Color Me Green!

I had one hell of a day last Wednesday as I had to rush to the E.R. that morning with the most excruciating pain I'd ever felt in my life.  Through a CT scan, it was determined that I had a kidney stone, my first, and I came home that day defeated, exhausted, and on drugs.  So, it was especially nice when the body of the guitar came in that afternoon.  It really helped to take my mind off of my current plight—I've had a pretty nasty scare with all of this.

SO much to say here; as we all know, a picture's worth a thousand words:

This seafoam green color is truly amazing.  It's got just enough of a blue tint in it that it tends to shift depending on the light in the room.  I couldn't keep myself from putting the neck and some other components on it right away.  The maple body didn't feel very heavy by itself, but as soon as I attached the neck...  yowzers.  I could tell immediately that it was already heavier than a normal Stratocaster, without any of the other components added to it.  I'll talk about this later on in this post.

Anyway, there are a few interesting revelations / challenges, starting with the neck:

Preliminary Floyd Rose locking nut installation.  Notice anything weird here?

The through holes drilled for the locking nut were off by about a millimeter toward the high E side, causing a shift in where the nut sits.  Unacceptable.  I couldn't have known this when I received the neck a few months ago since I didn't have a locking nut to put on it, but, let this be a lesson to any new project builders: get your stuff fully checked out when you receive it.  I'm long past the point of being able to send it back to Warmoth to have them do anything about it, but I'm confident this can be fixed with a minimal amount of [professional] wood routing.

I attempted to put the pickguard on the guitar to see how it would look, but right away the 500K concentric pot showed its huge ugly side.

The pot scrapes against the very bottom end of the control cavity.  Some additional routing may be needed here as I intend to line the cavity with copper shielding.

And...  More routing WILL be needed to fit the Sustainiac's circuit board and the switches.

The battery box cavity on the back side takes up most of the space here underneath the pickguard, which I originally intended for the DPDT switches.  Those may need to shift elsewhere.  The circuit board may need to be tucked into an additional rout in the cutaway.

The electronics are going to be a NIGHTMARE to install.  Why couldn't I just go with a dual humbucker guitar and be happy with it?  Anyway, I got around to working with the Floyd Rose bridge included in my order.

Complementary Floyd Rose stud installation.  Very pleased that I opted to have this done.  The screws for the "knife edge" joint were a cinch to put in.

I thought of immediately replacing the Floyd's tone block with the new brass one, but then I noticed that I had accidentally ordered the wrong size; 32 mm height rather than 37 mm.

I'm at a crossroad on this one.  I could return the 32 mm brass block for a 37 mm size for the same price, but the width of the tone blocks is another thing I have to consider:

32 mm brass block placed in the bridge cavity for comparison.

Since the brass blocks are wider than the stock piece, I may lose some travel with the trem arm if I go up to the 37 mm height.  The block might wind up hitting the wall of the cavity when I want to divebomb on the strings.  As I've mentioned several times in this blog, I'm not a heavy Floyd Rose divebomb player, but after all of the trouble I went through in deciding to keep a fully floating setup, I want to have full access to the bridge's capabilities.  Perhaps I should keep the current 32 mm block; it would direct the springs further inside the guitar and keep them away from the rear cover when it's installed.  By the way, I already know I want a fourth spring on this thing, so I'll be on the lookout for ordering one soon.

Oh yeah, so the previous photo implies that I've already put strings on this guitar...

I couldn't resist!  By the way, folks, a dab of WD-40 on the screws will work wonders for any double-locking bridge.

I wanted, no, needed to confirm that the maple body I ordered was going to produce the clarity and sharp attack that I wanted, so a pack of Ernie Ball Power Slinkys got installed for test.  I realized immediately that the string retainer piece is necessary.  I didn't need to buy an extra one from Warmoth, though, since the Floyd Rose bridge hardware includes it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why a string retainer is always needed for a Strat neck.  I put the locking nut screws on but didn't tighten them down; I just wanted to hit a few power chords and see how the guitar plays.

