Mama

Today was tough. I said goodbye to my grandmother. I hadn't seen her in a long time but she has been on my mind 24/7. As has my own mother. It's always difficult to say goodbye to a family member but God knows how hard it is to lose ones mother. There is of course, a terrible sadness upon losing a family member but my throat tightened upon seeing my mother, who has been a constant and incredible carer for her mother, and upon seeing how difficult the loss is to her and of course to her father and her siblings. I'm done talking about personal stuff. This is dedicated to my mother, who's made me very proud and indeed my grandmother, who's finally resting without pain. It's not perfect, in fact it's very rough but every note is meant.

Introducing "Selena".

Well, here she is folks:

Since I've been last on the blog, I have been working feverishly to complete her! Various soldering cock ups, crossed wires and cosmetic changes have taken up much of my time aside from work. But we found a way as you do to compete her and as you can see, she looks great. I even managed to add my secret push/pull tone pot to put her middle pickup out of phase.

All well and good! But does she cut the mustard tonally? See for yourself here:

This is just an example of the in phase and out of phase comparison when used with distortion. I used my usual recording set up:

 

Ashes to ashes

Unfortunately, I had an accident whilst decorating the guitar. Upon adding the final coat of varnish, the string that held her gave way and she landed right on her base resulting in a huge crack that ran more than half way up the body, that not even the most gifted luthier could repair. She went straight on the fire. At least I got a use for her even though I am massively gutted. The body is easily replaceable, but the time and care I put into preparing her is not.

But I am a glass half full kind of guy, most of the time, and while I search up a replacement body, I will be experimenting with her electronics. Namely wiring her middle middle pick up with an out of phase option, via a push pull tone pot, like a hidden magic trick! The operation is simple enough (The Internet is a marvellous teaching tool, you know) and I am looking forward to indulging my inner electronics nerd a little. Only one pickup will be out of phase as the effect is essentially an in phase pickup "fighting" with the out of phase pickup, which essentially leaves the artefacts or "leftovers" of the original tone. I chose the middle pickup as with the use of her five way switch I can get out of phase sounds with a neck and middle or middle and bridge combo.

Opinion is divided on the sounds. Being of a honking, nasal nature, it's pretty much a love/hate thing. I personally love it. Especially as it cuts through a heavy mix. You can hear a great example of the neck and middle out of phase sound here from 1.00 to 1.11:

Guitar DIY Pt. V

So it appears my Burns "Brian May signature" Tri-sonic pickups will be delivered tomorrow, early morning! This is the size comparison:

Small bit of routing required, as already covered. I think my better half is struggling to cope with my unbearable over excitement as the time draws closer. So if she reads this, "I'm sorry!"  :)