Jabba_the_gut Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 [quote name='loki' timestamp='1339524652' post='1689947'] Guys, I've done countless LED installs on guitars and basses, front and side. It's not as hard as everyone makes out. Yes it is a lot of work and a very high-risk job as you stand to completely ruin the guitar/bass if it goes wrong but it's definitely do-able with a half decent shed and some simple tools. Companies such as SIMS are very good but they charge far too much IMHO - and the price goes up for each LED you add. I don't do that. LED's are just pennies each and it's just as easy to fit 12 as it is 10. I'm not knocking SIMS though as they do excellent work and have an excellent reputation. Scott. [/quote] Hi Scott, I'd be really interested if you've got any further details you could post on here would be appreciated. I'm building a bass from scratch so don't have too much risk of disaster and have more freedon in how I install LEDs. My approach has been to make a strip of LEDs that can be installed into a small routed channel in the fretboard. I'll then use some pieces of 1mm diameter fibre optic cable for the markers about 5mm long to reach the LEDs from the side of the fretboard. The LEDs have a forward voltage of about 3v so they are wired 4 groups of 3 in order to run them from a single 9v battery. I'm not sure how others have approached this and haven't managed to find much on the web. Cheers Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi Jez, I run all of my LED's (wired in parallel) from a single 9v battery with a single resistor. It means you have a lot of wires running down the neck but I use tiny thin wire so it's OK.I get very good battery life using this method. Putting LED's in a bass you are making yourself is very easy compared to retro-fitting as you can pre-rout all your channels and as you are only doing the side markers, even easier. You are bang-on with the fibre idea, although you could do yourself a massive favour buy buying some brass tubing from a model shop and making your actual dots from that. The fibre will fit right inside and can be held in place with epoxy or superglue. Cut the brass tubing to approx 4-5mm lengths and this will give you a nice tidy job, plus the brass adds a touch of class When it comes to the fibre itself, bond it in place before you trim it back. Cut it with a scalpel and then polish it with 1200 grade wet or dry. The better finish you get on the end of the fibre, the brighter your LED will be. Alternatively, as you are fitting the LED's before installing the fretboard, you could use a length of 2mm round acrylic (perspex). Bond this directly to the LED. You will get really good light transfer with this material and it's easier to work with than fibre. You still need to polish the ends though. I'm guessing you are using 3mm LED's. These are fine for side-only dots but I would recommend using Surface Mount LED's for front markers it you ever wanted to install them. Before surface mount technology I had to modify each LED to make it fit and it was a major pain in the @$$. Status now use surface mount LED's in their basses, although they have a lot of problems with static when polishing. Let me know if you need any more help Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Installing LEDs when making a guitar is easy. What about retrofitting them? Retrofitting is actually a more sensible option because if an LED should fail, just try and remedy that with easy. With a retrofit, the LED comes out using the technique it went in with. If you cut a route before attaching the fingerboard into a channel, you try and fix that without major headaches. At the moment, you are talking theory. The brass tubing and fibre optic is industry standard - got any examples of your work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Not theory, experience. As I said, I've done lots of these and I worked it all out for myself. I will post pics later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Here's the last bass I did. This one was front markers only: [IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae185/mmmbeard/jazz1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae185/mmmbeard/jazz2.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Just noticed you are in Isle of Wight - are you mr guitarfix.co.uk? (or what was as the site doesn't seem to be working for me now?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Yes that's me. The site is down at present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 In that case, now we're talking. Have you got a latest pricelist? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I am in the process of doing one actually! What have you got in mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 [sup]Its for a backup/travelling via dodgy airlines bass - but what I have done to it, depends upon cost.[/sup] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 PM sent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 [quote name='loki' timestamp='1339573180' post='1690596'] Hi Jez, I run all of my LED's (wired in parallel) from a single 9v battery with a single resistor. It means you have a lot of wires running down the neck but I use tiny thin wire so it's OK.I get very good battery life using this method. Putting LED's in a bass you are making yourself is very easy compared to retro-fitting as you can pre-rout all your channels and as you are only doing the side markers, even easier. You are bang-on with the fibre idea, although you could do yourself a massive favour buy buying some brass tubing from a model shop and making your actual dots from that. The fibre will fit right inside and can be held in place with epoxy or superglue. Cut the brass tubing to approx 4-5mm lengths and this will give you a nice tidy job, plus the brass adds a touch of class When it comes to the fibre itself, bond it in place before you trim it back. Cut it with a scalpel and then polish it with 1200 grade wet or dry. The better finish you get on the end of the fibre, the brighter your LED will be. Alternatively, as you are fitting the LED's before installing the fretboard, you could use a length of 2mm round acrylic (perspex). Bond this directly to the LED. You will get really good light transfer with this material and it's easier to work with than fibre. You still need to polish the ends though. I'm guessing you are using 3mm LED's. These are fine for side-only dots but I would recommend using Surface Mount LED's for front markers it you ever wanted to install them. Before surface mount technology I had to modify each LED to make it fit and it was a major pain in the @$$. Status now use surface mount LED's in their basses, although they have a lot of problems with static when polishing. Let me know if you need any more help Scott. [/quote] Hi Scott, Cheers for the details, particularly like the bit about the brass tubing. I've actually used surface mount LEDs mounted onto a strip of wood veneer for the side markers to make a tidy strip that should be easy to install I'll see how it goes!! Cheers again Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Hey Jez, how did you get on with this? Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Hi loki, do you fit leds for other people or do you only do your own basses? If you fit for others would you retrofit front dots and how much?I've got a yamaha neck I'm about to use for a build with 12 dots. Very interested in this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Fascinating thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 [quote name='loki' timestamp='1349186695' post='1822961'] Hey Jez, how did you get on with this? Scott. [/quote] Hi Scott, I sort of bottled it!! I decided to put LEDs on the front of the fretboard rather than on the edge - I decided that might be easiest for my first attempt at this! I made a strip of LEDs (as detailed previously in this thread) and used 1mm fibre optic cable to make the markers on the fretboard. These are just about invisible until you turn the LEDs on. I was careful to place the markers so they would be between the strings rather than under them. The only thing that was a bit awkward was that with using surface mount LEDs about 0.8mm x 1.6mm in size along with 1mm diameter fibre optic, you've got to be [u]really[/u] accurate in locating them. I was fractionally (about 0.5mm) out on a couple and they don't shine quite so brightly on the fretboard - not much different, but enough that I notice!! In hindsight, I could have done the edge markers without too much bother but I'd already commited to doing the fretboard by that point. Next time I'll use some slightly larger LEDs if its for the fretboard, or I'll just have to be a little more accurate if I decide to put edge markers on. One thing I did try was using white heat shrink over the 1mm fibre optic cable to give a really nice looking marker for dark wood fretboards - stands out nicely when LEDs are off and then looked good with the LEDs on. I'll stick a couple of photos up tomorrow, but it turned out ok overall. I'm still building the bass, which is coming on nicely. Just thinking of how to make the connection to a battery through contacts on the neck and in the pocket was enough of a headache also. As with all these sorts of things, I've learnt quite a few lessons along the way. It's been great to get advice from yourself and other folk on this forum - saved me making some mistakes and given me ideas for next time. Cheers again Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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