Legra Aurora Build FINISHED

[Bob Johnson]

I've no mercy for engineers :twisted: I'm blue collar :lol:

Just remember it's us engineers that keep the rest of you working, enjoying all the amenities of life, the benefits of medical science, new techno-toys, transport, heating, air conditioning, water supplies, even shitee disposal and best of all; guitars, amplifiers, stomp boxes, mixing desks.............. I guess you could ask "what did engineers ever do for us" but that would be a bit too Monty Python wouldn't it?! :lol: :lol:

[FernandoDuarte]

:P

[CaptainDesslock]

I've no mercy for engineers :twisted: I'm blue collar :lol:

Just remember it's us engineers that keep the rest of you working, enjoying all the amenities of life, the benefits of medical science, new techno-toys, transport, heating, air conditioning, water supplies, even shiteee disposal and best of all; guitars, amplifiers, stomp boxes, mixing desks.............. I guess you could ask "what did engineers ever do for us" but that would be a bit too Monty Python wouldn't it?! :lol: :lol:

That's true!!! Without an engineer for a luthier, who else would give me...
CUSTOM FUZZ CONTROLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gingataff]

Is that a real carbon fibre backplate or plastic made to look like carbon fibre?

[Bob Johnson]

Is that a real carbon fibre backplate or plastic made to look like carbon fibre?

It's ABS with a carbon fibre effect finish. Looks a lot nicer than plain black don't ya think?

[BigK]

I know I'm a Bit late but that is one freaking awesome guitar Mark.

Is that a real carbon fibre backplate or plastic made to look like carbon fibre?

It's ABS with a carbon fibre effect finish. Looks a lot nicer than plain black don't ya think?

Thats awesome you you be able to make a pickgard for rg out of it?

[Bob Johnson]

I know I'm a Bit late but that is one freaking awesome guitar Mark.

Is that a real carbon fibre backplate or plastic made to look like carbon fibre?

It's ABS with a carbon fibre effect finish. Looks a lot nicer than plain black don't ya think?

Thats awesome you you be able to make a pickgard for rg out of it?

Yeah sure, it's really good for making pickguards out of; I use it a lot for that very purpose. Email me if you want one making.

[gingataff]

Is that a real carbon fibre backplate or plastic made to look like carbon fibre?

It's ABS with a carbon fibre effect finish. Looks a lot nicer than plain black don't ya think?

It fits the modern tech image of the guitar really well.

[dheim]

Well, I'm a scientist, so I like to test things to see that I'm not fooling myself and put some cold hard facts where my mouth is. Me harping on about how this is a remarkably resonant guitar doesnt mean much.

So I thought I'd try and measure the resonance of my main guitars.

My 4 main guitars were tested. My other 4 electrics were left out because they either just plain wont cut it in this line up or they're set up differently, different gauges, different tunings and what have you, so it would be a meaningless test.

Basic assumption - the resonance of the instrument is going to be reflected in its unplugged volume.

All guitars set up 12-60, tuned to drop A#, all have action of ~1mm @12th high C to 1.5mm @12th low A#, all necks near flat, all strings are fresh.

All measurements taken with my decibelometer at 30cm from 12th fret, set DBO to record peak SPL, dbA, and hit all strings open reasonably hard a few times. Care taken to hit the strings equally hard and have the DBO aligned the same each time, but theres none of us perfect, so these will be the biggest sources of error. All looked and felt pretty much as good as I was going to get it by eye and feel, and a bit of well informed common sense tells me that errors of the order of mils in distance and degrees in orientation would lead to insignificant variations in the data compared to the differences in volumes found. I also know fine well how hard I'm picking, and do so consistently, but youre going to have to take my word for that (or listen to my clips: thats pretty consistent picking imo).

DX1 - tusty old buddy, had it for ~10 years, nothing incredible but it usually bests equivelent and more upper end guitars in resonance.

74.9db

1989 RG560. Nothing to look at, I like RGs, a lot, hence the shape of the Aurora, and this is the most resonant one I found, so I bought it. Spax screws Bob sent me for the neck join enhanced its resonance somewhat, too.

75.8db

MDV602

76.5db

Aurora

78.4db

Which puts it at ~2.25 times as resonant as the jackson, twice as resonant as the RG and about 50% more than the 602, by this admitedly clumsy and modestly scientific method. And its completely unbroken in. I hate to imagine how strongly this is going to resonate after a few years of the strings pumping vibrational energy into the wood, breaking down any structures in the wood that are inhibiting vibration (and on that note consider that the Legras just ousted 10 and 20 year old guitars, and they're 3 and 0 years old).

you've awaken the monster that lurks inside me... now i feel the morbid curiosity to do the same with my guitars... that means DAS. (decibelometer acquisition syndrome) :)

[sambo]

Looks awesome man!

