# 8-string. ergonomic. headless. fanned fret. phase 1::design



## helferlain (Mar 25, 2011)

Hi, 

some of you might know my first build guitar. It is a 8-string headless guitar, finished in summer 2010:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ex...ing-headless-homemade-guitar.html#post2112785 


After a few months of playing I find now more and more reasons to rework it. The trussrod starts to rattle inside the neck, the body is way to heavy, therefore I am planning a complete new build of every wooden part.

This time I will take all the time it needs. And I'm creating a complete new desing at the moment. It's heavy inspired by ergonomic guitars like Klein, Forshage or Strandberg. I want a "made-to-measure suit"-like guitar with following specs:

scale: multiscale,calculated for 720mm-800mm. The higher strings starting at second fret (~640mm) the lowest from 0-fret (full 800mm), 24/26 frets
wood: still to decide, I prefer some local german woods like walnut, cherry- / plum-/ peartree.
bridge: ABM single string bridge
pickups: EMG 40HZ
electronics: state variable filter, active / passive switch, eventual killswitch

For the moment I have measured myself in my most comfortable playing position, sitting and standing. I've studied some guitar plans and many pictures.

Here ist what I get out of google sketchup so far:




If you have any constructive thoughts about this project please tell me.

This kind of guitars may look strange to most of you and so it did to me as I discovered this concept the first time. I will do my best that my guitar will not look like some kind of medical equipment...


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## CooleyJr (Mar 25, 2011)

Only thing I can recommend, is if you're a lead player, you should probably rework that cutaway a little bit. Overall though I think that'll be one SEXY guitar.


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## Facebones (Mar 25, 2011)

I like it, I think that it's the most unusual looking guitars that seem to be the most ergonomic. Take the Parker Fly for example. Most people think it looks too weird, but it's the shape that really does make it so amazing.


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## MABGuitar (Mar 25, 2011)

I'm sure this is going to turn out pretty nice. Good luck!


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## xmetalhead69 (Mar 25, 2011)

headless + multiscale = awesome idea. Good luck with it man, I'm sure it will turn out great.


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## Tritono (Mar 25, 2011)

Im suscribed to this thread! good luck


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## helferlain (Mar 27, 2011)

CooleyJr said:


> Only thing I can recommend, is if you're a lead player, you should probably rework that cutaway a little bit. Overall though I think that'll be one SEXY guitar.


 
Thank you for the hint. I've done a little bit more sketching, regarding the cutaway (now open about 2" / 50mm) and dropping the idea of the upper gap. Now its a hollow body with bolt on neck.. It would be a chambered body anyway for weight reasons. That's it:





For the wood I have the option to use some cheap leftovers from a friends woodworking shop. They have some maple, mahagony and alder pieces. I will have a closer look...

As the next step I'm going to make a rough 1:1 model to check the balance, ergonomie and the design in reality. stay tuned...


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## CooleyJr (Mar 27, 2011)

Hell yes man! That sounds a lot better. Lots of progress updates please.


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## helferlain (Mar 28, 2011)

Today we have a little autodidact d.i.y. ergonomic lesson.

1. What went wrong with the 8-1 guitar? Have a look:







Left picture: Resting the guitar on my right leg the bottom is way to heavy, the lower horn to short to hold it in position and the angle of the neck looks not relaxed and healthy for m left shoulder. Rigt picture: To compensate those problems the angle of the neck schould be higher but you see the gap betwen the guitars body and my leg. No material to work with. In addition, the upper horn is very uncomfortable on the players chest.

2. New design - right leg position:







Left picture: This design has a much better feeling to start with. In comparsion the right picture shows a more relaxed look. I should rework the design of thel lower part. The upper part could go a bit higher on the fretboard also.

3. New design - left leg position:







The same as the right leg position, with a lighter difference between the pics. This position does harmonize most with the momentary design.

Conclusion: I will rework the body design a bit to fit better in the right leg position.


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## Goatchrist (Mar 28, 2011)

Wow! I love how you visualized this. 

Looking forward to see the result, very interested how it works while standing.


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## BlackMastodon (Mar 28, 2011)

Looks like it will be a very interesting and very comfortable guitar.


