GregP

Suh-wheat! I'm also impressed that a typically "metal" body shape is being used for another sound. Break down the barriers!

Meh. My experience is that apologies are always best when they're not asked for. By the exact same token that he should've been more patient, you possibly could've waited to see if he'd apologize on his own. I've never ever had an "asked-for" apology that was worth jack. Hence, I'd rather just not ask. He doesn't apologize and you get the joy of forever thinking of him as "that guy," but if he DOES, then it's sincere and you can forgive'im. Greg

Yup, I think your original idea of one cream and one chrome is pretty great. I think it'd look spectacular. My plea for symmetry ONLY applies to pairing up 2 zebra pickups. When they're both aligned the same way (cream colour closest to bridge for both) it looks wacky, IMO. Strictly my opinion, mind you. Others may disagree. Greg

Just an opinion: the way you're thinking of doing the zebras almost inevitably ends up looking silly. I think the symmetrical thing is best.

Oh, I don't know about an apology... we're all impatient from time to time, and some people have a natural hesitation when dealing with internet commerce which makes people a touch paranoid occasionally. Greg

Or depending on how the guitar anchors the string, there might be room for a metal strip of some sort there, too.

Sobot, I don't think you can get a cream-coloured Duncan anyhow, only white. I actually HAVE a white JB here, used, uninstalled, but it has a few minor cosmetic flaws on it. I shouldn't say "here" because it's at my father's house (I use his workshop), but instantly available. I'd also have to check the length of the lead, but it seems to me that there was a decent amount left. I'd happily swap with you if you didn't mind the ding on it, but it wouldn't make sense for me to pay the cost of the shipping to do so. And depending on where in the world you are, it probably wouldn't be worth it for you to do so, either. But it's an one option among many. At the end of the day, the colour is irrelevant to me since it's getting covered by nickel covers. Greg

It's obviously sorted-- his badge is in place.

Bah, nothing about the bridge. Neat little unit, though.

This was linked to from the Steelguitarforum and I thought a few people here might be interested in having a look-see: http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...AMEBI%3AIT&rd=1 I suspect "fake logo," never having heard of Boss doing something like this. Plus, they'd probably use those typical Boss knobs. However, regardless of branding, this IS an intriguing instrument. And have a look at that bridge-- definitely some kind of retuning set-up, but what? Just a one-flip per string (like a slightly crippled Hipshot Trilogy) or do you dig in there for realtime pedal-steel-like bends? It would be an awkward "dig" to make, but it might have been a concept piece that either succeeded or failed (who knows?). If anyone speaks German and cares to translate some of that, any insight would be appreciated. Greg

Not only unlikely, but improbable to the point of bordering on "impossible". I was lucky to be confirmed within 24 hours or so, but don't fret. Pun intended Greg

You sure you don't mean PODxt? Definitely worth the price difference. Otherwise for the same price I'd look into different options like a used J-Station on evilBay or a Behringer Vamp2. Pod 2.0 wasn't all bad, mind you. If you can find a used one for the right price, I say all the power to you. I just think that if you were buying something full-price, you'd pay a bit more but get much better value for money out of a POD xt. Greg

Well, we DO have French Canadians and Poutine. That qualifies us as partly evil. (I loves me some poutine, though... that's part of the evil of it)

Suh-weet! A few questions: 1. Why no control knobs? 2. Is that the way the Mighty Mite bridge is "supposed" to look, with the saddles at that high of an angle? 3. How do you like the MM bridge? I was considering getting one. And now one comment: That's a friggin' nice job. I wonder what it'll look like in natural light!

Wow, nice! My mahogany wasn't that red. Looks great. Talk about a great flame, too. Body shape? Similar to the wenge?

Holy hell, Mattia. That's the best guitar I've ever seen. Swear, no exaggeration-- you may have made it out of scraps, but it encapsulates almost everything I love in a guitar design. Related note: I've always wanted a Steinberger "broom"-style guitar, partially because one of the only guitarists I'd consider a "guitar hero" of mine (Martin Tielli of the Rheostatics) did some seriously amazing work on one, and I always thought they looked cool, too (hey, I have weird taste). I've been considering a build on and off for a long time now, but the tricky part is the hardware. Those ABM bridges are expensive, and I want a trem. Can't get the 'basic' Steinberger trem anymore, and when you CAN, they don't include the piece that goes at the "head" of the neck for some reason. I almost bought a Spirit by Steinberger cheapie just to steal the hardware from it, but I suspected that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. The next closest thing I've seen is the Speedloader, but it hasn't caught on yet (and may never) and therefore the strings are prohibitive and difficult to find in Ottawa. In any event, that story doesn't go anywhere except to mention that I want to build a headless, that it might end up being a "broom" style, but that after seeing Mattia's masterpiece there (scrapperpiece, my ass!) I may very well change my mind about the broom (but not about the headless). Greg

Heh, well in my opinion they ARE there for show. That's the point-- they're way the heck all over the place, but they don't change the intonation of the guitar. Without seeing one in action, I won't debate about whether the SOUND is actually affected, but for sure the intonation is not.

