Nava e mando; just completed

[GarY Nava]

Hi Guys,
Here's my latest e mando; already to be shipped out.




And the video;


And some reasoning about my design on my blog.
http://guitar-maker.blogspot.co.uk/2...in-design.html
Cheers Gary

[mandroid]

Wouldn't 1_3 position switch have been Simpler ? Either-Or or Both..

I found the V knob hard to not hit, playing my Fender FM61.

so when I made the replacement scratch plate
to put better jack and pickup, on I bought a Concentric Gang pot too.
to move both where the Tone pot Hole Was

[Ron McMillan]

Impressive work, Gary. Thanks for sharing. Paul in Australia is going to love it.

[darrylicshon]

Nice

[GarY Nava]

Wouldn't 1_3 position switch have been Simpler ? Either-Or or Both..

I found the V knob hard to not hit, playing my Fender FM61.

so when I made the replacement scratch plate
to put better jack and pickup, on I bought a Concentric Gang pot too.
to move both where the Tone pot Hole Was

Still need a switch for series/parallel on the humbucker and I’m not too keen on push/pull pots, so I think this is a more elegant solution. Also I prefer log pots for volume and linear for tone- I haven’t come across a dual pot that offers this arrangement- if you have, I would be grateful if you could point me the right direction.
Cheers Gary

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Also I prefer log pots for volume and linear for tone- I haven’t come across a dual pot that offers this arrangement

Interesting.....I wonder what advantage there is in your choice of pots........totally opposite to the norm. Admittedly, Strats and Teles (and the other odd exception) have A pots for volume but thy also have As for tone as well..

[thistle3585]

Great looking instrument Gary. I use audio on volume and linear on tone.

From Seymour Duncan.... Choosing audio (log) vs. linear depends on what you will be using the pot for. You should always use audio pots for volume control, otherwise you will find that the volume does not change smoothly as you turn the pot up and down. With a linear taper pot, you will find that the volume increases slowly from 0 to about 60 or 70 percent, then increases rapidly from that point on. This is because there isn't a direct relationship between resistance and volume in a passive circuit (which is what a guitar with passive pickups is). Audio taper pots compensate for this, and give you a consistent volume change throughout the sweep.

A tone control, on the other hand, works best with a linear taper pot. The role of a tone control is to feed part of your signal to a capacitor that bleeds the treble to ground. In order to have a smooth transition from bright tone to mellow tone, the pot has to be linear. You can use an audio taper pot in a tone control, but you won't find the tone roll-off to be as smooth as it could be.

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Great looking instrument Gary. I use audio on volume and linear on tone.

From Seymour Duncan.... Choosing audio (log) vs. linear depends on what you will be using the pot for. You should always use audio pots for volume control, otherwise you will find that the volume does not change smoothly as you turn the pot up and down. With a linear taper pot, you will find that the volume increases slowly from 0 to about 60 or 70 percent, then increases rapidly from that point on. This is because there isn't a direct relationship between resistance and volume in a passive circuit (which is what a guitar with passive pickups is). Audio taper pots compensate for this, and give you a consistent volume change throughout the sweep.

A tone control, on the other hand, works best with a linear taper pot. The role of a tone control is to feed part of your signal to a capacitor that bleeds the treble to ground. In order to have a smooth transition from bright tone to mellow tone, the pot has to be linear. You can use an audio taper pot in a tone control, but you won't find the tone roll-off to be as smooth as it could be.

Odd one Andrew.....so why do most electric guitar manufacturers use Bs for volume and A for tone? Example....As far as I`m aware (although I haven`t ploughed through every single schematic), the only Gibson that uses an A for volume is the Explorer....

[thistle3585]

Pete,
I haven't any idea. I don't play guitar, so I have no idea what they do. That's how I was told to do it, so that's what I did.

[GarY Nava]

I’m with Andrew and Mr Duncan here. I’m not an electronics expert so I can’t argue the point, but most of what I’ve seen/read over the years states log(audio taper) for volume???? Which makes sense to me as the decibel is a logarithmic unit.
Oh and I forgot to mention the other reason for not using a three way selector- the output is stereo and this way I keep the signals independent.
Cheers Gary

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Just been doing a spot of Googling on the log vs lin debate.......seems it`s all down to personal preference......no right or wrong......
Since the pickup and components are part of the preamplifier circuit, there are so many variables to be considered....amps vary from maker to maker.....some folks use pedals, some don`t.......some crank up the overdrive while some play clean and all these variables change the perceived effect of adjusting the volume control.....
Then there`s the effect on the resonant frequency depending on pot value.....
Interesting !!!!!!!!
I`ve a feeling we`ll just stick to the way we already do things!

[Soundfarmer Pete]

Oh and I forgot to mention the other reason for not using a three way selector- the output is stereo and this way I keep the signals independent.
Cheers Gary

Just a thought Gary, if you`re sending magnetic and piezo independently to a stereo output, a DP On/On/On (6 terminal) mini toggle switch should do the job......