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 2, 2011)

How did I miss this?!?

Cant wait to see what you make out of this. Your other guitar was out of this world.


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## helferlain (Apr 2, 2011)

Update:

I had a busy week. All "work" on the guitar was thinking about the pickups. I want a singlecoil for the neck position and humbucker for the bridge. For tilted mounting they need to be custom made. I've ordered some magnets. Now I have to do some practical work...


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## brutalwizard (Apr 2, 2011)

makes me think
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I-lv9ltZ2cw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


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## helferlain (Apr 3, 2011)

Update:

Some of you worried about the spacing of the cutaway. I've changed a bit on the design. 

Because of the uncertainty of the pickups I played around with a proper pickguard. This will be easy to replace with different pickups and placings.

The hollow body is no longer continued, the pickup cavity takes enough wood out of the body (hopefully...)

I'm dreaming of a white finish with a very dark fretboard. The "eye" and the "nose" inlay, the pickguard and the "ear" part of the arm rest will be made of some red (mahagonny?) veneer. Or some other dark red stained veneer...

This is the momentary design, I'm working on routing templates already:






Good night from germany!


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## technomancer (Apr 3, 2011)

Ok that design looks REALLY freaking cool


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## BlackMastodon (Apr 3, 2011)

Just noticed the eye, nose, and ear thing. Looks fierce.


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## lobee (Apr 3, 2011)

Fucking awesome Thundergat, bro.


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## helferlain (Apr 4, 2011)

routing templates :: part 1

Drawing with sketchup is one thing, preparing the templates something else entirely. I reduced the sketchup drawing to a center line and some matching points for a couple of radii.

How to get a steady radius with the router? Using a simple compass:

First creating a baseplate for the router and drawing some lines to the center of the routing bit. Drilling holes for the center of the multiple radii. Calculate the distance to the radius edge correct, remembering the diameter of the routing bit.




Removing the original baseplate of the router and mount the compass:






Set the center of the required radius and drilling a fitting hole for the center pin:





Time for routing:




The finished radius templates are usefull for drawing the contours:




Now its time for routing the guitar template, but i made a mistake: need the outer radius and made the template for the inner radius:




No problem, another radius template is easy to make:




Now its time for some serious routing:




For the small radius of the cutaway I did not make a template. I managed it by free hand routing.


 

All today's routing is made with poplar plywood.


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 4, 2011)

ah, that is awesome!


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## ElRay (Apr 4, 2011)

You mentioned the ABM Single String Bridges. Are you using the ones with the built-in tuners? Are they the same ones on you previous build?

Ray


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## helferlain (Apr 5, 2011)

ElRay said:


> You mentioned the ABM Single String Bridges. Are you using the ones with the built-in tuners? Are they the same ones on you previous build?
> 
> Ray


Yes, I'm using the tuner bridges ans some other parts from my first build. I will keep this axe for decoration only...


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## flo (Apr 6, 2011)

Hi! I really really like the progress so far, and the way you explain how you came up with your design. Ergo guitars ftw!

The only thing that I'd consider is the bridge pickup. From my experience with eightstring homemade fanned frets guitars, it's important to slant the bridge PU so it's got the same angle as the bridge. You might need to use the emg 45 in this case. But trust me, the guitar sounds much more homogenous that way, with pickups at 90° angle to the strings the bass strings will have very little brightness and the high strings will have extremely much in comparison. 

In short, the axe woun't djent nicely.



But apart from this little feature, I think you're building a winner here


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## Konfyouzd (Apr 6, 2011)

This is an interesting build... This man is hooked...


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## helferlain (Apr 6, 2011)

flo said:


> Hi ... The only thing that I'd consider is the bridge pickup. From my experience with eightstring homemade fanned frets guitars, it's important to slant the bridge PU so it's got the same angle as the bridge. You might need to use the emg 45 in this case...



Hi, nice to meet you in my thread again 

No worries about the pickups: selfmade-low-impedance pickups with active state-variable-filter are already planned. The bridge angle will be considered.

Some of you might know this: a head full of ideas and plans but no time to realise it all. It needs a lot of self control not to rush any step. But it will be worth all the patience...

stay tuned!


