A Noobs first build

[maverickf1jockey]

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.

[Modular1]

thanks for the reply.

so tilting the humbucker will not affect the sound? why did he tilt his humbucker in the first place?

[maverickf1jockey]

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.

[Modular1]

spose it will be quite easy for me to try straight and tilted given the easy access ill have to it :)

[WezV]

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

[Oli]

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!

[maverickf1jockey]

I meant that it would be under different nodes and not that they didn't move .

[WezV]

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!

[maverickf1jockey]

No worries. We all need to be corrected sometimes.