Es-12q

[jmax]

Well, it's all together now and I've got some problems:

1st, the neck angle is not good. I thought I checked it well enough before gluing it in, but it seem not. I'm looking at about 3.25mm at the 12th fret with the bridge cranked all the way down and the neck dead flat. The nut is still a bit high, so there could be some improvement in that area. There's not a lot of room to take it down further at the bridge, because then the strings would be too close to the pickups.

Has anyone had any experience steaming off this sort of neck? Any suggestions on how to go about it?


Next problem is with the electronics. It only took about six tries to get everything through the f-hole without breaking a solder joint, so the fact it works means everything should be pretty solid.

Here's what I was after:

• Coil splitting on the humbuckers with the push/pulls. This works
  
• The ability to bleed in the piezo signal. This works
  
• The ability to run the piezo on its own. This does not work. The classic wiring on the humbuckers is also taking the piezo to zero when one of the humbucker volumes is taken to zero. I had thought that putting the piezo on the middle lug of the switch would solve that, but it doesn't seem to have worked that way.
  
• The push/pull on the piezo is meant to remove the piezo from the signal chain, but the piezo signal is coming through regardless of whether it's pushed or pulled. I also seem to be getting a bit of 'tone suck' from the impedance miss-match, which is why I wanted to use the push/pull as a cut out switch.

Heres' the schematic of what I did:

[Simon Barden]

I've replied to these issues here:https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post211485
And here:https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post211483

But if anyone else has any thoughts especially on neck removal, please chip-in.

[jmax]

In my haste to resolder the wires that broke off on one of the attempts to stuff everything through the f-hole, I had attached the out wire from the piezo pot to the third lug instead of the push/pull section, so it was simply doing what I had wired it to do - operate as a normal pot.

The output of the piezo is nice and hot, so it blends in with the humbuckers very well, and works great on it's own. I've got some acoustic guitar impulse responses, and when I apply those to the piezo-only signal, it sounds pretty close to a real acoustic.

[Simon Barden]

So do we get some completed guitar pictures, or are you waiting for better weather to take some good ones?

[jmax]

And, it's finished!!!

[jmax]

[Simon Barden]

Very nice looking guitar. You’re definitely improving with each build.

It may be worth trying at some point to reverse the neck pickup ring and see what that loos like. I know conventional wisdom says the thin end goes forwards, but on guitar with an arched-top, often the slope at the neck position is reversed to that at the bridge, so having the thicker end towards the neck can allow it to sit flatter with respect to the strings and top of the pickup.

[jmax]

Thanks!

I've tried the ring both ways, and can't decide. I'll need to live with it for a bit.

I ended up reversing the bridge ring on by GR-1SF, with the thick end away from the bridge which made it sit flatter.

[Simon Barden]

It may really need a flat ring then!

[Simon Barden]

The stopbar ones are the ones that need the firmest fit as they have all the upwards and sideways pull on them. The bridge is almost all a downward force.