adrock1740 Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 i was gonna tell you guys a bit about my history, but i know how people are. i can't lie, i'm the same way. we just want pictures... so pics first, specs later: 1. the nut is temporary. i'm waiting for my tax return to buy new nut files. 2. the mini switches will be replaced with black ones, don't worry. 3. the cavity cover isn't finished yet. waiting on said tax return to buy a new belt sander, so that the matching cavity cover is perfecto. 2. yes, the pickup routes are a bit large. lesson definitely learned.... the next will be air tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrock1740 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 continued, due to picture limits per post.... i got the guitar done just in time for a special lesson last week. animals as leaders were in town... tosin liked it a lot, and hopefully i'll be building him one just like it in the near future. with a few more strings of course. had to get this shot with his custom ibanez LACS 8 string. what a beautiful instrument, played amazingly well. superstrat style body with black limba wings, and ebony binding thin body, at 33mm white limba, cocobolo, and wenge neck. with volute satin tru-oil finish madagascar ebony fretboard, side inlays only 25" scale length, in drop b (.062 - .012 d'addario xl) tom style roller bridge, string through body hipshot locking tuners ebony knob recessed dunlop strap locks bare knuckle nailbomb in the bridge dimarzio air norton in the neck one volume, three way pickup selector, mini switch for each pickup (just coil splitting, for now) this guitar is all wood and metal were possible. no plastic. including the side markers... i grew up learning to play guitar on rg's, and i always wanted a rgt style guitar. but i could never afford one, so i started building this a few years ago. i was building drums at the time, and had access to some good equipment. i've been working with wood my whole life, and grew up watching my grandfather build and design acoustics. i used to look forward to the newest stewmac catalogs all the time in school, even hiding them from my grandfather until i was done with them, haha. but yeah, i got away from the drum building and moved around a bit, holding onto this beauty until the time was right. and that time is now. enjoy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Nicely done. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Nice work. The build looks clean and I like the wood combinations. You have a few nice touches in there, like the chamfers on the ferrule recesseses. I would say there are only two things I am not liking on it. #1 is the pickup screws being mounted through the back. It is a unique way of doing it, which I like. But instead of a nice clean looking back there are four big honking screws in the back. If it was done with smalled screws it might not be as noticeable? #2 is the recessed strap buttons. At first I thought it was a great looking idea and was a fan of it. But then it hit me, you can only use a strap with Dunlop strap locks on it. What happens when you, or whoever may buy a design like this, goes to a gig and forgets their strap. Or at least one with locks on it. You can't just borrow another strap, it must have Dunlop locks on it. So you get points for creativity with it, but lose a few as well for feasibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisdom727 Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Very nice work, and great outdoor photos. The open grain on the cocobolo, wenge, and limba looks good with Tru-Oil. The 4 rear pick-up height-adjustment bolts are an interesting twist that I don't recall seeing before. As with the mini-switches, they'll look better in black. How is it for bending with those strings and dropped tuning on a 25" scale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Cracking first build. Ditto the comments about the ferrule recesses, straplocks and pickup screws. Very clean build - your experience with wood (that's what she said) shows. Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 What happens when you, or whoever may buy a design like this, goes to a gig and forgets their strap. Or at least one with locks on it. Who forgets their strap?it stays on the guitar and you only remove it to put in the case,and then you roll it up and put it in the pocket of the case. I can honestly say I have never even heard of anyone who forgot the strap.More likely to forget your picks or backup strings.Not to mention all of my guitars have straplocks..two of them recessed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 #2 is the recessed strap buttons. At first I thought it was a great looking idea and was a fan of it. But then it hit me, you can only use a strap with Dunlop strap locks on it. What happens when you, or whoever may buy a design like this, goes to a gig and forgets their strap. Or at least one with locks on it. You can't just borrow another strap, it must have Dunlop locks on it. So you get points for creativity with it, but lose a few as well for feasibility. i have used those a few times now. its honestly not enough of a problem to worry about. most go straight into the case with the guitar, or get left on the guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrock1740 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 thank you all for the kind words!! #1 is the pickup screws being mounted