GregP

The 'magic something else' is doubling your guitar part, then, and offsetting it in time compared to the original, plus altering frequency content (the 'wet' signal is possible scooped more than the original) in order to "thicken it up". My speakers are definitely not rattling (though there IS too much bass, you're right about that) because they're just wee and not turned up all that much. I'm just guessing here, and part of me suspected you'd reply with 'no verb', but whatever you want to call it, it's a not-completely-dry effect. Greg

I always use the fence, and I actually reinforce the 'built-in' fence clamp mechanism with separate clamps, but I still have failure. The fence on my table is totally ass-tastic. I saw a cool jig for taper-cutting with a fence, though. You can buy it at Lee Valley, but it'd be simple to construct one, too. Might be worth the investment, as I have no fewer than 5 guitars 'planned' for the future. If I make the jig, I will also make it so that it uses the er... mitre groove... er... or whatever it's called... instead of the built-in fence. It'd make for a smoother cut if the wood's not frictioning up against my crap fence. Saw some sort of low-friction tape in the catalog, too. I wonder if that would help my fence to perform better? Regarding the plane-- no, I haven't used a hand plane yet. I've never quite understood the theory behind a hand plane, so I haven't gotten around to trying one out yet, either. Greg

Too much verb. Pretty good tone, though, all in all!

Oh yes, I remember that fiasco. Damn, I hope someone with more ability and/or promise comes along. Greg

You will likely get best results using two different mics. It's not a cheap hobby. I have what's considered a very minimal setup and I've already spent several hundreds of dollars.

Glad to hear things are going so well. I'm looking forward to the day you're able to say, "Finally got to hire someone!"

I haven't joined a body blank together, either. I bought mine glued-up and will continue to do so. My table saw MIGHT be able to do it, but it's not the best table saw in the world. I've never gotten a perfectly straight cut out of it, though I'm sure I'm partially to blame for that. Greg

Ah, I'm pretty much screwed, then. I don't have the tools or know-how to prep the edges for that kind of gluing. On such a small body, it won't be too disappointing to have the stripes running parrallel anyhow. Cheers! Greg

That must've been it, then. The fretwire wasn't softer, just lower to begin with.

Sems pretty fair if it's not in fantastic condition. I wouldn't want to offer him more than that for it, but if you're worried it's too little you can just be diplomatic in your approach. He's the one that wants to offload it, so you're doing HIM a favour by even making an offer. "I can offer you $60, but honestly you can probably get $80-90 for it on eBay if you'd rather try selling it there." He probably doesn't want to bother with eBay. Greg

I actually LIKE the ritual of changing strings. Mmmm.... fresh strings.... I like the feel, though. That's a subjective thing, and I'm allowed to. On top of that, I sweat battery acid, so I kill strings very quickly. Elixirs less quickly. Ultimately, though, it's expensive to change strings very often, and I'm skint. Yes, you pay more for a pack of Elixirs, but my experience has been that they're still cheaper for me in the long-run. Greg

I looooove the slipperiness. I don't bend the wound strings very often, and when I do they're always reinforced, so I'm still groovy for bends and all. Greg

If I remember correctly, it's because the fretwire they used was so soft it would wear down very quickly. Greg

Having looked at some Fir pics online, and knowing my one-sided fir plywood, it has neither the colour nor the grain pattern I'm looking for. I think Wes is right about the limba. As for the dark wood, I'm not worried about the grain pattern showing (the stripes will be thinnish) therefore the overall colour is more important, and the structural benefits more important still. So it's still up in the air, but I haven't put wenge out of the running yet. Another question: ideally I'd want the body stripes to follow the same angle as the neck taper. But when I get this project under way, I was thinking of getting the supplier (A & M) to do the laminating for me. I'm just not sure that they'd be able to do the taper. If I need to do it at home, what is the technique to follow in order to keep the taper? Whenever I imagine doing a neck-through, I imagine laminating 'rectangular' segments together. I don't even know HOW to produce a tapered segment that would be properly jointed for gluing. Greg

I haven't heard of either of those kinds of woods and guitar wood, Fryo! Certainly worth checking out. Regarding the stripes-- I haven't even decided for sure how many I'm going to have. I might go 2 down the middle instead of one. In other words, 4 total instead of 3. Greg

Nobody should need convincing of the Ed Roman BS factor. It should be taken as a given that the man is full of ****.

Wipe'em. Just don't use weird chemicals to do it. The plain strings are still... well, plain.

I've never heard of it, but I'll certainly look into it as the time approaches. I did a mock-up of the guitar using Paint Shop Pro and a limba picture I found (I just used brown stripes for the brown wood), and I'm not sure how I like it. I wonder if I'm better off using a whole different 'light' colored wood, too. <chuckle> Of course, a mock-up and the real thing are going to be quite different, but I have to say that my initial reaction wasn't necessarily one of pleasure. The grain pattern isn't to scale, though, so that's part of it. Greg

Why is everyone so crabby tonight?

You mean you don't already. Pretty common technique for electric guitar players!

I'm not going to disagree or agree with anything else said in the rest of the post (it's between you and Devon), but it's been my experience that statements like that quoted are NEVER true. You'll read this for sure, whether or not you make any other posts to confirm or not. It's just human nature.

The 58 is a vocal performance mic. The 57 is the ticket for amps, for sure. Greg

That's not reinventing the wheel, that's briefly describing a wheel.

Cheers, awesome responses. I'll be in touch for a different project some day, doug. Greg

That question is too involved to answer in a simple post, when in fact (whether you care or not) there is extensive information available on this and other sources already. There's no point re-inventing the wheel. Greg