[MDV]

Well, I'm a scientist, so I like to test things to see that I'm not fooling myself and put some cold hard facts where my mouth is. Me harping on about how this is a remarkably resonant guitar doesnt mean much.

So I thought I'd try and measure the resonance of my main guitars.

My 4 main guitars were tested. My other 4 electrics were left out because they either just plain wont cut it in this line up or they're set up differently, different gauges, different tunings and what have you, so it would be a meaningless test.

Basic assumption - the resonance of the instrument is going to be reflected in its unplugged volume.

All guitars set up 12-60, tuned to drop A#, all have action of ~1mm @12th high C to 1.5mm @12th low A#, all necks near flat, all strings are fresh.

All measurements taken with my decibelometer at 30cm from 12th fret, set DBO to record peak SPL, dbA, and hit all strings open reasonably hard a few times. Care taken to hit the strings equally hard and have the DBO aligned the same each time, but theres none of us perfect, so these will be the biggest sources of error. All looked and felt pretty much as good as I was going to get it by eye and feel, and a bit of well informed common sense tells me that errors of the order of mils in distance and degrees in orientation would lead to insignificant variations in the data compared to the differences in volumes found. I also know fine well how hard I'm picking, and do so consistently, but youre going to have to take my word for that (or listen to my clips: thats pretty consistent picking imo).

DX1 - tusty old buddy, had it for ~10 years, nothing incredible but it usually bests equivelent and more upper end guitars in resonance.

74.9db

1989 RG560. Nothing to look at, I like RGs, a lot, hence the shape of the Aurora, and this is the most resonant one I found, so I bought it. Spax screws Bob sent me for the neck join enhanced its resonance somewhat, too.

75.8db

MDV602

76.5db

Aurora

78.4db

Which puts it at ~2.25 times as resonant as the jackson, twice as resonant as the RG and about 50% more than the 602, by this admitedly clumsy and modestly scientific method. And its completely unbroken in. I hate to imagine how strongly this is going to resonate after a few years of the strings pumping vibrational energy into the wood, breaking down any structures in the wood that are inhibiting vibration (and on that note consider that the Legras just ousted 10 and 20 year old guitars, and they're 3 and 0 years old).

you've awaken the monster that lurks inside me... now i feel the morbid curiosity to do the same with my guitars... that means DAS. (decibelometer acquisition syndrome) :)

Nuthin to lose!

Except 30 quid on a decent DBM.

I use this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Sound-Level-Meter-DT-805/dp/B00142Q85E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1260226917&sr=8-1

Its very good. I got it to keep an eye on sound from music listening and monitoring and recording so I didnt expose myself to any damaging levels for long enough to do any damage.

Also makes for handy experiments, too. And making educated guesses at whether the neighbours can hear me.

And

Cheers sambo!

[dheim]

out of curiosity i bough a good SPL application for my iphone (or at least i read that it compares favorably with mid priced hardware db meters) of course i have no way to make some decent calibration, so i can't compare directly my results with yours... i kept the iphone at approx. 30 cm from the neck pickup, used C weighted measurement, and got some value between 79 and 81 Db (but wildly biased, i'm sure, so i won't be more specific)... the only exception was my chambered Les Paul (of course) with it's huge 85 Db peak. apart from that the loudest guitars turned out to be the LTD EC1000, the SG61, the USM hornet and (surprise, because it's so bright that acoustically sounds thin in comparison with middier guitars) my custom Cicolin WR. my Epi Les Paul performed much better than i thought, but anyway this test (while it's fun) tells nothing about the harmonic complexity of a guitar's resonance, like DCR tells nothing about a pickup voice.

useless but fun.

[MDV]

out of curiosity i bough a good SPL application for my iphone (or at least i read that it compares favorably with mid priced hardware db meters) of course i have no way to make some decent calibration, so i can't compare directly my results with yours... i kept the iphone at approx. 30 cm from the neck pickup, used C weighted measurement, and got some value between 79 and 81 Db (but wildly biased, i'm sure, so i won't be more specific)... the only exception was my chambered Les Paul (of course) with it's huge 85 Db peak. apart from that the loudest guitars turned out to be the LTD EC1000, the SG61, the USM hornet and (surprise, because it's so bright that acoustically sounds thin in comparison with middier guitars) my custom Cicolin WR. my Epi Les Paul performed much better than i thought, but anyway this test (while it's fun) tells nothing about the harmonic complexity of a guitar's resonance, like DCR tells nothing about a pickup voice.

useless but fun.

Cool!

Plus different testing environments (I did mine in a moderately treated room in the most treated position, where reflections are cut), different string gauges and tunings (why I excluded other guitars). Certainly it tell you nothing about the sounds character, but its interesting anyway.