through the back. It is a unique way of doing it, which I like. But instead of a nice clean looking back there are four big honking screws in the back. If it was done with smalled screws it might not be as noticeable? this is true. i might try different sized screws in the future. it's really not that bad looking in person though, but i do get your point. the ability, and ease, of adjusting the pickups far outweighs the aesthetics in my opinion. #2 is the recessed strap buttons. At first I thought it was a great looking idea and was a fan of it. But then it hit me, you can only use a strap with Dunlop strap locks on it. What happens when you, or whoever may buy a design like this, goes to a gig and forgets their strap. Or at least one with locks on it. You can't just borrow another strap, it must have Dunlop locks on it. So you get points for creativity with it, but lose a few as well for feasibility. this is a concern with any "strap lock" system. if you forget your strap, you're kind of SOL unless someone around has the exact same system... and as wes and wez said, the strap lives in the case with the guitar. permanently. it is never forgotten. and this will be my guitar forever, so i'm not too worried about it. if someone wanted a guitar and HAD to have normal strap buttons, i would definitely do it. though i believe aesthetics far outweighs the strap issue in this situation. Very nice work, and great outdoor photos. The open grain on the cocobolo, wenge, and limba looks good with Tru-Oil. The 4 rear pick-up height-adjustment bolts are an interesting twist that I don't recall seeing before. As with the mini-switches, they'll look better in black. How is it for bending with those strings and dropped tuning on a 25" scale? thanks man!! i don't really do much bending, so it's fine for me. and what little i do, i haven't noticed any problems with it fretting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Funny enough I grew up wanting an RG550 (Sand Dimas as well) and never had the money... then when I got one I only kinda loved it. That is why I started building. Some sort of arm rest or relief is in order.... maybe? I think the PUP routes are fine. I like them tight... but it makes it hard to use off brand pickups. (Even though from a customer perspective a clean route that is big enough for EMG or Duncan or BKPs is probably big enough.) #2 is the recessed strap buttons. At first I thought it was a great looking idea and was a fan of it. But then it hit me, you can only use a strap with Dunlop strap locks on it. What happens when you, or whoever may buy a design like this, goes to a gig and forgets their strap. Or at least one with locks on it. You can't just borrow another strap, it must have Dunlop locks on it. So you get points for creativity with it, but lose a few as well for feasibility. +1 Wez So I use them. I have a spare set of the locks with no washers or strap attached. When I need to use a guitar without a dedicated strap I stick the stubs in and use any old strap. Works fine as long as you are not on stage... or you lay the stubs down and forget where you put them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 this is a concern with any "strap lock" system. if you forget your strap, you're kind of SOL unless someone around has the exact same system... Except the Schaller ones, which use a relatively normal button - one that you can use without the locks at all. http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Schaller-Guitar-Strap-Locks-and-Buttons-Pair-?sku=360389 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 this is a concern with any "strap lock" system. if you forget your strap, you're kind of SOL unless someone around has the exact same system... Except the Schaller ones, which use a relatively normal button - one that you can use without the locks at all. http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Schaller-Guitar-Strap-Locks-and-Buttons-Pair-?sku=360389 same with the dunlop system - you can have normal or these recessed strap buttons. When i have made guitars with recessed strap locks the owners have quickly gone around and added the normal dunlop buttons to the rest of their guitars. only thing i dont like about the dunlop system with the normal buttons is that it sticks out quite far as the mechanism is an the end of the strap button, since the schaller goes over the button it sits a bit closer to the body, which looks a little better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Fair point about forgetting your strap. My straps either live on the guitar or come off and go right into the pocket in the case. I've never really played live, not counting a couple of times at church, so I don't really know the common items to forget and thought it seemed like a logical thing to forget. As for ease of adjusting the pickup heights, how often are you adjusting in it? I set it to a standard height right off the bat and then tweek a little until I find the sweet spot and then it lives there forever. I've also never had any issues adjusting direct mounted pickups from the front either. I still like that it is a unique idea and I could see a few ways I would work with it to make it a little better. The nice thing with mounting from the back is you could potentially use normal pickup screws and not have to drill out the holes in the pickup ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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