I didn't want to hijack the thread on locking bridges any further once we got to the Magnificent 7 or 7-sound Strat.
Coolnama - you asked about it, so this is for you and anyone else interested. The 7-sound mod used to be done with 3 toggle switches to turn each pickup off & on separately. But we can use a push/pull or just about any switch instead, depends if you want it to look stock, like the Gilmour-ish Strat here that inspired the conversation. It also has passive fuzz on board which I made with back-to-back diodes. Then the picture of "guts" or electronics shows a Mag 7 set up on a different Strat, except now it's wired to a blender, which pans the level of any pickups selected, blending them in an infinite number of ways. I don't use diagrams, but maybe it could be found at http://www.guitarelectronics.zoovy.com . I've just googled and looked everywhere else for an hour, and I give up. There is definitely a diagram on paper in a book called the Ultimate Guide to Guitar Repair and Maintenance.
The purpose of the push/pull switch is to turn either the bridge or neck pickup on full-time, it's your choice, I go with bridge. Then along with the 5 way, you can have a Tele configuration of neck and bridge together, or all 3 pickups at once, in addition to the basic 5, plus some unavoidable redundancies, but it totals 7, and sounds cool IMO, and to many others I think.
And speaking of Teles, I mentioned my daughters' Teles, so cropped these pics, will post 'em and get that little topic out of the way. My youngest had a considerable credit from our music supplier when she was 5, 6 years old, so picked the two fancy colored Teles of the day, the Pink Paisley, and Blue Flower. She didn't like the paisley, gave it to her older sister and kept the blue one forever. In the pic to the right, she had already made a blue flower, rubber band 3 string instrument from her Kleenex box, and we were discussing how guitars are made, and building her future Strat - she chose that pickguard. Also learned those locking bridges (Floyd Rose) secrets and intonating methods till she lost interest.
We also like the 4-way Tele switch available from Fender, which also allows both pickups in series, like a giant humbucker - it's so interesting and loud, you may never use the other 3 positions. :lol: And to complete just the basic and simplest of hot-rodding techniques to these "sister" guitars from Fender, the Strat and the Tele, I'd like to add that there is also a 5 way Tele mod which offers series and out of phase by customizing of either a Fender or Stew Mac superswitch, and that one is listed as the 5-way Tele mod at http://www.Deaf-Eddie.net .
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
O_O what intonation secrets, come on I wanna know the secrets !
Please oh wise sensei jay ( O_o that rhymes )
But seriously, that little girls has had more guitars around her than I could ever have in my lifetime ( well maybe not that much ).
So by the time she was 5, 6 she already had 2 guitars O_O XD, and soon she was able to give the gift of a guitar to somebody O_O I will prolly never give some1 a guitar as a gift ( unless, I'm really Famous or something :D) not cause I'm mean, but because I don't see myself giving anyone a guitar at my age ( I need to look to the future when i make it big :D).
Well if that counts, I sold my friend a really good Strat knock-off at 50 bucks so that kinda counts ? xD
Wow, 7 way switch, thats really alot of options.
Strange I've heard more tech stuff about you than songs or anything, what stuff do you play ? xD
Lol the guitar matches her outfit haha, hmm for me its strange complementing someone on their kids cause I am someone's kid at the time ( lol ) but you have a cute little girl, Blue jay, and lots of guitars lol.
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
I have a push-pull on my Burn's Marquee (comes as standard), but I rarely think to use it, five positions are generally sufficient.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
O_O what intonation secrets, come on I wanna know the secrets !
Please oh wise sensei jay ( O_o that rhymes )
But seriously, that little girls has had more guitars around her than I could ever have in my lifetime ( well maybe not that much ).
So by the time she was 5, 6 she already had 2 guitars O_O XD, and soon she was able to give the gift of a guitar to somebody O_O I will prolly never give some1 a guitar as a gift ( unless, I'm really Famous or something :D) not cause I'm mean, but because I don't see myself giving anyone a guitar at my age ( I need to look to the future when i make it big :D).
Well if that counts, I sold my friend a really good Strat knock-off at 50 bucks so that kinda counts ? xD
Wow, 7 way switch, thats really alot of options.
Strange I've heard more tech stuff about you than songs or anything, what stuff do you play ? xD
Lol the guitar matches her outfit haha, hmm for me its strange complementing someone on their kids cause I am someone's kid at the time ( lol ) but you have a cute little girl, Blue jay, and lots of guitars lol.
Yes Coolnama, I get the picture, I think you're 14, playing guitar with your amp at Church, and off to a good start!