The verdict is...

TREMENDOUS SUSTAIN, BRIGHTNESS, CLARITY, and PUNCH.

Seriously, the notes practically jump off of the guitar.  I can't believe how percussive, tight, and full it sounds and feels.  This thing takes the heaviest palm muting I can give it and it bounces right back.  The jumbo stainless steel frets feel great to bend notes on, the gloss coat on the neck and fretboard feels smooth as glass, and the 10-16" compound radius feels comfortable in every position.  The only thing I could complain about is that the frets could use some additional filing on the sides, but that's an easy fix.

The weight of the guitar—over 10 pounds with all of the components added—is easily justified with it exceeding my expectations in feel and response.  Even with the current issues I have like needing to fix the offset nut and rout more wood out of the body, I'm already inspired and thinking about how the body will react with the Sustainiac and Duncan Distortion, and what kind of music I will make with the guitar once it's finished.

This guitar is officially and appropriately named BIG RIFF.

Oh hey, new Smashing Pumpkins record coming out soon:

Prep Work

The body is coming in tomorrow!  I'm so excited!  Just in time to get my mind off of school for a little bit and work on something creative while I've got an extra few days to myself for the extended Thanksgiving weekend.  So, I've been a busy bee and getting what I do have prepared for the main part of the build.  I'm probably going to swipe a cordless drill from my work (shh! don't tell my boss) to take care of the body during the break.

The neck has been of major concern lately, even though I've been sitting on it for a few months already.  The Schaller tuning machines needed to have that screw installed in the back, so I decided to give it a go...  Against better judgment.  Here's what happened:

Rather than try to arrange each of the little tuners individually so they're perpendicular to the top side of the headstock, I thought it would be better to square up all of them together, then mark and drill holes for the screws.  When I did so, though, they got off the mark, so the tuning machines came out crooked.  Sometimes you've just got to give yourself the space to make mistakes so you'll learn.  Not happy about doing this to a neck that I paid almost $600 for, but I expect that it can be fixed with some professional help.  The allen key holder was a moderate success, again not being perpendicular to the top of the headstock, but it doesn't matter much since it can go just about anywhere.  It serves a pragmatic purpose; not an aesthetic one.

If you're out there in Internetland and just now seeing this, go ahead and laugh.  Welcome to my dumb blog where I do dumb things!

After learning my lesson about drilling holes, I decided against trying to wing it with the string retainer I purchased, at least until after the locking nut is installed first.  It's going to need to be installed at an angle since it will sit where the curve of the headstock descends.

Resist the urge...  Must...  not...  install yet...

However, I did know that at some point I was going to need to need take some steel wool to the frets to clean gloss coat off of them, and felt confident doing so.  I brought home from work a roll of painter's tape and the smallest steel wool I could find.

Fretboard taped down, gloves ready, and steel wool in hand.  And don't forget the beer.  Lord, I thank thee every day for the beer.

It may or may not be telling of the quality of the small patch of steel wool that I had, but it was very messy work.  I had to do the job wearing a pair of old, worn out jeans, huddled over the trash can.  And the gloves definitely helped.  The wool disintegrated, but I managed to scrape off layers of gloss coat that I originally couldn't even tell had been caked on the frets.

Look right at the very CENTER of this photo.  Gloss coat flaking off of the side of the fret.  This was happening all over the place.

Success.  By the way, I'm still unclear on the correct use of terms here.  Gloss?  Lacquer?  Is it polyurethane, or nitro cellulose?  I only know that I want it on the neck and fretboard, but not on the frets.  Anyway, a curious thing happened.  I started at the first fret and it came out smooth as glass; the other frets were definitely scrubbed and cleaned off but didn't have the same sheen to them.  Still, though, the neck does actually look better overall.

Notice the difference from the first to the second fret.  Just how does this happen?  Perhaps I will work on it again in the future with smaller or better steel wool.

