GregP

Nothing much to add. I finally got sick of hemming and hawing and figured "worst thing that could happen is that I "eff" it up and have to start the neck over <shrug>". Drew up my measurements right on the neck black, and then use a straight piece of MDF as a guide for my flush trim router bit. I could go the full depth, so I went halfway through the neck blank, and then used this initial rout as the 'guide' for doing the bottom half. Standard procedure, I think... not necessarily for necks, but for flush-trim routing in general. I already had a headstock 'template' I had made with MDF, but I didn't think it was very well done, so I cleaned up one side and then used my old "flip and reverse" trick to make it symmetrical, using a hole that will later become a tuning peg hole as one anchor, and a centre hole that ends up somewhere in the truss rod area. Trouble? Well... the truss rod channel was already routed, so I had nowhere for the second screw to go! I could have just used another tuning peg hole, but instead what I did is wedge some maple into the truss rod, and drill into that. Once the routing was done, I simply removed the maple I had wedged in there. There were a few hairy moments while routing: 1. The clamps kept getting in the way. At one point in time I had little choice but to unclamp and then reclamp. The end result is that my rout wasn't perfectly straight after all. The teeny deviation is something that can easily be sanded out, though. I went almost 2 full millimetres wider than I needed to in order to get some wiggle room, and that bump you see near the headstock was a casualty but is actually even further out from my line (like 4mm) so I haven't screwed anything up that can't be fixed. 2. The router bit kept getting hot. That meant that I was burning a lot. A LOT. Not smoking-hot, but enough that I'd have to do a lot of sanding if I wanted a natural finish. Luckily I already know that I'm not doing a natural finish, so I didn't mind. 3. In the headstock shape, the bits that come to a point were getting a bit... dodgy. I was scared of getting a bit chip out, so I went extra slow and extra shallow, which partially contributed to the burning. BUT, in the end it seemed to work. If you look carefully at the picture, the shape of the headstock right at the end doesn't seem to be symmetrical in the photo... in fact, it may be a bit off in real life, too, and I just didn't notice until "developing" the picture-- I'll fix it with a piece of round wood and some sandpaper if that turns out to be the case. Next step: thicknessing the headstock. In many ways, it could of and should have been done first-- before gluing the scarf joint, actually. But since I screwed up and DIDN'T do so, I'll have to devise a way to do it now.

I'm indifferent to the Petrucci guitars. The Axis is a good body shape, though. I think EBMM have done a few decent shapes. The Albert Lee one is a kick, too. <chuckle> Greg

Howdy!

That makes a bit more sense. Still funny as hell.

Funniest question ever asked at Project Guitar. I see you're fairly new, which has nothing to do with the question, but let me take this opportunity to welcome you aboard. Welcome!

The execution is flawless. One of the most amazing guitars I've ever seen! I'm also with Erik, though in that my mind "filling in the blanks" with a rounder arse-end seemed more suited to my personal tastes. <drums fingers together a la Mr. Burns> A future project idea.... Regarding the "copying a design idea" thing-- the shape is distinctive enough that David's client has successfully trademarked it, end of story. But as David also knows, there's such thing as fair use, and to build a personal guitar of your own with the shape isn't necessarily illegal. I could be wrong, but I believe that the reason David has offered the contact information is: 1. so that you can extend your courtesy to the original designer by perhaps simply asking if you can use it for a personal guitar, and if there's a way he would like you to give him credit. 2. for anyone who decides they want to make and sell that shape, it's trademarked and now that we are aware, we must contact him before proceeding. I would definitely at least make a courtesy contact, if I decided to use the shape. Greg

I think 7-string is pointless unless you do ultra-low metal riffing, but that's just me. Wait... your name is Metal Matt. Er... forget what I said. That said, if you like low-tuned metal riffage, why not a baritone? Greg

"I put on my pants the same way as anybody else... one leg at a time. Except, when I put my pants on, I make gold records." I'll have to have a look for that Hot Stuff.

Rusted pickup rings. I suspect the pickups themselves will be gunky looking, too. Like one of those Swineshead models.

