RestorationAD Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 S9 Express #3 almost finished. This one has a new pickup model called Dirt. It has a nasty Alice in Chains vibe to it and is very volume knob sensitive (best for a single pickup guitar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 I see why you said "almost". Muzz told me it's not doen till you put the cavity cover on it. Nice pice of ash. You are developing a habit of taking "boards" and making them look killer. Dirt huh? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 I don't call mine done until I clip the ends of the strings. I guess we all have our little traditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 I see why you said "almost". Muzz told me it's not doen till you put the cavity cover on it. Nice pice of ash. You are developing a habit of taking "boards" and making them look killer. Dirt huh? SR Cover isn't finished of course... it is laying in the shop with dust on it. I amazed myself (I do that a lot... get lucky that is) with this fret job and it doesn't need leveling. However I am going to do just a hair then polish the crap out of them to make it super fast. As for the Ash. It is northern ash... quite hard, quite quacky bright. The pickup is the answer to smoothing out the tone. On lawless (S9 Express #1) I spent some time swapping pups in it. In the mean time I was working on my "Whiskey" pickup. The "Whiskey" is a classic overwound PAF with a glorious A2 magnet in it. All the boutique guys have something like this in their line ups... I modeled it after the PAF EVH used on the first few albums (women and children first is my favorite). I called it the "Whiskey" because it is where all the bands played in Hollywood back in the day. While I was working on the Whiskey I wound a few early prototypes and got crazy with the magnets and polepieces. So the Dirt series is going to come with 2 pole piece choices and 2 magnet choices. This one is a Ceramic 8 with large Allen poles... it sounds like vintage metal. Frigging awesome. As for the wood... not bad for a cutting block. Now that the pickups are sorted I can try these again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Dirt as in Alice and Chains and because the design (all pole pieces no slugs) was inspired by the Gibson Dirty Fingers pickups.... however they came out way different than the Dirty Finger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 I feel happy for that piece of ash.It was obviously the ugliest,most twisted piece of ash in the forest and it most likely hated it's entire life,and now it gets to be a guitar for eternity... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 It was definitely not going to make it into Lightning Boy. No big show or pennant races for him. Heck he might not have even made a decent cutting board. Now hopefully someone will give it a good home and play metal on it forever \m/ Worst case it gets to hang out with my other guitars for a while (pretty sure it will be in the mail before then). I specifically matched those pieces as best I could to get all the ugliness possible into one body blank. The voids ran pretty deep but I filled them all with west systems. I will get some better pics when it is done done. I have another one to assemble tonight... (7 more I think) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 I like this type of graining over the plain straight stuff. This is a lot more interesting to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 S907 Express #1 on the bench... You would be amazed how loud it is setting string ferrules at Midnight in the house when everyone is asleep. Needless to say I will drive them flush today when every one is awake. I am not sure I like the pickups I built for this one so they may be swapped for a set of Destroyers. I still have a lot of tweaking to do on this one but at least it is almost there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 That transition behind the nut is sick. The grain in the back that matches the neck is also very cool. I'm sure you picked that body wood neck wood comibination to take advantage of that. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 That transition behind the nut is sick. The grain in the back that matches the neck is alos very cool. I'm sure you picked that body wood neck wood comibination to take advantage of that. SR Thanks... happy mistakes and a lot of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 tonights project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 S906 Standard... Drifter Assembled. Still needs a light fret dress but it needs to sit under string tension for a day or two and get rid of the new neck backbow. The 9 degree low head angle experiment worked for the most part.I used Hipshot staggered tuners on it and they work great for this. Right now it needs one wrap on the low E string to keep down pressure on the nut... we will see as it settles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 it needs to sit under string tension for a day or two and get rid of the new neck backbow. Finally,somebody admits this happens...I am so tired of everyone saying "if a neck has backbow you did something wrong" At least half of mine need a few days under string tension to sit right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 it needs to sit under string tension for a day or two and get rid of the new neck backbow. Finally,somebody admits this happens...I am so tired of everyone saying "if a neck has backbow you did something wrong" At least half of mine need a few days under string tension to sit right This mainly applies to really hard fretboards (bocote, ebony, bloodwood) I was originally taught to level the fretboard then add some relief on the bass side to allow for the string to vibrate freely. With the old single action trussrods if you had too much backbow you could not fix it with the trussrod. Modern double action trussrods eliminate this issue. So when you were fretting a neck with a really hard fretboard you put some relief in before fretting. Later I decided this was a silly idea. I build shredders... necks need to be dead straight. Almost no relief bass side and no relief at all treble side. It is better to make a fretboard dead flat, fret it, and deal with the backbow using various methods than it is to try and calculate the proper amount of relief to add for a given piece of wood. In the old days I would have 10 ebony boards and they would all the same density. I could tell you the exact relief based on the tang size and type of wood... Today I can't get 2 boards the same density from the same chunk of wood... it is what it is. I use so many strange exotics and inconsistent standard boards it makes no sense to try and use the old methods anymore. If you do it right the tangs that cause the issue will eventually seat into the wood with tension from the strings. This makes for a much better seated fret IMHO. I don't even try to glue them anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 You're artificially aging yourself, RAD! You need to stop talking like an old timer. "I remember when all these guitars were all trees as far as the eye could see...." I took to fretting necks before shaping because the flat surface was an obvious benefit plus the added stiffness helped the tangs bite in rather than separate the slots. Years ago (no, not that long ago) I had a real disaster with a Tele neck that I fretted after shaping that the rod and string tension had no chance in hell of solving. It's good to hear that you've developed a real feel for the wood. That's a really hard earned and in no small way important bit of experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 You're artificially aging yourself, RAD! You need to stop talking like an old timer. "I remember when all these guitars were all trees as far as the eye could see...." I took to fretting necks before shaping because the flat surface was an obvious benefit plus the added stiffness helped the tangs bite in rather than separate the slots. Years ago (no, not that long ago) I had a real disaster with a Tele neck that I fretted after shaping that the rod and string tension had no chance in hell of solving. It's good to hear that you've developed a real feel for the wood. That's a really hard earned and in no small way important bit of experience. I don't mean to seem like an old timer but I started early in life (I was 13 when I started building). So even though I am 40 I feel like I have been at it forever... I also fret them before shaping them. This is because it is much easier to make the fretboard perfectly flat while the neck is square. I am able to fully support the back of the neck during the process this stops the little bow that happens when you press too hard with the leveler. The results this year have been astounding. I could literally get away without leveling my frets this year. I still will because it is the right thing to do but I was amazed at the consistent results I got this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Anyone in the North Carolina area this weekend should come see us at the annual Southeastern Guitar and Amp show! http://guitarandampshow.com/ Admission is Free Sept 22-23 2012 Sat 10-6pm Sun 12-5pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Those shorts are framing her crotch very nicely... I mean..ahem...that V is awesome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 They wanted a picture with the Orange guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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