The New Monique Project: new pickups, new wiring, new look

[mezcalhead]

Sweet!

[Mute]

What can I say? It's all black = just f*****g awesome! 

[k o y l]

Thanks a lot everybody ! 

koyl, looks great!  just so you know though, you can take the plastic cover off of the piezo, just make sure the two pieces of brass don't touch each other.  i actually cut mine so its roughly the same shape as the bridge.  a TOM is a bit thinner so more might hang over, but it will at least be smaller without all that plastic...

looks fancy though!

I removed the plastic around another piezo I had so I'll put this one in.
I've cut one of the wire in the process.. now I'm pretty sure the problem comes from the hair thin wires of the piezo. I'll replace them in the new one... I want to try to use the kind of little "wires" that hold guitar cables together when you buy them.. do you think it would work ? (I have nothing else but vintage cloth wire: that would be too big)

You did cut your piezo ??    but how ?  you did some king of square with it ? and it still work ?

One more thing I'd like to know is how you attached it to your bridge ?
    The thing with TOMS is they're not flat underneath: they're a little curved.. it makes it tricky if not impossible to use tape that is sticky on both sides..and I'm afraid that if I put something too thick, it will not transmit the sound so well..

Wow!

Black is the new Black!

Great looking guitar. I think the carving of a mensch would be great if it's done properly - else it will look....homemade 

Hehe yeah that's what I think too... and that's why I'm hesitant about it.
The tricky thing would be to make the contours...

Another solution would be to make a mensch out of a white strat trem back plate (I have one) and to stick it on the black guard.. a little more safe I think.

Seeing that sticker makes me think of my first guitar - a Cherry red ES335 clone (Vester was the brand IIRC) - I had a big Mensch sticker on the back of it.
Later that guitar was stolen....

Any pics left ?

I've read FUZZ_KIND had a Mustang with the Mensch as well.. 

....soo when will you start next project?

It's already started: it's called the Messblaster !!

I will not finish it so soon I guess: I didn't received my TV Tron pups and I have received my Money back from Paypal so I'll have to get some new pickups.. probably a new pair of Novak's.
I'll wait to really try the two Jazzmaster I already have with my new set-up and see from here to choose what I'll put in the Messblaster.

Wonderful!

P.S.
I'snt the action a bit on the high side? Do you like just as it is or that's due to the piezo under the bridge?

That's what I thought when I set the bridge height but when I played it, I realized it was perfect like this. It's very easy to play and string are not too close to the fretboard so they don't buzz when you play hard. I'm kind of heavy handed on the right hand... not that I play hard all the time but..mmm.. I don't know how to explain well.. I kinda rip the strings rather than I strum.. I just can't strum softly (like Mezcalhead clips in the offsetguitars.com video for example..).. even when I try to hit the string softly, there's always something angular about it (I guess you can hear that well in the pickup demos I posted).
It used to bother me a lot... but then I realized I was not the only one in this case.. the other guitar player being Marc Ribot.. so now I'm ok with
it.. 

You're half (maybe more) responsible of the result. I think the non-glossy finish adds a lot to the "mean" look of the guitar.
I'm very happy it turned out so well: it matches my new music project very well. 

[Pingu]

"It is as black as Malevich's square
The cold furnace in which we stare
A high pitch on a future scale"

[the older brother]

Maybe "Nina" would be a proper second name on the guitar:

Black is the colour of my true loves hair

One of the finest songs of all time.

And one of my all time fav artists have made an awesome version of it too:

The Twilight Singers sings Nina Simone

I think your uitar is as beautiful as that song 

[k o y l]

I piezo is working ! 

I did absolutely nothing on it..  :-\

The 1k pot is way too much for it: it's ear piercing and way too much uncontrolable.. next time I'll open the guitar, I'll replace it with a 500k one.

[haesslich]

I piezo is working ! 

I did absolutely nothing on it..  :-\

you have magic hands!
in a german tv show they are looking for "the next uri geller" - maybe a suitable job for you.
"i can switch piezo pickups on and of with my hands - without touching them!" 

[the older brother]

I piezo is working ! 

I did absolutely nothing on it..  :-\

The 1k pot is way too much for it: it's ear piercing and way too much uncontrolable.. next time I'll open the guitar, I'll replace it with a 500k one.

1k pot? 

[Offshat]

he's gotta mean 1 meg

[k o y l]

he's gotta mean 1 meg

Yes that's what I meant.    .. That's what is happening when I write on the forum before drinking my morning coffee.. 

