rwillett

@Delberthot It is an active EMG pickup. I'm hoping it doesn't need a ground BUT I may change this depending on mood, tone and whether the dammed EMG pickups actually work This is work in progress to see how things might fit. From looking at this, the tone and volume are too close and I'll probably move the tone to the back and put the output socket in the middle. The battery will probably be in the bottom, thats the bit underneath the pickups. But all of this needs further modelling. This is all about the "art of the possible". Model as much as you can in CAD and then print as little as you can. Rob

I did see that film. I don;t have a phobia about them (yet) but they are creepy.

That is genuinely frightening....

A few years ago I hit a tree quite hard whilst mountain biking, my retina started to come off my right eye. It was fixed through an emergency op (Big shout out to St Pauls Eye Clinic in Liverpool for a late night op). Things like angled holes and subtle details need to pointed out to me now. That and getting old is a bummer.

I had to blow that picture up to see that. I can now see an angled hole when I look very closely. I still had to look very carefully though Thanks Rob

That's really helpful. I can't see where the bridge is grounded on the treble side in the photos. I'm sure it is from other photos of the inside but I can't see it here. What have I missed? Just to be clear, I am going to ground the bridge to the rail and it's very likely to be on the treble end and is possibly going to be through the tightening screw. I have 3-4 different methods and trying to work out the easiest and 'best' method, though unclear what best actually means here.

Not forgotten

As I need something to keep me going during some hairy times at work, I thought I'd build a simple type of rail guitar. I also wanted a small, light(ish) travel guitar. Unsure at the moment if this is a headless or headed which is not actually a big problem at the moment (or I don't think it is) The Westone "The Rail" is an inspiration but nothing more than that. There's a separate thread on how the earth grounding works on it elsewhere So far I have the mental image in my head, I have an active EMG precision bass pickup(s) which I brought from the parish, but I've never used it or even tried it so who knows. I've got a headless bridge and neck bits and bobs as well as some aluminium tubing to test this out. If it works, I suspect I'd use stainless steel tubes. Printing the stuff is no problem, and I have worked out how to keep build the strength in with some clever (and simple) design (and some more aluminium). The neck will be either an Ibanez TMB100 (I think) if headless or an Aria with Hipshot tuners if it has a head. I'm tending to think it will be headless. The design is based around the pickups working outwards. All my other guitars are from the outside in to get the right curves. This has no curves and is extremely functional. So here's the pickups layout. I need to add in the tone and volume controls as that's what the EMG has. That will determine the width and then the neck and bridge just follow on depending on the scale. What could go wrong ? Rob

Thats helpful and does seem to indicate that the screw was connecting and possibly grounding on the metal tube. I've worked out a way to do it that isn't too complex (or I think I have). I'll build this from the pickup outwards. I have a a choice on an Ibanez neck of some description or an Aria PRO II Std one with Hipshots. One advantage of a rail design is that its quite easy to adapt between headless and normal necks. I suspect though that it might be headless though and the Ibanez might be sacrificed here. Decisions, decisions, decisions... Rob

Oddly enough I have that sitting on my desk

When I searched for this earlier, a lot of the responses say that the bridge should be grounded. A few say it makes no difference but a number of sites state it is essential to reduce hum and for safety. https://www.google.com/search?q=do+guitar+bridges+need+to+be+grounded+safety&num=10&client=firefox-b-d&uact=5&oq=do+guitar+bridges+need+to+be+grounded+safety We are going slightly off topic here, but I'm interested in safety as its me. A statement such as "There is no safety issue (and an argument the other way)" could do with being expanded as I couldn't see anything that said grounding the bridge could be dangerous. I am not an expert in electrical stuff, so I'm trying to follow best practise here. I recognise that t'internet is sometimes wrong so I'd be interested in finding out why. Thanks Rob

I read that with great interest. A good insight into how things were done.

The point is how are the steel rails connected to a sliding middle section. Something that rubs against the rail is a poor option as the rails will have grease from fingers. A friction type of option is not elegant and I don't think Westone would do that. My 83 westone guitar is very well made I'm struggling to believe Westone just allowed something to rub against a rail and also some of the rails may be powder coated so that can't be the option there. I could be wrong but I would like to get to the bottom of this problem with a definitive answer. Thanks Rob

Still unclear as to how it's earthed though. Given various regulations around the world I would have thought legislation would insist on it.

Too expensive for it's condition fo me.

Thanks for this. It does look like the bridge isn't earthed. One way to check would be see if there is electrical conductivity between the bridge and the ground on output socket. My thoughts here are NOT to build a Westone clone and replicate crappy electrics, but something a little more interesting. I've got decent pickups and decent pots so the electrical side isn't an issue. Building the open nature of the bass is more of a challenge but I've some ideas on how it might work and look. Thanks Rob

Seen the diagram. Doesn't show if the bridge is earthed sadly. Thanks Rob

It's a puzzle

@Stub Mandrel Nothing I've seen shows a contact strip in any picture. If one tube is hot and the other earthed then surely that would create issues if you touched both parts? the current is virtually zero, but your body would interfere (I would think). Rob

Hi Si That would probably scratch the tubes, but not definitely. Rob

That might be how it's done but that would probably also scratch the tubes and I've seen pictures of immaculate guitars. No scratches at all. Its a puzzle and I can't work it out. It might be that the bridge isn't earthed but I'm sure there would be hum. Rob

Yes it could be, but in earlier pictures of the Westone it has different coloured rails. These might be anodised (and probably are), but a piece of copper braid rubbing against the tubes seems a poor way to do it in my book. The tubes will have oil on them from your fingers and would very gently scratch the anodising or the lacquer or whatever. I would have to do something like this if I built it, but it doesn't strike me as an elegant solution. However I might be wrong and this is the way Westone did it. Rob

I don't have any machining capability, though I think you are right, polished titanium would be fabulous. I'll just see what my daughter would fetch on eBay to be able to buy the titanium blocks needed The aluminium backbone works for 'traditional' guitars but wouldn't work for this as it needs to be empty in the middle. The issue at the moment is the shear loading on the parts of the neck and bridge where it connects to the metal tubes. There's circa 160+lbs coming from the bass strings and that will break a 15mm plywood backbone and bend 12mm aluminium. Already tried that, so there a lot of stress in certain areas of the guitar. I need to work out what the "art of the possible" is here. I've a number of ideas to explore. Rob

@Maude From reading various descriptions it's wood. 3D printing on it's own would not be strong enough. You can't make even a six string by just printing it. My six string and my headless both have an aluminium backbone. This works very well and the sustain is excellent. However the two steel rails will add a lot of strength, and will be somewhat of an alternative to alumnium backbone but will move the forces elsewhere. I'm interested in seeing what the shear forces would be if it's just printed. I *think* that it's not going to be strong enough TBH, but I'm happy to experiment. I also have a Plan B Rob