On to pickguard prep.  I was told by a coworker who works on guitars and amps that I should remove any shielding immediately around where mounting holes are for the pots.  The shielding should be grounded but should not act as the main ground area since it could cause noise issues later on.  I chose not to cut out any of that shielding just yet, but I did want to see how the pots would mount and look with new black knobs on them.  One small problem, though.  The 25K pot that came with the Sustainiac had a little flange reaching up toward the shaft.  My coworker told me that it's intended for ground and that I should just break it off since the back of the pot will be grounded anyway.

But of course I couldn't make myself do it, so I bent it down with some needlenose pliers.  Doesn't touch the underside of the pickguard when installed.

So here's the pickguard with the pots mounted:

That 500K concentric pot is a Fatty McFatFat!  Notice the Warmoth sticker to the right; that's where the DPDT switches will be installed.

Concentric pot knob set from AllParts, single knob from Warmoth.  They look really good together, methinks.  Master volume and tone on the two-knob set (and away from the bridge and trem arm ON PURPOSE), and the Sustainiac driver control with the smaller single knob.

I had to order a separate open-style stereo jack since the barrel type that came with the Sustainiac was too large to fit the Strat jack plate that I have.  I'm annoyed that I couldn't find anything in black, but at this point it's good to just get a working piece in so I can wire the guitar up sooner rather than later.  At the very least, I should be able to find a new black washer and nut sometime.

Not the end of the world, but it does drive me a little bit crazy.

One last thing: I decided to take the plunge and purchase a brass tone block direct from the Floyd Rose website.  It only cost about $32 while the tungsten / stone / titanium options went way up from there.  This thing is heavy for its size.  Really interested in seeing / hearing / feeling what this thing will do to the string response when I'm digging in with a pick.

A solid metal block...  of ROCK.

Sometimes, when I'm working on my guitars, I'll listen to electronic based music instead of something guitar-centric like metal.  It provides a good balance and reminds me of my love for synthesizers.  Tonight I was listening to Depeche Mode's Sounds Of The Universe and came across my favorite song on it, "Fragile Tension".  It once perfectly described a weird on-again-off-again relationship I had with a lady when I was living in Arizona.  Didn't know there there was a music video for it; it's pretty rad.

Back To The Sustainiac

In the Tallying Up The Cost post, I laid out how I expected the design and purchasing phases of the build to go:

Design order:
Electronics —> Bridge —> Body —> Hardware —> Neck

Purchasing order:
Neck —> Hardware —> Bridge —> Body —> Electronics

I needed to design the guitar from functionality up (electronics, bridge), but I needed the pieces to come in from assembly order up.  The body and the Floyd Rose bridge, while ordered together to gain the advantage of a complementary stud installation, are still a few weeks out.  Other hardware has come in already, including: Schaller tuning machines, custom-cut pickguard, rear trem cover, pickguard screws, pickup/pickup selector mounting screws, 3-way Tele-style CRL pickup selector, switch knob, Strat jack plate, and battery box, all direct from Warmoth.  I got an allen wrench holder to install on the back of the headstock direct from the official Floyd Rose website.  I expect to go back there for a few more small odds and ends.

Official first part of assembly!: Schaller tuners on the headstock.  Very pleased so far with the contrast of black hardware on birdseye maple.  I still need to drill some holes on the back.

About 80 to 90 percent of the hardware is in or on the way.  I'm already dead set on buying a set of Dunlop strap pegs sometime, as I've installed them on every guitar I've owned (and a few I didn't own) in the past ten years.  Still pondering the necessity of a string retainer if the strings are already going to be clamped down by the Floyd's locking nut.

It's time to start thinking about what exactly I'm going to need for the electronics, and indeed I've already ordered the main pieces: that's right, the pickups.  The Seymour Duncan TB-6 Distortion wound up costing about $20 cheaper than I thought it would.  Perhaps it's one of those things where people order "Duncan Distortion" and realize they got the TB-6 rather than the SH-6 like they intended, so now a few websites are flooded with a particular pickup that won't fit most guitars.  That's my best guess.  I'm happy to oblige and say hello to an old friend.

