G-Axe's Second Build - EX-1

[wokkaboy]

looks unreal G-Axe love the vinyl pattern on the front. You finished it in no time. Good advice next build take it slower !

[G-Axe]

Thanks very much for the kind words, Cade, Gavin and Wokka.

Gavin - You flatter me. There was a distinct lack of skill and patience on my part with this one - and there's plenty to nitpick if you get up close. It has been a great learning experience, and ultimately what I would call a successful prototype.

Wokka - Some day I'll have another go and really take my time with it. Ultimately the time off work and a very infrequent gig opportunity got the better of me, and I did some silly things.

Still, it's turned out better than I'd hoped given the time constraints, so I don't think I'll change too much. If I can bear to be without it for a couple of months, I'll properly clear coat it - leave it warts and all underneath, but just make sure it's going to last.

---

So here's a quick audio sample I recorded. Still getting my head around how to best mic up my amp and so forth. Very happy with the clean sound, high gain sounds a little bit too "metalzone", but I do love the bite of the attack. I might need to dial down the treble and bring up the mids.

Link

Pickups are Artist Bullbuckers - cheap Chinese made Jazz/JB knockoffs - very happy with them so far. Amplifier is a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 clean on Channel A, driven hard on Channel B. Recorded with an ES57 (Chinese made SM57 knockoff) into a little Behringer 12 way USB mixer using Audacity.

[koldo2552]

Thanks very much for the kind words, Cade, Gavin and Wokka.

Gavin - You flatter me. There was a distinct lack of skill and patience on my part with this one - and there's plenty to nitpick if you get up close. It has been a great learning experience, and ultimately what I would call a successful prototype.

Wokka - Some day I'll have another go and really take my time with it. Ultimately the time off work and a very infrequent gig opportunity got the better of me, and I did some silly things.

Still, it's turned out better than I'd hoped given the time constraints, so I don't think I'll change too much. If I can bear to be without it for a couple of months, I'll properly clear coat it - leave it warts and all underneath, but just make sure it's going to last.

---

So here's a quick audio sample I recorded. Still getting my head around how to best mic up my amp and so forth. Very happy with the clean sound, high gain sounds a little bit too "metalzone", but I do love the bite of the attack. I might need to dial down the treble and bring up the mids.

Link

Pickups are Artist Bullbuckers - cheap Chinese made Jazz/JB knockoffs - very happy with them so far. Amplifier is a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 clean on Channel A, driven hard on Channel B. Recorded with an ES57 (Chinese made SM57 knockoff) into a little Behringer 12 way USB mixer using Audacity.

The guitar is impressive, the design... very very nice.
I have an old (British made) JCM2000 DSL100 head, and my favorite set up for full blast rhythm tracks was:
Ultra gain channel on the lead 1, Bass about 8, Mids about 8, Treble on 2/3 and presence on 4/6 depending on the guitar plugged in. Gain about 6 and volume (recording) at 6/7. Tone shift button off (too much scoop for my taste) and Deep button off (that resonance control might be interesting playing alone, but makes bass frequencies get muddy on a recording or playing with a band.

Then, place an SM57 or another mic in the cone but not far from the center of the speaker (will search for a pic if you want).

JCM 2000 amps tend to give too much gain that can make everything sound muddy or fuzzy, but if you stay with a lower gain, high volume and mids up, then you can get some Hot rodded Jcm800-esque sounds from it. My head was a little modded, but you can get good sounds from the stock one.
If you want to get it a little hotter, you can put a booster or an overdrive (lo gain-hi volume setting) infront of it. I use an MXR micro amp for it when i want more gain and sustain for leads. But the clue, specially when recording, is to keep gain settings lower, volume high and control all the unwanted high frequencies. And it´s a british voiced amp, don´t get rid of his mids. Hit hard the strings and enjoy.... Been playing with it for a long time and it always worked fantastic in ay situation.
Now i make my own amps, but that´s another story..

Cheers.

[wokkaboy]

sounds great G-Axe, is that Tool Eulogy you were playing ?