Awesome! What size frets are you going to use? Did you calculate neck angle? Are you going to put a Floyd on it? Going to Carri-burst it? Greg

I've never seen one sold without a neck. Greg

Because so there are less unwanted volume dynamics... ← Like what? --- I think, PRG, that at the end of the day you'd be better off buying the components of a neck-through and making one yourself, rather than doing the 2-piece idea. Meaning, the raw materials (which should still end up costing the same or less as your 2-slab idea) and not simply a pre-made neck-through. Greg

Hrm. Probably hasn't been done often before simply because that's a lot of wasted wood. Well, I suppose you could always use the trimmings for other stuff, so it's not -necessarily- a waste, but it just doesn't seem efficient. A better question-- why would you WANT to do this? It doesn't really save you any work off of making your own neck-through, really. Indeed, having such a huge chunk of wood to work on would make certain tasks very difficult; ones that could fairly easily be done with a neck-through that doesn't have 'wings' on it yet. Finally, the odds of it being a better-sustaining guitar than a neck through are pretty slim. It might sustain the same, or even sustain a second longer, but at what cost? Sustain is so overrated anyhow. How often in a solo or a song do you hit a chord or a note and just let it hang there until it dies completely? Once or twice in a lifetime I bet. In some of my recordings with that long sustained note that fades away, I've had to manually tweak the fade in my recording software to make it shorter, because the natural sustain was too long for my purposes. And this is just a humble Godin LG or Yamaha Pacifica. Sustain is only important insofar as that your notes don't die prematurely. Nobody wants a dead NON-sustaining guitar, but if you make a guitar with proper woods and hardware (with any method of neck attachment), you're going to get decent sustain. Anything extra beyond that is a very diminished return on your investment. I DO believe that sustain has an important place in a guitar player's arsenal, actually, but the kind of sustain that I'm thinking of as still being "useful" should be reproducible on any guitar-- using sympathetic vibration from an amp, or using a sustain-driver like the Sustainiac. "Natural" sustain only gets you so for for these kinds of applications. Greg

I don't imagine it'd be the same thing, though. I suppose it could get close, but would it really be the same, or would it just be an overwound single-coil? Greg

Great work.

Good lord, why are most people (except Devon) tabbing out their chords vertically? Seems like an awful lot of (unecessary) work!

Right, aesthetics are another matter entirely, and on some guitars a direct mount with no mounting ring will simply look better.

The fact that it's a neckthrough will alter the tone more than the fact that the pickups are direct mounted. Direct mounting as a tone recipe is just voodoo, placebo effect, and bullsh** in my opinion. I know others disagree. Greg

I can only go by guesswork and my Yamaha Pacifica-style telecaster, so your mileage may vary: A soapbar-style P90's height is adjustable by 2 screws that go through the middle of the pickup. These are also what mounts the pickup. This means that you will need to: a ) modify the pickguard b ) do any routing necessary to accomodate the pickup in the wood under the pickguard c ) make sure that there is enough wood under where the new pickup will be in order to mount it properly. Since P90s are fairly shallow, you will probably (can't say for sure) need to add some height. I don't see why a glued-in hunk of wood won't do the trick. At the end of the day, it seems to me like nothing more than an afternoon of work. The trickiest part will be shaping the pickguard to accomodate the new pickup, and re-doing the wiring (well, only tricky if you're not already a soldering pro). Greg

No need for a ruler or a camera, just an appropriate art program on the puter. Find a straight-on shot of a Les Paul on the web. You know that the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is 12.375", so just scale the drawing up. I'm sure there's a scientific way to do it, but I just click and drag until it's in the right ballpark based on the rulers on the sides of the draw area (not all programs have the rulers visible by default, though most should). I want to do an LP, too, and I've been looking at those guitarbuilding.com templates. I know I don't really need them, but they'd save some time and aggravation in the long run, you know? If I think I'm going to do more than one LP I'll probably go for it, but as of right now I'm only planning the one. Greg

Until maybe only about a month ago, I thought the Red Special was a horrible design. I've changed my mind completely, and yours looks awesome. Greg

Yes, but that doesn't necessarily excuse previous harshness. If it was his FIRST response, it would have been awesome. Not that I'm saying I'm personally offended-- Drak, I like your honesty most of the time. Greg

I knew about the Trilogy, but it's been a while since I looked at it. It IS surprisingly cheap for what it does, actually! And there's a version made particularly for lap steel guitars. (The LMB4) I think I'll stick to this simple project with the EZ-bender for now, and then if it turns out that I'm becoming a lap steel monkey, I'll consider an expanded project. Cheers, Greg