GregP

Mick, you're actually right that I need an amp more than I need a guitar. I don't gig, though, so it would mainly be used for recording... and I don't know any "recording"-level amps that would make me particularly thrilled. I'm sure they're out there, I just don't know of them. Nitefly: The truss rod cover or metal pickup cover (assuming one could get a decent enough cover) would be the place to put a little inlay or engraving, methinks. A USA Steinberger "Broom" (not the Synapse, the original) actually comes in pretty cheap. I love those things. Kind of the opposite of what I had in mind, though. <chuckle> As for custom... there aren't many custom builders who will be able to do much with $2,000 CDN, unfortunately.

Looks good. It's hard to say what it'll REALLY look like, though, other than the outline. Your planned bridge will give it a very different look. I LIKE the accidental mussed-up look to the bridge and certain other things. Why go for the deep bolt-on like you're describing? Sounds to me like you might as well build a neck-through instead, no? A neck-through would almost certainly be easier to construct than the interesting bolt-on you have planned. Greg

It's mainly her idea... I described her as modern, but there's actually a fairly complicated psychology behind it all... coming to terms with being a modern woman while having been raised as a relatively traditional Catholic... in any event, I'm back on the fence about allowing her to get me a guitar at ALL, but she's been insisting that I at least tell her which one I want. If nothing else, it makes a great excuse to revisit all the guitars that I esteem. Parker is a good one! Waiting list, though, no? To answer another question: if "engagement" wasn't attached to it, I would be spending the money to get a Soulmate neck-through, some wood for "wings", a Kahler trem, and some electronics and building a guitar. <chuckle> In terms of off-the-shelf, I've been pleasantly surprised and completely satisfied with my Cort Pagelli. As it turns out, THAT one is really special to me despite having been a fairly inexpensive purchase. We agreed to have small budgets for Christmas this year (not because we're COMPLETELY broke or anything, but just because we tend to go overboard), but she knows I'd been wanting a guitar. So she took her small portion, added it to the amount she would've spent on my birthday (Dec 29) and also collected the money her family and my sister would've spent on socks, sweaters 'n stuff. Even though they were all humble amounts and the guitar is humble, it really meant a lot to me and I love that axe. In some ways, an "engagement" guitar loses a bit of its appeal by comparison to the effort she put into organizing the Pagelli purchase and getting it for me to my complete surprise! The big picture: she rocks for humouring my love of guitars. Greg

Great work! I'm glad you went with a "proper" blue rather than the faded denim type look. My girlfriend was looking over my shoulders and she really liked your choice to leave a natural look on the back rather than solid black or what have you. Greg

Yeah. I don't want a pointy Floyd thing for this particular occasion, that's for sure. Though a Jem would be sweet at some point in time in my life. The California carved top isn't a bad option. You can customize, too, so you get that "one of a kind" (though, not likely TRULY one of a kind) feel.

I have a fairly modern girlfriend. We have agreed that we would like to be married. She feels that I shouldn't have to get her a ring with nothing in return, and has pretty much bluntly stated that I'll be getting an "engagement guitar" in place of a ring. However, she has also equally as bluntly stated that I have to pick, because she refused to take a guess on something like a guitar. She wants me to have one that I'm going to love. We're not wealthy. I'm giving myself a $2000 CDN ballpark figure. I'm not asking all y'all to make up my mind for me, cause it's a pretty personal thing... but it simply struck me as an interesting question because it is posing a dilemna to me. I can think of dozens of guitars in that price range that I would be happy with. So it's not a matter of, "can I get a good guitar for $2000." There are PRS guitars in that range. Fender American strats with noiseless pickups. Nice Telecasters. Some G&Ls. Ibanez makes buckets full of guitars in that price range, as do hundreds of other manufacturers. The rub is this: what guitar would I ask for that I would happily relate to the engagement? It's not gonna be an EMG- and Floyd-equipped metal "pointy-thing" y'know? Though I'd certainly like one of those in my arsenal, it doesn't seem "right" for the occasion. The first guitars that came to mind were a Myka Dragonfly or a Gibson 335, but not based on price-- rather, just as an intuitive reaction to what I consider "classy" guitars. Little bit out of my price range. Godin LGXT is in the right price category, so that's one that I'm considering. Makes me curious about what y'all would get. And if it jogs my guitar-memory into thinking about ones that aren't occurring to me, that's cool, too. Greg

I can't tell what the question is. Sounds like you got things mostly under control, no? As for the dual cocentric pot, you can always just let that one touch the shielding material and not have a ground coming directly off it. You only need one ground lead coming from the "shield" (the entire surface, including the pot shells) so you can always take it from another pot or from the shielding material itself if it'll take solder (aluminum foil won't). Greg

Insane in the membrane. Sweet job!

I must've missed it the first time around. It was used excessively in the hip-hop scene and throughout pop culture in the early 2000's. I guess I just didn't get to it until then. All my Metallica was on dubbed cassettes!

