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Light up position markers.

Bassmanmike1

Bassmanmike1

Sittin' In Limbo
Jan 13, 2011
682
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Marysville, CA
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#1
I built a neck for a client with light up side markers. They are fiber optic with a single light source located in the body.

This is where I got the fiber optic kit from. Invalid Link Removed

Problem is they are not bright enough. Does anyone out there have another source for fiber optic kits specifically for guitar necks? I've searched and haven't come up with anything. Maybe I'm just not using the right search criteria, so I figured I would ask here. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
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#3
NigeJ said:
The only other kit I'm aware of is the FretFX strip which sticks to the side of the neck.
Click to expand...

Since this neck is already completed with the fiber optics already installed that wouldn't be an option. What I am really looking for is a different light source I could swap out with the one I have that would be brighter. Thanks for the reply though.
 
#4
Depending on how much flexibility there is with your fretboard you might be able to wire up a separate LED per marker (small ones 3 mm diameter or less). There are some very bright LEDs available.

Alternatively, look at a large COB type LED that could drive more light through your fiber optic setup. What LED do you have currently?
 
#5
Jeff Siddall said:
Depending on how much flexibility there is with your fretboard you might be able to wire up a separate LED per marker (small ones 3 mm diameter or less). There are some very bright LEDs available.

Alternatively, look at a large COB type LED that could drive more light through your fiber optic setup. What LED do you have currently?
Click to expand...

This is the kit I bought Link Removed

It has an RGB LED that I wired up with a 3 way switch so you can select what color you want. It runs off of two AA batteries, so only 3 volts.
Is there any way of changing it to a 9 volt battery with out frying the bulb? Other than following wiring diagrams I'm not that electronics savvy.
 
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#6
Bassmanmike1 said:
This is the kit I bought Link Removed

It has an RGB LED that I wired up with a 3 way switch so you can select what color you want. It runs off of two AA batteries, so only 3 volts.
Is there any way of changing it to a 9 volt battery with out frying the bulb? Other than following wiring diagrams I'm not that electronics savvy.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... usually 3 V isn't enough to drive a blue (and sometimes green) LED to its maximum output. Maybe that is part of why it is dim. It is possible to run LEDs off a 9 V battery, but much more of the battery energy will be wasted as heat (and a corresponding reduction in battery life) unless you have some kind of step down converter.

If you want to stick with the fiber setup you will probably need to change to a brighter LED. You might get more output from the LED if you change to 3 - AA batteries (and a suitable change in resistors) or maybe a more specialty lithium battery, but that will require some knowledge of the properties of the LED, and an assortment of resistors, and ideally a multimeter.
 
#7
Jeff Siddall said:
Hmmm... usually 3 V isn't enough to drive a blue (and sometimes green) LED to its maximum output. Maybe that is part of why it is dim. It is possible to run LEDs off a 9 V battery, but much more of the battery energy will be wasted as heat (and a corresponding reduction in battery life) unless you have some kind of step down converter.

If you want to stick with the fiber setup you will probably need to change to a brighter LED. You might get more output from the LED if you change to 3 - AA batteries (and a suitable change in resistors) or maybe a more specialty lithium battery, but that will require some knowledge of the properties of the LED, and an assortment of resistors, and ideally a multimeter.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I figured I would be able to up the voltage to get it brighter. As you said just need to know the properties of the LED. I contacted the place I got the kit from, so I should be getting some info as to how to do this, what value resistor, etc. I think I'm on the right track with this now. Thanks again.
 
#8
Bassmanmike1 said:
This is where I got the fiber optic kit from. Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
I used that same kit the one time I installed Fiber-O's.

I had a hard time getting ALL the dots to glow at the same intensity.
If all the ends of your fibers at the collector tube aren't cut exactly square... and *polished* ... they don't transfer the light as well.
 
#9
At the risk of boring the (bleep) out of some folks...

LEDs are best driven by controlled current - it's common to drive them with controlled (or battery) voltage through a resistor, but that falls off ideal in many ways, especially as the battery voltage changes.

There are now many good LED driver chips in the market (well, who knows in the market of the moment with weird shortages due to pandemic, but generally...) and there are quite a few "flashlight-oriented" ones that include a boost converter so that 1.5 or 3V batteries can drive a 4-5 volt LED. But the volts are not fixed (in the good chips) - the amps are, and the voltage is "as needed to produce the "safe but effective amps" for best light output without frying the LED. Among other tricks, the voltage required to drive a current through the LED changes as the temperature does, in a way that promotes "thermal runaway" (it gets hot, it draws more current, it gets hotter, it draws more current, it fries and goes dark) if you use a dumb driver arrangement too close to the limits.

And Rockhewer is exactly correct that the coupling (either by polishing to have a removable LED, or if you're really confident in your LED life, via epoxy) makes a big difference to the output.

Due to the flashlight market, there are a TON of really high output (like, blindingly) battery driven LED packages out there. And plenty of cheap crappy stuff still in circulation, as well as eBay - "failed quality control? - that doesn't me we throw it away, we just sell it on eBay" parts as well. Not the only kind of parts you might find on eBay, but not to be ignored. Some of the non-DOT rated (...cheap) headlight replacements have lower range voltage that will light on a 9V, but I wouldn't bet on the 9V lasting long. But they are bright.

Depending on your driver, jacking up the voltage supply can be a short trip to dark-land.
 
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#10
Thanks for all the info everyone. After repeated attempts to contact the company I got my kit from I got no response. What I would like is some links to other products others have used. I know someone in this vast knowledge pool we have here has built a neck with fiber optic position markers. What did you use for a light source and where did you get it from? Links please, I'm ready to go shopping.
 

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