Transient Sounds

 PPG Internals  No Responses »
Mar 032023
 

The PPG Wavecomputer 360 and its successor, the Wave 2, were pure wavetable instruments. Starting with the Wave 2.2, PPG introduced the so-called Transient Sounds – essentially the same what would be called “samples” by the rest of the industry. Since this was at about the same time as the first Fairlight CMI (end of 1979) and the E-mu Emulator (1981) appeared, there wasn’t a widely established terminology yet – so PPG invented their own. So …

What is a Transient Sound?

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 Posted by at 15:29

Tinkerbelle – Pickguard Design

 Guitar Builder's Life,  No Responses »
Nov 272018
 

I haven’t started doing anything yet, but regarding the How, I got a rather good idea. From measurements, it was already clear that two additional Burns Tri-Sonic pickups would fit into the Mini May’s body. Here‘s a layout that should work quite nicely; the red lines are the additional routings that have to be done to the body. Still missing depth information, but otherwise complete. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 17:50

Now Where Do The Pickups Go?

 Billy Nvlay, Guitar Builder's Life  No Responses »
Nov 092018
 

Billy Nvlay’s sonic capabilities should match Brian Mays “Red Special” relatively closely. But the Red Special has 24 frets and a 24″ scale length, whereas the Stratocaster kit has 21 frets and a 25.5″ scale length. Maybe I’m overcomplicating things, but I think that the pickups should be in similar positions below the strings to produce a similar result. So how might that work? Continue reading »

 Posted by at 11:56

Billy Nvlay – Brian May’s Red Special as a Stratocaster

 Billy Nvlay, Guitar Builder's Life  No Responses »
Nov 022018
 

If you ever searched for “Brian May Guitar” on Aliexpress, you might have noticed the strange text “Bill Nvlay” that’s part of most descriptions. It meant quite a lot of head scratching until I found out what that’s supposed to mean: on the head of the guitars, there’s a faked “Brian May” signature. For the first copyist, the signature must have looked like “bill nvlay”, and since then it’s used that way 🙂

Since I just acquired a Stratocaster DIY kit without any hardware, I’ll outfit it with the circuit of Brian May’s Red Special – three Burns Tri-Sonic pickups in series, each of which can be switched in or out of phase. And since the Chinese text amuses me endlessly, I’ll call it “Billy Nvlay”. But I won’t apply Dr. May’s faked signature 🙂 Continue reading »

 Posted by at 20:33
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