Plus our biggest earthquake has been about 4 on the Richter scale and loosened some dust. Rather nasty events in NZ in the past few days. Not as bad as the ones that did so much damage to Christchurch, but still, bad enough.
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Plus our biggest earthquake has been about 4 on the Richter scale and loosened some dust. Rather nasty events in NZ in the past few days. Not as bad as the ones that did so much damage to Christchurch, but still, bad enough.
As far as I know, there haven't been any serious earthquakes in Australia, or where I currently live, but I may be totally wrong, where I live is not far from one of the Tropical Equators, I think it's either the Tropic of Capricorn, or the Tropic of Cancer, I was never that great at Geography when we studied it in Social Studies class during my secondary years at school, I was never great at maths either, but I managed to pass my engineering calculations module while doing my tech for my fitting and machining apprenticeship, not sure exactly how I did it without even studying for it before hand, I was good at spelling though, during year 8 English class, we used to be given a list of 22 words to learn, then the next day we would be tested, I used to be able to get the whole lot right without even bothering to do my homework, I enjoyed Science class a lot, maybe cause the experiments piqued my curious mind, I remember the first time Computers were available at school, the first one was a Commodore 64 home Computer, after that, the school I attended bought some Microbees, and then eventually came some IBM 286 computers, when I moved to Darwin in 2000, I ended up with an old 300Mhz IBM 386, then I managed to score an IBM 486, after that, I ended up with a 933Mhz Pentium III, then a 2.14Ghz Core 2 Duo running Windows XP, and now I have my current PC which uses a 3.3Ghz i5 CPU (I'm using it at the moment to get online), running Windows 10 Home 64 Bit, the years have definitely gone by very quickly, I think I was about 32 years old when I first moved to Darwin in 2000, and I'm 47 now, older, but not necessarily wiser...lol.
Incidentally, I have just found out why the high B and E-Strings on my HotRod Strat were buzzing like a sitar, the cause is definitely the Chrome Schaller R2 Locking nut, so I'm definitely replacing it with a Gotoh Locking Nut for sure, I've temporarily installed the Black Gotoh Locking nut that was on my white Ibanez RG350DXZ guitar.
One of the perils of living on the pacific rim, unfortunately. The edges of the pacific plate and the Australian plate bisect the South Island and create some very active geothermal spots though the middle of the North Island.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Australia by comparison sits smack bang in the middle of its very own plate being all ancient and weathered and geologically stable. Boring really. Which is probably why so much of the wildlife is fantastically lethal and in cases (Tasmanian Devils, Salt Water Crocs, Taipans) perpetually grumpy.
Yep, Taipans are one of the most lethal snakes in Australia, they don't just strike once, they strike multiple times, I think they are found in the Northern Territory, where I live, but fortunately I have never seen any, we also have the King Brown snake, definitely one to avoid, we also have a tiny jellyfish called the Irukandji, you don't want to get stung by one of them cause they are known as one of the most venomous creatures on earth, they are pretty small so they are hard to see in water, it has been identified as the cause of Irukandji Syndrome, the sting is 100 times as potent as Cobra venom, and 1,000 times more potent than Tarantula venom.
The elderly couple that sadly passed away yesterday while snorkelling on the Barrier were apparently stung by Irukandji. Authorities believe this resulted in at least one them having cardiac issues and tragically drowning.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
The worst we get down our way are blue bottles, and they are a big enough pain. I am kind of happy that I have a pool at home and at my inlaws around the corner, though you still need to be wary of the occasional funnel web in the water and for some reason German and Dutch backpackers.
What, random backpackers just cruising through using your swimming pool? Clothed or sans clothing? Being from that part of Europe tends to suggest birthday suits only. Would love to see their reactions if a funnel web was in the water with them. They are also one very aggressive critter. Don't see many of them up here but their close cousin the Brown Trapdoor Spider does live up here mainly in the scrubby acreage and hinterland districts and very hard to tell them apart from one another. Massive fangs almost the size of fish hooks.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
There's always this method. I'm tempted to do something similar myself on the EX-1 for a body illustration (when it comes): http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6536Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
Update:
Finally got the new pickups, pots and etc ordered from Realtone Music for the HotRod Strat, here's a list of what I ordered:
X1 Tonerider Rocksong Black Bridge Humbucking Pickup.
