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samhay

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Posts posted by samhay

    Bench Reconfiguration Diary

    in Build Diaries

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    There's nothting quite like a good bench WIP. Thanks.

    One thought on your latest progress. Usually the leg-side vice chop extends all the way to the top of the bench - ie.. the leg is flush with the side of the bench. Your latest photos show a lip between the bench top and the leg. Are you planning on leaving it this way, or do you have some work left to do on the edge of the bench?

    Also, where is the cross coming from? I'd love one of these, but have been reluctant to spend Benchcrafted money on one.

    • Thanks 1

    Wood

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    On 13/04/2019 at 04:03, Jabba_the_gut said:

    The two slabs of sycamore  I started this thread about, were bought as a bit of a punt as they were cheap (I think about £20 each). They need drying and processing as they are around 3 1/2" thick and 18" wide so to big for any tools I have. I expect getting them processed will cost several times what the wood cost!! As with any rough sawn wood, it is a bit of a lucky dip as to what the finished wood may look like - I'm just pleasantly surprised by the rippling I have found on the one piece so far.

    I'll have to source some more...….!!!

    Figured Sycamore is lovely. If you do source some more, would you mind passing on where you find/found it?

    If it's 18" wide I would do a single piece slab body. Could do the processing quite easily by hand, although the thicknessing would be a bit of a work out.

    What router do you use?

    in Build Diaries

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    That Dewalt is probably a nice bit of kit, but quite expensive for a 1/4" router.

    In my opinion, you could happily use 2 routers to build solid body bass/guitars. A big 1/2" router is good for routing the final body outline with a template and doing the trussrod channel. A smaller 1/4" router is great for pickup and neck cavities, binding, etc.

    You can use a big 1/2" router for the smaller jobs, but they are big, heavy and most people are scared of them. They are a good choice if you are burly, are going to put them in a router table, or have other uses for a router - maybe you want to also build furniture, do DIY, etc.

    1/4" routers are much easier to handle for finer tasks and can be pushed to to body outlines and truss rod channels at a  pinch. They are perhaps a safer choice for a 'first' router. Bosch 1/4" routers seem to be popular with luthiers, and Stewmac sell one of these. [Edit, I see this was mentioned earlier. In fairness, the Bosch routers are a lot cheaper than the Dewalt recommended, which may explain the popularity].

    If you want a big (1/2") no-nonsense router that is 'trade' quality, a relatively cheap option is the Hitachi M12VE/ . I have one of these, and can testify it is a beast. Dust collection is pretty terrible, but not a problem if you put it in a table, which most people do. Above table adjustment requires a router raizer or lift, which isn't ideal.

    Design challenge. Shoot me down in flames, but.........

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    There is a fairly common type of pickup designed to mount to the end of the fretboard of an acoustic archtop guitar.

    One example:

    https://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Electronics/Pickups/Electric_Guitar_Pickups/Kent_Armstrong_Suspended_Jazz_Humbucker.html

    You can bend the mounting arms to account for some variation in the width of the fretboard, but this may not be enough to fit. Also, while it should be designed to have a pretty good bass response, it is a guitar pickup.

    The Twins

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    >You're a dream!!! Thank you :) How did you find that?

    Their website pages are number sequentially, so it wasn't difficult.

    I like the way you shield the cable rout - very slick. Do you get good electrical conductivity between the foil on the top and bottom?

     

    • Like 1

    Navarone.45-43"multiscale headless

    in Build Diaries

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    Please excuse the ascii art.

    Edit - that didn't work. Will upload a picture:

    [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/svh7qltx59uqpx6/twist.png?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox..../twist.png?dl=0[/url]
    (please forgive the spelling).

    If you do not have the metal rods connected to the router base square / at 90 degree with the rails in your jig, the angle will not be what you calculated.

    Navarone.45-43"multiscale headless

    in Build Diaries

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    I like the jig, but what keeps the router square to the two side rails? If it rotates about the spindle axis, you will change the angle.
    I guess the trick is also to get the neck blank centered in the correct place so you have 0 degree twist at the correct fret position?

    I assume this is your inspiration?
    [url="http://littleguitarworks.com/torzal-natural-twist/"]http://littleguitarw...-natural-twist/[/url]

    -

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    >Thing is, despite the numbers, is there likely to be much of an audible difference between the two approaches in the average playing situation?

    I expect it very much depends on the rest of your kit.
    Do you play 5 string? If so, 12 db down on the B1 fundamental is going to be audible.
    If you play with a lot of dirt, you will probably find that much HP filtering will clean up your tone significantly.
    Even if you don't use either, you may get significant improvement in tone if your amp and/or cab(s) are struggling.

    Finished! A Bridge Too Far?

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    ^That all makes sense. Why that's not on the website escapes me.
    John's potentiometer suggestions of 5k blend, 25k volume seem quite sensible, so that's what I would use. You may find it easier to get hold of 4.7k and 22k pots. These will work fine too.

    Finished! A Bridge Too Far?

    in Build Diaries

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    [quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1495111495' post='3301356']
    Oh...that's interesting, samhay.

    How do you get the blend? I assumed you would blend between the piezo pre output and the mixer output. Is it just a single pot off the mixer output? The PDF on the web site isn't overly clear....
    [/quote]

    Indeed, the MPM01 'detailed' information sheet is pretty poor. I would expect input and output impedance and some suggested wiring schemes at a minimum. (John - if you are listening...).
    Sound like you may have this covered now though.

    The MPM01 page confirms that 'Outputs can be mixed with the addition of a simple single gang blend pot.'
    I assume that both the mixer and piezo outputs are low-impedance. The pictures of the unit show an 8 pin IC, which I assume is a dual op-amp, which would almost certainly be configured this way.

    I would try a small-ish value pot - maybe try 10k - wired with lug 1 to the mixer output, lug 3 to the piezo output (or vice versa) and lug 2 connect to lug 3 of the volume pot. I would then use a 100k pot for the volume. You could scale these values up, but the key is to keep the mix pot much smaller resistance that the volume pot.
    The problem you will have is that the tone control won't work very well if wired as for a passive bass - i.e from lug 3 (or 2) of volume pot. However, if you don't have room for a tone control anyway, then that problem is solved.

    Any banjo or mandolin players?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    D'Adarrio do a wound 0.024 in their 12-52 set of Chromes for guitar, so you should be able to buy this as a single.
    Their guitar strings are supposed to be 1M long, which may just be long enough.

    p.s. Status still don't have flats in stock, so I don't think you will have any joy there.

    Bass Playing Listening Test - for my PhD research

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by samhay

    Done.

    I was a bit surprised I had to save and email the results. Could you not design the form to save results - this would help with future work where anonymization may be important and/or worry about biasing your results by excluding people willing to share an email address.

    I too would be interested to hear what your results are.
    Once the survey is finished, it would also be cool to know what the pieces of music are...(seeing as the survey is a good way to create an ear worm out of them).

    p.s. what happen to the 'On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not familar at all and 5 is extremely familiar, please state how familiar you are with the bass playing presented in track' question?

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