GregP

Strobe tuner. Nothing beats an expert pair of piano-tuner's ears, though.

I'm only posting because I happen to be online-- there are a multitude of people on here who know better than me; however, I'm a chatty type, so here's a bit of what I know: 1. A Wilkinson's action is smooth, but you're right-- dive-bombing will be fairly out of the question if you want tuning stability. To improve stability, use a low-friction nut (ie. GraphTec) and locking tuners, if you decide to go this route. 2. You DO need gentle palm technique when using a standard floating Floyd, but not significantly moreso than other floating trems. The little knobbies themselves shouldn't get in the way, though, since your palm will be touching the bridge right at the point where the strings 'end'. The knobbies are a little ways back from that. Alternatively, by setting it up for pitching down only (like EVH), you're less likely to throw it out of whack with palm-muting technique. 3. I always thought Floyds were 15" radius, but the ones I see at StewMac are 14" radius. You might be able to get them in a variety of 'flavours', but I don't recall 12" being commonly available. Also, maybe 14" IS the only radius available. I'm sure somebody knowledgeable will clear it up soon. Greg

Awesome! That's exactly the kind of carve I was thinking of. I'll have to see if the local Lee Valley or Home Depot carries 120-grit flap discs. Greg

I don't know that I'd be able to do a step-by-step in Cubase, since I don't use it. Somewhere in Cubase there should be a way to set up audio devices. (a properties, 'audio options' or similar). When you open the audio device configuration box, what device does it say it's using? Having a delay is not only normal but expected if you're not using a low-latency (ASIO) driver. If you're using the normal Windows (WDM) drivers, you will probably be experiencing what's called "latency" (the delay between when you play something, and when you hear it). So the first step is making sure that your audio card is installed and configured properly. What version of Cubase are you using? It'll help me find the correct info. Greg

I'm still working on my first project. I don't have enough scrap accumulated. Then again, I guess I could always try it out with a plain old pine 2X4. Cheers for the tips. The router idea is sounding the best so far. I need to get myself a perfectly flat sanding block, still. I like the idea of working the wood over the block better than working the block over the wood, though, so I've been considering one of those granite reference planes. I wonder if any of the local billiards suppliers would know where I could get my hands on a cracked piece of billiard-table slate. That might do the trick, too. You're absolutely right about the fact that I'm over-thinking, though. Part of it is simply due to the fact that I have zero job stability. I work as a supply teacher now that my contract is up, and you never know when you're going to get enough shifts in a month to make ends meet. Until I can afford to screw up, I won't be able to relax and just allow myself to make errors. Greg

Good point about Intel. As far as I know, their stumbling block has been backward compatibility. I don't have a big thing about 64-bit, either, though-- when I last upgraded, I had the option and stuck with 32-bit anyhow. The main thing about the Athlon-64, though, is that the architechture is simply more efficient, even in 32-bit mode. Greg

Apparently we've been reading conflicting literature. It's possible that the AMD at the gamer's place was heavily overclocked and hence all the cooling apparatus. As for Intel and 64-bit; that's funny, because last I heard they were lagging WAAAaaayyyy behind. They've actually had to cancel different development programs because they simply weren't working out. Greg

I don't remember Ed Roman being anti-truss-rod. Er.. Yeah, the truss rod won't noticeably affect sustain. I suppose if you rigged up a blind test, I'd be willing to believe (just for the sake of argument, not because I actually DO) that you could maybe get one more second of sustain out of a rod-less neck. Would that 1 second be worth it? How often does anyone sit there and hold a note until it completely fades? That would make for some pretty boring guitar work. Even on a system with infinite sustain (ie. Sustainiac), nobody would just sit there and hold a note for that long. There's really no point to being so sustain-crazy that you'd sacrifice something as important as the truss rod. I'm not saying that sustain isn't important. We all like good sustain. But there comes a point where there are diminished returns. The difference between a poorly-assempled piece of plywood and a well-crafted hardwood guitar is a significant difference in sustain. But the difference between a guitar and the same guitar without a truss rod? It doesn't even bear consideration. Greg

The honest truth is that both are fine. Pentiums suffer from what's called "denormalization" problems, but if you're aware of them, they can be fixed. The main reason I'd go for AMD rather than Pentium isn't for a normal Athlon, but for the Athlon-64 in order to be 64-bit ready. Greg

I have no expertise, so it's honestly a question, not a criticism disguised as a question-- is there enough wood there to do it?

How's the neck going to attach? Sorry if you've already answered that on another page.