I don't want to talk about locking bridges anymore, or Floyd Rose at all. I hate them with a passion, and believe that they have ruined otherwise perfectly good guitars. :shock: We can let others have their opinion too, and extol their virtues. Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of my idols, could get wonderful dive bombs out of his Strat with one of the best guitar techs in the business, on the road with him and all over the net, doing his set up, and lubricating parts profusely, plus adding his own secrets. I like Strat bridges that are well adjusted and oiled, there's many different ways depending on the application, and they don't let me down. My original point was that my kids would set up the Locking Bridges at our house, and do other tech work for money. I detested the bridges myself, but taught them how, so I could get out of it. :lol: Billie the Kid here started using guitar tools when she was 5.
I didn't want to divulge too many personal family details, and still don't IMO compared to the tales that could be told, but I try to tell a little, sometimes it's not enough, and I never really want to go with too much and be misunderstood, as if we are snobs. We are not. More on that later. This is actually about guitars, and guitars are about people, and people are about all kinds of things - humanity, their needs for survival, their talents, their way of adding to our own experiences, etc. In my final years of work, I was a counsellor, teacher and therapist, working with families and special needs persons. I even used guitars and music for that.
Again, I don't want to say too much, but how did my daughter get these guitars and a large credit from our music source, now I may need to say why? Well first, you don't get something for nothing, or nothing for nothing? :roll: Super briefly, I started working when I was 5, cutting grass, building and maintaining a shared bicycle, running a courier thing and believe it or not... tuning foreign cars, which nobody seemed to have a handle on, up here. I could climb in and find a cracked distributor cap in moments, change plugs, wires, wash cars etc. I put my oldest daughter to work when she was 3, finding redeemable aluminum cans and beer bottles off the side of the road and in parks, to buy her own $50 bike when she was 5.
Then, years and more family later, the youngest started music, I believe at 18 months, as soon as we could, it's called Kindermusik, banging on the drums, beating Xylophones and African instruments, using flutes and so on. Well, I rewarded her with a brand new Gibson Alpine White Les Paul Custom for succeeding in Kindergarten, because I always wanted one, and never got myself a white & gold Custom. It was way too heavy for her, but the idea was to keep it, let it age, and maybe use it later on. No, she just didn't want it, and was struggling mentally with her years of violin lessons, not appreciating being pushed. Hmmm..... music helps to make brain neuron connections and some IQ points, but I suppose there are other ways. She had my permission to at least choose her own guitar, so she got 2 Teles, gave one up, so she and her sister got a Telecaster each, Pink & Blue, and still had a credit, which we used to build this Strat for her, but no room for details here, except that it is Burgundy Mist, is called "Misty" and has about 17 not 7 sounds in it. :lol:
The Bass was also too big, we sold it although my son plays and we still have a cute little Danelectro Longhorn hollow shortscale bass, creme color with pinkish/purple fogging around the outside - I forgot what they call that.
I'm happy to hear that you gave your friend a good deal on your former guitar. That's what I wanted to say as well: it is noble to share goodwill, and give people a break. My daughters always took in runaways and streetkids, I tried to mediate with families and pay their rents, and at least feed the children that were involved. I made an effort to employ as many musicians as possible in my songwriting and making demos. Gulp, I also gave away guitars, built or restored guitars for people who could use them, and still say why not?
My style of music BTW is the 50's, all of the 60's and early 70's, pre-disco. I started on the uke when I was 5 too, and singing, but no guitar till I borrowed my friend's around 10 and convinced Dad to get me my own at 15. I had to prove I was serious and that they weren't toys. I love the Blues, and am really crazy about AC/DC, the Allman Brothers, Georgia Satellites, Hendrix of course, Skynyrd, Zeppelin, ZZ Top and Rebel Rock, or 'scuse me ... Southern Rock. I do not play well - I invested my time in studying the technical stuff, and in hot-rodding, inventing, trying to make things unique or better- sounding.
I've only substituted in bands when requested, it's not something that I like to rehearse and collaborate on. I played solo, churches and and Coffee Houses, easy-listening and fund-raising venues off & on, "forever". And never made a dime. :D
Thanks for your compliments. Yeah, Billie likes to dress to match her guitars, more posing than playing. She likes art.
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
I have a push-pull on my Burn's Marquee (comes as standard), but I rarely think to use it, five positions are generally sufficient.
Thanks greybeard for your input and sharing. I like the Burns guitars. I think that Brian May's of Queen has 24 sounds.
For that reason, and the challenge, I completely built the "Beast", my burgundy Strat on the right with 29 different tones.
The center Strat I have customized, with a comparable tech's work on the pickguard, it is mint green, loaded with DiMarzio Blue Velvet, Red Velvet, a SDS-1 bridge pup, 13 sounds, and a mini toggle with electronic design & execution by Tom Nerkowski of TFN Technologies.
