Jump to content

chennik

Established Member
  • Posts

    49
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About chennik

chennik's Achievements

Enthusiast

Enthusiast (6/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. This build reminds me very much of a guitar I got as a pawnshop find in Kentucky several years ago. Mine has a walnut neck and a Khaler Spyder trem, but otherwise very similar, and definitely not factory made. The tone is unreal, something about walnut in a strat body... best 80 bucks I ever spent!
  2. I have to agree. I got this book as a gift, and I read it cover to cover in a matter of 3 days. I think I've read it about once a year since. It's an incredible resource that keeps information on hand that you might not be able to keep in memory. I would go so far as to say this book is about as important to what we do as Melvyn Hiscocks book. Maybe not quite that much, but close.
  3. Osage Orange is very stable IF you find a good piece of it. The nature of the tree is pretty gnarly, it has multiple trunks, low crown, leans and curves in what trunk you do have, which means alot of reaction wood. I have a coworker that makes bows out of it, and he said that it's important to look closely at the grain, much as we would for anything else we would use in guitar building. Osage can have a pretty straight and clear grain by appearance, but if the tree gets a spiral growth pattern, you actually could have short grain running through say a piece that was perfectly quartersawn through the log. A well selected piece of Osage Orange will not steer you wrong though. It's incredibly durable.
  4. Does anyone have any experience with the HCZ/Dragonfire active pickups being sold on guitarpartsonline.com? They say they are a generic version of the EMG 81/85 at lower cost. I always stay away from EMGs because of cost, even though I like the tone (especially for hard rock and metal), they're just too expensive. I'm curious as to if these are worthwhile considering they're half the cost. If they're 80-90% the pickup and generally in the same ballpark soundwise, I'd be satisfied. I'm looking for anyone that can offer any experiences or opinions on them.
  5. I"ve got a neck that I'm going to do a full scallop on the fretboard, then i'm going to build a new body and use some leftover parts to finish it off. The one thing I'm missing is a bridge. I can't make up my mind to go with a floyd or a fixed bridge. This is basically going to be a shredding super strat, and the floyd suits that concept. The downside is that it's more expensive, more work, and I'm not sure if the floating bridge creates any problems when doing crazy scallop fb vibrato etc. I'm quite used to the fact that when you bend a string on a floyd the others go out of tune. I'm wondering if this is more of a problem on scallop boards, where you can vary the force you fret a note with much more effect than on a standard board. The fixed bridge would be less expensive and less work, in addition to being more stable should I do any of that crazy vibrato, string bends, with all the other strings being held constant. The problem is, I have only played on scalloped guitars a few times and I don't remeber how this worked. I am crazy for even asking this? I don't know, I'm hoping you guys can tell me. I'm on the fence now, but if I floyd is going to cause me more stability problems, I'm going fixed.
  6. I'm planning on building a neck through bass where I initially thought of doing a 3 laminate neck of maple walnut running down the center and a maple fretboard, But now I'd like to do the reverse, outer laminates of walnut with maple as the center laminate. I haven't seen a walnut neck on a bass that I can recall, and I'm wondering if there are any structural issues I should be worried about. Anyone thoughts? The other thing is, if I do this swap, i'm contemplating trying walnut for a fretboard. Other than having to grainfill and finish it, does anyone think it would or wouldn't work as a fretboard?
  7. Honestly, a low B really does not make much difference in setup other than it adds one string. I don't know of an online tutorial for setup, but this is what I generally do. 1. Eyeball the saddle locations for intonation first, usually high e is close to all the way foreward, low E/B is all the way back, everything else kinda tapers along that general line except the G. If anything, make the saddle a little extra flat, because it's easier to adjust sharp/forward w/ string tension on there. 2. get the springs connected to the bridge block and claw in the pattern you want 3. install the strings and do an approximate tune to pitch. You will do this many times in searching for equilibrium 4. Watch the bridge and how it sits... if it is level as you approach pitch, you're in good shape, if it sits low, back off the screws for the spring claw. If it sits high, tighten the screws or add springs. You will have to check pitch and adjust, many times in the search for equilibrium. 5. Once you reach equilibrium (where you are at correct pitch and the bridge sits level) you can adjust the action with the posts. Check pitch again every time you adjust. 6. Check the intonation. Reduce string tension to make the adjustment and then tune back to pitch. Do this one string at a time. 7. Once you are done, check everything again. The rule of physics "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" was written for floyd's. They are tedious to set up because every adjustment changes something else, but once you reach the equilibrium, they work very well and need little to no extra attention. When I do setup a floyd, I also make it a point to take the whole thing apart and clean it really well. They attract alot of gunk and oil and grime from your hands and such. I also lubricate everything, a light machine oil will work, but I prefer Militec which is a synthetic lubricant used for weapons. It generally bonds to the metal and you can wipe off the excess so there is enough to lubricate, but not enough to attract grime. I hope that helps.
  8. I would stay away from branches entirely when it comes to anything but mulch and firewood. Even if you took every precaution in the world when drying it, the boards would probably get up and walk away with as much movement as you would get. Unfortunately, the trunk is the only good place to get any lumber, and even at that, a very straight, upright trunk is best. I have a huge (probably 70') black walnut tree that's gotta come down, but the 40' long trunk has a slight "S" to it, and I'm worried about that being worth cutting up.
