Slaughthammer Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 i have come up with this wood combination for a 7-string solidbody: 5-piece laminated neck thru maple/purplrheart/maple/purpleheart/maple black limba wings topped with 1/4" ebony and also ebony for the fretboard for the hardware i would go with an ibanez lo pro and seymour duncan pickups would this prouce any kind of tone suitable for metal/shred? has any of you experience with ebony tops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 (edited) Will be bright guitar. Warmth and brightness of Korina, with brightness even more accented by Ebony top. Not sure what purpleheart will do in neck. It's mostly cosmetic I guess, but lamintes will have effect on tone. Density of Purperheart is greater than Maple, so it will bring out brightness again. The right set of SD pups can make this a great guitar. All depends what you want out of it. You wanna built 7 for the extended range and the warm, rich, lows. This guitar with say JB, 59 combo will lean over to bright side. To balance guitar some more you could put mahogany top on there. Just a thought. Edited October 28, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 (edited) This is just my opinion based on my experience with "bright" guitars. For metal or harder style music - I would stay away from the more mellow/darker sounding woods. The brighter the better - from what I have expereinced. The thing is - most metal players want some sort of scooped EQ sound or at least a boosted low-end. The thing that most people don't know or overlook is that you don't want that sound comming straight out of the guitar. Let that stuff happen in the effects loop or at least after the preamp/distortion. If you loose too much of the mid/treble freqs before the distortion - you'll end up with a muddy blanket covered sound. Keep it nice and bright heading into the amp and you can EQ it to your taste fairly easily. I found this out when I built my limba guitar. At the time, I thought it was pretty versatile. Once I built an all maple guitar, I knew that the limba couldn't compare to it. The maple guitar provided a nice sharp sound with excellent attack compared to the dull thud I got from palm muting on the limba guitar. Getting the scooped sound was still no problem with the bright guitar (it's not like it's so bright that it couldn't be controlled). "Bright" seems to be taken as a bad thing in most descriptions I have read but in my opinion - it's a very good thing. Anyway - that's my rant. It's purely my opinion but like I said - I have built both types. I would suggest not using the limba - even for the wings. Maybe if you wanted to use it for mellower music I would leave it in but not for harder music. Maybe alder, maple, or cherry? Edited October 28, 2004 by daveq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 (edited) first, thanks for your oppinions!! This guitar with say JB, 59 combo will lean over to bright side. To balance guitar some more you could put mahogany top on there. Just a thought. as for the duncans, i thought of a pair SH-6's distortion pickups. i use it now in my strat (agathis body maple neck) an i get a very nice metal suited tone out of it, though, they are not the brightest pickups, but i like 'em. and i don't think, it will be to bright with the ebony top as for the wings, i will use that guitar for any other kind of music, so i need it as versatile as possible. but the metal sound wil be most important. will it be more versatile with alder wings? maybe mahagony wings will be a good compromise? and does any of you know a good source for these woods in europe? oh, and is it possible to bend a 1/4" ebony top around an armrest? Edited October 28, 2004 by Slaughthammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 as for the wings, i will use that guitar for any other kind of music, so i need it as versatile as possible. but the metal sound wil be most important. will it be more versatile with alder wings? maybe mahagony wings will be a good compromise? I think you should look at the wood in order of brightness...... Mahogany, Basswood, Limba, Alder, Maple, Ebony... With Ebony being the brightest. So with Mahogany you take it in opposite direction from the Alder. and does any of you know a good source for these woods in europe? Europe is big place, my friend. Could you be little more specific about location and there might be someone able to help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 (edited) according to rampguitars mahagony has more highs and fewer bass than limba/korina which i would call brighter as for my location, I live in the north-west of germany, close to the netherlands, but with europe i maynly mean in the EU, because, if i order in the US or anywhere else out of the EU i will have to pay taxes or fees, don't know what exactly it's called... Edited October 29, 2004 by Slaughthammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 Try www.af.nl. They are located in Arnhem, The Netherlands. They have great selection, and small parts attic, perfect for guitar pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 thanks! i just figured that this store is for about 200 km from me.... maybe i'll give them a visit does anybody know if you can bend a 1/4" ebony top around an armrest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 Can't imagine there isn't a wood supplier closer to where you live. For the ebony top I guess it willl take lots of moist and heat, but ebony being some dense you may be in for some trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 i live for about where the Netherlands, Germany and the north sea meet, this region is called Ostfriesland, and the next german exotic wood supplier is in hamburg which is even more then 200 km from my point. but i just heard that someone here in my town is a real wood-fanat and that he can get almost any kind of wood for an acceptable price, so i'll try... working with exotic woods is not very popular here. i'm not gonna start this project before next summer, when i finished school, so i can take my time to organize the stuff etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 With most these projects, it simply takes time finding the right suppliers. That's all part of the build process. I'm lucky to live very close to www.af.nl. Can easily stop by now and then and see if they have interesting pieces available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 Slaughthammer.....You may have great difficulty bending Ebony.....It is a very dense but brittle wood. Concerning yor import taxes and duties......I have sent wood and other things to clients in Germany and avoided these duties by declaring the items as gifts, thus they enter duty-free.....or at a very reduced rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted October 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 Slaughthammer.....You may have great difficulty bending Ebony.....It is a very dense but brittle wood. I allready thought that it would be near impossible... i just wanted to go shure. so i'll have to make a cut, where the armrest begins, and not bend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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