Last week there was a window of opportunity to order the Sustainiac as well, so I had to man up, brave the difficult Web 1.0 site, and really dig into the controls for the thing:

—Turns out I was right about the stereo plug: it's needed for activating the battery when a cable is plugged in.  (The battery is running even when the Sustainiac isn't being used.)  The stereo plug is included with the order.
—You get the option of having the Sustainiac activated via a push-pull pot (not for me!) or a set of DPDT toggle switches which they will include in the order.  The switches themselves are different: on-off for the power switch, and on-off-on for switching between the harmonic and mix modes.
—By request, a 25K potentiometer can be included for the function of controlling the electromagnetic strength of the driver.  I didn't know how else I'd get one if it wasn't included in the kit, so I asked for it.
—There are additional wiring options for boosting the signal of the driver when it's in pickup mode by +6 db, or making the pickup sound "dark" (I thought it was supposed to be that way already?), or both.  This function can be either hardwired or set to another DPDT switch to mount on the top.  If I'm going to have two switches on the pickguard, might as well add a third.

Needing some clarification on a few points, particularly the switch types, I called Maniac Music in Indianapolis to ask questions.  The guy I talked to was pretty surly over the phone.  Nearly every time I brought up a point, he replied with, "Well, the info for that is on the website...  If people would just read it..."  Oh hey buddy, I'm sorry that your stupid website left over from the '90s is so hard to read and disorganized to the point that it actually loops on itself without answering a legitimate question I had.  For more info on (a), click (b).  For more info on (b), click (a).  Nuts.

Anyway, I wanted to know if I could put the circuit board in the middle pickup cavity of the body since the space won't be used for anything.  He explained that it's bad practice because the circuit board should be as close to the pots and pickup selector as possible; also, placing it into the pickup cavity would require shielding around the wires so the unit doesn't squeal or hum from the driver's electromagnetic field.  Mr. Surly also freely expressed his disdain for installing the Sustainiac into pickguard-equipped guitars like Strats due to space limitations.  I could have guessed that I was going a difficult route with my Strat, but thanks for removing all doubt, pal.

"Oh, look at that pathetic excuse for an electric guitar you're trying to build.  Go read my website again.  Pssh."

The Sustainiac is ordered and shipped by this point.

Other electronics items like the concentric pot, copper shielding, and wire will come later.

One last thing: I'm at the beginning stage of driving myself crazy trying to find ALL BLACK hardware to work with the electronics.  I got lucky by not ordering a stereo plug from Warmoth, but I may need to look around and see if I can find one (Switchcraft, etc.) that will be black or at least have a black nut/washer to mount it to the black jack plate I already have.  Also, I definitely want the DPDT switches to be a black flat lever on top if I can find some with the right switching functions.

Musing on some great sounds this evening.  Pearl Jam coulda/woulda/shoulda been in my previous post on guitar tone:

EDIT 11/10/2014:

The Sustainiac came in already!  Very quick turn from having ordered it on a Friday and receiving it on Monday.  The toggle switches and 25K pot I requested are included in the kit, free of charge.  I guess I can't/shouldn't complain anymore...  Unless this thing gives me problems later on.  Until then, photos!:

The Sustainiac kit.

Installation guide and a wiring diagram inside.

It's like Christmas every day here, folks!

I have to find a way to cram ALL of this into a guitar.  Notice the chrome jack and switches.  Definitely going with black at some point if I can find the right pieces.

The Sustainiac is actually a single-coil device (gasp!), so the humbucker size has a filler cap where a second set of magnets would normally go.  No one will ever know the difference.

I just couldn't resist.  See the resemblance yet?

Top Ten Tones

While stuff is on order, and tonight my eyes are bugging out of my skull from the constant load of homework I've been working on, I thought I would take a break from all of the numbers and indulge a bit on the romantic.  Where time allows, I've been thinking about some of my favorite guitar tones over the years; the sounds that have pricked at my ears more than others.  I'd like to share some of my favorites...