X2 Kent Armstrong Black Dual Blade Single-Coil Sized Humbucking Pickups.
X1 500k Log Mini CTS Pot (for the volume control).
X2 250k Log Mini CTS Pots (for the two tone controls).
X1 .1uF Black Bee Paper In Oil Cap (for the tone cap).
X1 Gotoh FGR-1 1-5/8" Locking Nut Assembly - Chrome.
X1 Gotoh SG381 Tuning Key Set - Chrome.
X3 Tremolo Tension Spring - Stainless Steel.
I also paid for the express delivery option for my order, Realtone Music quote 1 to 2 business days for express delivery, so hopefully I'll get all the bits I ordered, in the post by this coming Friday at the least, if all goes well, I'll see if I can get a demo track together so you can hear what the HotRod Strat sounds like in action.....stay tuned.
Good, all moving forward. I hope you've got the strings already sorted. ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Yep, the strings are going to be my usual Elixirs in 42-09 gauge, I could go up to 46-10's but there's no more adjustment for intonation left for the low E-String, the neck is a 25.5 Inch Scale Length anyway, so I think a set of 42-09 gauge strings are probably the most appropriate, I've already had the HotRod Strat strung-up and tuned up to pitch, and, while it was sounding pretty good, I felt that a few things needed improving, hence the reason for ordering the new parts from Realtone Music, the Chrome Schaller Locking Nut I was using was making the high B and E strings buzz like a sitar, I determined that the nut was the cause by fretting just behind the first fret, when I did that the sitar buzzing stopped, hopefully the new Gotoh FGR-1 Locking Nut will prove to be much better, one of the DR Parts tuning machines wasn't working smoothly, due to what I suspect is wear, the others weren't so bad, so I'm replacing the lot, hopefully the new pickups should be hum-free and sounding good.
Update:
I think I may have sorted-out the intonation issue with the low E-String Saddle, earlier this year, I had to buy a replacement bridge for my white Ibanez RG350DXZ guitar, so I did a search on eBay, and found a suitable replacement which was virtually brand-new, it included a couple of new Bridge Pivot-Posts, which I used to replace the original ones, the originals still looked fine with minimal wear on them, but I decided to replace them as a matter of course, anyway, while thinking of a possible to the HotRod Strat's low E-String intonation issue, I had the idea of using the RG350DXZ's original Pivot Posts to replace the ones that came with the Chrome Schaller Lockmeister Bridge, I though that since the RG350DXZ's original Pivot Posts had a shallower notch cut in them, that would move the bridge away from the 12th fret on the neck, increasing the distance from the 12th Fret to the bridge, the RG350DXZ's original Pivot Posts were slightly oversized compared to the holes drilled in the body, so, I used some Lip-Eze to lubricate them, and used a small claw-hammer to tap them into the holes, it seemed to do the trick, and just as I had thought, the Bridge did get moved away from the 12th Fret, hopefully that will give plenty of room to adjust the low E-String Saddle to get the intonation correct, before it kept reading slightly sharp and I couldn't move it back any further since I had run out of adjustment range, I will have to wait till the guitar has been re-strung since the high E-String broke last night, and the strings I had on the guitar were the last set I had, don't you hate it when a string breaks, and you have no more sets of fresh strings left?, it's even worse on a guitar that has a double-locking Floyd Rose trem installed, because as soon as one string breaks, the others go horribly out of tune (they all go sharp due to the tension on the springs in the back of the guitar), when you are setting up a Double-Locking trem system so that the Bridge floats parallel to the body, you are basically trying to balance the tension on the strings with the tension on the springs, that way, the Bridge floats in it's neutral position, when a string-breakage occurs, the tension on the strings decreases and the balance is upset, I can see why lots of guitarists hate the Double-Locking Floyd Rose style trem-system, it is a Royal Pain in the you-know-what to set up so that it functions properly, but with patience they can be set up, unfortunately, some versions only work about 80%, from what I have read online, it is rare for a Double-Locking trem to come back perfectly in tune from being used 95% of the time, 100% is exceptionally rare, I was pretty lucky, while setting up the trem on my Hot Rod Strat, I noticed that the strings did go out of tune, not by much though, according to the App Tuner App I was using, some strings went slightly flat, some went slightly sharp, some did come back perfectly in tune.