Old information in that webpage. Thoroughbred was the core before Barton, which is the most recent Athlon XP flavour, and even THAT is long in tooth. Barton runs noticeably cooler than Thoroughbred. Also, since the information is old-- Pentiums have become hotter and hotter, while AMD have reworked their architechture to produce a cooler-running machine. Athlon-64 is even cooler than the Barton. The exception is the Pentium-M, which is not only a cool processor, but a more efficient one. Pentium-M is under-exploited as a desktop chip. But a 3.0 Ghz Pentium, compared to a same-generation AMD chip, will run hotter. Greg

You should be able to pick up all kinds of plunge routers for less than a hundred bones. Alternatively, you could get a SpinSaw, which often come with extra attachments like angle grinder, flex-shaft, circular cutter, etc. If you're not getting one of the versatile (extra attachments) ones, you might as well just get a router; however, I'm finding that my SpinSaw as a router is just as powerful as the plunge router I was using. Both are 1/4" collet, though. That's fine for basic work, but if you want to end up doing something like using handrail-shaping bits for shaping your necks, you might want to get 1/2" collet router instead. Greg

Zoinks! Ditch the 2 CD drives and get one DVD-writer. DVD-writers are also capable of writing CDs. We used to need 2 optical drives for disc-to-disc duplication, but since we can both read and write so quickly now, it's not really necessary. AMD processors experience fewer denormal problems and tend to run cooler than Pentiums (thus reducing the need for a bunch of case fans), so a lot of people prefer AMD. For the same price, you can get an AMD-64 in a socket 939 (don't worry, it'll say in the spec sheet) motherboard, and be ready for 64-bit Windows. Greg

Kick-ass! Further proof that you don't need the best gear in the world to make good music.

Surely you can see how tapering or otherwise shaping the outside layer of a project is much easier than making a perfectly jointed surface for gluing. In point of fact, though, I WOULD rather get someone else to glue it up; hence the question. To answer your other questions-- how do I plan to tackle the shaping of the rest of that 'complex' work: - I hope to buy my body blanks glued up (including this one, but we'll see) - I buy pre-radiused and slotted fingerboards - I have a local guy who will do the fretting for a very reasonable price - the neck will be shaped by spokeshave, rasp, and sandpaper - the neck taper will be done with an MDF template or simple MDF straight-edges, which I trust enough for the neck taper but not necessarily enough for jointing. - other problems will be met by asking questions here, as I have always done. If I already knew how to do everything, I wouldn't have to post here. <chuckle> I have used a school's bandsaw, and there's a local place that can likely thickness plane/sand the body for me, for a very reasonable amount. I've already used them to bring my other project's body blank a bit down to size. During the process, though, the wood was burned a bit, which didn't matter to me since I'm painting opaque; however, it was a thing that made me go "hmm". I also don't mind trying stuff out, but before proceeding, I prefer researching. What was it that someone's signature said recently--"A person that asks is a fool for 5 minutes; a person that never asks is a fool forever." or something like that. I don't mind displaying my ignorance and trepidation for the world to see, as long as I'm learning as I go. Greg

A wonderful bass! You're justified in being proud of it! Que te vaya bien, Greg

I think it's an awesome little project. Not stupid at all. It could be worse, you could be spending hours glued to your computer monitor clicking "refresh" while reading a variety of internet forums.

Amplitube Live uses its own ASIO driver, I believe. Are you getting any sound at all in Cubase? (ie. a dry guitar signal) If not, I suspect that your audio device simply isn't configured properly. Some older plug-ins won't operate at 48,000 Hz, but I doubt that Amplitube is one of them, so that's probably not it. Greg

I'm just imagining the cuts I made on my table saw, which tend to be only very slightly not perfect. I don't know that a hand plane will be able to get them to the point they need to be. It's hard for me to spend any money whatsoever, so I can't buy even a $40 tool without knowing for sure it'll do what I need it to do. Great explanation, though. Certainly helps me understand how a smoothing plane could easily do the work on a tricky surface. Greg

I was set to vote for the Leviathon, and I looked at the pics again... I must have bass on the brain lately, because I just couldn't walk past that hybrid. Greg

You sure those weren't just worn down? I can't imagine Gibson would install flat-topped frets and expect it to play properly. Properly crowning a fret is a baseline standard for fret installation. The pic comes from a page about replacing frets, so it's reasonable to assume that these were at the point at which they were worn down. Greg

Whoever said it wouldn't be playable based on scale length couldn't be more wrong. Maybe the construction materials would make it less than playable, but the scale is fine. There would need to be other adjustments... in fact, if the neck was made more narrow (to make a 6-string neck that would be playable, the pocket would have to be enlarged from that Warmoth photocopy, throwing off the realistic appearance of a Tele significantly) it COULD be made into a mandolin of sorts, with doubled strings or with simply the normal G-D-A-E configuration on 4 strings instead of 8 (I think that's how a mandolin's tuned-- I couldn't be arsed looking it up right now just to please the pedants). In theory, you could make the neck only a WEE bit more narrow and make the neck start at where the 12th fret would normally be. An octave higher, in other words. I dunno, I think if something other than pine were chosen, it could turn into a fun project! Greg

A very good technique. What I was actually hearing was probably the combined background noise of 5 recordings, then, coupled with the natural offset. It's the best technique for recording thick tracks, for sure. Props to you for having the patience! I usually do a second overdub, and then I use jiggery-pokery with offsetting to add 3rd and 4th artificial parts if I need to. I'm clearly lazier than you are. <laff> Regarding mouse sensitivity-- can't you just zoom in on the waveform so that it's sample-accurate? Should be able to offset to less than a millisecond if you really needed to. Greg