Adding LED's to tribute

[drpobgyn]

Is it possible to have LED's added to a Tribute guitar?

[jazzyvee]

I'm sure alembic could do that work for you. Members here have used some of the following in the past for adding them to their instruments.
 
http://www.simscustom.com/html/00pricing.htm
 
http://www.auroraproject.co.uk/fret%20lights.htm
 
I personally have the fret fx on my bass and they work fine.
https://fretfx.com
 
Hope you find a suitable solution.
 
Jazzyvee

[terryc]

I guess that Martin Sims's patent registration is now expired since aurora do the same!
Unless they have reversed engineered it

[mario_farufyno]

This is not a simple (or cheap) thing to do in an already made guitar. The LEDs in an Alembic are installed inside the Neck, as far as I know, and this means they need pull off the fretboard,  drill holes and grooves to accomodate LEDs and their power cords. Then they must do a new fretboard, then re-install and level the new frets all over again.  
And there is also the LED's DC feed. 9V batteries need to be installed at the body, so it may require a lot of woodworking and refinishing. A expensive and time consuming work, for sure.
 
(Message edited by mario farufyno on December 06, 2012)

[mario_farufyno]

If you're gonna order a brand new guitar, you can customize it here:
 
http://www.alembic.com/cgi-bin/quote/quote
 
ps.: sometime ago someone posted a link to a japanese company who sell some kind of fluorescent bar that you can cut and fit in new holes replacing Alembic's regular side dots. Don't know how well it works, how shiny it is and how long it holds its glow, though...

[hammer]

Shinichiro was having a Rogue built a while back that was going to use these fluorescent bars (see the following thread: .
I saw the work in progress in early June and the materials had a great look. Mica indicated that 30 seconds of light was all it took for things to glow for a quite a while (at least a set).

[terryc]

Did it get finished??

[dfung60]

I'm not sure that a fingerboard replacement would be necessary.  It looks like the way that Alembic does this is that a groove is routed along the edge of the fingerboard.  The wiring for the LEDs must be in the groove and the LEDs themselves are on a thin strip which is laid on top of the groove.  
 
All those steps basically sound like they're on the verge of impossible woodworking, but Alembic clearly can do it.  I don't know if the groove is cut before or after the fingerboard is on the neck though.  If it's done with the fingerboard in place, it's probably done before the frets are in place (frets are nearly at the end of assembly anyway).  
 
It would be a pricey rework.  Even if they could rout the channel on a defretted instrument, you may need to have the neck refinished too.  And probably additional body routing for the batteries to power the LEDs.
 
David Fung

[terryc]

Well I had my Alembic MK  retro fitted with front facing LED's here in the UK by Martin Sims and at the time is was ?400 sterling. I rang him up and talked to him(a good guy who puts your mind to rest about how it is done). For the price(this is in the UK remember), he arranges for your bass/guitar to be picked up by an overnight courier, does the work, soak tests it for a week(leaves them on continuously for this time) and ships it back to you by overnight courier.
You cannot tell at all that it has been done, and you can oil the board as much as you want as there is magnifier lenses sealed over the LED's.
Money well worth it in my opinion

[oggydoggy]

+1 for FretFX aftermarket LEDS. had a set installed for more than 4 years.No issues
-Ed

[jazzyvee]

I've had my set in since around 2006/2007 and still on the original two batteries. Actually yesterday the battery box flopped off the back of the headstock when i put it back on the stand, so I guess the double sided tape as lost it's stick. However it is good to know that no damage is done to the finish.  
 
Jazzyvee