Hopefully, moving the Bridge back a bit from the 12th fret will get the tuning-stability better as well as improving the intonation, I was able to get the intonation on all the strings close to spot-on before though.
I just hope this thread will be useful to those who are building Jem-style kits (they use Double-Locking Trems).
Doc, don't take this as a criticism or a put down. It is only intended to be good natured humour.
I am buying you some full stops for Christmas. And possibly some decaf.
It also just so happens that I am building an SV-1 as well as attempting to graft a Gotoh Double Locking trem into the FrankenWashie. I thinks I need to do some careful re-measuring of the scale lengths on both, relative to Pivot position.
Thanks for the cautionary parable!
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
No worries at all mate, and cheers for that, yes, I must stop drinking that strong, imported coffee that I keep insisting on buying myself, I need to wean myself off caffeine, it's probably making me a bit ADHD, not to mention overly OCD, one day I'll learn to chill-out...lol.
If you ever have any trouble setting up your completed SV-1 build, feel free to pm me mate, I know a couple of things that will make the setup a lot easier to do, hope it all goes well.
There is some good news though, I just received an e-mail from Realtone Music saying that they have just sent my order in the post, hopefully I should be receiving it in the post this coming Friday.
Hahaha!!! Nice one Frank! Perhaps Doc could find a job in the legal profession, they have an aversion to full stops also with all their legalese!!Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Doc, this is all in good fun! I mean no offence!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zandit75
No offense taken at all mate, it's all good, it just gives me a good excuse to exercise my sense of humor, which I admit, can be a bit shocking, but I still get a charge out of it.........okay, I'll stop now....hahaha.
Oh that's electrifying Doc, glad to see we haven't brought you down to earth. I've tried not to make electrical bad puns but resistance is futile.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
Restraint is beyond my capacitor at this junction (box). I shall have to transformer my way of thinking else I shall be discharged from this forum! OHM-ygod these are bad!
Luckily here in the UK I'm normally insulated from this type of thing and generally manage to stay positive, though I can be induced to make the odd negative comment.
FR type trems really depend on very sharp knife-edges to minimise friction and come back in tune. Real FRs and very high quality derivatives use a really hard steel, and these stay sharp for ages. Most licensed FR copies use a mild steel which wears down quite quickly. Once the edges get flattened, that's when they start to not come back in tune. Likewise when the bridge support posts get notched, the friction goes up and tuning stability goes.
So it's never a good idea to rotate the bridge posts to adjust the height of the trem when there is any tension on the strings. It's a PITA to keep slackening off the string tension adjusting the height, and then tighten the strings again, but you only normally need to do it on the initial set up. But it does stop the knife-edges scoring the posts.
You can get replacement knife-edges for a lot of trems, especially proper FR and Ibanez trems, which along with some new posts is a worthwhile investment from time to time.
It's also worth looking at the other end of the neck as well. There's often a string retaining bar fitted behind the locking nut. This is often set too high, and it should be screwed down so that with the string clamps loose, the stings are pulled flat across the horizontal face of the locking nut. This helps guarantee that when the clamps are tightened, the strings are held as tightly as they can be and there is no upward force trying to pull the clamp off the string.
That's Gold Simon! Some handy detail on the FR too. I did not know these things, and having it explained like that it all suddenly makes perfect sense. Thanks for that!Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Cheers mate, I used to own an Ibanez S420WK (Weathered Black) Superstrat Guitar, it featured Ibanez's then-new ZR Trem system ( basically a re-designed Double-Locking Floyd system) which used a ball-bearing system instead of knife-edges for the bridge pivots, Ibanez said that the new system included features designed to improve tuning-stability, well try as I might, I could never get the S420WK's trem to reliably come back perfectly in tune, if I did a dive bomb, the strings would come back flat, if I did a pull-up the strings came back sharp, I tried disabling the ZR system and the result was only marginally better, this was with a ball-bearing pivot system that should have eliminated any of the issues with knife-edge pivot systems.
