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Re: "self resonating" fretleess electric guitar -- ideas?



Per,

You should check out the DIY (do it yourself) section of the Unfretted
website at <http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=unfretting>.
You'll find lots of info about both the unfretting process and about
attaching a sustainer.  I'm sure you could find other folks with info
in the Unfretted forums as well.

Good luck.  I've always be curious about unfretting, but have never
taken the plunge myself.

Todd


On 3/18/07, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thought I should ask if someone on the list has experience and tips
> on this project. I'm thinking about rebuilding one of my guitars
> (probably a telecaster) into a fretless guitar. I'v been playing
> fretless guitar quite a lot in the past, but I was never happy with
> the short sustain. Today I'm playing my Stratocaster with "tone
> extention" provided by a tiny speaker cone gaffa taped to the neck's
> head, driven from an amplified signal tap taken from the guitar's
> pickups (i.e. a "poor mans Sustainiac"). So I just had the brilliant
> idea to combine these two somewhat dissatisfying experimental trips
> into something that actually works as a playable instrument to rely on.
>
> Here are the details as I'm envisioning the process so far. Please
> comment if you know better methods:
>
> - Taking off the frets. (done that before, no problem)
> - Covering the fretboard with some super strong gloss (what's the
> best? The stuff you do floors with? Boats?)
> - Tapping the signal (how to do this inside the guitar's electronics?
> Can I simply solder a "Y" connection somewhere? At the moment I'm
> tapping it from a Pod pedal with two outputs)
> - Mounting the little speaker somewhere inside the instrument's body
> (eventually also the battery driven amp; a disassembled mini Marshall
> practice amp)
> - Maybe I should as well think about a "power plug-in" jack on this
> guitar? (batteries tend to let you down)
>
> My idea is to use flat strings for a murky sound and minimal string
> noise during the glissandi.
>
> Greetings from Sweden
>
> Per Boysen
> www.boysen.se (Swedish)
> www.looproom.com (international)
> http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast)
> http://tinyurl.com/2kek7h (CC donationware music releases)
>
>
>