The one on the left is the same as above with my finger on the white/silver aviation wire, Magnificent 7 with a blender.
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Aww man, I am sooooooo tempted.....
may have to wait a while, though. I've got a bass to save for, followed by a fretless guitar project and a nashville guitar project too. And I have to find a quality local luthier to repair my Ovation (FB smoothing) before I've done enough practice runs to convince myself I can be let loose on a "family heirloom".
+1 on Coolnama's comments re your kids though. Looks/sounds like you're raising them exceptionally well Jay, serious props on that.
I used to be about creating all these pup possibilities in my guitars -- splitting, series, out-of-phase, preamps. all my early guitars got the works mechanically and electronically. but eventually decided I got a far greater tonal return from the way I actually played the guitar than the myriad pup settings, tho, admittedly, I still change out pups. if the options are there, I use them, but never expect miracles. and I now see the elegance of a well-designed single pup electric, no longer worrying if can make it do what I want. I can. YMMV. a lot.
-=tension & release=-
Aww man, I am sooooooo tempted.....
may have to wait a while, though. I've got a bass to save for, followed by a fretless guitar project and a nashville guitar project too. And I have to find a quality local luthier to repair my Ovation (FB smoothing) before I've done enough practice runs to convince myself I can be let loose on a "family heirloom".
+1 on Coolnama's comments re your kids though. Looks/sounds like you're raising them exceptionally well Jay, serious props on that.
Thanks for your comments, and for backing me up elsewhere. I've been trying to answer a few questions, believe me, just a few, leaving the majority for other members too. :lol:
Personally, I like other members' pictures myself, enjoy guitars and people, as well as stories, but hmmmm .... a pic is worth a thousand words, and I'm intrigued and very approving of people's personal guitars and gear, way more interesting than commercial or website/advertising photos.
I try to support my answers or topics with links, stock pictures or written articles, and as a last resort, to add some personal interest and color.... well, I have a few pictures in photobuckets? :shock:
I think you've been a great, consistent, informed and interesting contributor. I'm interested in your projects and hope it all works well. Cheers for your ambitions and for wanting to restore and play the old family Ovation with a fretboard job! The nashville project sounds good also. :D
....... and thanks gnease for your insights and experiences too. All the best with your guitars and tone. :wink:
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
back atcha. we all take different paths through this, and I don't think one is particularly more valid than the other. whatever works for you, do it. I just like to point out other approaches and points of view to the newer players among us -- especially if there are multiple paths.
-=tension & release=-
Cheers Jay, my Mods thread will get updated soon after my hand heals up. but the Ovation wont get done until I'm very confident I can do the work. it's needed a refret and FB smooth for a few years now, but there don't seem to be many techies in the area, and I've yet to see examples of that kind of work that I'm happy enough with to fork out the £120 estimate to get it done by someone else. time will tell who does it.
the nashville and fretless both have me excited. partly because I've never (knowingly) heard either one before, and I've certainly never seen or played either. so it's a case of "build what the local stores don't sell". I'm thinking the fretless will make an interesting practice tool if nothing else, and the nashville an interesting recording tool. i may also try a "reverse nashville" (never even heard of such a thing before, just extrapolating) by stringing all bass strings. dunno how the truss rod would handle it, but I reckon it could work so long as I don't try tuning to concert pitch (I suspect with this set up 440Hz = crack!).
having said that, I bet the next time I pick up a music mag or google something on guitars, I'll end up reading about someone who's tried it already. :lol:
truss rod will handle your reverse Nashville, Scrybe, as most strings sets are (or can be) designed for uniform tension -- hence the variation in mass/length (=> gauge). helps keep the neck from twisting over time.
for a fretless guitar, might consider nylon strings -- they seem esp well suited, tho steel will def have a dif flavor and be excitable with an eBow. and of course nylons req a piezo or similar pup system.
-=tension & release=-
truss rod will handle your reverse Nashville, Scrybe, as most strings sets are (or can be) designed for uniform tension -- hence the variation in mass/length (=> gauge). helps keep the neck from twisting over time.
for a fretless guitar, might consider nylon strings -- they seem esp well suited, tho steel will def have a dif flavor and be excitable with an eBow. and of course nylons req a piezo or similar pup system.
sweetness, as I thought, thanks for the confirm G.
the fretless will likely be a cheap strat clone/yamaha pacifica/similar, so will be steel strung, although I do consider it the prototype for furture fiddling. maybe I'll try a fretless reverse nashville.....a fretless bass inspired the whole enterprise anyway, so it might be fitting. 8)
edit: I'm gonna stake my claim and officially 'name' reverse nashville stylee "Scrybe stringing". Which, incidentally, is much better than Scrybe singing, but that's a little OT...
