a Tele neck and body from www.dancingdragonguitars.com in America and it's pretty good. Never got round to actually using it though.
-
http://www.mightymite.com/
-
axesrus do have good stuff, and they are efficient - but i must say the gear they sell isn't always top notch quality.
obviously wdmusic and allparts are options
-
David Dyke - fairly expensive but you get what you pay for and it's bloody good stuff.
Axesrus - Cheap and cheerful - I've ordered a fair bit from them.
Touchstone Tonewoods
Craft Supplies near Buxton
You after building the whole lot or making it out of parts? If building then get yourself a book by Melvin Hisc--k called "Make your own electric guitar" and check out www.projectguitar.com for tutorials and forums.
-
You after building the whole lot or making it out of parts?
The only major effort i want to make is in the paint job.
Touchstone tonewoods is one site ive already found. anyone know if the parts there are quality? They have kits available, but the kits only appear with a rosewood fingerboard. they have not replied to my enquiries yet.
-
I bought a pre slotted fret board from touchstone and it was absolutely top notch. Helpful guy on the end of the phone too which usually seals the deal for me.
Give Warmoth a look if your after a body.
-
anybody from the uk know if you will get stung with import duty if you buy from the usa?
anyone bought any bodies from touchstone tonewoods?
-
anybody from the uk know if you will get stung with import duty if you buy from the usa?
Yes, but 'blue' I think wasn't charged a penny.
-
I bought a pre slotted fret board from touchstone and it was absolutely top notch. Helpful guy on the end of the phone too which usually seals the deal for me.
by that do you mean you added your own frets?
i have my eyes on the 8202 neck shown here.http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/GIFS/guitarnecks_eps.gif
and the 8343 body shown here http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/GIFS/guitarbodies_eps.gif
will these give me a pretty good quality guitar as a base?
i want the guitar to have a finish like the fender highway one guitars (not the exact same finish, but i like the way you can feel the wood on them).
i dont want the thick gloss like on my usa strat.
Will this kind of finish affect the tone of the guitar?
-
I bought a pre slotted fret board from touchstone and it was absolutely top notch. Helpful guy on the end of the phone too which usually seals the deal for me.
by that do you mean you added your own frets?
I think he means he didn't get a blank fretboard, i.e. un-cut
So he got it with frets installed.
-
http://www.mightymite.com/
seen what i need on here.
any idea what the shipping would be on a body and neck from the USA? it doesnt realy give any idea on the site... ive emailed but thought someone might have an idea on here :)
-
The fret board I got was just a slab of rosewood, thicknessed to the right size (well nearly) with the slots to install the frets already cut out. The board still had to be cut to size, radiussed, inlayed and fretted.
-
If you're willing to wait a couple of months, another company called Luthier Tonewood Supplies would be able to supply a body, and slotted/radiused fretboards too, at very reasonable prices :) Wayne has a few fretboards and some hardware available at the moment, but in the next couple of months there will be a good selection of stuff. The site is http://www.luthiertonewoodsupplies.com/ but at the moment, there are only the contact details on there. Get in contact with him, and he can probably email/call you when he has what you're after in stock :)
-
right. ive got my sources on the parts i want, but the build can wait for now.
Ive managed to pickup a frankenstrat 3-colour alder body that somebody else has made on ebay. hes done a pretty good job of the battered look :)
im gonna change the lead socket on it and im gonna fine sand the neck so it ill pick up more dirt on the fingerboard. maybe burn some cigs on the headstock hehe.
my first port of call will be ordering a VHII humbucker for it tho and id like to get it ordered soon.
my questions for today are:
how will i mount the humbucker in it? it would normally attach to the scratchpate no?
will i be able to get it the correct distance from the strings ok?
what legsize will it need?
in the famous and expensive reissues, the humbucker is on the slant. why is this and am i best to keep my new BKP straight?
i will be considering fitting a floyd rose to the body too. does this impact on anything ive brought up so far?
-
right. ive got my sources on the parts i want, but the build can wait for now.
