Official Luthiers Forum!

I know it's been a while. I completely forgot about this place, and just recently actually remembered it. Why? Because of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWl_ED3_e5U

So, if you forgot, I was building a guitar shaped like a duck. Why? Well, I was kinda bored and had always thought it would be a fun challenge building a guitar. And none of my guitars looked like ducks. So, first off, what I learned building this:
Measure twice cut once. Seriously. I thought I had everything lined up, double checked, googled it, everything, drilled, and it was off =(. That happened with the bridge (if you can't tell lol), the nut, and the head (actually didn't realize it until the end, but it's no big deal, just a tuner has one less screw 'cause it's over the edge).
Don't make everything permanent until the end. I have a broken pickup mount because a screw would not come out and I had to rip the mount around it. I also had to remove the mounts multiple times to get the wires through.
Your first one won't be perfect. I was really concerned with the nut and intonation (it's not too bad now), but this is my first build, and it's a learning experience. It's in tune and the nut might look like a piece of crap, but oh well.

That being said, it's really rewarding when it gets done. I had a ton of problems with the electronics but figured it out (there really aren't any "Attach EMG to Seymour Duncan" diagrams) and now it works! I also had to improvise a volume cap, so that's why there is a gatorade cap on it lol. Anyways, the specs:

EMG H4/H4A
Seymour Duncan Liberator
Switchcraft Output Jack
Gatorade Volume Knob
Economy Tuners
Tune-O-Matic Bridge

Yeah. For anyone thinking about building a guitar and is a little hesitant like I was, I'm only 16 and I managed to build one (albeit a piece of crap, but I still love it ^_^), so surely anyone can. Just don't do anything permanent until you have it all lined up, or you'll have a ton of holes on the body like I do . . . .

This first one was really just a learning one. More of a "can I do it?" type thing. But we got enough wood for another one, so now that I know I CAN make a functional guitar, I'm gonna spend more time on this next one, since it's kinda fun being a luthier. Still not ready to build a neck though. That's gotta be real precise and obviously, I am not yet =).

Also, loose input mounts suck and cause buzz. I hope I just fixed it though . . .

Oh wow. I just realized that none of my guitars are shaped like ducks either!

Good job, bro.

_________________
David Morris

Lol, I guess I gotta mass produce them so everyone can have a Duckitar.

The only problem now is it has a buzz, but if you hold the guitar and touch the input mount, it goes away? I'm looking into it but maybe lining the back cavity or input cavity with some material would work?

Hmm...it should really have more of a quack. Sounds like your duck needs some grounding.

As for mass-producing, just think about it. There are obviously millions of guitarists in the world. Only one that I know of has a guitar that looks like a duck DO THE MATH!

EDIT: Seriously, you should buy a quacking toy duck, remove it's quacker, and wire it into a button on the guitar. I sure would.

_________________
David Morris

The problem is it is grounded. I don't know where the buzzing is coming from though- from the Pot, the Jack, the switch, since it stops when I touch the jack mount but everything on it is soldered correctly . . .

But we were gonna put a midi controller in it. Make it have a quack sound

Cool!
I like the way the cable goes into the ducks mouth.
Ducks love to eat worms, by the way.
I love ducks.
Duckitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happens if you touch other metal parts connected to the ground, like the strings or the bridge? Does it go away then? Usually when you touch a grounded piece of metal on a guitar (as the input jack almost certainly would be), and a buzz goes away, it's because you're grounding with your own body. When you remove your hand, you break the ground, and it buzzes again. Try playing around with it and seeing what else you can do to make the buzz go away.

Also, even if you did everything right, something can happen as you're screwing everything together, or after assembly or whatever. It happens.

_________________
David Morris

Thanks guys! I actually just compared this to my stock Ibanez 7-string and I like this one's tone better (I know it's because it's a STOCK Ibanez but still). More highs in it, which can easily be countered by changing the EQ from the amp. As for the buzzing, I think it was just a botched wire on the output jack because last night a wire on the jack broke (the output from the cavity, not the ground) so I resoldered it today. Now it's fine. Might have also been due to it being cramped in the jack cavity because i had all the wires tangled up in it (cut them down). Anyways, definitely playing this guitar when I perform with the school jazz band lol, and with my band.

And of course taking with me my 7-string in case something in this gets F-ed up mid performance. Thinking next build, since I have wood and know I can actually do it, will be a Shoetar probably since I can use my own shoe as a template. Or Pokétar with a Pokeball body since that might be easier to paint and still would look different.

Ok, this is seriously making me angry. It seems I have to solder it RIGHT before I play it or it will buzz. Why is this? Here's what's happened the past two days:

I wake up and do whatever, then I start working on this. I heat up my solder (takes about half an hour, hence all the solderless parts) and solder the ground wire. Woop-de-doo. I plug it in- no buzz. "Cool" I think to myself. I play it a bit and put it away. A while later I'll play it again and no buzz. I repeat that "playing-waiting" game a few times to make sure it's not buzzing. And then comes nighttime. After a day of playing it, I go to put it in . . . and BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Now, I want opinions on this, but is it because the ground wire keeps coming "unsoldered" despite being very clearly soldered on (I mean, I put literally a drop of solder on it and it's fine until nighttime when I play it)? Is it the guitar cable hitting the ground wire that causes it (the shielded part)? And if so, why does it work the first couple of times and all of a sudden stop working? It's like it randomly says, "hey, it seems like a good time to unsolder myself!!".

EDIT: Oh, and something of interest- when I touch the screws in the neck pickup, the buzzing increases, but when I touch the screws in the bridge pickup, it completely stops. Is it my wiring on the pickups that's causing it? That is the part the confuses me. That and the fact the ground wire never even moves so it's like I'm just soldering it for no reason.

