Monday, July 18, 2016

Stratocaster tremolo piezo + piezo mod

This is a mod to adapt a under saddle acoustic guitar piezo to a stratocaster block tremolo anda a common piezo inside the guitar body.

 

  • Use a rotary tool and a file to make a groove at the upside of the block:


strat block tremolo

strat block tremolo

strat block tremolo



  • ... until the piezo fit it, with only a small part outside:

  strat block tremolo 


  • Screw the other parts of the tremolo with the piezo wire out of the block:

*Maybe you will have to file the wood of the guitar under the bridge, a litle bit, to adapt the extra wire.

strat block tremolo

strat block tremolo



  •  Othewise, if you don't use the tremolo arm, like me, it is possible to use the other side of the block, making a extra hole to pass the wire:


strat block tremolo


strat block tremolo



  •   Set up the tremolo at the guitar, use the grounding hole to pass the piezo wire and conect it to the guitar circuit. Some hot glue will fix better some parts:

strat block tremolo

strat block tremolo
strat block tremolo

strat block tremolo


  •  Next step....fix a common piezo at the inside of the guitar body, near as possible of the bridge, using a double face tape:

     

strat piezo

 strat piezo

strat piezo


The tromolo piezo will have a lot of influence of the coils, producing a lot of reverbation. My sugestion is to mix the two piezos with a resistor (or a pot) like that:

 

strat piezo

* 1M or less... depends on the piezo output level.


Finaly, mixing the pickup mod (http://guitar4geek.blogspot.com.br/2016/06/stratocaster-wire-mod-series-pickups.html) with this piezo mod:



strat mod

*All pots are 500K


strat mod



* Other suggestions:




Sample:




Tks to Pete from MukerBude.de: http://www.mukerbude.de/_MATERIAL/Anleitung%20-%20Stratylon.pdf


Thursday, June 23, 2016

Stratocaster wire mod - in series pickups switch


Looking at the picture below, the first switch (mod 1) configures the pickups in series:
  • neck+middle (series)
  • bridge+middle (series)
Besides that, a second switch (mod 1b) inverts the middle pickup, making the sound thicker or thiner.

The mod 1 switch also connects the tone control to the neck+middle "fake" humbucker.

*All the pots are 500K, making a more open sound and helping the basswood body limited tone response.








  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b OFF and strat switch in position A: bridge+middle with thin sound
  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b OFF and strat switch in position B, C, D: mute
  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b OFF and strat switch in position E: neck+middle with thin sound 

  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b ON and strat switch in position A: bridge+middle with thick sound
  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b ON and strat switch in position B, C, D: mute
  • Mod 1 ON, mod 1b ON and strat switch in position E: neck+middle with thick sound



Some pictures:







Sample:


Friday, June 10, 2016

The new cabinet tolex mod - fender color alike

This is a new face for the little cabinet of my 5F1 clone, I only take of the brown tolex and put in a yellow one (fender alike).

Lets see the tolex mod:

  • The old style

  •  Take it off
  • Lots of work
  •  New style












  • The amplifier guts version 2.0 with updated pictures (2016):




 




   2022 :

5f1

5f1