Ive managed to pickup a frankenstrat 3-colour alder body that somebody else has made on ebay. hes done a pretty good job of the battered look :)
im gonna change the lead socket on it and im gonna fine sand the neck so it ill pick up more dirt on the fingerboard. maybe burn some cigs on the headstock hehe.
my first port of call will be ordering a VHII humbucker for it tho and id like to get it ordered soon.
my questions for today are:
how will i mount the humbucker in it?
The Usual
it would normally attach to the scratchpate no?
It could just as well be done with rings or as a direct body mount as in the picture.
will i be able to get it the correct distance from the strings ok?
Yes. With a direct mounted pickup you will need to place foam under the pickups in order to get the upward push balanced
what legsize will it need?
I'd say short if you aren't sure.
in the famous and expensive reissues, the humbucker is on the slant. why is this and am i best to keep my new BKP straight?
The angled humbucker shown is no different to any other; it's just slanted. If you want the final thing to be authentic to EVH's version you would be best leaving it slanted.
i will be considering fitting a floyd rose to the body too. does this impact on anything ive brought up so far?
Not at all.
-
thanks for the reply.
so tilting the humbucker will not affect the sound? why did he tilt his humbucker in the first place?
-
Tilting it affects the sound most definitely!
you are placing the pickup under different nodes along the string meaning that the harmonic response of the pickup and the tone are different.
EVH did it as his dream guitar was a fender stratocaster (after Eric Clapton, his idol) and what he wanted was that but with a humbucker (he originally found the sound he liked in a Gibson ES335 but wanted a strat for the whammy and the playability). The pickup is tilted to replicate the tilted bridge coil on the strat.
-
spose it will be quite easy for me to try straight and tilted given the easy access ill have to it :)
-
you are placing the pickup under different nodes along the string meaning that the harmonic response of the pickup and the tone are different.
i have never believed all this talk of nodes. For a start a pickup is too big to actually detect a node point acturately - especially a humbucker... and if it could do it then surely the string would be almost still in that point and it would only be detecting the harmonics
what you can see quite easily know is that a string moves differently along its length - take a plectrum and pluck the string right next to the bridge, hardly makes a sound, move a mm and try again... after about 1/2-3/4" you will notice a huge jump in the response of the note - less brittle and more rounded.
the closer a pickup is to the bridge the brighter it sounds, obviously you can tilt a pickup and it will be different than straight because of this.
this talk of nodes normally comes along with the 22-24 fret debate. 22 fret guitars are said to have a better neck pickup because its usually under the 24th fret node.... or is it simply that its further away from the bridge one and gives more tonal variation than the squashed together pickups on a 24 fret guitar
-
you are placing the pickup under different nodes along the string meaning that the harmonic response of the pickup and the tone are different.
i have never believed all this talk of nodes. For a start a pickup is too big to actually detect a node point acturately - especially a humbucker... and if it could do it then surely the string would be almost still in that point and it would only be detecting the harmonics
what you can see quite easily know is that a string moves differently along its length - take a plectrum and pluck the string right next to the bridge, hardly makes a sound, move a mm and try again... after about 1/2-3/4" you will notice a huge jump in the response of the note - less brittle and more rounded.
the closer a pickup is to the bridge the brighter it sounds, obviously you can tilt a pickup and it will be different than straight because of this.
this talk of nodes normally comes along with the 22-24 fret debate. 22 fret guitars are said to have a better neck pickup because its usually under the 24th fret node.... or is it simply that its further away from the bridge one and gives more tonal variation than the squashed together pickups on a 24 fret guitar
Don't forget that unless you just play open strings, then the nodes will move depending on which notes are fretted... making the whole pickup-under-node placement idea moot!
-
I meant that it would be under different nodes and not that they didn't move :wink: .
-
Don't forget that unless you just play open strings, then the nodes will move depending on which notes are fretted... making the whole pickup-under-node placement idea moot!
thanks Oli - i knew i had a stronger argument somewhere but couldnt remember it after a few pints last night
maverickf1jockey - just me being pedantic again.. sorry bout that!
-
No worries. We all need to be corrected sometimes.