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 The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build 
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
I've been giving the electronics some thought as well. I just acquired a set of Hot Rails single stacked humbuckers. They are rated at 10 ohms, but I got a measurement of 12.64 ohms!
They will give me plenty of output and responsiveness. Plus being much quieter to boot.
Attachment:
Hot Rails.jpg


I will also add a 500K CTS volume pot, and a SwitchCraft output jack, along with painting the control cavities with black shielding paint. This should solve the weak, noisy output issue.

I toyed with the idea of a wiring the individual pups to a stereo output jack. So I could send the bass signal to a bass amp and the melody signal to a guitar amp. But initially at least, I'm going to keep it simple and just go with mono. I can always do that type of upgrade in the future if this thing actually works out . . ;)


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Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:46 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Hot rails installed in their mounting plate, along with re-wired control panel.


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Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:34 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Still working on dressing the frets . . They are installed and leveled.

Using Jascar Super Jumbos. The biggest I could find.


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Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:39 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Painting the control cavities with conductive shielding paint.


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Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:03 pm
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Joined: Sat Apr 29, 2017 7:03 pm
Posts: 73
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Cool, Flag. Really interested in how you like those Jascar Super Jumbo frets. Did you get the "nickel-silver" frets or the "gold" frets (which are a harder alloy than nickel-silver)? You are really moving along!


Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:59 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Thanks Bill, These are nickel silver and they're pretty tough. Took quite a while to file the ends smooth . . Spent a lot of time on the frets because they are critical to making this work . . ;)


Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:00 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
I carved a bridge and nut from a 5/8 oak dowel. Both are exactly 10mm in height. The fret board is 7mm in height. Leaving 3mm to work with. The fret height is 1.5mm. I will adjust the string slots to bring the string height over the frets to about 1mm or so.


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Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:19 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: The Teflon, Non-Stick Challenge E-Bay Cheapie Build
Here I made a lap stick from maple which swivels on an oak dowel. Got the idea from Robert Culbertson, who appears to use something similar to this. It easily swings in position, and up when not in use. This limits me to only play in a seated position, which is fine for my purposes.


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Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:41 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:38 am
Posts: 18
Location: Jersey Shore
Post Re: Lessons learned so far . .
No. 1. Regular scale guitar strings are too short. Designed for a normal guitar scale of 25" or so, there's no way they will fit on a 34" scale stick or tapping instrument. I'm sure to the old pro's here this seems obvious, but to a novice, not as evident.

No. 2. Strings must be individually adjustable. A common bridge may work fine for a standard guitar, but a string thickness ranging from .100 to 0.10 demands otherwise.

No. 3. The most important . . The frets must be perfectly level, and the neck perfectly straight.
You can't have any inconsistencies on any part of the scale. Every note on every string must ring true and clear, otherwise the instrument is unplayable.

Those of you who are fortunate enough to own a real stick have all this already because Mr. Chapman learned from the beginning over 40 years ago how do do it right.

Having said all that, all is not lost . . The electronics I installed are very good. The pups are loud, clear and quiet, free from hum. The tone from the notes that do ring clear are sweet and encouraging.

I need to replace the tuners on the first and tenth strings with guitar style locking tuners, due to the steep angle from the nut to those tuners. I'm unable to wind those strings to pitch. Even winding in reverse direction didn't help. The first string broke on me as well when trying to do so.

I'm also going to abandon the string through the body ferules and use individual saddle bridges which will give me height and intonation adjustment for each individual string. The other benefit will be a shorter scale from the bridge to the tuners for easier restringing.
Another possibility is use the saddles only for the melody strings. and a common bridge for the bass strings, maybe something to experiment with.

And finally, I'm going to spend some more time on the frets with a sanding block.They will be as level as I possibly can make them, not just close enough.


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Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:10 am
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