That's correct. Put your ferrules wherever you want them, as long as they ultimately make positive contact with the bridge saddles. The "end" point of the audible string length is at the bridge, not at the point it's anchored. Ever see a Babicz acoustic?

Well... that's just pedantic. You really SHOULD play in tune, but it's not strictly necessary. You probably SHOULD try to use tuners that don't "slip", but it's not necessary. You COULD use tin foil wrapped around toothpicks as makeshift frets, but I won't guarantee how long they're going to last. Greg

You're wrong. JK, you're not entirely "wrong", but you're definitely labouring under a slightly false impression. The string tension of any guitar of the same scale length (ie. 25.5, 24.75) with the exact same strings will be exactly the same, period, no matter what bridge is used. It's only the length of the string between the nut and the bridge that matters in terms of pitch, and any guitar with those 2 things identical will have identical string tension. By extension, when you change pitch (ie. bending your string) the tension MUST change by the same amount, no matter what bridge style is used, in order to reach the exact same target note. It's just physics. That doesn't mean you're insane, though. Because of things like the "sag" Mikhail mentioned, different bridge/nut styles will definitely "feel" different as you bring them to pitch during a bend. But the same amount of actual "work" (ie. pure expenditure of energy and creating a change of string tension) is actually done. Regarding the TOM: try this as an experiment: bring up the stop tailpiece without touching the tuners. As you do, the strings will gradually detune and therefore get slacker. BUT, now you're not at correct pitch anymore. To counteract this, you need to tune up your strings again. Tuning up the strings is by definition, adding more tension to them. So you haven't really changed the string tension at all by the time you've re-tuned. It may or may not (depending on how sensitive you are to these kinds of things) change the feel, but I mainly vote "not". Frankly, I've no idea why stop tailpieces are adjustable! Greg

Doesn't matter. Humbuckers do their best to reduce hum, but they never completely eliminate it. With my humbucker-equipped guitars, there's a significant noise cut just by touching the strings or bridge. Greg

Mick raises a very good point: There's a time and a place to throw away the rulebook. Reverb is "intended" to emulate the sound of real space. Hence the reason you place it after-- imagine your amp in a room. It's your distorted, fully amplified sound that's reverberating around the auditorium. If you instead place it before the distortion instead you're distorting the reverb tails. It'd be like capturing your auditorium with the microphone while you're playing a clean patch, and THEN feeding the microphone's signal into an amp. Depending on your amp settings, you're introducing a certain amount of compression, not to mention that as the reverb tail fades out, the amp (particularly a tube amp!) will react to that signal level differently and distort it differently. The result: could be great! Compressing a reverb tail could be a wonderfully dirty effect, and the distortion "changing" as the reverb tail fades out could also be a killer sound! --- Delay is slightly different. Most people expect it to sound like a series of "echoes", which is why it's generally placed at the end. You hit your chord, note, or whatever, and each additional "tap" in the delay line emulates it in tone, distortion, etc., but just at a gradually lower volume. But if you put it first, each "tap" at a lower volume will distort differently. It won't be the same note or chord echoed anymore. GREAT for some things! It's not the expected effect per se, but completely usable. More common than a reverb pre-distortion, for sure. --- Rulebook, schmoolbook. Greg

Digital effects in front of an amp aren't any worse than analog effects in front of an amp. Sometimes they can be better, sometimes they can be worse. Anyone who confuses "digital" with sterile is simply buying into voodoo and hype. Some of the most renowned effects are only possible because of digital DSP. That said, I'm not into effects in general. Not for going straight into a nice fat tube amp. Maybe a gain booster or EQ, but not too many effects. Notes: Delay and Reverb generally sound nasty in front of a gain stage. If you're using your amp for distortion, the reverb in particular will not work right if you place it before. If your amp doesn't have an FX loop, then by default you HAVE to place it in the beginning, and then even the best reverb in the world won't work right. Reverb is the very last thing in your signal chain before it hits the speakers, otherwise it's not worth using. Delay works in both places, but I prefer a delay AFTER the distortion. Ie. right before the reverb. Greg

Line6's amp models are still superior to the Boss GT-series... but the effects? Not so much. If you don't care about the amp sims at all, I second the GT-series recommendation. There are benefits to multi-effects processors that a collection of stompboxes simply can't match. The only thing individual stompboxes have going for them is durability (in SOME cases... there are crap boxes out there, too) and boutique/vintage appeal. If you're interested in your bread and butter effects, it makes far more sense to get multi. Not to mention the noise levels that can start to pile up with each additional pedal. Multi-effects aren't entirely without noise of their own, but you don't gain "more" with each additional item added to your patch. Greg

Except all the annoying sizzle, pop, and hiss from the moisture and sap-soaked wood might be annoying.