Mister Miyagi (Alembicized guitar)

[edwardofhuncote]

Alrighty... SUCCESS!!!

So I made a plastic washer to keep the switch from contacting the shielding, but I still had to keep the threads of the switch from contacting it as it passed through the hole. See, I had coated those inner surfaces too, because... that's ordinarily what you're supposed to do. So I Dremel-ed out the paint best I could, and to be extra-sure, I wrapped the threads of the switch with a couple winds of teflon plumber's thread tape. Absolutely no conductivity in that stuff. Here's a picture of my little washer; I made it with a little extension to support the arm where the leaves of the switch are working.

Jimmy J. you may be able to see what you're asking about in the picture above, where I had the switch dangling outside the guitar for my 'test'... I think you are probably correct, or headed the right way. I don't believe this is a part Alembic normally uses for any of their guitars, but rather a part that is sold for these activator sets, meant to be retrofit into a Gibson or Fender-type axe. They add the modular plugs to them though, so the pickups will easily plug-in. (nice!) *by the way, I totally missed your post the other day... that might have actually solved it, jumping around the switch to the preamp. I don't know if that works or not... but it stands to reason, the switch is just that; a selector between each pickup. The wire that leaves the switch goes to the preamp on the Filter pot. You see now how I got that Wire Dunce hat?    Thanks man!

Yessir Dave, the pickup cavities are shielded too... they actually were already, but I added a few more coats.

The guitar is dead-quiet, no RF noise, no hum, hiss, crackles, pops, or anything. It's just perfect, and plays like a dream too. (I'll take a little bit of credit for that much...) Will have to wait until I get some halfway playing chops back to give it a fair rundown, but it is definitely very, very Alembic-sounding... can tell that already. And super-hot output.

Thanks Everyone!

[edwardofhuncote]

Finished Pictures.


Mister Miyagi at some point counseled the Student; "Must have patience, Daniel-san!"

[David Houck]

Congrats!

[JimmyJ]

Well alrighty then, that's one way to solve it!  Nice mod and we're glad you've got it up and running.  Do you hear anything odd if you touch the metal part of the switch body while it's plugged in?  I only ask because again, the body of that switch should not be the + side of the signal - which is the only reason it would stop passing sound when grounded.  I looked hard at your dangling switch shot above but can't see from that angle which wires are soldered to which lugs.  Moot point now since you've got it playing and sounding good.  But next time you're in the cavity ... I'd love to see a shot of those solder lugs.  And maybe a close up of the connectors...

Carry on.  Enjoy it and put in some hours on that thing!

Jimmy J

[gtrguy]

Nice guitar! Reminds me of the Electrum humbucker body style.

[rv_bass]

Nice work!

[edwardofhuncote]

I checked everything out again; no noise at all touching the switch or the mounting nut. I really have no explanation... I probably still wouldn't understand if someone else explained it. I suppose the good news is that it works. I'm really looking forward to playing this one in a comparison with the Little Darling. I can already hear the similarities and differences between them, and there are are some very big differences. Unsurprisingly, the similar qualities are not unlike between two completely different Alembic basses. There's that commonality that you expect, that Alembic clarity, and everything else is... up for interpretation. I love the shorter scale. This little guitar has a nice neck too, the carve is chunky, but not too wide. I've got the action super-low. The intonation is remarkably accurate, all the way to the 24th fret. I do kinda' miss having the stoptail and bridge though... makes muting notes a bit awkward. There are some compromises, but I knew that.

I'm still thinking about how to respectfully rebrand Mister Miyagi here. The small chain of music stores that imported these guitars is long-gone, so I kinda' don't want to completely scrub it, though I really don't care for the C.F. Martin & Co.-esque decal. I'll think on it some more. Maybe some kind of surface mounted nameplate, with some appropriate Japanese charaters?

[gtrguy]

Elite? Elise? Esprit?

[edwardofhuncote]

Nah, Mica might need those one day.

Mitsubishi?  (more my style) 😄😄

I thought about a woodburning a little cartoon bonsai tree onto a shaped piece of veneer, glued to the upper headstock face, over the existing logo... hide glued, so it could be removed if one wanted to.

[gtrguy]

Ha ha, how about Dodge Stealth VR4! (ask me why)

[edwardofhuncote]

Oh, I'm well aware... the 3000 GT VR4 was one of my dream rides. That whole platform was B-A.    My little Outlander AWD though, has been the best vehicle I've ever owned. I am approaching 250K mi. That little 2.4 ltr. MIVEC engine is one of the tightest 4-bangers they ever built. The Subaru Outback just out-classed it is all.

So here's what's transpired... this old friend of mine, and musical mentor happened to call yesterday evening. He is/was a professional player, with a foreign language major, lived in Japan working for Disney back in the 80's and 90's. Figured out he could make a better living, or at least augment his account by teaching English to Japanese folks, and tutoring American folks in Japanese while in-country.  So in the course of catching up on my situation, I told him about my project guitar here, and asked for suggestions on characters for a headstock inlay. LSS; He's sending me some old bronze medallions, ingots, and out-of-circulation Japanese coinage to pick from.

Sounds like it might be something pretty cool. 

[edwardofhuncote]

One last post on my project guitar here...

I just felt like a more appropriate logo for the headstock was needed... a little personalization, but not necessarily to me. I had very little to do with this one actually. I didn't want to scrub Don Miller's name from its history either, so I made a little headplate, affixed with tiny brass screws. The plate itself is two layers of purpleheart with a thicker layer of maple sandwiched between them. I traced the shape of the headstock end (which I think is meant to remind you of a Shinto Shrine) then reduced it so the headstock would outline it. The 'logo' is a bronze coin probably from the 1700's, called a Kan'ei Tsūhō. It was a small denomination, used by commonfolk as daily currency. These things were minted for several hundred years, so there are quite a few of them around. Anyway, I routed a shallow cavity for the coin, and even fitted a little bit of scrap veneer into the donut hole. (because... why not?) I rubbed in a little finishing wax, polished it up, then being very careful to miss the Don R. Miller & Co. decal, I drilled the headstock and mounted the new headplate on Mister Miyagi. It's cool, and totally removable, with four tiny holes to plug.

I think I'll quit now... good nuff!

[jon_jackson]

Very nice!

[rv_bass]

Very nice work, looks great!

[David Houck]

Yes, nice indeed!