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## UnderTheSign (Apr 6, 2011)

Just a random question, might've been answered before - why would pickup angle matter? Wether the bridge is angled or not, the strings aren't, right?


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## CooleyJr (Apr 6, 2011)

The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.


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## helferlain (Apr 7, 2011)

UnderTheSign said:


> Just a random question, might've been answered before - why would pickup angle matter? Wether the bridge is angled or not, the strings aren't, right?



The pickup should have a equal distance to the bridge over all the strings. This has a big influence on the sound of the guitar. Otherwise, the lower strings would sound like the neck pickup and the higher strings sound like the bridge.



CooleyJr said:


> The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.



I can not agree with you. Or maybe I missed your point. On all my guitars the neck pickup has alwas more bass. The bridge position has always more attack and sharpness, but for a full low sound I have to combine it with the any pickup in neck position. 

Anyway, it will be a challange to find the right position for the pickups on this build. At the moment this step is still far away...


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## Variant (Apr 7, 2011)

My name is Ryan and I approve of this thread.


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## CooleyJr (Apr 7, 2011)

helferlain said:


> I can not agree with you. Or maybe I missed your point. On all my guitars the neck pickup has alwas more bass. The bridge position has always more attack and sharpness, but for a full low sound I have to combine it with the any pickup in neck position.
> 
> Anyway, it will be a challange to find the right position for the pickups on this build. At the moment this step is still far away...



What I meant was, the low end attack on the lower strings. If the pickup is too far away from the bridge, it will sound muddy and lose its response and clarity with the low end.


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## schecter4life (Apr 9, 2011)

If i were you i would reconsider the bridge pickup route while you still can, without being angled the same as the bridge your gonna have some serious mud on the lower strings, if you look at it, the top of the bridge pup is almost where a middle pup would be if all the strings had the same scale as the low f#


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## schecter4life (Apr 9, 2011)

CooleyJr said:


> The farther away from the pickup is from the bridge, the less low end response it will have.



sorry for the double post, but i believe you are bass ackwards xD


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## flo (Apr 9, 2011)

By the way, I applaud your courage to try and make your own pickups!
Have you done it before?
I've heard it is fairly simple to make a _working_ pickup, but for beginners it's almost impossible to guess what it might sound like. I guess that making it sound the way you want is part of the fun 

Please keep us updated on your pickup progress


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## helferlain (Apr 9, 2011)

small update:

at the moment I'm really busy with some non-guitar-related things. No time for routing the templates. 

Last week I made some experiments for the pickup flatwork. I have a pack of nice veneer and I'm trying to use it as flatwork material for the pickups. one layere veneer is to unstable. I've tried to laminate 2 layers with wood glue, 1 layer with epoxy. The results were not satisfying but encouraging. Today I laminated 2 layers of veneer with epoxy:





Letting it rest a bit and now pressing:





If this fails I may use some standard materials...

The wood for the fretboard is on the way, I got my hands on a piece of marblewood. I could not find many informations about this kind of wood but it has a very nice look and was offered for fretboards. Pictures will follow...

stay tuned!


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## ixlramp (Apr 10, 2011)

To have the equivalent spacing from the bridge as a non fanned guitar, the pickups should be angled as if they were fanned frets themselves, not at the same angle as the bridge.


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## Vicissitude27 (Apr 10, 2011)

This is going to end up sooooooo EPIC. Your last build was just fan-freakin-tastic.


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## helferlain (Apr 14, 2011)

Only small steps these days...

- epoyx-veneer-laminate looks good so far.

- made some MDF body templates for outline, neck pocket, pickup and electronics carving

- ordered wood for the guitar: 3pc maple neck, alder body and 2 fretboards. Couldn't decide on the fretboards. One is a wild ziricote, the other one flamed!!! ebony.

pix will follow, stay tuned...


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## BlackMastodon (Apr 14, 2011)

Woah woah woah. Flamed ebony? Definitely gotta see that, though I do love me some Ziricote.


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 14, 2011)

BlackMastodon said:


> Woah woah woah. Flamed ebony? Definitely gotta see that, though I do love me some Ziricote.


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## helferlain (Apr 14, 2011)

This is a picture from the shop. I've ordered the ziricote in the middle and the ebony on the right. 



