What Did You Do With Your Guitar(s) Today?

[6string_Lydia]

I gave a bunch of stuff away

 

[Jarick]

Oh I forgot to add, my son (almost 16) decided he wants to build an electric guitar for his woodworking project. Seems like kind of an advanced activity but I'm assuming they have kits so he's probably not doing everything from scratch? I'll have to ask him about it.

As far as I know he has no interest in actually playing guitar, and only listens to rap music, so not sure where he got the idea but hey!

 

[la szum]

Alright, this was a pain.

I swapped out the Suhr Woodbucker that I had installed for a Suhr SSH (not plus) that I had sitting around. This one was drilled out for direct mount in my old Charvel, so I had to solder new brass nuts on it to be able to use the pickup ring. Now it works great!

The new nut was a PERFECT drop in fit, except the low E was even lower than before. So thinking I have have to shim the neck, I look at the neck joint and not only had I already attempted to shim it, the shim split and the spacing was weird. The neck pocket is not standard Strat so the shim wasn't a clean drop in as hoped.

So I pull that out and try a small shim at the heel of the neck and raise the saddles, that's not working either. There's just no play in the neck. Check to make sure the neck is straight, the truss rod literally doesn't do anything lol. That's a $200 guitar for you. At least the neck was straight, so I left it.

Ended up taking the shim material and cutting out a nut shim instead. This worked much better! Now the low E had enough clearance. I cleaned out the nut slot and glued the shim in place, then glued down the nut. Because of the weird/stupid string angles there's a lot of lateral tension on the nut, so I had to use more glue than in a normal guitar.

With new strings, the slots are just a bit high on the low strings and way too high on the top strings. I guess the nut slot was cut uneven. $200 guitar. I should have probably sanded it down on the base of the nut first, but at this point it's glued in and I have nut slot files. I filed all the strings down and left them just a bit high, then adjusted the string height at the bridge.

It plays pretty well now! With the flat board and height set properly at the nut and bridge, I can get really low action. The frets are still too small and probably a bit uneven, but it's playable.

Honestly I probably won't keep the guitar too long as I have other better guitars, and will likely swap the original pickup and tuners back in, but it's been a neat project.

That's far too many words to spend on a $200 guitar.

Citation issued!

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I need to troubleshoot some midi (fun!), and will potentially end up rewiring the midi, as well as redoing the cable management if I can't figure out the issue with how it is currently wired. Why in the hell is the signal flow for pedal from right to left, but midi is from left to right. Goofy stuff.

 

[Jarick]

That's far too many words to spend on a $200 guitar.

Citation issued!

Yeah yesterday was annoying. On top of the guitar issues, my tub faucet broke while we were filling up the bath tub which meant we couldn't shut the water off...

Luckily I had to replace a shower faucet cartridge a few years ago so didn't seem like a big deal. I couldn't find a shutoff for the tub so had to shut the whole house water off. It's funny because when you turn the water off for the house, that's the moment where your kids imagine they are in a desert and start complaining non stop about how thirsty they are but don't want milk or anything from the fridge...Jesus Christ.

And of course the local hardware store was closed so I had to go to the big chain store further away. One hour and $55 later I got the new cartridge. Installed it with minimal issues but then when putting everything back together I couldn't get the metal retaining clip on. It slipped and fell into the wall never to be seen again.

So I spent another 60 minutes trying to figure out a solution or look for some metal I could easily bend into shape as a temporary solution until I could go back to the store the next day. Finally realized a paper clip would work, and it actually did the job. That meant I could shut off the tub faucet and turn the house water back on.

Anyways, I got the replacement part today and figured out why it wouldn't go in something was blocking the cartridge from going fully in and it was about half a mm too deep...I had to take a rasp file and shave down some plastic on the cartridge and then it all went back together.

This is why I'm always so exhausted...that was my friggin day off!

 

[la szum]

How about tearing it all down into pieces, and then giving it all to your Son to have his way with it??

Win-Win!


Heck, let him dip it, paint it, slap it, sand it, slam it however he wants.

 

[Jarick]

How about tearing it all down into pieces, and then giving it all to your Son to have his way with it??

Win-Win!


Heck, let him dip it, paint it, slap it, sand it, slam it however he wants.

Actually not a bad idea lol

I just asked him and he says he's going to build everything from scratch...might not be a bad idea to walk through the $200 guitar. I'm sure I'll have some random stuff to donate to the cause like a pickup and knob.

 

[la szum]

Sweet! That'll be fun.

Cool when our kiddos show an interest in things like that.

 

[Jarick]

Update: he's going to build a "Strat O Caster" and apparently spent some time looking at mine when I wasn't around one day lol.

