Interesting development... after I alerted the customer that I was publishing this video, he informed me that he decided to gift this guitar to his guitar teacher, whom he has to thank for his musical development and who had actually once gifted another guitar (that I also worked on) to him.
Good luck with that aluminum neck. My buddy Frank had a Kramer 350G IIRC that had an aluminum neck. He loved the guitar for it's incredible sustain. The problem was using it on stage. You could play a note and actually hear it go sharp as the neck began to expand under the heat of the stage lighting.
I am personally not a fan of aluminum necks. They do have a slick look, although not for me, but I think they are too heavy and not serviceable. There's not practical application.
Nice guitar. Just put masking tape on the neck heel to get a tight fit, 8-). But seriously, how do you adjust saddle height when you have a compound radius neck?
The Aluminati Aurora neck does not have a compound radius. The specs on their webpage says, “Stainless steel frets at 12" radius“. But to answer your question, if you want to dial in a perfect radius across the saddles on a guitar with a compound radius neck, in theory, you could do a little math. In theory you could measure the radius on the nut, measure the radius on the 12th fret, and calculate what the radius should be across the saddles. In practice you could measure the radius on the last fret (to confirm that it’s on spec), and then use the radius gauge at the heel of the neck (between the neck and the pickup) and dial-in the saddle height that way. In theory, you would be a little bit off, but you could still play the guitar at the beer festival, LOL.
After a quick Google search I found this www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/geometry-solids/cone.php cone calculator. I'm not looking too closely into this, right now (as I don't have a compound radius on the bench) but I think that cone formulas are what would ultimately be used to figure out the radius over the saddles, when it is not specified by the manufacturer.
The pickups on that guitar were the Lace Alumitone pickups. They are quite different from conventional pickups. The Alumitone pickups have a primary coil that consists of a single turn, which has a double function. It's primary function is to induce current, when the string is played. That primary coil is a closed loop, so once current flows through the loop, it creates a magnetic field, which is picked up by the secondary pickup, also called the transformer (which might be a misnomer). The sound quality that you are hearing can probably be attributed to the Alumitone pickups - not to the material the neck is made of. That would be my best guess.
@@GuitarQuackery Thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot more sense that it is the pickups and not the neck. I guess if I was paying more attention, I would have noticed that the pickups are called Alumitone. I would say that they pretty much nailed what I perceive to be the sound of aluminum.
@@danrunnoft6642 I actually already made some B roll video recording of these pickups, while I had the guitar on the bench and I'm planning to make a separate video about how these pickups work. Dylan from Dylan Talks Tone already made a video about them, but I think there is a part in his explanation that could easily be misunderstood. That's the reason why I have the idea to make a separate video. But, as always, I am simply swamped with work and hardly have time to male these UA-cam videos. It would really help if the channel was monetized, but after 1+ year I still have less than 1k subscribers and less than 4k view hours.
Neat video! Lots of interesting aspects to the video and cool to see you working with a guitar that has parts off the beaten path!
Interesting development... after I alerted the customer that I was publishing this video, he informed me that he decided to gift this guitar to his guitar teacher, whom he has to thank for his musical development and who had actually once gifted another guitar (that I also worked on) to him.
Good luck with that aluminum neck. My buddy Frank had a Kramer 350G IIRC that had an aluminum neck. He loved the guitar for it's incredible sustain. The problem was using it on stage. You could play a note and actually hear it go sharp as the neck began to expand under the heat of the stage lighting.
I am personally not a fan of aluminum necks. They do have a slick look, although not for me, but I think they are too heavy and not serviceable. There's not practical application.
When you finish you can post it to me 😂😂 that’s a masterpiece.❤
As it turns out, my customer ended up giving away this guitar.
Bravo Good sir! You are a fanrastic luthier!
Thank you very much.
You seem to be a very good guitar technician. I wish you were in my area. That's a beautiful neck By the way. Fantastic work. Keep it up.
Nice guitar. Just put masking tape on the neck heel to get a tight fit, 8-). But seriously, how do you adjust saddle height when you have a compound radius neck?
The Aluminati Aurora neck does not have a compound radius. The specs on their webpage says, “Stainless steel frets at 12" radius“.
But to answer your question, if you want to dial in a perfect radius across the saddles on a guitar with a compound radius neck, in theory, you could do a little math. In theory you could measure the radius on the nut, measure the radius on the 12th fret, and calculate what the radius should be across the saddles.
In practice you could measure the radius on the last fret (to confirm that it’s on spec), and then use the radius gauge at the heel of the neck (between the neck and the pickup) and dial-in the saddle height that way.
In theory, you would be a little bit off, but you could still play the guitar at the beer festival, LOL.
@@GuitarQuackery Thanks. If I ever get a guitar with a compound neck I'll know what to do.
I guess, next time someone brings a guitar with a compound radius neck, I should make a video.
After a quick Google search I found this www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/geometry-solids/cone.php cone calculator. I'm not looking too closely into this, right now (as I don't have a compound radius on the bench) but I think that cone formulas are what would ultimately be used to figure out the radius over the saddles, when it is not specified by the manufacturer.
Is it just my imagination, or does that aluminum neck make the guitar sound aluminum?
The pickups on that guitar were the Lace Alumitone pickups. They are quite different from conventional pickups. The Alumitone pickups have a primary coil that consists of a single turn, which has a double function. It's primary function is to induce current, when the string is played. That primary coil is a closed loop, so once current flows through the loop, it creates a magnetic field, which is picked up by the secondary pickup, also called the transformer (which might be a misnomer).
The sound quality that you are hearing can probably be attributed to the Alumitone pickups - not to the material the neck is made of. That would be my best guess.
@@GuitarQuackery Thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot more sense that it is the pickups and not the neck. I guess if I was paying more attention, I would have noticed that the pickups are called Alumitone. I would say that they pretty much nailed what I perceive to be the sound of aluminum.
@@danrunnoft6642 I actually already made some B roll video recording of these pickups, while I had the guitar on the bench and I'm planning to make a separate video about how these pickups work.
Dylan from Dylan Talks Tone already made a video about them, but I think there is a part in his explanation that could easily be misunderstood. That's the reason why I have the idea to make a separate video.
But, as always, I am simply swamped with work and hardly have time to male these UA-cam videos. It would really help if the channel was monetized, but after 1+ year I still have less than 1k subscribers and less than 4k view hours.