[dain]

Thanks a lot everybody ! 

koyl, looks great!  just so you know though, you can take the plastic cover off of the piezo, just make sure the two pieces of brass don't touch each other.  i actually cut mine so its roughly the same shape as the bridge.  a TOM is a bit thinner so more might hang over, but it will at least be smaller without all that plastic...

looks fancy though!

I removed the plastic around another piezo I had so I'll put this one in.
I've cut one of the wire in the process.. now I'm pretty sure the problem comes from the hair thin wires of the piezo. I'll replace them in the new one... I want to try to use the kind of little "wires" that hold guitar cables together when you buy them.. do you think it would work ? (I have nothing else but vintage cloth wire: that would be too big)

You did cut your piezo ??    but how ?  you did some king of square with it ? and it still work ?

One more thing I'd like to know is how you attached it to your bridge ?
    The thing with TOMS is they're not flat underneath: they're a little curved.. it makes it tricky if not impossible to use tape that is sticky on both sides..and I'm afraid that if I put something too thick, it will not transmit the sound so well..

you're giving the piezo too much credit.  it is basically just a microphone made by a caveman.  two pieces of metal with glue in between.  the only thing you need to keep in mind is not to let the two pieces of metal touch or it will short out.  but you can bend it all day long and it will work as long as the two metal pices aren't touching.  the plastic cover on it right now is all ready deadening the transmission of sound somewhat so adding a layer of sticky tape to it wont make it that much worse.  i cut the edges off mine (where it hangs over the bridge) it works great (or as great as a caveman microphone works!)

[the older brother]

he's gotta mean 1 meg

Yes that's what I meant.    .. That's what is happening when I write on the forum before drinking my morning coffee.. 

Just teasing! 

I wonder if a 1K pot would be TOO MUCH - where would you go from there? 

[k o y l]

Thanks a lot everybody ! 

koyl, looks great!  just so you know though, you can take the plastic cover off of the piezo, just make sure the two pieces of brass don't touch each other.  i actually cut mine so its roughly the same shape as the bridge.  a TOM is a bit thinner so more might hang over, but it will at least be smaller without all that plastic...

looks fancy though!

I removed the plastic around another piezo I had so I'll put this one in.
I've cut one of the wire in the process.. now I'm pretty sure the problem comes from the hair thin wires of the piezo. I'll replace them in the new one... I want to try to use the kind of little "wires" that hold guitar cables together when you buy them.. do you think it would work ? (I have nothing else but vintage cloth wire: that would be too big)

You did cut your piezo ??    but how ?  you did some king of square with it ? and it still work ?

One more thing I'd like to know is how you attached it to your bridge ?
    The thing with TOMS is they're not flat underneath: they're a little curved.. it makes it tricky if not impossible to use tape that is sticky on both sides..and I'm afraid that if I put something too thick, it will not transmit the sound so well..

you're giving the piezo too much credit.  it is basically just a microphone made by a caveman.  two pieces of metal with glue in between.  the only thing you need to keep in mind is not to let the two pieces of metal touch or it will short out.  but you can bend it all day long and it will work as long as the two metal pices aren't touching.  the plastic cover on it right now is all ready deadening the transmission of sound somewhat so adding a layer of sticky tape to it wont make it that much worse.  i cut the edges off mine (where it hangs over the bridge) it works great (or as great as a caveman microphone works!)

If the cover is deadening the transmition, what will it be without it !    As it is now, it's louder than the pickups and VERY ear piercing. 

But yeak I'll try to experiment with it... even if it goes all wrong, I will not go bankrupt ! 

he's gotta mean 1 meg

Yes that's what I meant.    .. That's what is happening when I write on the forum before drinking my morning coffee.. 

Just teasing! 

I wonder if a 1K pot would be TOO MUCH - where would you go from there? 

Infrasounds ! 

[the older brother]

Is it the rythm roller pots that's connected to the piezo? (I'm to lazy to read me to that  )

You could try with changing the 1Meg to another 50K pot - that would soften the sound up quite a bit...

Just an Idea...

[k o y l]

Is it the rythm roller pots that's connected to the piezo? (I'm to lazy to read me to that  )

You could try with changing the 1Meg to another 50K pot - that would soften the sound up quite a bit...

Just an Idea...

One of the roller pots is a tone for the neck pup. It's a 1 meg pot
The other one is a volume for the piezo: it's a 1 meg one too.. but yeah, that's what I'll do: trying a smaller value until the sound is good.