@ FrankenWashie If you want, I could do a mini-tutorial of sorts, documenting exactly how I went about setting-up the trem system on my HotRod Strat, there's a couple of tools that will make the job of setting it up a lot easier, one is a special tool you can buy from Stewmac, called "The Key", it makes setting the individual string intonation so much easier, the other tool, which you can easily make, is a specially-shaped piece of wood which blocks-off the bridge so that it rigidly sits parallel to the guitar body, once the piece of wood is in place, you simply tighten the tension on the Trem springs, when I go to put some new strings on my Hot Rod Strat after installing the new pickups, etc, I will take some pics as I do the setup on my Hot Rod Strat, and I'll explain exactly what I do, step by step, hopefully that will be useful for other forum members who are building guitar kits that feature a double-locking trem.
I'm lucky to have a mate, Max, who used to have his own music shop, and was then a Fender demonstrator until a car accident (someone else running a red light at 70mph) almost killed him and smashed him up pretty bad, stopping him from playing for a long while. After that he became a studio acoustics expert, plus some pro-level mixing (he worked on most of the Playststion Guitar Hero stuff) and is a part-owner of (but no longer directly involved in) a small studio in Oxford.
So there's very little he doesn't know from experience or hasn't been taught by manufacturers, and he's always telling me things (like some of the above). Unfortunately he's just had to get a job outside the music industry because no-one pays their bills any more and he needs to pay the rent. He's recovering from a 2nd operation to cure some carpal tunnel issues with his wrists, and is about 50% of the way to getting full use of his left hand again. Unfortunately he is a fearsome shredder and I'm not a great fan of constant 200mph notes. It's very difficult to get him to slow down at all and put some emotion and feel into his playing.
My mate Max (see above) has a whole range of Ibanez S types of different ages (he moved to them from Jems and RGs because of a worsening bad back and their reduced weight), so has a mixture of Edge, Edge Pro, LoPro and ZR trems. He prefers playing the Edge style ones over the ZR, but the one he plays the most does have a ZR on it and it stays in tune for him. I'll ask him if there are any special tips on setting it up.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Cheers mate, that would be much appreciated because I have a white Ibanez RG350DXZ which features the ZR system, but it uses knife-edge pivots and it tends to come back flat after a dive-bomb, and sharp after a pull-up, I've tried lubricating the knife-edges with lip-eze but it makes no difference, there is very little wear on the knife edges, I also tried replacing the locking nut, tried making sure the neck screws were tight, and also tried making sure the string-retainer bar was adjusted properly, the locking nut screws are nice and tight too.
Thats not a bad idea at all Doc, i think it would be handy for other builders as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
No worries, I just found a interesting forum thread article on the internet, it deals with all the possible causes of tuning stability issues with double-locking trem systems, so as I thought that maybe some builders might be interested in reading the article, I'll post a link to it here:
http://forum.ibanez.com/yaf_postst69...REM-GUIDE.aspx
Update:
I checked the postal tracking on my latest order from Realtone Music, and going by what I have read, I should be getting it in the post tomorrow, feeling pretty excited about it because once I have all the new bits and pieces installed, and the HotRod Strat is strung-up and tuned, I'll be able to call the HotRod Strat project officially completed.
I haven't clear-coated the body of the guitar yet, I may do that later on next year, but for now, I am really liking the raw finish on the body, hopefully on Friday I can get a demo track sorted out for you guys, I might use my Squire P-Bass, and the white Ibanez RG350DXZ to record the demo, plus some of my pedals, I'm still thinking about how I could do the demo though, might see if I can use Ableton Live 9 Standard to record it, since I can just record riffs as loops, we'll see....stay tuned.
Update:
Woohoo!! I just checked the postal tracking for my Realtone Music order and it says this:
In transit With Australia Post for delivery today 4:35am Thu 24 Nov Winnellie, NT
So, I will be receiving all the new bits for my HotRod Strat in the post either this morning if the parcel is being delivered to my front door, or, when I go to collect the parcel from the Winnellie Post Office this afternoon at 5:00pm, either way I'm a happy chappy.
