Thread: The TeMMP

Hi there Avenger,

That spalted maple is just lovely! it sets off the whole instrument, well done, that is a nice axe. Dont worry about it weighing a ton, just spend a bit of time in the gym,

Sebastiaan

G'day Avenger.

Nice to see you've made it down to our quaint 'little' forum.
Most of us posting members here also post on PG.

I've been watching this one on PG.com. in the earlier build pics, and thought you've done very tasty padauk body lams.

The neck/string alignment looks a little out in the big pic, though.

How does the bigsby rate as a vintage trem ?

Originally Posted by oz tradie

G'day Avenger.


How does the bigsby rate as a vintage trem ?

Gawd, there is a LOT of high E string, isn't there (nothing to do with your build avaneger, just the bigsby)

Still they've been around since day dot so they must do SOMETHING right, right?
They would rate up there as one of the easiest to string, I guess.

Although the few people I know that have an axe with a bigsby just look at you haughtily when you ask them about tuning stability, or maybe its that they look at you vaguely and say "tuning WHAT?"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

How are those gearless tuners?

I have been contemplating them for a build for a while now...

Did you make the knobs etc?

Yep..contemplated the same about those steinberger tuners. Heavy ?

mmm very nice
seen this one at PGF if i'm not mistaken
welcome - this a great hangout for woodies btw
there are a lot of very experienced woodworkers hanging out here

Originally Posted by oz tradie

Yep..contemplated the same about those steinberger tuners. Heavy ?

I'd just be concerned about the asthetics of the guitar, you get used to the little ears sticking out of the hear of your guitar. Those floyd rose guitars with the speed loaders look a bit kookey to me...
I was actually thinking of using tham for a headless practice guitar, I guess it would look like a steinburger (?)

Headless as in mounting the gearless tuners at the bum-end and using an ABM
nut ?
Would look better than standard tuners for sure. I'd still go the whole hog
like Perry's headless tele. bit exxy for that setup though !!

Avenger, you out there? we got questions

Originally Posted by oz tradie

Headless as in mounting the gearless tuners at the bum-end and using an ABM
nut ?

Yup, thats it.
'bout 22 - 23 " scale with 22 frets and a little built in amp and distortion circuit. Something tasty that I can chuck in the back of the car and have the whole she-bang in one. Maybe build in a drum machine? Or a loop station?

Jason

Steinberger Tuners:
They work great. They'd be a nice alternative to a locking nut. The main drawback is the way they get strung and stretching strings. Because of that, and that I don't use whammy bars, I'll never get them again.

Stringing Steps
1. Feed the string through the post
2. Pull the string as tight as possible. I use pliers to get a better pull.
3. Tighten the clamping nut
4. Tune the string.

Unlike winding the string around a post, these can only tune the string so far. The head rises and descends into the bushing. It can only descent so far. The high E stretched past the tuner's ability to tighten. I had to completely release the tension and re-string the high E, pulling the string taut after it had stretched. I had to do this TWICE before the high E stopped stretching. I only had to do it once for the other strings. That was WAY too much work.

On the other side, the tuners have a 40:1 ratio. Most tuners are 14:1, 6:1, or the odd 18:1. That makes them extremely accurate, eliminating the need for fine-tuners on the bridge. They also eliminate the need for a locking nut.

For what they do, they're very good. Their drawbacks don't even out for me, though. If you don't mind the stringing & stretching P.I.A., they'd be a GREAT option.

For the weight question, these are very comparable to standard tuners. Honestly, I couldn't say which is heavier.

Knobs:
I made the switch tip, but not the knobs. I screwed a piece of padauk to a dremmel mandrill, clamped down the tool, turned it on, and went to town on it with the sanding block. It was effectively a mini-lathe. Were I to do it again, I'd make the knobs the exact same way.

Tuning Stability:
The locking tuners keep it in tune pretty well. That's one reason I chose them. The other is that they're just cool.

PGF:
Yep, this is the same one. I found this forum looking for general woodworking forums. This one seemed to have the widest span of topics, so here I am!

Thanks Avenger. Great deal of feedback there, and dunno if I'll go the gearless tuners. Although the pros and cons tend to cancel each other out.

I went back into PG.com and had a big browse through your build thread and found it not only entertaining in the quarrelsome sense but also informative to read.
Worth a read for those interested.

I won't post the link, as I think that is up to Avenger himself if he sees fit
to share it here .

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/in...howtopic=33258

Here's the build thread. I found the build extremely informative. I'm looking forward to the next one!

FWIW: 2/3 of the way through, you'll find a one-sided conversation between myself and Drak. I called him to the mat on something, so he got mad and deleted his posts. They were only vaguely related to the build, so it's no big loss. If you read through it, I just thought you'd want to know why he has all these empty replies.