[Hobastard]

Close! It's the title track off Lateralus which was the inspiration for the vinyl decal. From memory, so I probably haven't got the phrasing quite right.



Ah, completely forgot that the Navy have aircraft too. Very cool. I painted a 1:72 scale Skyhawk once, does that count? It has got me thinking about nose art for a future build though. Maybe a shark mouth on the lower cutaway of something.

Also:

I have been thinking about a hi-tech / stealth design inspired by the F35.

[Simon Barden]

I have been thinking about a hi-tech / stealth design inspired by the F35.

You've been keeping that off the radar.

[G-Axe]

The guitar is impressive, the design... very very nice.
I have an old (British made) JCM2000 DSL100 head, and my favorite set up for full blast rhythm tracks was:
Ultra gain channel on the lead 1, Bass about 8, Mids about 8, Treble on 2/3 and presence on 4/6 depending on the guitar plugged in. Gain about 6 and volume (recording) at 6/7. Tone shift button off (too much scoop for my taste) and Deep button off (that resonance control might be interesting playing alone, but makes bass frequencies get muddy on a recording or playing with a band.

I like the scoop in some scenarios, but for the most part it stays off on mine, and I just dial the mids a bit lower. I'll give it a run with those settings. Sadly, even my DSL50 doesn't get wound up to those sort of volumes very often - and it seems like volume is the key element. I shudder to think about how loud your DSL100 would be at ground zero.

Then, place an SM57 or another mic in the cone but not far from the center of the speaker (will search for a pic if you want).

That sounds like what I've been going for - just slightly off centre. Will have to take the time to try out each individual cone and see if there's an appreciable sweet spot.

JCM 2000 amps tend to give too much gain that can make everything sound muddy or fuzzy, but if you stay with a lower gain, high volume and mids up, then you can get some Hot rodded Jcm800-esque sounds from it. My head was a little modded, but you can get good sounds from the stock one.

Yeah, my experience with it is that it can be a bit more work to dial in some classic sounds, but it's a very versatile head. The only really shortcoming I feel is that it would be nice if the crunch was a third channel rather than a push button on the clean.

If you want to get it a little hotter, you can put a booster or an overdrive (lo gain-hi volume setting) infront of it. I use an MXR micro amp for it when i want more gain and sustain for leads. But the clue, specially when recording, is to keep gain settings lower, volume high and control all the unwanted high frequencies. And it´s a british voiced amp, don´t get rid of his mids. Hit hard the strings and enjoy.... Been playing with it for a long time and it always worked fantastic in ay situation.

I've been building a few pedal kits, and a "transparent overdrive" of some description is on my shortlist. I've never heard a bad word said about a Klon (or a Klone) and that might just be the mythical status, but it might also be an essential bit of kit. We'll see!

Now i make my own amps, but that´s another story..

Very, very cool. Building an amp is on my bucket list, but given my half stack is the most serious bit of kit I own, I'm in no great rush.

I have been thinking about a hi-tech / stealth design inspired by the F35.

Awesome. Look forward to seeing it. Probably before we ever see a finished F35 on this side of the ditch.

[G-Axe]

So, I said I would finish this one day, and I've finally decided to unstring, unsolder and de-neck it to correct some issues of my own making.

First and foremost, the lousy job I did with the neck. I measured and double-measured the scale length, but didn't allow for compensation. The intonation was close enough for rhythm, but beyond 9th fret it got sketchy, and over time the action got higher and higher (higher!). And because the break angle was wrong, I couldn't lower the bridge.

So I made the decision to pry the neck. I gave it some heat, and very patiently worked it loose. There's a bit of damage around the neck pocket but it's all superficial.

Then I spent most of the weekend fitting the neck with different shims and spacers to get the break and scale length right:




Eventually I settled on spacing the neck by an extra 6mm, and a shim sloping from about 1mm at the bridge side, down to a sharp point neck side. With that I can bring the strings right down to touch the frets, but with the bridge raised a few mill I get a good low action and best of all, accurate intonation.

So, boom - glued. And it's going to sit for about a week to cure.





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