The Nightshade!

Ax · 05-15-2008, 09:39 PM

Yes, that's right it's done.

Click the pic below to go to my flickr account and see the full set.

I plan on replacing the input jack, which i jacked up. (pun intended)... and replacing the control plate, right now I just used my plastic template until i can cut a new one. I also plan on adding a series/parallel switch.

RipVanWinkle · 05-15-2008, 09:51 PM

Wow...Finally

Looks good man!

Sean.thomson · 05-15-2008, 09:55 PM

Dude, It's awesome!

Ax · 05-15-2008, 09:59 PM

It's in real bad need of a polish...

***thesteve*** · 05-16-2008, 12:02 AM

that is way more unique than what I've been picturing in my head. I like it. It's a very retro 1960s vibe.

Wesley7777 · 05-16-2008, 12:16 AM

Not going to see to many guitar like that around. Nice Job

Ax · 05-16-2008, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RipVanWinkle

Wow...Finally

Looks good man!

Thanks, this thing has been a pain but well worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean.thomson

Dude, It's awesome!

Danke!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AX

It's in real bad need of a polish...

Well I did take some steel wool too it last night and now it doesn't look smudged and it's down to the satin rather than the dead topcoat that i never got around to taking off. (Yes, that's the way satin lacquer works, you put 14 or 15 coats on there then let it sit for two weeks and take the dead topcoat off and underneath is a dried and cured satin finish. AMAZING!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

that is way more unique than what I've been picturing in my head. I like it. It's a very retro 1960s vibe.

Well you know that Unique was my ultimate goal... well... unique in the sense that even with most of the ideas being inspired by three other guitars (The Red Special, the Mustang, and the Jaguar), it's still like no other guitar on the planet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wesley7777

Not going to see to many guitar like that around. Nice Job

That's the idea my good sir! Thank you.

BillSPrestonEsq · 05-16-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AX

Yes, that's right it's done.

Click the pic below to go to my flickr account and see the full set.

I plan on replacing the input jack, which i jacked up. (pun intended)... and replacing the control plate, right now I just used my plastic template until i can cut a new one. I also plan on adding a series/parallel switch.

I like... How does it sound?

Ax · 05-16-2008, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

I like... How does it sound?

Right now it doesn't. I had a ground loop that I am currently taking care of and I'm adding a switch and replaced the control plate.. so... right now I'm totally rewiring it.

BillSPrestonEsq · 05-17-2008, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AX

Right now it doesn't. I had a ground loop that I am currently taking care of and I'm adding a switch and replaced the control plate.. so... right now I'm totally rewiring it.

have you gotten to hear its voice at all yet?

Ax · 05-17-2008, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

have you gotten to hear its voice at all yet?

At that point last night when I posted it I had played it a little. It had a ground loop and the template I was using to mount the controls wasn't stable and something was causing a scratchy sound when i moved the guitar a certain way... so... I rewired the whole darn thing last night... finished around 2:30 a.m. ... I played it a little with the amp turned way down... Hearing this beast sing brings tears to my eyes.

Hopeful · 05-17-2008, 06:28 PM

Cool! I'm curious. How do the pickups sound being close together like that? What's the in between sounds like? You have to do a review you know...

Ax · 05-18-2008, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopeful

Cool! I'm curious. How do the pickups sound being close together like that? What's the in between sounds like? You have to do a review you know...

Review!

I 'm gonna do each part by itself...

Carvin Neck: What can say? It's a Carvin neck! The action is superb, my hands glide across it like moving across air. It feels perfect in my hands! The fretboard is beautiful and quick. 5 out of 5!

Adeson pickups: Adeson's main product is a vintage correct remake of the original Burns Trisonic Pickup that was in Brian May's Red Special. They are hand wound in the UK by a man named Ade Wetgilbert, who, btw, is really good about emailing!

The classic British pickup, or the Trisonic remake, is a single coil that has more turns than a regular single coil but less than a P90. It uses ceramic magnets and and air coil and this makes it sound VERY unique. I have it attached to a On/Off/Phase switch. It has too many sounds, depending on the switches, to really charactarize it... It can sound thin or full, bright or dark depending on where the swithces are.

The humbucker is a lucifer pickup... It combines two air coils with ceramic and alnico magnets attached to a blade so you NEVER lose sound to bends. It is a four wire pickup and I run it into a switch that is on/off/single coil. Again, this pickup, depending on how I switch it, can go from classic humbucking tones to a P-90ish sound to a single coil sound and even a really thin bright sound which was unintended but I do intend on incorporating that sound into some song somewhere just to be different...

I have a switch where these two come together that changes them from being wired in series and in parallel.. A million different usable tones are achieved because of the swithching...

I put the two pickups close together for one main reason and that is because that's about how far apart Brian May's middle and neck were and I'm not a big stickler for a super flimsy neck sound. The inspiration was that most of Brian's solos were done with both the neck and the middle pickup on with the neck set to out of phase. When you think of this tone thing of the first solo from Bohemian Rhapsody or the end of We Will Rock You, or even Killer Queen... I achieve a similar tone from running my neck and the hum out of phase with the hum set to sinlge coil... It's a bit fuller than Brian's Classic tone but it's actually just what I was looking for.

The Bridge is a hipshot baby grand. I love it except the post that holds it on broke. It's still on now but the nut broke off... it's being held on by tension and I am calling hipshot in the morning... I'll let you know how that turns out but I have no doubt that I'll get an expedient replacement and it will be a simple surgery just requiring me to unstring it and replace the post and restring it... Thirty minutes tops!

*UPDATE*

Just got off the phone with the lady from hipshot, their customer service was quick and painless and they didn't even ask why I needed the new posts, they are sending me two new ones for free... so I will have an extra.

Grover rotomatics: I've used them before, what can I say, I love my grovers!

Dunlop straplocks... I have them on all my guitars and all my future guitars will have them. YES they are THAT important.

The overall guitar is long sustaining but also very tight, I credit this to being the very dense purple heart and the bright nature of the maple neckthru not to mention the long sustaining nature of neckthrus in general.

I LOVE my new guitar.

Ax · 05-21-2008, 05:17 PM

Update: Just got the new post on there... I love hipshot!

Reno Rattler · 05-27-2008, 12:46 AM

Let me say once again, I love how it turned out.