Geo

That design is totally awesome. Since you approached it from the direction of a paisley shape, I think we can say it's original whether it looks like something else or not. Regardless, it looks fantastic. What kind of pickups are you putting in there?

I know I want something P90 style for my next project. Rather than spending a ton on the best P90's available, I'd like to expirement. The standard P90 seems about as complex as a humbucker (minus 1 bobbin of course). I'd like to try making a "P90", but constructing the bobbin like a Strat bobbin--two plates held together by fixed magnetic polepieces. No baseplate, bar magnets, spacers, etc. I would probably design it to fit inside a standard P90 cover. Another thought is to use the top plate of the bobbin to mount the pickups "dogear-style". I.e., no pickup covers. The top plate would have dogears extending beyond the dimensions of the pickup hole and would be mounted with screws and springs. I would wrap the coil in black pickup tape like a coverless humbucker. Any thoughts on that? Is it a bad idea? And has anyone ever tried a pickup like this? Just wondering...

There's a lot to watch out for. Tube circuits go crazy when signal wires get too close to other wires. Keep signal wires away from: 1) other signal wires of earlier or later gain stages 2) high-voltage power supply wires 3) heater wires. If any of these MUST cross, cross them at right angles. I'm not sure if this applies to making a PCB, but it may be helpful. If you're new to tube electronics, it might be better to build an eyelet board for the circuit. You can easily swap components if you change your mind or make a mistake. Hoffman sells stuff to make circuit boards (though not PCB's). http://www.hoffmanamps.com/MyStore/perlshop.cgi I would build a tested circuit for which layouts are available (for example blackface Fender). I'm sure they tweaked those layouts until they eliminated all the bugs. I'm not saying you can't build an original design or something... but you'll have fewer problems if you copy something "tried-and-true". If you post a schematic of the circuit you're building, we may be able to provide specific help.

Thanks for the enlightening replies!

I'm wondering why the top and back of a "flat-top" acoustic are radiused. Obviously it's simpler to make them completely flat. It can't be a significant-enough increase in volume... otherwise all guitars would be archtops. My only guess is it increases strength.

So... do you have a growing collection of guitars, or do you sell them? I totally agree with you... the only thing I want to do is build guitars!

Dude, that's an aesthetic masterpiece.

That's a pretty cool design!

If curtisa is right with this... "The distortion channel is probably being loaded bown by the output of the modulation channel in the Y box. " Then you'll still have the same problem. I think what he means is that the distortion output is looking at both the Y input and the modulation output, in parallel. Here's a solution... ditch the pedals! Okay, sorry, I just don't like pedals personally. It might still be simpler to line up all your pedals in series and just turn on the appropriate ones at the right time.

Ha ha... um, don't use spraypaint unless you want a cool "aged" look to appear within a few days.

Dude, that's a really refreshing take on the Tele body. Sorry if I missed it... what's the blonde top wood? I assume maple, but I dunno.

You don't need to buy a winder. You can clamp a hand-held electric drill to the table and use that for your motor. Adjust the trigger for a low speed. I made a small plate with a dowel in it and put this in the drill chuck, with the bobbin screwed onto the plate. The important thing is to get the dimensions of the bobbin exactly right and have a cover that fits correctly. Here's some pics of what I did (towards the bottom of the photos). http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...oject/?start=20

Looks great. I like the dramatic arm rest carve and the SG-style bevel/carve. The neck wood looks awesome.

Thanks dude! It's very hard for me to quantify the tone of the bass. Compared to my friend's Squier P-bass (which has 3-yr-old strings), it is brighter, more "guitar-like", slightly hi-mid-scooped, and doesn't have the endless sustain. I attribute this to the shorter scale and the semi-hollow body, but possibly the poplar contributes to that. But I would take this bass over my friend's any day. It's very "alive". I posted a link to a soundfile earlier in the thread if you want to check that out.

Thanks for the advice, guys. As I think about it, I think the shape of the headstock just below the thin E tuner might get in the way of playing a chord on the 1st or 2nd fret. I will scoot the whole headstock design up a little bit. Yeah, offsetness is cool. It may be hard to tell from the drawing, but this guitar's body is "unbalanced". The bass side goes out 7" from the centerline, while the treble side goes out 6.5". I did something similar with a bass I just built, and I love it.

Yeah, I think I will adjust it. However, I want to keep the offset tuners. "Offset-ness" is sort of a theme of the guitar.

Hey, thanks for the input. I'm definitely thinking a natural finish would be best, but I'd still like to hear if anyone has any other ideas. I haven't tried Lollar P90's. However, in reading reviews, the reviewers seemed to have similar tastes and "ears" to me. The pickups were compared to others, including Fralin, and generally people liked the Lollars better. I'm sure they won't sound bad.

You know what I mean... Fender makes a million variations of the Tele, you see a lot of them, etc. I love Teles, but this one is especially awesome!

You could probably find the bit you want here. http://www.routerbits.com/

It's time for me to push myself into a more challenging project. This design is an angled set-neck, semi-hollow (rather, hollow solidbody) with Lollar P-90's. Here's a shot of the plan. NOTE: on the plan, the bridge is parallel with the nut. I guess I wasn't centered with the camera. So, try to mentally adjust the shape for this distortion. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/Ge...ihollowplan.jpg Any opinions are welcome. In particular, I'm wondering about the headstock. 1) too large? 2) too sharp of an angle for the thin E string? The idea is that the whole guitar will be hollowed out except for a block under the bridge, and the area around the neck pocket. Color schemes... this will have a maple burl top (I think), mahogany body, maple neck. I would like to use a bloodwood fingerboard and headplate. In this configuration, I think it would look cool with completely natural color. Please share other ideas. This will be finished with an oil-type finish, so spraying isn't an option. Any colors would be manually-applied dye. Some specs: 25.25" scale, 2 3/8" body thickness (before carving), 3 3/4" headstock width. Neck tenon: 60mm L, 42mm W, 49mm D.

Quarter-sawn wood is more stable of course, but that would be more important with the neck I think. Mahogany is very easy to work with. I've used mahogany (can't remember if it was Honduran or African). You shouldn't have trouble carving either one I don't think.

I'm considering Lollar P90's for an upcoming project. I've read reviews at Harmony Central, and it sounds like they're the real deal. They're expensive though.

Wow, that's really beautiful. Teles are a dime a dozen it seems, but yours really stands out!

For a "pointy" guitar, I think it looks pretty cool. The body shape is very well proportioned I think (looks better in the photo than in the Photoshop image). I wonder about your neck joint. It must be bolt-on, because there's nothing to glue against. But you don't have any support on the sides of the neck at the joint. I have a guitar with bolt-on neck and one side isn't supported. If you get rough with it, you can hear the pitch change a little as the neck either bends or moves at the joint.

Astounding. I think the inlays are great. I'm sure it wouldn't take long to "learn" that fretboard since each inlay is different. Covered humbuckers were definitely the right choice for that.