I'm not actually that thrilled with the Jazz+JB combination, legendary though it may be. The Jazz is really convincing as a single-coil when split, though. Greg

I certainly wasn't meaning to say that a low action does not kill sustain. I'm a big believer in medium-low action. If I can't play the way I feel without fussing about whether or not I'm getting fret buzz, then I want nothing to do with that guitar. I've never played a guitar with "very low" action that I was happy with at all. I cann't play the way I like to play, and although it might've just been psychosematic, I felt that the tone was sucked out of the guitar.

The pickups look hella cool. Yes, I said "hella". I loved the early 2000's.

Once your action is sufficiently low, you have to have more expert control of your dynamics. If you accidentally nail a string, it'll buzz, even in a subtle way, against the other frets, thereby robbing the string's energy and killing sustain. It doesn't even have to be a prolonged buzzing, it just takes a few cycles of the string hitting a fret to take its sustain down a quantifiable amount. I'm not entirely convinced that my newest guitar's action is high enough yet... when I tried it in the store, it had sustain for days... now not so much. I also might have borked the pickup height, though I've measured that again, too.

Washburn had something, too. Just on the 3rd fret I believe it was... I agree, it'll never be "big." I'm interested, though.

All it takes for a patent is an improvement or significant change in process or design which is not covered by the original patent. If they can show that they've done it in a significantly different way or an improved way, they have plenty of potential to have the patent grant. The problem with patents is that they have to be specific enough to grant... so Floyd Rose would have had to prove HIS design to be an improvement over an existing patent (easy enough)... but also general enough to try to protect it.. in this case from people with similar ideas like the phantom thang. It's a tricky line to walk and the stuff of sheer boredom. I don't know how patent lawyers and examiners can handle it. And part of it finally comes down to the examiner's judgement call. They get to decide if a patent applied for warrants granting. In any event, "patent pending" doesn't mean anything. I can attempt to patent something without the slightest possibility of it granting and it'll still be "patent pending." However, people use that label I guess because it's a significant enough cost that you don't really bother unless you believe there's at least the chance it'll grant. And it scares off other people who might also try to patent a very similar idea. Greg

Exactly. You get an instinct for the bend and your fingers learn to co-operate with your ears. I have to confess, I still mess up half my bends, but my ear is always aware of it, and my body also seems to know when a plan has come together. Watch the video(s)... they're bending just fine.

When I saw those I said aloud "Siiiiick." And my girlfriend was like, "is that sick good or sick bad?" I replied, "Sick as in AWESOME." She agreed. So now I've got a Myka Dragonfly, an SF3, and Mattia's headless as my dream guitars. I'd be curious to know more about those filed rivets. Greg

I always assumed the "connect the dots" way was the way it's done, too. That true temperment link is wild, aidlook! I thought, "isn't bending going to be wonky?" but then in the video the guy was playing pretty much the way I and a million other blues-based rock guitarists play.

He's just kidding. That's not the same body. There's no way. I hope. As for pickups surrounded by studs... nothing in the world could look LESS metal than that. Studs stopped being metal the day everyone in the metal community realized they looked homosexual. Mind you, homosexuality and metal go together fairly well (case in point: Rob Halford) so if you're after the homosexual side of metal, by all means-- studs it is. Greg

Lovin' every minute of it! Great stuff! I'm glad you've stayed the course with your design... it's gonna rock.

I just re-did the action on my "main" guitar... what a nightmare. That's about all I gotta say about that. Measurement tools weren't worth squat by the end of it, though I tried to do it "measured" against the PRS recipe. I threw away the measurement tools and went by what felt right. I'm not at all convinced I did it perfectly, but the measurement tools were making it far far worse. I might take it in to see what a pro can do about it, but last time I tried that I just reset it myself anyhow... the "pro" did a worse job than me. I need to find someone I trust. Greg

Pretty sure it's not plywood. I recall it being solid wood when I ordered it, though the literature I have on-hand only says "mahogany neck, back, and sides" which doesn't necessarily mean it's not a mahogany laminate of some sort. Still, I have every amount of faith that whatever you come up with in this endeavour will be cooler and have more "wow" factor than my D-25. Looking forward to seeing this come along! With regard to your curiousity-- it just looks like a dreadnought. The arched back is fairly subtle.

I totally agree-- it's not more comfortable on my guild at least. Looks cool and the guitar as a whole sounds great.

Cool, thanks for finding out what that guitar is... seems like a nice guitar for the price! And it looks great in those pics with Tedeschi. I visited her website, and there are some samples of her work... one heck of a voice! Derek Trucks played on at least one of the tracks in the "sample" batch, and is on 3 songs of her latest album.

http://www.bboogie.com/Susan_Tedeschi.htm It appears in other photos of her, too. I don't recognize it, and I wonder if it's a one-off or a signature model or something. I thought she famously played Telecasters, but this guitar is popping up all over the place, and man is it a beaut.