#

We will see how it looks in reality...


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 14, 2011)

holy crap, that's hot!


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## helferlain (Apr 17, 2011)

The wood has arrived, looks exactly as on the picture.

More pictures follow as soon as I start to work on this wood.

In the meantime I'm still working on the templates for the neck. I'm crating a full scale template also, not only the neck part. This allows me to set the single bridges in position very exactly without touching my precious wood. It seems that next week I have finally some time for some bigger steps on this guitar.

Since I've started preparing this build I'm thinking about a absolutly simplyfied string retaining system that looks cool yet ist easy to create.

This is what I got so far: Warning! This is only a quick and dirty test with some waste parts which I found in my shop. The real thing will look more sophisticated. But you get the idea, I think.












Two simple srews, pins or whatever you want. The string is looped around the scrwes in an 8-shape. 2 turns are enough to hold the strings. I was really impressed by the sustain during the test.

On the second picture you can see a little hole. That was drilled to hide the sharp end of a cutted string. That leaves some grip on the string to detach it and use it again.

We will see how this system wil be integrated in the build...

Stay tuned!


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## helferlain (Apr 25, 2011)

When I started to work on the alder body my cheap router died . I've ordered a new router already, this time I spend a bit more money for quality.

Without a working router I started some more silent work. The fretboard was measured, marked and the frets were cut...





Stay tuned!


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## ivancic1al (Apr 25, 2011)

Looking great so far!  Can't wait for updates. I'm loving the design.


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## capone1 (Apr 26, 2011)

I'm usually not a fan of headless guitars but ever since Chris Letchford's I'm kinda in love.

SOOOOOO anyway I'm excited for more pics


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## helferlain (Apr 26, 2011)

Before I start sanding the Fretboard I have some ideas:

This is how you sand a fretboard, using a sanding jig with a sanding block. Please note the centered fretboard:





What happens if one edge of the fretboard is aligned parallel to the jig like this:





And what if I use a shim:





Could this be a possibility to create some kind of "semi-compound radius"
I'd like to achieve a more even string high on the bridge. That design makes the low edge of the fretboard is a bit thinner then the high edge. Does it m ake any sense?


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 26, 2011)

GAH, tiped a long ass answer, and I.E. crashed.

I'll make it brief this time. I don't recomend doing it like this:




Just looking at the center line, the bridge side will end up taller than the nut side. Then on the bass side, the bridge side will be lower than the nut, AND on the treble side it will all be level. This will fuck your action up really bad.

About this one:




I'm sure it's done regularly. You still end up with the same radius as the block, but you can make one side of the board taller. You could for example do it the other way around (sand more on the higher strings) which could make it quite more comfortable for your wrist.

oh, forgot to add IMO.


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## helferlain (May 4, 2011)

Hi,

phase 2 :: woodworking has started after finishing the templates. Wasn't there a way to edit my thread title...?

The body is cut out roughly. I left some material that makes it easy to fix the routing template for the neck pocket. Forgot to take some pix...

For the neck I used the template to drill two small holes. Using some small wooden pins I can attach the fretboard to the neck in a fixed position an remove it.





Then I set the position for the string retainig pins / screws on the fretboard.





All the marking is done with a razor blade knive. Using some chalk it becomes visible.





After the drilling I can now align the trussrods between the holes on the head end of the neck





Routing the trussrod canal took me a while but ist done now with some small but (at the end) invisible mistakes. The trussrods are installe with a bit of silicone. Hope that prevents it from flapping inside the neck in the future.





Thats all for today.
Next steps: 
- fretboard inlays / sidedots of aluminium
- glueing the fretboard
- sanding the fretboard radius (going the standatd way, dropping my previous idea)
- fretting the frets
- installing the guitar bridges, testing the mulstiscale of correct intonation

later:
- shaping, finishing
- pickups, electrics,...


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## helferlain (May 7, 2011)

progress :: aluminium inlays are glued, fretboard radius is sanded


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## Khaine88 (May 7, 2011)

Holy Christ this build is incredible! cant wait to see more :O


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## helferlain (May 14, 2011)

Neck and fretboard are glued. Neck shaping is done so far. Now it's time to say goodbye: rest in pieces!





