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My Whamola WIP

~Ethan~

~Ethan~

Dec 3, 2008
258
2
Abilene, TX
#1
Hello all! I guess this belongs here. Being the big fan of Les Claypool that I am and my appreciation for strange things and such, I have decided to build a whamola. I'll be heading off to lowes today for some supplies and I think I know all I need but I have a question about a pickup.

I was searching musiciansfriend.com last night for pickups and came across this, http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-GK3B-Divided-Pickup?sku=700373 I thought this would be god since it's thin and would fit well on the one inch wide body,neck and it has an output jack on it so I wouldn't have to install one. Also it has some kind of synth on it so that would be cool.

Thoughts?

I will be posting pics of my progress. (Hopefully I can get photobucket to work. :rolleyes:)
 
#3
Just to elaborate on that: that pickup is not a regular pickup - its output is not intended to be used alone. You plug it into the V-Bass or a midi converter like an Axxon, and those devices turn it into synth sounds and/or midi information for triggering other equipment.

Further, if you were to mount it so it runs parallel to the string (which I'm assuming is your plan), all the coils would be picking up sound from slightly different points along the length, and when these mix together I'm thinking you would get a lot of nasty cancellation.

The end result is that this will sound horrible and be quite expensive for your application. Here's what I suggest:

Use a cheapo half of a P pickup; I'm pretty sure this is what the guy who made the Whamola used. This is kind of a gimmicky instrument (which is fine - I love gimmicks) so I don't think you need a ton of fidelity.

Alternatively, if you want it to look a bit cooler, Link Removed makes single string pickups (the Scarab model on that page) which would work rather nicely I think. Having just one made, even though they are handmade, would be rather cheap, I'd guess.
 
#7
Ok thanks!
Hopefully I'll be able to get my fingerboard on today. I have to cut down the body first because I could only find one that was an inch and a half.

P.S. - There may or may not be any progress pics. I tend to get lost in the construction and forget to take pics.:smug:
 

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