Woohoo indeed! Hope all the bits are in full working order.
My EX-1 kit will be arriving tomorrow. It got to the UK last Thursday and was sent off on the Monday. So again, it takes far longer for it to travel from Australia to the UK than it does the 25 miles from London Heathrow airport to my house.
Cheers, I'm pretty interested in finding out what the new pickups will sound like, I haven't tried Toneriders or Kent Armstrongs before, so this will be new to me, I went to the post office a few minutes ago to see if they would let me collect my parcel early, as it turned out, I have to wait till 5:00pm this afternoon to collect it, no drama though cause I have a few things to do in the meantime.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
What kind of finish are you going to go with for your EX-1 kit build?, I've decided to defer ordering a 51 Telecaster kit till next year, but when I get round to doing the order, I'm going to see if I can order some Dingotone TV Yellow finish from Dingobass, I have previously talked to him about it and he said that he could make up a batch of TV Yellow.
There's a set of three compensated Telecaster String Saddles I'll also be ordering for the 51 Telecaster kit, but it is manufactured by an online company called SuperVee.com, the String-Saddles are specially machined so that they will intonate more accurately, the bonus is that they still retain the look of a 51 vintage Telecaster.
Update:
Yeehaa!!! The parcel containing all the new bits for the HotRod Strat has finally arrived, I can now begin working on it again.
Update 2:
So far I have installed the new Gotoh Locking Nut with it's String Retainer-Bar, and the new Gotoh Tuners, and they all fit perfectly, I didn't need to use any of the Brass Shims that came with the Locking Nut, the Tuners all seem to work nice and smoothly, the next thing I am going to do is install all the new pots, pickups, and the tone-cap on the scratchplate, the last parts I will install before checking that all the pickups work, are the three new Stainless Steel Trem springs, once I know that the pickups are all working, I will go ahead with the process of installing the new set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky Strings in 42-09 gauge, and after that, I will perform a complete setup on the guitar, which I will document by taking pics of the whole setup process, stay tuned.
Good stuff Doc Xmas has come early!
Sent from Nougat (Android 7)
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewdosborne
Yep, for some strange reason Christmas has a habit of coming early for me, just you wait till you see what I'm getting myself for Christmas this year, I won't say what it is cause I will post a pic of it on Christmas day, but I will say this, it is something I have always wanted to own ever since I saw a picture of one in a magazine, getting it will fulfill a lifetime dream.
Good stuff Doc, now you've got me curious and excited!
Sent from Nougat (Android 7)
Update:
Okay, i have just finished installing all the new pickups, pots, and the tone cap on the scratchplate of the HotRod Strat, and have just tested to see if it is all working correctly, and sure enough everything works correctly, all three pickups seem to be working too, I am also not getting any hum whatsoever, it is all noise-free, all that's left to do is install the new springs, put on a new set of strings, tune up, etc.
Will let you know how it all goes, stay tuned.
That's just what the Doctor ordered.....haha.....pardon the pun.
Well done buddy, hope it sounds awesome.
I'm pretty certain that I'm going to go for a white acrylic finish on the EX-1 as this may allow me to do some spraying in the house, plus I want to do some form of graphic on the body, which will mean using an airbrush and stencils. Whilst I've used one for acrylic paint on models before, I've never got it to work with nitro paint (just seems too viscous and really needs a gravity feed spray).
I bought a cheap pop-up camping toilet /shower tent to act as an outside spray booth, but I should be able to use it inside as well to stop the spread of any overspray.
Just got to decide on what the graphic will be. Nothing too complicated - maybe a black, light and dark grey, with a few coloured highlights. There's quite a lot of body to paint on with an Explorer shape. Something that's recognisable from a distance.
Good news on the build so far, lets hope it comes together exactly as planned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Doctor?.....Doctor who?.....*frantically looks around the room*....who is this famous Doctor I keep hearing about?, I must meet him....hahahaha......sorry, I couldn't resist.....lol.
