GregP

I'd hesitate to use a large diaphragm condenser mic with a cranked amp. A live amp, sure, but not one that needs to be cranked to break into distortion. The physical force of the soundwaves hitting the diaphragm could damage it. The classic amp mic of choice is the Shure SM57 (they make a budget version, too, the PG57), but that doesn't mean it's the only option. Depending on just HOW loud it needs to be, you could take the middle ground and get a medium-diaphragm condenser mic instead. Greg

Normal glass would wear even better than a composite. It's just not all that practical. Greg

Thanks for the pics. For the curious, this'll be for the "Steinberger Broom" project that I have planned in the future. Greg

I was thinking of a Tru Oil finish, or at least something that's fairly low-gloss to leave the wood natural-looking. I hadn't really decided on the specific finish because this is a long ways off, but I'm one of those guys who likes to research for months before beginning. Thanks for the replies. I'm leaning a bit toward the Wenge right now. Those necks look great, by the way. I was originally thinking thin-ish middle stripe and 2 outer limba stripes, but the 3 wide + 2 thin is looking great! Greg

Hey all, I love the look of alternating dark/light woods in a laminated project (like many neck-throughs), but I'm uncertain what woods people have had success with in the past. I'm thinking of alternating White Limba (Korina) as my light wood, which will be the main type of wood; however, I don't know what to use for the dark. Purpleheart seems a good choice, but I have to admit that I'm visualizing a brown colour rather than a reddish one. Walnut also came to mind, but some web searching showed some pretty big variations in colour, even within one piece. Since this will be the accent colour, I don't imagine I'll be using too much of it; therefore, consistency of brown is more important to me than the 'tone' of the wood. Rosewood is too endangered and doesn't generally come as lumber... Wenge has been mentioned a few times around here. Another option I was considering was using something like mahogany but then dying it so that it's brownish instead of reddish. Since the plan IS a neck-through, how does a {limba | wenge | limba} lamination stack up in terms of stability? Greg

The right composite would wear far less than the nickel/silver stuff we use, MasterMinds.... and when making slides on a guitar the way it already is, you're not making contact with the fingerboard. You're gliding across the strings themselves, with only enough downward pressure to put them in contact with the frets. It would NOT make sliding harder to use stepped frets. I'm keen on the clear idea-- imagine having your beautifully laminated neck-through visible all the way from end-to-end? Spectacular possibilities open up...! Greg

Vans were more of a 90's thing. Also, the young kids should still know Vans since they continue to be popular and even sponsor(ed?) a highly popular music/skating tour called the Warped Tour. Greg

I gotta agree about the universal acceptance... I think it's pretty common knowledge that it's a misnomer, but that doesn't change its inclusion into modern vocabulary. As for the rest-- obviously he knew that you were the one that brought it up. <laff> Some people don't understand forum culture, but that's OK. Luckily my girlfriend uses forums too, or I'd feel like a lamer telling her about forum-related stuff. <chuckle> Greg

Luckily, since it's your guitar, only you have to like it-- however, I'm not a big fan of that type of carve. I don't know how to describe the kind of curve I'd be more acustomed to, but I'm sure you know the kind I'm thinking of-- the typical PRS or LP kind of carve is so deeply embedded in my psyche that other kinds of carves look odd. Greg

I'm sure she WOULD be petrified if she saw you drooling over her grits.

I admit, every time I've sat down to think about it, I've gone a bit buggy. I need to make a mock up and actually physically see what I'm dealing with before I could pass judgement. Once upon a time when I was considering bolt-in for my project, I had a discussion about it, and I still wasn't quite sold. In other words, I believe you're probably right. If that's the case, it makes bolt-in a better contender for future projects. Greg

It's been done, and while it's a fun concept, the execution would probably be less than spectacular. Kind of like Zips. Anyone remember those? They were imitation Converse All-Stars, but you could change the fabric part to different fabrics. You were considered a total loser if you owned then. I have to admit, though, I do think that it has potential, and I'm hoping to incorporate 'removable body wood' into my headless design, so it'd be a lot like your idea except that the idea would be that the 'outer shell' would be just to facilitate seated playing.

I would think that in some ways a complete build would be easier than a conversion. On the old 6- string body, you'll have to strip down to wood (yuk, what an aggravating process), then: re-rout pickup cavities re-rout trem cavity re-rout neck pocket to fit 7-string neck All that routing... might as well do it from scratch! Greg

I'd prefer it to be called a vibrato unit, as well, but at the end of the day, Leo has forever altered the language and tremolo is now accepted for describing this pitch fluctuation on a guitar. Such is the dynamic nature of language. The site's not the most brilliant one I've seen, but it had info on it that I figured some people might find handy (the Wonderbar, for example). That's about it.