But first, a word about tone.  This playlist is intended as a cut-and-dry list of [mostly] guitar-direct-into-amp sounds.  My inner effects geek wants to party all over this thing, but then I'd wind up with Cave In taking up all of the slots.  Just the tones, ma'am.

Ah, but we also know the old maxim, "Tone is in the fingers."  Tone is not just guitar specs and amp/pedal settings.  A player is the beginning and the end (the alpha and omega, if you will) of tone.  This is one of the great mysteries of the craft.  Tiny nuances like the placement of fingers when a player frets, the force of pressure holding the strings down, the angle of the pick in the strumming hand, the speed of the wrist versus the forearm, et cetera...  I could have Eddie Van Halen's exact guitar(s), plugged into his exact rig, with his exact settings, and not sound like Eddie Van Halen.  With years of practice I might come close, but ultimately that tone would still elude me.  (And anyway, I'm not such a gigantic fan of EVH that I want my playing style and gear choices to be modeled after his. [I just committed an egregious sin in guitardom by admitting this.])

Is it possible to nail down just ten songs?  I just...

(In chronological order of when I first heard these songs)

Metallica - "Through The Never"
Alright, so I realized that there was something missing all the way back to my first couple of posts in this blog.  Back sometime in the early '90s ('93?), my dad got to sit next to Kirk Hammett on a flight.  He was so pumped on it when he got back that he took me and my brother to the grocery store, brought us over to the magazine racks, pulled one down (Hit Parader?) and showed us the rock star that he got to meet.  "Cool, Dad!", said my brother and I in unison.
After that, it was all about the Black album, but only when it was "the guys" riding together in the family stationwagon.  I loved listening to it.  I didn't know much about music back then, but I did know that I specifically liked the sound of the guitars.  The grittiness of HIGH-GAIN, though I didn't have a way of describing it.  And tracks like "Through The Never" had that fast palm-muting and the scooped mids—other terms I couldn't have named—that made everything sound so urgent and dark.  As far as I know, the band primarily recorded with a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV head.
I could pick just about any song from the Black album.  I know I'm not "supposed" to like it more than Metallica's earlier thrash masterpieces, but this record started my fascination with high-gain guitar; I just didn't know it yet.

Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench"
Once I got into listening to music for my own, The Colour And The Shape found its way into my 8th-grade life and hit me like a Mack truck.  Balls to the wall Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier all over this album.  Huge presence, tons of gain, full throttle.  I think I remember reading somewhere that Pat Smear recorded some of his parts with a baritone guitar—tuned all the way up to E rather than B.  Insane.  Anyway, by the time I started playing guitar, I knew for sure that I wanted that brightness, that presence, though it took some time to figure out how to get it.

Weezer - "My Name Is Jonas"
I think every person remembers the first time they heard Weezer's Blue album, honestly.  It's impossible not to know.  Me?  I saw the "Buddy Holly" music video on MTV sometime in '96 or '97 and it was the coolest thing I had seen or heard then.  But it took me all the way until August 2001 (I was 16) to pick up Blue at a Wal-Mart, take it to my car, and get blown away by those first few power chords.  I still wrestle with the idea of picking apart every detail of that rhythm guitar tone (and anyway, Michael Adams, you beat me to it), but it's just so magical that I don't think I would ever want to ruin it for myself.  It's a fuzzy gift that just keeps on giving.  "My Name Is Jonas" will forever remain my favorite Weezer song and...

I'M STILL IN LOVE!!!

Wait a minute...  P-90 PICKUPS?!?!

Starflyer 59 - "Duel Overhead Cam"
Still riding high from the Weezer trip, Starflyer 59's Gold was another... gold... standard for me.  This is where I first learned about the concept of layering guitar sounds.  Layers upon layers upon layers of dark, fuzzy power chords accentuated with washes of feedback, tremolo, chorus, and reverb for a surf-on-drugs feel.  I like the clean palm muting in "Duel Overhead Cam" on the verses a lot, but the wall of sound at 3:18 is heavenly.  This kind of layering doesn't work for metal, but it's still cool and I come back to it frequently.