School has a pretty sophisticated CNC machine that he's been using for robotics club (he's one of the mechanical engineers) so he could dig around and find some open source files. That actually sounds like a lot of fun!

A little skeptical if he can build a neck from scratch but hey worst case scenario you can get a cheap one off a used Squier. And I've got boxes full of parts I can donate to the cause which could help!

 

[Jazz Padd]

A couple weeks ago, I did a live solo guitar performance of a “Beatles Suite,” my own instrumental arrangement of 4 well known tunes strung together. It was performed on an electric with pedals. So for today I worked on an acoustic version, no pedals nor amp, just fingers and strings. I had to make some adjustments to the arrangement, but it seems to be coming together to the point that I may be able to play it live at a cafe.

 

[norminal]

Update: he's going to build a "Strat O Caster" and apparently spent some time looking at mine when I wasn't around one day lol.

School has a pretty sophisticated CNC machine that he's been using for robotics club (he's one of the mechanical engineers) so he could dig around and find some open source files. That actually sounds like a lot of fun!

A little skeptical if he can build a neck from scratch but hey worst case scenario you can get a cheap one off a used Squier. And I've got boxes full of parts I can donate to the cause which could help!

That’s awesome! We had a wood shop when I was in high school, but I can’t even imagine if we’d had a CNC back then.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Nothing because Midi is a pain in the ass, and at this point, I am more than likely going to everything I put on the pedal board and go back to what I was. Which means more removing cables, undoing cable management and redoing it, etc. I hate my main rig's pedalboard with a passion, quite frankly. Can't fucking stand it at present.

 

[TJontheRoad]

Nothing because Midi is a pain in the ass, and at this point, I am more than likely going to everything I put on the pedal board and go back to what I was. Which means more removing cables, undoing cable management and redoing it, etc. I hate my main rig's pedalboard with a passion, quite frankly. Can't fucking stand it at present.

What are you trying to do with MIDI that is giving you trouble? It’s a simple protocol when used correctly.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

What are you trying to do with MIDI that is giving you trouble? It’s a simple protocol when used correctly.

Doesn't matter. It isn't working.

SDE-3000D - Ch 1
DD-500 - Ch 2
GT-1000 Core - Ch 3

Just trying to turn on an off some effects; I'm not even trying to use midi to adjust settings. Still, it doesn't work.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I HATE midi. My 5 ft Boss midi cable, which worked previously when connected from my Boss ES-8 to my Boss GT-1000 Core now either doesn't work anymore, or doesn't work with my Morningstar MC8.

Seriously, fuck midi and fuck this pedalboard. Something so simple on the surface shouldn't be a bullshit rabbit hole of nonsense just to troubleshoot why it doesn't do anything.

 

[TJontheRoad]

Seriously, fuck midi and fuck this pedalboard. Something so simple on the surface shouldn't be a bullshit rabbit hole of nonsense just to troubleshoot why it doesn't do anything.

Well, if you change your mind, I'm here to help :)

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Well, if you change your mind, I'm here to help :)

I'm going to be tons of happiness if this somehow fucked up my cable, because it is essentially new and was working just fine with the prior setup I had. Now, the 5ft Boss midi cable doesn't seem to work at all, and I can't just reroute it back to how it was to determine if it is the cable or the goddamn MC8 because of the cable management. In addition, if I do decide to reroute the midi, I now have to jump over cables because some stupid idiot thinks "Hey, I know guitar signal chains are from right to left, but what if we route midi left to right just for a giggle?" Time to replace midi with something else, guys. Surely we can improve upon this shit messaging system.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Tried other cables to just ONE product, the GT-1000 Core, and it also does not work with other cables. So basically, this total hunk of junk is DOA, I need to get a refund (likely will not get a 100% refund, which is bullshit), and have to find another solution, because I do not trust their products at all. This is of course in addition to the one I already owned, and cannot send back for a refund due to lack of confidence. I do not recommend Morningstar at all.

 

[TJontheRoad]

@Spaced Out Ace

I suggest you start another thread and we can try to get you sorted out. It’s a bit hard to do through your obvious frustration here, but I do know some suggestions for you.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

@Spaced Out Ace

I suggest you start another thread and we can try to get you sorted out. It’s a bit hard to do through your obvious frustration here, but I do know some suggestions for you.

Nah, I'm going back to a patch each for a different effect or two and my Boss ES-8. MC8 is going back, whether I have to get Reverb involved or not.

EDIT: The company I bought it from on Reverb has responded to my message from yesterday. Aside from paying for return shipping, I will hopefully be saying good riddance to bad rubbish on Friday.