Our Souls inc.

so THATS what that wedge was for ! lol. i didn't get it at first. Looks like you're doing great, so keep it rollin'.

Cool beans. You must have some pretty nice machinery to cut n rout n such. I like the logo's on your headstocks. Looks very professional.

Turn- first off- WELCOME to the forum. I appreciate you concern, but it's only aesthetics. I honestly did consider building a stand for it, something made of wood, very heavy and large but decided I don't want to haul it all to gigs n such. I could leave it as is and only break it out for certain tunes. I have a 5 string made out of swamp ash, and it's good for shows, so I'm not backed into a corner with it but as Wes so wisely pointed out, a bass thats not being used is useless. The most interesting thing I play on it is the song "Dee" by Randy Rhoads. It just sounds cool an octave down! I'll video it up after the "surgery". When i built it, I chambered the devil outta this thing and only kept one picture of the "map"........ re-shaping it TOO much won't happen, but that big purple-heart horn can go for sure. The feet are being rounded over into a more traditional shape and the flap-disk is being taken to the back to shed some thickness . I'm hoping for 3-4 Lbs lighter, but only time will tell. I'll re-weigh after and post up.

What a MONSTER! Love this build.

that shape reminds me of a chicken. i don't know why. How does it balance out? Whats the scale length on these?

Oh, my aching bones ! I decided to break this beast out at band practice last week. After 4 hours, this thing left me with a serious shoulder ache. So I stripped it down today and weighed it sans hardware and pups- it's 12 Lbs ! Woof. So, in the interest of being able to use it live repeatedly, It's going under the knife. I'll keep you posted.......

You can use no neck angle at all and just angle your fretboard if you had to. Normal thickness on the nut end and thicker than normal at the body end. Not ideal, but it would give you an angle Vs. dead flat.

This one was spalted Elm : It's similar to maple in hardness, and workability from what I've seen with it. I have 3 other tops from the same set, all 1" thick. I like it but you don't hear of it being used often for some reason. I have a giant white birch that I found on the property. It's hurt anyway, so I might test it out. How long do you think it'll take those boards to air-dry ? I may make a wood-powered drying rack/room and use the scrap woods around here for fuel.

no problemo. Sounds like you were already doing the same. I mix it with epoxy for inlays and side dots. It really doesn't take much!

You sure a 24 fret neck wasn't the right solution??

Nice flame in that piece. The neck pocket looks a bit jagged on the treble side. Is it an illusion? I know that part will mostly get removed, but the rest looks so cleanly done, it just strikes me as odd.

well, far be it from me to stick with convention, I used black masons dye ( I'm a mason by trade ). Its powdered, available at the hardware store and dirt cheap. I just take a small tub, like an old butter tub, add a dash of dye, then dip a folded, wet rag into the powder, then wipe onto the maple. Wear gloves, as this stuff stains everything it touches. after wiping it on and rubbing it in good, you can clear it as normal. Once cleared, no staining of the fingers. Its holding up fine so far- three years give or take, but I really don't play it as often as I should. and for the pots, try 500k first. If its too brite, the 250k swap is just a cheap fix.

Have you tried Cherry and Maple together yet? My gut tells me it'll be a pretty bright sounding guitar. I have 2 chambered electrics, one with maple and black walnut, one with cherry and black walnut. The cherry one is much more treble-y. Shimmery ,even. ( i combated it by adding 250k pots to the humbuckers, thereby squashing some of the higher frequencies) I like the relief holes. You could get even more weight out by routing them into a big void,not like you don't know that! P.s., I dyed a maple fretboard black once. It looked just like ebony. Fuel for thought.

Did you ever get this figured out Boggs?

Those are some really nice guitars ! Nice work- especially considering you're doing it on a balcony ! I'd be proud to have made them. You did great.

If this wasn't a friend from gradeschool and it was still original - i wouldn't touch the thing. Finishes are not my forte'. "Careful" i will definitely be, as my goal is to un-do the customization that was done and get it as close to factory as I can. The black chipped away in one spot just by me touching it, so I'm hoping someone did it wrong and didn't scuff before spraying the black! That would be ideal. Here's some pics of it now. you can see some white under the black in the bridge rout ^^ ^^ and there you can see that the bridge rout retained its original shape,despite having the wrong trem in place for 2 decades........

well- it DID sound better ( worth more $$ ) and it was harder to make. ( worth more $$ ) plus, he's the only person I know of making one-piece guitars ( worth more $ ) I'm noticing a pattern here. ( sorry, my sense of humor turned left a mile back! ) Hope that was some help.

*should work fine I have no real experience, but as long as the string spacing isn't too wide, it should work. There may be 'dead' spots, unless you use blade types, but again- I'm just speculating.

I have a friend who wants his ESP brought back to "factory" specs. It's an 80's ESP, so I want to try and do this proper. Right now, the original finish is still on the guitar, but it's under a re-paint. I have no idea what the re-paint is ( rattle can or legit paint) or what condition the original finish is in underneath it. Is it possible to remove only the black paint without removing the factory finish? Any tips or tricks? Thanks in advance-

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=43080&hl=comicaster&st=0 That's a link to a guitar I built that's kind of how you describe. I used a poster instead of a picture though. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. It is do-able though.

O.k. -I sent him the link to the sale and he's getting a correct trem for this thing. Despite the paint being worn down by the trem-bar nut, the rout wasn't enlarged at all from the factory rout. I did however, notice some red and white paint in the layers. Another call to John revealed that it has been painted before. The black isn't factory at all, in fact it used to be pearlescent-y white, like a cadillac. But it turns out Wes was correct, it was either my measuring or : some jack-wagon replaced the stock trem with this Floyd copy. *facepalm I'll take 'jack-wagon' for a thousand, Chuck. So a replacement bridge is in order for now- he can have it back once it's fixed and jam on it at least. Come Summertime I'll take it and strip it. I'll try to leave the factory finish intact while removing the black, but that's a different thread. Thanks for the help, Wes. \m/ ( x.x ) \m/

"real deal" to ESP guys means not an LTD..which means Japan instead of Korea/China/Indonesia/Vietnam 25 1/16" That was what I meant, It just shows how little about ESP i knew before today. I only knew it was older and ( not an LTD. ) still in the original case. You're info here has helped me a bunch!

and FWIW, the tape is just sitting there slack in the photo's.......

You keep batting around the words "Japan" and "custom shop" neither of which I ever uttered. I don't know what this is, aside from a 20+ year old ESP. The shelf for the nut was definitely done at the factory ,and the bridge studs show no sign of alteration. The fret ends are all polished up and rounded nicely, the binding is good, it shows the signs of a quality build, but the intonation is just atrocious. The brass block very well may be aftermarket, but all my FR bridges are giving me the same measurments- beat up tape or not, it measures the same every time. If you'd indulge me, what's the measurement from nut to posts? I've got 25 and 5/16"

The above pics show the tape sitting with the High E at 1" -the 12th fret at 14", and the nut at 26 and 3/4" . That gives us 12 and 3/4" from nut to 12th and 13" from 12th to saddle, with an overall of 25 and3/4" not 25.5" . Moar pics Moved the tape aside to show the headstock