FAQ

FAQ

A brand new guitar is ordered subject to the current availability from online musical instrument stores. On delivery, it then takes a few days to meticulously build and test the modification - when all is good then the guitar is available to purchase:-)

The guitars I choose to buy and modify are specifically (and in no particular order of availability):

I currently only modify the above guitars:- any other guitar would potentially have a different body shape/pickup arrangement which would mean at the very least, re-designing the CNC files and holding jigs for the body - this takes extra time to design, set up and test (and consequently my costs go up). Other new guitars may be considered in future so please contact me to enquire.

Short answer:- No.
Long answer:- When working with a CNC machine many things can go wrong e.g. drill bit breaks, power cut, human error loading wrong file for example, guitar body works loose from the cnc table, holding jigs move, something works loose or breaks on the CNC machine…the list goes on…lol. Consequently one could end up with a pile of expensive and useless sawdust! Anybody that works with CNC's always checks the set up, then double checks, then triple checks..etc..and then on pressing the Start button the unexpected can still happen! That said, I have not written off any guitar body's to date touch wood;-) So it's not a risk I am comfortable to take on at the moment; at least when modifying an H.B./PMT guitar if things go wrong it's not such a big deal but if it's somebody else's precious guitar/Fender that gets ruined then it is a big deal!

Yes, so long as the left handed telecaster is available on the Thomann/PMT websites.

Addressable RGB LED strips emit audio interference and this was very noticeable when the guitar was originally fitted with a single coil bridge pickup, being played through a guitar amplifier. Hence the single coil pick has been replaced with a hot rail humbucker pickup, which considerably reduces the audio interference to a level that is practical and useable:- its more noticeable when using distortion/overdrive and a notch/parametric/EQ filter set to around 4kHz could further attenuate/eliminate the remaining low level audio interference…..but its not essential. Some of my modified guitars have a bridge humbucker fitted and these are totally silent.

I have modified a couple of precision style basses - see video of the bass player at https://matondesign.com/testimonials. They look great but are a pain to modify so I have not made any more.

The reason that they are a pain is that the body 'arm' contour has to be milled out (see photo) then replaced with a black 3d printed 'wall':- this raises the removed arm contour back up to the correct body depth. The two basses I have modified had slightly different body profiles too, so the CNC milling and  3d printed 'walls' were different on each bass. All very time consuming!

 

The installed LED strip and microprocessor are rated at 5V. So by using four AA 1.2V NiMH rechargeable batteries the total voltage is 4.8V which is acceptable. However, using standard throw-away alkaline batteries will give 6V which could damage the LED strip/microprocessor. In general, NiMH batteries also have a steadier discharge than alkaline batteries meaning they hold their rated voltage for longer than alkaline batteries when under high current draw (in short, NiMH batteries last longer for this guitar modification).

 

Yes, buyers outside the U.K. pay for the postage. In addition, for buyers outside the U.K. the guitar neck will be unscrewed from the body prior to packing (screws and neck plate included) - this means that the postage cost is considerably reduced!

No, sorry not do-able;-(

The LEDs can be selected to be (almost) white via the White keypad button; as with all addressable LED WS2812B strips it is achieved by mixing red, blue and green which becomes a close approximation to white.

No, I am not able to fit a neck pickup for sound output to the jack:- the neck pickup is too close to the LED's and therefore far too noisy. Unless of course you are not bothered about noise interference:-(

The top (and bottom) mirrors are made from acrylic. It is strong! However, just like guitar lacquer, it can get scratched. I have successfully removed light scratches from the top acrylic mirror using a soft cloth and toothpaste, buffing for an hour or so.....so patience will pay off here:-)

The existing LED strip could be cut near the neck to add in the extra LEDs for the neck.
However, adding more LEDs to the existing strip would potentially mean altering the software program on the ATmega nano:- please note that I am not willing to pass on my software program to the public domain. So either you write your own program to download onto the ATmega nano or let me know the total number of LEDs fitted and I could customise a  ATmega nano+p.c.b. for your total LED count.

The back of the guitar body has a cavity that has been cut out of the body to house the p.c.b./ATmega nano and a AA battery pack. It would be difficult to alter the shape/size of this cavity to house alternative electronics but not impossible (however, connecting an external D.C. power supply would be fairly easy though).

Brand new 'out of the box' AA rechargeable batteries are not always fully charged (e.g. they have sat around in the shop for months on end), so make sure to fully charge them first:- if the batteries do not have sufficient charge then the LEDs will not turn on or they will get stuck on a colour/mode (even though the microprocessor LED indicator is on).

The remote keypad coin battery needs to be healthy too as this could also cause the LEDs not turn on or get stuck on a colour/mode. A simple check is to aim the remote keypad sensor at your mobile phone camera then press any key on the remote keypad. On your camera screen you will see the remote keypad sensor quickly flash a few times each time you press a key (if the coin battery is healthy).

If the LEDs still do not come on then here are some further checks you can do: Checks for troubleshooting.