Failure - "Another Space Song"
One of my all-time favorite songs isn't a full-on crashing rocker.  The main guitar riff in "Another Space Song" boasts a sparkling, lightly-clipped tone, floating above the thick bass distortion.  I got the chance to see Failure play live on their reunion tour this year and I still don't get how they get the tones that they do.  There's an ethereal quality behind it all and it can't just be gear-related.  There's a reason why hardcore bands like Cave In and Hopesfall eventually took cues from space rock giants Failure, and also Hum.  Greg Edwards and Ken Andrews, teach me your secrets.

Mastodon - "Blood And Thunder"
And thus, the time came for me to delve into the world of metal guitar.  The tones on Leviathan are more organic and tend to "breathe" more than most of the other scooped-mid active-pickup sounds that dominated metalcore ten years ago.  This was the impetus for choosing to purchase the Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion humbucker (after reading that Mastodon were using them) and it was definitely a great choice.  I've had the Duncan Distortion in three guitars in the past and it served me so well that I'm going to stick with it for the current build.
Mastodon continually prove that players don't need ALL of that gain available to them; when you have great riffs and can play with the right tension and urgency, your guitar sound can still pack a serious punch while displaying reserve.  To all the bros who resort to "broo-tall!" 8-string scooped tones, chill out and listen to a Thin Lizzy record every once in a while.

The Smashing Pumpkins - "The Everlasting Gaze"
You thought I was going to pick anything from Siamese Dream, didn't you?!  I hated the rhythm tone on Machina / The Machines Of God when I first heard it, but it grew on me.  The harsh, gritty, "industrial" guitar edge fits the mood and themes of the record perfectly, and somehow sticks out in front when it needs to and also backs off to allow other frequencies to float over it.  Strange.  "The Everlasting Gaze" kicking from the pre-chorus to the chorus is the best example of this.  Overall, though, Machina suffers from subpar mixing and mastering.  Definitely looking forward to the upcoming remaster which I assume and hope will be next year.

The Ocean (Collective) - "Orosirian (For The Great Blue Cold Now Reigns)"
To my knowledge, The Ocean (a German band) use, or used, Diezel amps (a German brand).  Their main guitarist and songwriter, Robin Staps, had a VH4 head when I saw them live in 2008 and man, what I wouldn't give for one of those...  Thunderous low end thick with a gain structure that's folding over on top of itself.  Intense, mean, bitter, brutal, bludgeoning, every other kind of word that evokes a furrowed brow and gnashing of teeth.  It works perfectly as the music isn't overly technical; otherwise it would prove to be too muddy.  Check out the last parts of "Orosirian" at 5:32 and 6:06.  By the way, palm muting on a single chord is brilliant way to end a song.
Also, check out the call-and-response section on "Ectasian (De Profundis)" at 5:41.

Third Eye Blind - "Wounded"
I'm surprised this song made it to the list, but the jingling clean chords on the verses just get to me.  Sounds to me like a Strat through a compressor pedal through a tremolo or some modulation with maybe a slapback echo on it.  Pure power pop ear candy.  I can't get enough of it.  If I ever buy a compressor in the future, this song will be the sole reason why.  Oh yeah, the rest of the song is rocking, too.  Those first two Third Eye Blind records have some fantastic guitar and bass tones.  (By the way, Arion Salazar is one of my favorite bassists.)

Every Time I Die - "Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space"
There's something killer about riding on the guitar's lowest string and having it sound like an alien laser beam cutting a tank in half.  Or something like that.  The trick, in my opinion, is about matching an alnico-magnet humbucker ("thinner" than ceramics but accentuates top end) with a high-gain stack.  This "thin-ness" cuts through when you're picking as hard as you can so that the string goes sharp—razor sharp.  I'm able to replicate this well with my Burstbucker-equipped Gibson Explorer.  ETID have been big endorsers of Orange amps in recent years.

All photos in this post are pulled from Google search.

Here's a great lyric video for "Another Space Song":