GregP

If you can find separate bearings, I don't see why you couldn't jury-rig something. On the other hand, a decent and 'proper' flush trim bit isn't bank-breakingly expensive. Mine is a Freud carbide-tipped 1/4" (or is it 1/2"??) flush trim bit, looking something like what's pictured here: It cost something like $30 CDN, which wasn't the most expensive thing I purchased for the project. Greg

I'd imagine getting the pedal to vary the speed of the sewing machine would be a plus in the world of pickup winding, too.

That's exactly what I ended up doing. Complete with rock-star front-kicks.

I'm really keen on the Trilogy, but I've never been in the presence of one in order to try it out. Eddie Van Halen was talking about the Steinberg Transtrem, which I believe does similar things, and he was saying that if you limit yourself to just using it to 'change tunings' then you're missing out on a world of possibilities that could come from changing tunings on the fly. I'm not sure how smooth the transitions are with the Hipshot... if they just kind of 'thud' into place, it might not be as sweet... but if they do a quick glide, you could probably get some amazing pedal steel effects going on, too. It DOES look a bit unwieldly and takes up a lot of real-estate, though. Greg

My usual disclaimer-- I haven't built my own guitar yet, though I'm working on one... so any of these pointers aren't from an expert perspective: I think you'll find that people argue CONTRARY to what you say about 22-fret necks. Most people believe they sound BETTER because the pickup is in a position to pick up frequencies and a stronger signal than if it's nudged further back. Some people don't notice a very big difference. The ultimate deciding factor for most people is that they like having the extra frets for playing another tone higher. When you ask if you have to 'change the whole guitar', I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If you're planning on building a guitar based on an SG template or CAD drawing, then yes you will have to make significant changes to certain things; however an authentically 'SG' look will still be possible with the same basic shape and style of a typical SG. Don't know about the Floyd or whether it comes with specs, but if you get a Floyd you should be able to find plenty of people here to help you out with the routing. I can't imagine an SG with a Floyd, but that's the great thing-- it's your personal vision that matters! The wood needn't necessarily be uber-expensive for a neck-through, though I don't have any links or suggestions for you. As for an angle, that will all depend on what kind of hardware you go with. I haven't built a neck-through, or even researched it very carefully, but I personally would likely choose hardware that leaves me without having to do a neck angle. That's just me, though. Oh, and welcome to the forum.

One would think it'd be a good karaoke song, but the 'instrumental break' is about 45 seconds long. Which doesn't sound like much until you're on a stage in front of a bunch of people wondering what the hell to do for 45 seconds.

Holy jumpin Jehosephat. (or however that's spelled) Un-be-lee-va-bull. You, my friend, are a monster. A machine. But one with a soul.

I would imagine that most manufacturers make a variation on the P-90. You probably never noticed them because you weren't looking for them, but they're considered pretty standard fare. Dimarzio makes a 'virtual' P-90 that's hum-cancelling but allegedly retains 99% of the P90 character. Kent Armstrong and SD both make them in humbucker-sized versions as well, for direct replacement or if you just like that size and look better than the soapbar look. Greg

Goh-juss. Absolute stunner. I really really like the simple finish that doesn't go out of its way to 'pop' the figure on the maple.

Interesting read. That dude is a nutter. Imagine Tommy Chong as the voice of Carl Thompson, and you'll see what I saw. Greg

VERY nice! I agree with GuitarMaestro, though-- even though the neck was purchased that way doesn't mean you can't modify it. I would love to see the shape of the neck (ie. the heel area) match up with the neck pocket. Great work, though!

You can do it with the built-in microphone jack and a handy little set of drivers called ASIO4ALL. But to be honest, I wouldn't recommend it. A better solution would be to use a dedicated card that plugs in via USB, USB 2.0, or Firewire. USB 1.1 is considered pretty slow for simultaneously recording and playing back many tracks, but if you're only going to record 1 or 2 instruments at a time, you can make do. A few hardware solutions: Mackie Spike, which included Tracktion, my preferred 'budget' sequencer M-Audio solutions like the budget Audiophile or the next-step and highly-regarded 410 Terratec USB solutions My personal favourite as the bang for the buck for both software and hardware features: Tascam US-122 or even something as simple as Echo Indigo, which is a consumer card, but has ASIO drivers for pro recording software and fits into your expansion slot.

