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 okgg.org > Forum Index > Modding > Hellraiser Mods!

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Nikola
Hung Like a Flea


Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 790
Location: Edmond, OK
Hellraiser Mods!  Reply with quote  

Well, I got an itch to fuck with stuff so I grabbed my guitars and I headed over to grab Leb and we got to work.

The Schecter Hellraiser comes stock with EMG 81/85 set pickups which are the de facto metal pickups these days but I wanted a little more organic sound out of them so the first item on the list was to mod them to run 18v instead of the stock 9v.

I should have taken in-progress pics but it's very simple if you know the basics. Literally all you do is add an extra 9v battery and wire it in series with the first battery to boost it to 18v. What this does is add more headroom in the pre-amp of the pickup so that the signal will clip less and it will sound less compressed.



Now we also added a DPDT switch to the mix so that I can switch back and forth from 9v to 18v whenever I so choose since there's really no reason not to.

You might also notice that there is something else attached to that switch and that is the exciting part that we are not done with yet. We wired up an RGB LED to the switch that shows Red when it's at 18v and Blue when it's at 9v.





Over the next few days I'm going to get some surface mount LEDs that are much brighter and mount them underneath the Floyd Rose tremelo so that the whole area glows on the front of the guitar. This will likely kill my 9v batteries a little faster but should generally just make me shred 27% faster from the added LED badassery.

At the top of this pic you can see the space routed for the tremelo to move and there is plenty of room to mount the LEDs out of the way.


Here you can see the area from the front that will glow.

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Post Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:20 pm  View user's profile Send private message AIM Address ICQ Number
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

not the typical computer mo I;m used to but that is pretty badass man.....

Very Happy
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Post Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:06 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Anreill
812,800,000nm Satisfies Me!


Joined: 19 Mar 2003
Posts: 1376
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

I need to put new pickups in my bass....

Post Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:07 pm  View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Nikola
Hung Like a Flea


Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 790
Location: Edmond, OK
 Reply with quote  

Well, I got back to working on the guitar tonight, again with Leb's help. We tried about 20 different LEDs and poured through everything RadioShack had before we ended up deciding on some LEDs from a string of Christmas lights!

It's interesting to note that so far we haven't been able to find LEDs quite like these anywhere else. They have a conical cut into the top that helps disperse the light in a 360 degree angle to the sides as opposed to a much smaller viewing angle out from the top of the LED.

Anyways, here's what we got after wiring them up on a breadboard section that Leb cut too short Razz The copper leads at the bottom was the solution to the too-short breadboard.






After that was all accomplished we drilled a hole from the Floyd Rose cavity to the electronics one. I almost cried drilling into my baby, but the worst of that was to come later.






After that we fed the wires through and soldered up the resistors to another small piece of breadboard and realized we didn't have any foam tape to mount any of this with so we went to Wal-Mart to grab it, came back and continued on mounting them in place.








After all of that, I had to decide whether I really wanted to drill a hole through the gorgeous quilted maple top or find some other way to switch between 9v and 18v. After a couple hours of deliberation I finally gave in and drilled through and countersunk a hole to mount the switch in. I may or may not have shed tears drilling through the top.




Once that was done we buttoned it all back up and sure enough it all still works, but more importantly it looks SWEET!










The next mod for this guitar will probably be a momentary killswitch that I can press to instantly kill all signal from the guitar. It will have to be able to be very low latency so I can spam it, but we're still deciding on how best to accomplish that.
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Post Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:49 am  View user's profile Send private message AIM Address ICQ Number
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
 Reply with quote  

You guys got skillz. Nice!
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Post Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:47 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Anreill
812,800,000nm Satisfies Me!


Joined: 19 Mar 2003
Posts: 1376
Location: OKC
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Killswitch eh?

What, you want to be the next Buckethead or something? Razz

As to drilling through it, I understand your pain, I've considered doing some addons to my bass but just never can bring myself to do it.

Post Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:24 am  View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Nikola
Hung Like a Flea


Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 790
Location: Edmond, OK
 Reply with quote  

Anreill wrote: Killswitch eh?

What, you want to be the next Buckethead or something? Razz


To be honest, I'm not sure where I got the idea from it for although I know that Buckethead and EVH and a few others have been known to use them. I don't even know what I would use it for right now, but it just seems like something that would be neat to have.

Leb has been trying to convince me to make the switch via capacitive touch so we can hide a bit of metal from the back of the guitar and then I just touch the area near it on the front and that would be all that's required. I'm worried that that might eventually wear through the finish of the guitar if I used it alot, but we'll see.
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Post Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:42 pm  View user's profile Send private message AIM Address ICQ Number
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