Using a single bridge tuner from the old guitar I've done a quick intonation test. Successs! 





The simple string retainer works fine:





No damage on the string after removing. This is a .074 string tuned to low E on a 80cm / 31,5" scale. Sounds promising!





Just a quick shot in the sun. Front and backside:









Some light metal work out of massive aluminium:
( d s = my initials )





Integrated:









Weight of the body and the neck in this stage: 3,4 Kg.

Stay tuned


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## scherzo1928 (May 14, 2011)

Love the way the flames on the board go against the frets!

Great job man!


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## Qweklain (May 19, 2011)

I just came across this and looks awesome!! Not sure I like that "tuning 2x peg" system you got going there, but if it works, that is all that matters!!

I can't wait to see the final result!


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## helferlain (May 22, 2011)

Just a quick idea of the 3 pieces pickguard:





The position of the controls is only a sketch.

I realy like the part of shaping the body. But i hate the sanding...


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## BlackMastodon (May 22, 2011)

Hell. Yes. This looks awesome.


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## asher (May 23, 2011)

helferlain said:


> Just a quick idea of the 3 pieces pickguard:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That looks sick. Make it so!


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## helferlain (May 25, 2011)

I had the chance to chrome-plate my d.i.y. string retainers. They are made out of normal M3 screws. 

some filing:





after chrome-plating:





The neck is fretted now and the string retainers are mounted. I had some issues with the splintering ebony but most of it is fixed now with CA and ebony sanding dust. No pics of that mess...

At the moment the neck and the body got the first layer of primer. Looks like painting at the weekend....


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## scherzo1928 (May 25, 2011)

This is moving pretty fast!


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## CD1221 (May 26, 2011)

Good plan for the string retainers.


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## sage (May 26, 2011)

helferlain said:


> The neck is fretted now and the string retainers are mounted. I had some issues with the splintering ebony but most of it is fixed now with CA and ebony sanding dust. No pics of that mess...



Was it difficult seating the frets against the radius with the fan? I had heard that it could be problematic and I'm interested to hear your experience with it.

Thanks.


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## helferlain (May 26, 2011)

sage said:


> Was it difficult seating the frets against the radius with the fan? I had heard that it could be problematic and I'm interested to hear your experience with it.
> 
> Thanks.



I had less problems with the longer frets of the fan. Most problems occurred with the shorter frets similar to standard fretboards. But the fretboard design was the minor reason. The important factor is to cut the fret slots in the exact width. With the lack of experience in this matter I made some mistakes here. And, of course, the very brittle material was not easy to work with.


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## CD1221 (May 30, 2011)

I must have slept through the bit where you mentioned you were winding your own pups. 

Bravo, sir. You are awesome.


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## Skyblue (May 30, 2011)

This thing looks like the epitome of guitar awesomeness.


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## SirMyghin (May 30, 2011)

I am more than a little skeptical about the string retainers, more than willing to be proven wrong however.


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## helferlain (May 30, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I am more than a little skeptical about the string retainers, more than willing to be proven wrong however.



Me too ...


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## helferlain (Jun 4, 2011)

update:

The body and neck are coated. The neck looks very nice. The body got more and more tiny dust particles with every layer of clear coat. Could be the different weather condition and the bigger surface of the body compared to the neck. After all it's the best I could achieve in the basement of the apartment building where I live. Now the coating has to dry and to harden for two weeks, then it's time to polish.

I started the pickups again after some errors with my first try.

Prepared for winding:






500 rounds of copper 0,15mm / AWG 34. Watch the plastic folder:





After fixing the wire with CA some reinforcement made of veneer is glued at the sides:





Now the pickup is wrapped in the plastic materiel from the folders back:





I did some cutting, cleaning, sanding, polishing and finally there are 3 pickups, coated and drying in the sun:





Thats all for this week.

Next steps:

- make the 3-piece-pickguard. I have some 3-layer white-black-white plastic as you can see in my first attemp of the pickups. An alternative for the volume / pickup select piece could be aluminium. I'm not sure about it at the moment.

- polishing body and neck. As written above, this needs some time.