Nah, all that sounds reasonable. It was the tone from the neck or body part that sounded like voodoo. But when I say voodoo I partially mean I don't believe all that much in it, but I also mean that I don't fully understand it all. The difference in tone is real, for sure, but I don't know that it's neck- or body- specific. I'm more inclined to believe that a neck-through will sound different because the body and neck are made from the same materials and therefore there's a continuance and resonance possible. Set necks and bolt-ons have differences, too, but I think they're not so greatly different. Compared to a neck-through, they both have a 'break' in continuity at the joint, which is either negligible or noticeable depending on your ears, the materials, and how tight the connection/construction is. For example, a mahogany neck bolted or glued to a mahogany body (particularly, from the same piece of wood!) will likely have more 'continuity' than a maple neck bolted onto a mahogany body. Any neck poorly glued into an imperfect neck mortise will sound different than the 'same' neck bolted into a perfect pocket. In any case, I'm not one to rip you apart for anything, I'm just another numptie.

Smells like voodoo.

Piqued by the Wonderbar thread, I had to find out what the heck one was. Stumbled across this page along the way, and it had lotsa good info and beaucoup pics as well: http://www.electricguitar.50megs.com/tremolo.htm

It probably IS partially used by PRS to save costs on their lower-end guitars. I have no doubt about it. By the same logic, a strat, tele, Ibanez, or any other bolt-on guitar must be half-assed. Many people prefer the tone and concept of a bolt-on guitar anyhow, and this takes away that nasty heel. It can be a perfectly fine idea. Greg

half-assed is only one person's opinion. A bolt-in (the term given to this setup) neck has benefits and drawbacks. The benefit is the ability to ditch the heel. The drawback is that you pretty much have to use direct mounted neck pickups because a standard pickup rout will substantially weaken the joint. In any event, it's bound to be more stable than the Les Paul Jr. DC joint. Greg

I really suck at visualizing lately. First I didn't know what Dugz was doing, and now I'm not sure what YOU were doing. So you took 2 icecream sticks, put the piezo in-between them, and then stuck them all into the neck pocket, between the neck itself and the body pocket? I feel so inept at imagining all this. <chuckle>

Holy crap is this thread making me hungry. And after avoiding it for the past week or whatever, too.... I voted pancakes and sausage because that's what most closely resembled what I'd eat. In fact, I'd eat pancakes and sausage, but I'd ALSO (not instead of) eat some bacon, toast, and eggs. If there's any steak around you can throw that my way, too. Syrup carelessly tossed over the whole thing, eggs and all. MMmmm.... (so... hungry... must... go... eat... crappy old cereal. ) Greg

Might have to order one of the Bugbrand Piezo elements. It's just the same thing you could do yourself with a jack and a Radio Shack buzzer, but the work's done for you and they don't mark it up an insane amount. Bugbrand Site No deep-linking, so you have to go to the "audio products" page and scroll down a bit. On the other hand, there's still the Radio Shack option... 5 quid plus shipping actually gets close to $20 CDN... which may make the convenience of having it ready-made not worth the trade-off after all. UK residents would benefit, though! Greg

I'm sure you experienced dropouts, but no more or less than any other guitar with polepieces rather than rails. The f-spacing won't affect the bends, and actually bending should bring the string more INTO line with the polepieces on a regular pickup rather than out of line, making them more efficient than an f-spaced pickup for bending, but less efficient for chording. I suspect you're right about the output/tone, though. I've never tried swapping them myself, but I imagine that the hot bridge pickup in the physically 'hotter' neck position could end up being ugly, as you say. I'd personally rather just use the pickups in the positions for which they were engineered, but I'm not reknowned as an innovator or groundbreaker, that's for sure. Tested and true is good enough for me when it comes to pickups. Greg

Yes. The 2496 accepts "line level" input. The Behringer mixer (not the 502 which is their smallest-- the 502 does not have phantom power, you need at least the 802) provides power to the mic as well as bringing the signal up to line level. Even better, it outputs on RCA cable, which the 2496 accepts. If you're in no particular rush, I have to take my computer apart in the next few days, so I'll take some pictures of how the setup works. I've actually added an other preamp to my setup now, so I can show you either what I do, or what I used to do with JUST the mixer and no additional pre-amp. Also remember, there ARE audio devices also that come with their own phantom power and pre-amps. The cheapest one I saw was the M-Audio MobilePre which has a suprisingly low resolution (the same as the Tascam, CD-quality) at $149. That's only a wee bit less than the cost of a mixer + Audiophile 2496. ----- A different question, and hopefully not one that's going to confuse: What will the microphone be used on? A large diaphragm condenser mic is ideal for voice and acoustic guitar, but it's less than ideal for a cranked amp. Greg

Something seems odd about the upper horn, but I can't put my finger on it. Nice to see that it's coming along, though!