  9. Anybody ever use envirotex clear coat (in a spray can)? I just finished applying about 2 cans of Deft to the body of my current build, which is what I've always used and gotten satisfactory results. When purchasing the Deft though, I saw "envirotex" clear coat next to it on the shelf. I tried it on some scrap, and it seems to work pretty well... in fact, when sprayed on thick, the orange peel seems to level itself out. I'm not really sure about how it holds up or it's tonal properties. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this product? I'm contemplating it for my next build.
  10. Thanks for the input guys. Regarding pickup locations, The Stephen Carpenter ESP was the model that came to mind when I put the original post up. I've also seen the guitar players in Lacuna Coil play a similar model, and I've seen a few other folks play baritones with similar pickup locations. I need to think about what I want to do for scale length.. shortening it by a fret or two may be the answer.
  11. I've been kicking around the idea of building a baritone guitar for myself out of some parts I have lying around. The biggest thing is that I have a 30" scale slotted and radiused ebony board. I was going to use it on the bass I'm building for my wife, but I found some purpleheart thats the right dimensions, so she wants me to use that instead. So, what to do with this 30" scale board... of course think up another project that I dont have time for. Anyhow, I was thinking of doing a six string baritone... low string tuned to B or A. The design will be neck through and ebony board. I'm going to make the neck maple/walnut laminates, but I have a few questions about baritone construction, pickups, hardware and body wood. -Am I nuts to use a 30" scale? Is this too long without fanned frets or something to make it sound good across all strings? If need be I can cut off the last fret slot or two and get it shortened somewhat... -I'm looking for decent note definition in the tone, fairly bright with tight bottom end. For the body wood, I've got hard maple, ash, soft maple and walnut that I could use for the wings, but i'm not sure which of these is the best for what I'm going for. If this was a regular scale guitar, I'd probably use ash. What do you guys think? -I notice lots of baritones seem to have a neck pickup closer to where a middle pickup would go on a standard guitar, kinda where most 'neck' pickups are on basses. Are there any rules of thumb for this? I have the fb slotted to 30 frets, and I'd like to have some extended high end, without losing that traditional "neck pickup" sound. -Last question, Can I used a strat style hard tail bridge for a baritone? Will the intonation adjustment be sufficient? Reason is, I have one of these lying around, and that keeps the cost nice and affordable. I know that's alot of questions, but any advice you all can contribute is much appreciated.
  12. Cherry is great for bodies, it's the right strength, density, weight etc... it finishes excellent. The biggest reason you don't see it used by major manufacturers is because it's expensive (probably costs 4-5 times what alder,basswood or ash cost), and can be hard to get in the right dimensions. Because the majors dont use it, it hasnt really caught on. I have some that I'm going to use for body wings in a neck thru superstrat I'm planning on building though I havent used it yet myself. I have talked to the local luthier about it, and he's used it a few times. He said tonally it varies, but it's always been good tone. He said it varies from "bright mahogany" to "sweet alder", but it always has great harmonic response, with character that is unique. If you have your hands on some cherry, I say go for it.
  13. The standard answer would be to glue the scarf join first, then the ears. But,It depends on the profile of your headstock really. I would glue the head to the neck first, then go back and glue the 'ears' on. That way, you are working with a neck blank and a head that are the same width, and when clamping, you can use a flat surface, like a work top or a jig of straight boards, to line them up as you clamp them, and keep lateral movement to a minimum. Once that is complete, you can glue up the ears and they can overlap the neck side of the joint as well, just in case your headstock profile requires a width greater than the neck in the area of the scarf join. If your head design would not require a width greater than the neck blank through the area of the scarf join, then you could glue ears up first, which would make working with the head easy. But, that would be added bulk that could be awkward and get in the way when you glue up the scarf. That would make it more difficult to clamp, and more difficult to keep in line, for the scarf join.
  14. It's a good question. I've got a good bit of white ash lying around that i'm going to use for furniture, and some guitar building. The stuff is pretty hard and seems like it would work out well, but I've heard (not sure of it) that it is flexible and might bow quite a bit under string tension. It does absorb shock pretty well, hence it's use in baseball bats, but I'm not sure if that necessarily translates into it being flexible. Another concern with it is that it has a pretty coarse texture, so it's probably not too easy to carve into the curve of a neck, and it would need to be grainfilled for a smooth finish. Right now, I've got enough hard maple for my neck building purposes, but might try ash down the road. If I do, I'll let you know how it turns out.
  15. I'm about to get started on building my first neck from scratch. I've got a nice piece of straight grained flatsawn maple that I'm planning on using. I have a question for something I've never seen mentioned in any of the guitar building books I've read, and searching on here didnt really produce anything that addressed this question, so here it goes. Which way should the edge to edge grain from the annual rings arch when making a neck from flatsawn timber? Should the fingerboard be on the convex or concave side of the annual growth rings? or does it matter? Is there an industry standard? I know that lumber tends to distort so that the annual growth rings attempt to straigthen, causing cupping on the convex side and bowing on the concave side. This piece of lumber I have was purchased kiln dried and has been sitting indoors for over a year, and it hasnt distorted at all from when i purchased it. So, I'm not worried about warping and distortion, at least not too much. But I am wondering if the orientation will have any stability effects on the neck, or if one orientation or the other is stronger or more durable. Thanks for any assistance on this.
×
×
  • Create New...