- starting soldering the active tone controls. I have to clean the shop before...

I'm off now for the next two weeks, going on a trip to Ireland. Don't be afraid, the next update comes after that trip. Stay tuned!


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## celticelk (Jun 4, 2011)

That body shape is sick - it's like a Teuffel mated with a Mockingbird. Nice work! Enjoy your visit to the Emerald Isle!


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## SirMyghin (Jun 4, 2011)

Interesting pickup size, they look quite narrow.


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## helferlain (Jun 5, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> Interesting pickup size, they look quite narrow.



Yes. thats right. This will be a "blade-style" pickup design. I hope to get a decent singlecoil sound. Using the active tone contol I'm about to solder, I can emulate every kind of pickup. The only limit is the width of the magnetic field and the position of the pickup.


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## jayarpeggios (Jun 7, 2011)

Been follow this for a while.. This looks like its going to turn out amazing! Love headless guitars.


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## Justin Bailey (Jun 9, 2011)

Looking amazing so far, man!

You should totally let me have your old headless by the way...


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## Hypnagogia (Jun 9, 2011)

Love the guitar! And the pickups look great! But maybe you or someone else here could help me. On your pickups it looks like you dont have any barrier between the magnet and the coil. Im starting to get into winding pickups on my own and Ive done some kits (which have the bobbin material between the magnet and the coil) but I really want to make my own bobbins but Ive always heard you should put something in between the two but didnt know what.
And I dont mean this to be a thread hijack. Just figured you might be able to enlighten us on your process


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## helferlain (Jun 9, 2011)

Hypnagogia said:


> ... On your pickups it looks like you dont have any barrier between the magnet and the coil. Im starting to get into winding pickups on my own and Ive done some kits (which have the bobbin material between the magnet and the coil) but I really want to make my own bobbins but Ive always heard you should put something in between the two but didnt know what...



For the bobbins just be sure to use some insulated material. And for the magnets you are right: the magnets have to be insulated before you start winding the coil. I used some insulating tape for this.


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## SilenceIsACrime (Jun 9, 2011)

Can't wait to see the finished product! The pick guards really pull the design together, methinks


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## Hypnagogia (Jun 10, 2011)

helferlain said:


> For the bobbins just be sure to use some insulated material. And for the magnets you are right: the magnets have to be insulated before you start winding the coil. I used some insulating tape for this.


Ok, thanks a lot! That should help me in my projects. Cant wait to see this build finished. When its finished you should get a video up so we can hear her if you can.


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## Jontain (Jun 10, 2011)

Thats looking awesome man, neat idea on the string retainers!


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## helferlain (Jun 21, 2011)

I'm back @ home and I have still a few free days to work on my guitar.

I let the body and the neck rest for the moment and startet soldering the electronics. It's almost finished so far:

This is the "State-Variable-Filter" circuit I made from scratch. Normally it's used with 2 pots, one for the frequency and one for the quality.





The 4x3 rotary switch you see in the picture above will be used for some upgrading. As you see on the next picture I use some small trimmers that allow me to set 3 preset sounds, and on the 4th position of the switch the normal pots are enabled.





For the pickup selection I use another rotary switch. This time its a 2x6 switch, prepared for 6 positions:

1. neck
2. neck + middle (serial)
3. bridge + middle (serial)
4. bridge
5. bridge + neck (parallel) + middle (serial)
6. bridge + middle (parallel)





Today ended with some pickguard work:









Best news today: The pickups and the circuits are tested an work 

Things to do:
- sanding and polishing all surfaces
- finish the pickguards
- final assembly


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## RubenBernges (Jun 21, 2011)

That's one crazy guitar and I think it's great that you chose to make single coils, I don't think I've ever heard single coils on an 8 string. Are you going to do soundfiles or, better yet, a video when you're done?


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## scherzo1928 (Jun 21, 2011)

I'm very impressed with this build, even though I had seen your previous axe. Stunning work man.


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## BlackMastodon (Jun 22, 2011)

Massive props on the electronics, still kills me that I haven't done much of any of this stuff in school and I'm halfway done -.-


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## helferlain (Jun 22, 2011)

RubenBernges said:


> That's one crazy guitar and I think it's great that you chose to make single coils, I don't think I've ever heard single coils on an 8 string. Are you going to do soundfiles or, better yet, a video when you're done?