That guitar is ass-ugly. Hopefully your design is nicer-looking.

Any kind of pickup can be used for any kind of music, really, but there tend to be some trends-- *PAF-style (low-mid output) humbuckers are used for classic rock, blues, and jazz *High-output humbuckers are favoured for hard rock and metal *P90 single-coils are prominent in dirty rock and blues; rarely used for metal or hard rock. Some Jazz boxes use P90s, too. (incidentally, they're my favourites) *Strat-style single coils are used for all kinds of rock, blues, R&B, or what-not. Not used too much these day in metal, though metal-players have certainly used them. Strats and teles (which also use single-coils) figure prominently in country music, too. *Lipstick-tube single-coils are very low-output, making them quite suitable to clean applications like surf guitar or jangly pop *Filtertron humbuckers are used a lot for rockabilly and country, though that seems to be more of an image thing than an actual sound-related thing since they are a Gretch pickup *Mini-humbuckers are considered good pickups for blues and jazz That list is by no means extensive, and it's a personal observation rather than a 'community-standard' factoid, though I'm sure many would agree with that assessment. Greg

But a slide wouldn't have anything to do with how the back of the neck is shaped, which IS what we're talking about, isn't it?

I wonder why they'd be particularly suited to resonator guitars? If it's a 'v' like on the Clapton strat, I like that type of neck. My dad's old Fender acoustic (piece o' crap, but it's holding up!) has a v-profile neck, and I really like the way it feels in the hand.

Right from the second I saw KTL's guitar, I was blown away. Then when LGM posted that acoustic, I thought, "Jeeziz... what a beautiful piece...." and it made my formerly "easy" decision tough. In the end, I voted on the side of innovation and busting down preconceptions, and voted KTL.

I think you did a great job, especially for a first. I'm not particular about the brown finish, as it seems to subdue an otherwise 'showboat' (in a good way) guitar style. I'm particularly glad to hear that you like the way it sounds, which is the ultimate test after all, anyhow! Greg

Not a bad idea with the circle cutter. Things are looking fairly clean (there was one pic previously that didn't have the limba's outline completed, and it was WAY off, if that's the one you noticed), but there are a few .5 mm anomalies here and there, which I'll end up having to smooth out with sandpaper. In person, it's really tough to find them, but the perceptive eye can see a few wee deviations here and there. Luckily the deviations are symmetrical. Nothing new to post. I've been waiting for parts from Uni Jems (backordered; not Brian's fault) and LMI (that damned radiusing jig/machine of theirs that's been offline). Theoretically I could be cutting the channel for my truss rod, but I'm still mulling over how best to accomplish that with the tools I have. I could also be making the neck template, but that one's got me a bit stumped as well. The only other thing i can think of to do at the moment is cut a channel for the pickup wires and glue the top into place. In the meantime, I made some spool clamps. Also, I picked up some ebony, as it's always been my intention to do something similar to Myka's blue guitar on the top, and it made sense after seeing his guitar to use ebony to anchor the strings on the underside, as well, instead of using ferrules. Cheers! Greg

You're right then, I did miss the point. Not a bad story, after all, and I can understand the appeal.

Fabulous axe. The only thing I didn't like was the 'round bit' one the headstock seems a bit oversized. Of course, that's just my personal aesthetics. How about a shot of the neck joint/heel? Greg

I'm certain it's a 'weak link'.... Of course, "how much so" is a matter for speculation unless one wants to do some testing-- I don't imagine it'll alter the tone in a way that will transform the pickup into a dud. Which brings me back to the original topic-- if one isn't altering a pickup's cable, then what is one supposed to do with this silver wire experiment? Or is that just for building one from scratch? Greg

The white one was a winner. This one... oooooglay.

Well, as it turns out, the pickup that I have already has a lead that's about an inch too short, so I was planning on doing a splice as it stands-- are you recommending I replace the entire thing? They're SD pickups, but I don't notice any convenient place to remove the wire, on the pickup. That's part of the reason I was asking-- because I'm going to have to do something about this pickup's wire anyhow. Greg

The 4-humbucker one offends my delicate sensibilities.