_____the Big 1_____

[ryegault]

what you need to do is build a good looking variax

[tirapop]

I read that a woman won a million dollars in the

Pillsbury bake-off

. So, I'm gonna make the best recipe ever!

Nothing screams class like caviar, so, that's ingredient number one. I read online that people go nuts over anything fried and on a stick... check.

My wife loves chocolate and she'd eat anything with Thai peanut sauce on it. What do you guys think about Cajun spice? Is it still hot or played out? Should this be a dinner or a dessert?

Rokeros, do you think any good cook works like that? A good cook would make something they'd want to eat. Adjustments can be made to accommodate the preferences of their guest/customer: a different menu item, a little more or less spice, meat cooked to their desired done-ness. If recipes were created by committee, there wouldn't be anything completely new, fresh, and innovative.

If you haven't already, get your hands on the classic/benchmark guitars everyone references. Get to know what it is about those guitars that people desire. Form your own opinions about what you like and don't like about those guitars. Use that as a basis for building your guitars. Listen to theories/opinions other people have about guitars, but, test the ideas for yourself. You decide for yourself what works and what doesn't. If you want to make something great and unique, you have to fully invest yourself. You can't have other people to make decisions for you.

[rokeros]

Overall, thanks for your thoughtful and relative comments. I guess that what I wrote in the first post was just a rush of adrenaline that I had for the quest to contrust the ultimate instrument after successfully completing my first.

But I now understand and acknowledged the fact that guitars are built for personal preferences and not towards one target group. Or else what would be unique in guitars in the future?

The more and more I look at the photos from famous luthiers around the world, I slowly compare it to mine and it was then that it hit me that I shouldn't step too far forward but to take one step at a time to reach my goal or else the chances of tripping and falling would increase.

I hope that I have not caused any trouble or useless time of anyone's for this meaningless yet rewarding thread as I gradually realise that what I am seeking is basically the point of this forum and I'd like to thank people like Brian Calvert for being such an inspiration and for creating such a phenomonal place for people within the luthiery interest to interact and share ideas.

Once everyone who have posted in this thread have read this I would like to delete this topic pretending that none of this has happened. So if moderators can you please close this read and whomever have posted here have read this post please PM me so that I can delete this thread ASAP.

Thanks,

Ash

Edited April 21, 2006 by rokeros

[fryovanni]

Don't discount the thread. You are feeling the same way as most( you just learned how to play with fonts a bit more than others). You have learned a lot and built your first. Now your eyes have opened, and you have a desire to improve the next one. Combine that with a healthy bit of energy, and you want to go full speed ahead. It is normal and a good thing.

You will find that none of us have all the answers. We are all learning more every day(especially the guys that build those guitars you are looking at). Your views will change as time goes on, but your goal is the same as all of us. You want to build great guitars. Keep moving forward! Studing those modern guitars, and really study the guitars from the past. Take what you learn and try it out. Try to figure out how to build with the tools you have available. Increase your accuracy and skill set. I really wish you the best of luck, and look forward to seeing more of your work.

Peace,Rich

P.S. Yes, Brian Rocks!

[azz-230]

Ahhh the ultimate guitar

A qwest i will always be on, will any of us ever reach this goal?, most likely no

but i dont think that creating the ultimant guitar is the point of it all, i think its the jorney there, the learning, the excitement, the fun, thats the true goal

[ToneMonkey]

Have you thought about building something modular where you can take off certain bits and add others on. I think this would be about the only way to get a guitar that everyone likes. Kind of like a chop and change thing.

I once let on that I was thinking about how to build a guitar using no (or at least the very minimum) glue. I got a bit of dodgy reply from that (although it was a few years ago when there were 20 teenagers jumping on the bandwagon of what ever the big boys said). I was going to shape the neck tennon to slot in to the body. I figured that there was plenty of force in the strings that could be used to hold it together.

I think design excersises like this are very good thing. Keeps the mind working. Stops me thinking about women

[Ben]

I think design excersises like this are very good thing. Keeps the mind working. Stops me thinking about women laugh.gif

Bad thing sometimes.

Stops me concentratring on maths, which I really need to do right now.

[orgmorg]

I have to say that neck to body contact really does improve sustain. I once took the neck bolts out of my bass, and the sustain was noticably worse.

[rokeros]

Yes it does sustain more doesn't it?

I think it is because the vibrations from the strings tansmit from the body to the neck and back to the body instead of body back to the body causing less sustain that way

[aidlook]

Have you thought about building something modular where you can take off certain bits and add others on. I think this would be about the only way to get a guitar that everyone likes. Kind of like a chop and change thing.

I once let on that I was thinking about how to build a guitar using no (or at least the very minimum) glue. I got a bit of dodgy reply from that (although it was a few years ago when there were 20 teenagers jumping on the bandwagon of what ever the big boys said). I was going to shape the neck tennon to slot in to the body. I figured that there was plenty of force in the strings that could be used to hold it together.

I think design excersises like this are very good thing. Keeps the mind working. Stops me thinking about women

I've thought a lot about modular designs..

But It will definately not be something everyone likes...more people will probably like a simple unique solidbody design better...

But It would be cool to have..

[fryovanni]

I have to say that neck to body contact really does improve sustain. I once took the neck bolts out of my bass, and the sustain was noticably worse.

Did you remove em with the bass tuned up? Thats the way a brave man would test the theory .

Peace, Rich

[erikbojerik]

I want one guitar for each song. Crafted specifically for what that song requires.

That way, I can use up all this wood I have lying around.

[tirapop]

As far as modular goes, check out RKS guitars. They haven't exactly set the world on fire.

If you want a scalpel, a dagger, or a chef's knife, a swiss army or multi-tool version might work well enough, but, it won't be the same as a purpose built scalpel, dagger, or chef's knife.

[ToneMonkey]

As far as modular goes, check out RKS guitars. They haven't exactly set the world on fire.

If you want a scalpel, a dagger, or a chef's knife, a swiss army or multi-tool version might work well enough, but, it won't be the same as a purpose built scalpel, dagger, or chef's knife.

Cool, fold out necks and pickups that double up as toothpicks

Loose neck bolts increase the damping effect. Most things that are vibrating can be modeled as a spring/mass/damper system. Really helps to get things clear in your head.

I like those RKS guitars, first time I've ever seen them. I've never heard of the "world renowned industrial designer" though.

[Scott French]

Here's my favorite blurb about sustain ever from the Carl Thompson tribute site.

I know a lot of people say "Brass nuts and brass bridges" and all these things to get more sustain. I always tell people "how much sustain do you want?" I can play a note, any note on one of my basses, walk away and ten years later the bass is still ringing. "Now what do you want? Oh, you want eleven years." I mean how much sustain-You know, I mean really, that's such a dumb word. I mean, how much do you want? I mean even a Fender it sustains OK as far as I'm concerned. I didn't find it-A couple of notes G, some of the G-string on a 34-inch scale. I don't know why that is. On the G-string around C and C# and D. You get some dead notes from time to time. I was told by this engineer it was the scale but I don't know if anyone ever investigated it. But it seems to be a lot. I know when I go to 36 that seems to clean up pretty good, you know. It doesn't seem to matter anymore. But other than that, Fender sustains real good. Something about picking up an old Fender with an old pickup or whatever. Enough sustain for me.

[Mickguard]

But other than that, Fender sustains real good. Something about picking up an old Fender with an old pickup or whatever. Enough sustain for me.