Thank you. Video and soundfiles are planed, but the video will take some time. A friend bought a 8-string Agile recentliy. Hope I can compare those guitars on the same amp / setup. And maybe he wrotes his own review of my guitar for a second opinion.



BlackMastodon said:


> Massive props on the electronics, still kills me that I haven't done much of any of this stuff in school and I'm halfway done -.-



Learning to solder is much easier then learing to play the guitar. Just get a 15W soldering iron, flux and tin and get started. Practice to create clean solder joints and then make some usefull stuff. My first steps on guitar electronics (without any soldering lessens before) was a C-switch, an impedance converter (buffer) and a bass tone control. There is plenty of stuff to find in the www...



scherzo1928 said:


> I'm very impressed with this build, even though I had seen your previous axe. Stunning work man.



Thank you. The same is for your work.

@all: Your encouraging comments are a very motivating for me. Thank you!


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## JamesM (Jun 22, 2011)

This build thread is now a spaceship drafting board.


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## Goatchrist (Jun 22, 2011)

Did you design this circuit on your own?

Great build! Love it!


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## helferlain (Jun 22, 2011)

Goatchrist said:


> Did you design this circuit on your own?



No. It was designed by a user of an other forum. It took me hours to understand the basic design and to adjust it to my needs...


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## RubenBernges (Jun 22, 2011)

helferlain said:


> Thank you. Video and soundfiles are planed, but the video will take some time. A friend bought a 8-string Agile recentliy. Hope I can compare those guitars on the same amp / setup. And maybe he wrotes his own review of my guitar for a second opinion.



Well, depending on where exactly in Germany you live we could meet up, 'cause I'd be really interested to try a fan fretted instrument. My custom 8 string would most likely be ready by then, so I could bring that for comparison, too.


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## BlackMastodon (Jun 22, 2011)

helferlain said:


> Learning to solder is much easier then learing to play the guitar. Just get a 15W soldering iron, flux and tin and get started. Practice to create clean solder joints and then make some usefull stuff. My first steps on guitar electronics (without any soldering lessens before) was a C-switch, an impedance converter (buffer) and a bass tone control. There is plenty of stuff to find in the www...


Yeah this is why I'm gonna try to do all soldering and electronics myself in my build(s) and any mods I do in the future.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jun 28, 2011)

helferlain said:


>


Those pups look very professional.


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## JamesM (Jun 28, 2011)

MOAR


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## paco can (Jun 28, 2011)

subscribed


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## flo (Jun 28, 2011)

Wow! I was very impressed by your pickups, at least they look great, and I hope that they'll sound great as well 

The circuit looks very interesting, always cool to see when people put some thought into this, I bet you'll get a very versatile sound! Can't wait for the video


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## helferlain (Jul 2, 2011)

Ready for testing and final settings:


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## technomancer (Jul 2, 2011)

Wow that looks fantastic


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## JamesM (Jul 2, 2011)

Awesome! Those pups look cool.


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## ev1ltwin (Jul 2, 2011)

holy crap thats incredible


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## scherzo1928 (Jul 2, 2011)

At this very moment I'm more excited about this build than my own. Then again, I can't really do anything on my build because it's raining like it's the end of the world.


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## JamesM (Jul 2, 2011)

^Is it raining tacos and salsa?


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## Solodini (Jul 2, 2011)

That's brilliant. I can't wait for sound/video!


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## scherzo1928 (Jul 2, 2011)

The Armada said:


> ^Is it raining tacos and salsa?


 
I would be sitting outside with a bucket.


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## helferlain (Jul 3, 2011)

Hi folks, do you remember this:



helferlain said:


> ... As you see on the next picture I use some small trimmers that allow me to set 3 preset sounds, and on the 4th position of the switch the normal pots are enabled.



I've set 2 of the 3 presets for nice clean & crunchy tones. The 3rd should be used for high gain / djenty tones. I have no experiences with this kind of sound ad need your help. So my question is: 

How should a bridge humbucker sound CLEAN ! to use it for high gain?

Any youtube clip and sound sample would help, I only need some thing to start with...