Update:
I've got the guitar tuned up to pitch and it is actually sounding pretty good, sounds nice and fat through some Amp Sim plugins in FL Studio, but I'm going to try it through my Marshall shortly, will let you know how it goes, by the way, the intonation on each string was pretty close to being spot on even though I haven't done a proper full setup on the guitar yet....stay tuned for more updates.
Update 2:
Well....it actually sounds pretty good through all three channels on my Marshall amp, this guitar puts out quite a beefy signal from all three pickups, to my ears the Tonerider Rocksong Bridge Pickup seems to be balancing pretty well with the two Kent Armstrong Dual Blades, and I'm not getting that really thin sound when I switch to the middle plus bridge position, like I was with the pickups I had installed before, I am getting some hum-noise when the Tonerider Rocksong Bridge Pickup is selected, but, that also happens with my LP Studio too, so I wouldn't blame the pickup, it might be some weird earthing issue somewhere, but I can live with it though, the Kent Armstrong Dual Blades are getting that Single-Coil tone, but they sound a bit darker than the typical Strat pickups to my ears, but that's actually a good thing since you don't get that ear-piercing harshness that you can sometimes get with Single Coils being put through a distortion effect, the Kent Armstrongs stayed smooth even at the maximum gain-setting that my Marshall was capable of, even the Tonerider Rocksong sounded smooth at high gain settings, on the other hand, if I were to do the same with the Infinity pickups in my white Ibanez RG350DXZ, the amp would start to fart-out in an un-musical way, I think the reason why the Rocksong stays smooth is because it has more of a midrange focus, there is some Bass in the tone too though, but anyway, I'm happy cause I am really liking both the Kent Armstrong Dual Blades and the Tonerider Rocksong, the tuning stability of the guitar seems to be okay enough, certainly better than my LP Studio, which seems to constantly go out of tune despite having a fixed bridge system, you'd think it would be more stable.
I still haven't done a proper setup of the HotRod Strat, but I might give it some time to settle before I do, the new Gotoh Locking Nut seems to have fixed the high B and E-String Sitar buzzing, and the new Chrome Gotoh Tuners are all working fine.
While I was wiring-up the scratchplate, I found out that the 500k Log mini CTS pot I ordered, was actually a Linear pot, since I tend to leave the volume pot on full, that is not really causing any issues, but, I might swap it out for a 500k Log pot later on though.
Well, I'd call the HotRod Strat project officially completed....unless I decide to work on it some more, that is.
The guitar looks great with it's all chrome hardware, black knobs, and the newly-installed pickups, I'll post some pics of it in the morning for you guys.....stay tuned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
Is this a clue to the Xmas gift you've always wanted (a full sized sea foam green Dalek model that you can ride to and from the pub in)?
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...45948ada9f.jpg
Sent from Android N
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewdosborne
Hahahahahaha....too funny mate, although, if I could get it in Sonic Blue that would be cool, but the only shop that stocks them, only has them in a cute pastel shade of Hot Pink, and they already have five years of back-orders to fill, and those orders happen to be for Dalek models in all the other colours they normally stock.
I had a long phone chat with one of their sales reps, who ended up putting me on hold while he talked to the store manager, meanwhile here's me sitting in the chair with the phone glued to my ear....aaaaaargh....that's the last time I let my two cats play with that tube of Cyanoacrylate Super Glue.......hmmmm...now where was I?.....ah....yes...after what seemed like an eternity, time being relative and all that, the sales rep got back to me, and after a long-winded,convoluted explanation, the gist of it was that if I was willing to compromise, he would sell me a Davros model at a lower-price, provided I fixed it myself, I explained that I had no idea how to fix Davros models since I had never had any experience fixing them, next thing I heard was the poor sales rep muttering to himself "I knew we'd never be able to sell all those discontinued models", followed by some language that vaguely resembled a language I'd never heard before, he apologized to me and said that he was going to have a few more words to the store manager, all I remember hearing after that was something that sounded like a heated argument, in triplicate, then the call timed-out.
Too funny I'll pop out into my tardis and drop one off to you!
Sent from Android N