*The height adjustment screws

EDIT: Also, could the problem be that I grounded my Liberator Pot (keep in mind I WAS following instructions for the Pot itself) to the toggle switch, and grounded the toggle switch to the output jack, but grounded my pickups to the Pot? If so, should I ground the output to the Pot too? The pickup wires won't stretch that far and don't wanna go through the hassle of stripping them and having them break from the Liberator, etc

I had a problem with the electronics not working right on a build once.
Not like your prob,
and I took it apart and re-did everything about 5 times.
I think that's what I would do if I were you.
First, look at your soldered joints with a magnifying glass.
They should be shiny like jewels.
Also, look to see if the solder has flowed into the wire and connecting points.
The solder should have a nice slope, and not have a cold joint.
Good luck!
Could be something else too!
Is your cable good?
Is there gas in the car?

I was googling and I think I know the problem . . . But lemme make sure here:

The humbucker that buzzes horridly when touched is the neck one. That's the one that also has a broken pin (the EMG H4/H4A solderless have 5 pins to attach to if I remember correctly. Somehow this one broke and only has 4 of the 5. Completely forgot). Looking at their diagram, I'm thinking it was the shield that broke . . . would a broken pickup cause all this to happen? And if so, I should probably just disconnect it, right?

EDIT: Took off the humbucker- still buzzing. So, here is what I believe the problem to be:

Bridge isn't grounded
Somehow the output solder is becoming too weak and it's being detached through "not playing"
It's still the ungrounded humbucker (not ground pin)
Something else

Here is my wiring scheme:

Both pickups to Liberator, and grounded on the liberator. Liberator to the toggle switch, including the ground from the switch to the Pot. Output Jack to the toggle switch.

HELP! I don't want to have to take it all apart again. I only have 3 more weeks of school before winter break (last week is finals week though . . . ) which is when I wanted to start my next build.

Let me get this straight.

You have a humbucker with a broken lead and a solder joint that comes undone and you don't know why your guitar doesn't work right.

Two sugestions:

1) Don't use broken parts.
2) Learn how to solder. Solder joints do not become unsoldered on their own, that's ridiculous.

Steve

1) The pickup still works perfectly and isn't causing a problem as I tested yesterday when I completely disconnected it
2) The solder joint isn't coming undone, and if it is, it's miniscule because the ground wire has yet to actually move from the position it's soldered in. I've resoldered it thrice, with the exact same results. The first time I moved it. The next two I did not. It's still making good contact with the terminal.

And that's why I'm confused.

I know this Duckitar is old news now, but I feel like I need to just put the cap on it with something extremely odd.

Last Night: It was maybe 9-10 PM. I plug in my stock Ibanez 7 string. Little bit of buzz, nothing bad (nothing out of the ordinary anyways). Plug in my Duckitar, buzzes bad, I bring my gate thresh on my Line6 to -30dB and it's fine for the most part.

Today: I plug in my Ibanez 7 string at around 2:45 PM. I notice it's quiet. I plug in my Duckitar. I notice it too is quiet. I check the gate- the thresh is down at -45dB (It started there last night and was a horrendously loud buzzing train wreck, so I moved it to -30, and moved it back down before I went to sleep since it was cutting out the notes and stuff). It's eerily silent though until I play, which means that yes, it is grounded correctly as I thought it was.

Putting two and two together, something must happen to my house at night in that room. It would explain why my guitar works until it gets late out, and then starts buzzing. It mean, the studio was an addition to the house (originally we closed it off to make a guest room, but now that my brother is off to college . . .) and we do live in the mountains, and the outlet is also an old POS (next test tonight- try another outlet). It's really odd, but it perfectly explains the buzzing only at night and none during the day (oh, and both times the TV in the next room was on, the heater was on, etc, so it wasn't something "stealing power" from the outlet). I mean, I know it sounds ludicrous, but what other explanation is there? The scenario always was:

Working until I tried at night, then stopped working
Every time I "fixed" the ground by adding a small amount of solder, it worked because it was the afternoon
I really never moved the ground wire when I "fixed" it
It buzzed last night, so I left it on the carpet in my studio, went to bed, and this afternoon it was fine

But, since I know I did everything correctly now, time to move on to my new project which should at least be more aesthetically pleasing since we're gonna try printing out the graphics at my dad's office.

EDIT: Before you say anything . . . IT'S THE LIGHT >=( It's a poorly wired light. That explains why at night it buzzes and not during the day (you don't use it during the day). And why 5 minutes ago I was able to control the buzzing by turning the light on and off. No wonder why such a confusing scenario was being played out! It was the poor wiring in the room.

Fluorescents?

If so I'm clueless since I don't think that's the type of light in the room. I do believe, though, that since this house is a bit old and it was an extension, and some other things (general work done on the house), that it's just faulty wiring. I took my amp out of the room, plugged it somewhere else, and it was again no problemo. Went back in, started flipping the switch, and buzz came back with light.

Also, I don't believe we use fluorescents. But I'm not the "light guy" in the house so I'd have no idea, it is a possibility though. I'm just happy it works! Now on to my second design, a "Blooditar" (custom blood graphics done in Photoshop rather then painted by hand) and an attempt at an effects pedal so I can get enough practice to actually start up a small custom music company by the time I go to college (instruments, pedals, etc), 'cause I do need a LOT of practice (it works, but there's still spacing issues, stray holes that I had to redrill, a butchered nut, etc. But hey, it'll still probably be my main gig guitar. I'll just bring my 7-string just in case . . . ).