Suggestions for setting for my BOSS ME-25 would be also appreciated.


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## SirMyghin (Jul 3, 2011)

Damn that is neat sounding. the homemade rotary switches are amazing. Looks great too.


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## flo (Jul 3, 2011)

Amazing spacecraft!


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## digitalpig (Jul 7, 2011)

Looks like the polepieces of the pickups perfectly match the strings! Congrats, it looks amazing!

How heavy is it? (I'm talking about weight here  )

Cheers


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## helferlain (Jul 7, 2011)

digitalpig said:


> Looks like the polepieces of the pickups perfectly match the strings! Congrats, it looks amazing!
> 
> How heavy is it? (I'm talking about weight here  )
> 
> Cheers



It only looks like matching the strinngs 
I did the pickguard part with the pups again today. Now it should really match. Still have to rework the string tuners, testing follows tomorrow. Electronics are finished so far. The weight is about 3,9 kg.

There's a NGD comming...


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## MF_Kitten (Jul 7, 2011)

i was skeptical at first, but it's starting to look awesome!


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## demigod (Jul 7, 2011)

Subscribed. Amazing dude.


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## Hollowway (Jul 8, 2011)

That's just too cool. Can we get a close up shot of the HS with the string ties? I don't really understand all that's going on up there.


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## helferlain (Jul 9, 2011)

Finished f8or the moment) with this guitar.

the bad:
- the neck is to thin.  It works but I'm not happy with it. There is a neck build comming...
- the coating: this was my first and my last try with nitrocellulose spray can.  I dont have the environment for a proper coating process. Its a literally dirty whit finish now.
- some noise in the circuit.  I'm not sure where it comes from. but for now its playable...

the good:
- the ergonomic aspect of the design works.  very comfortable to play in sitting and standing position.
- anyone else here with a singlecoil 8 string guitar? 
- the selfmade low impedance pickups and the preamp / filter circuit work at the first attemp 
- There is a huge versatility with this electronics  soundsamples will follow

Thank you for watching this building thread, now go and check the NGD-Thread:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ex...-8-string-headless-ergonomic-fanned-fret.html


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## Swyse (Jul 9, 2011)

IIRC, nitrocellulose has to dry for about 4 weeks to fully harden.


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## Samarus (Nov 11, 2011)

That's awesome. It reminds me of Rick Toone's stuff.


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## Solodini (Nov 11, 2011)

Please don't necrobump 4 month dead threads, unless there's a new development on the subject.


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## Jason Spell (Nov 11, 2011)

Not to get in a pissing contest, but why not respond to it? Is there a real, logical reason why not, or is the argument just because you personally are annoyed by it? It's like a "because you breathe funny" argument if that's the case. Is there a cut off time where a thread is officially "dead"? Is it one week without a post? 2? 2 months? 3 months, 4 days, 18 hours, 2 minutes, and 37 seconds?

It seems like if the thread still exists, it should be able to be commented on. I wouldn't have found it if it wasn't just recently bumped, and I'd like to chime in that I think it's a cool design.


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## Solodini (Nov 11, 2011)

I was mentioning because I had noticed him being warned by a mod in another thread who told him not to do it. The reasoning, as far as I'm aware, is annoying people with threads which had not been developed upon and had reached their ultimate conclusion when appreciation can be shown with the "like" button or the thanks button.


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## ElRay (Nov 11, 2011)

dingaling said:


> It seems like if the thread still exists, it should be able to be commented on. I wouldn't have found it if it wasn't just recently bumped, and I'd like to chime in that I think it's a cool design.


The art of the necrobump is a fine line young grasshopper. Your guitarfu must be strong and you must have the karma of the righteous behind you.

That said, "Hey, this is cool", "Any new info?", etc. posts are bad necrobumps. Use the Like or Thanks buttons, or send the OP a PM.

A "Hey, I dug-up this info ...", "I just discovered ..." and other posts that ADD NEW RELEVANT INFO THAT WOULD BE OF VLAUE TO ANYBODY READING THE WHOLE THREAD are good necrobumps.

Ray


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## Jason Spell (Nov 11, 2011)

Thanks for the head(less)s up.


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