skibum5545

Hmm... my only suggestion would be to paint the back and sides black, but that's just me. Great job! Are you going to enter it for GOTM?

Very nice choice of fabric! It gives the guitar a very exotic look that sets off the shape of the Iceman perfectly. Honestly, it's the best designed fabric job I've ever seen. You've got a good start, now just don't botch the finishing!

Yeah, foot injuries suck. The worst I've come is a really bad sprain stemming from a bad trampolining accident. A word to the wise: if you're going to do a backflip, see to it that you DON'T go off the back end of the trampoline while doing it! I got lucky; I was only on crutches for a week, but I can feel the pain for anyone who is immobile for longer than that!

My suggestion would be to make the bottom cutout less deep--not the one by the horn, but the one where the leg would rest--and perhaps the top one as well. I'd also smooth out all the curves a little. Oak, you say? Save it for a really nice cabinet. Go for mahogany if you can get it; alder, maple, poplar, and ash are other choices. On a side note, have you ever seen a Gibson Voodoo finish? It'd look really good on this shape, and you can find out anything you need to know about doing it by searching the finishing section. This would work best over an ash body, but would also probably work over an ash or oak laminate top.

Godin, your guitar is "da bomb". All bad slang aside, it really is very cool. Excellent materials, and impeccable execution. The sapwood in that fretboard looks beyond cool; I might just steal that idea! Good job to all entries. Maybe someday my guitars could live up to these. :D

shave it all, except for an intricate Gibson logo wrapping around the back of your head, surrounded by celtic knots.

The screw extractors, unfortunately, only go as small as 1/4" too. I wonder how hard it would be for a machinist friend to turn a bona fide stainless steel plug cutter in the plug diameter you want? It wouldn't have to be carbide or anything terribly fancy, as it wouldn't have to be terribly durable.

I second what he said. Was the board ebony-ified or something? If not, the board was probably just really dirty; some lemon oil will fix that right up; you should probably give it a quick wipe down with naptha first, though. On a side note, does anyone know if mineral oil is suitable for oiling fretboards?

Almost everything expands and contracts with heat. All I'm saying is that it seems odd to me that this would be a problem with wood when it wouldn't be with metal, pearl, plastic or clay. I am also saying that this is the first time I have -ever- heard of wooden plugs expanding and contracting at rates so different that it caused gapping.

So you're saying that wood against wood has larger expansion/contraction problems than wood against plastic, shell, or metal? I've never had trouble with wood into wood in all the plugs I've ever made with a plug cutter, so long as the holes were drilled cleanly and the plugs were tall enough; nor has anyone I know. Maybe it's an endgrain thing with dowels? Anyway, invest in a good plug cutter for the top dots; it'll surely come in handy for later projects too. For the side dots, have you considered sawdust and epoxy? At that size. it'd be awfully hard to tell that from wood. If not, I'm sure hardware stores carry very small birch dowels around your area.

You don't see guitars with an "inverted" rear end like that unless they're going to be headless, or they're a Grizzly guitar kit! In all seriousness, though, it'd be nice if you could machine some gears as a 90 degree "tuner adapter" to allow you to have regular tuners with the posts sticking into a cavity in the back to be adjusted; that way you wouldn't have to deal with headless systems and their distinctive look, or the look of regular tuners on the surface of the guitar.

That speaker is rated at 500W, I assume peak. Pumping 450W RMS into it might lead to issues down the road--believe me, I learned from experience. Also, 450W mono RMS is plenty for small gigs. Any place that would need more likely has its own system. I've done gigs with one speaker; it worked perfectly well. We got a gig at a retirement party for a Kindergarten teacher... but make every gig count, right? Behringer makes perfectly good mixers; check pawn shops/music stores/eBay for used equipment. Just avoid bidding wars on eBay; we ended up paying the new price on a used eBay QSC power amp because the keyboardist got a little overzealous....

Hmm... I like it. Not too big on the shape TBH, but the color scheme and the Bigsby make me feel all warm inside.

I like that design a LOT!! With that in mind, I have to ask that you go headless on this one. The headstock design is good, but does not, in my opinion, look as good as that bass would if headless. With that in mind, I would recommend you bookmatch to center on the top rather than leaving the neckthru showing, as that wood is spectacular. About regular tuners: you don't, strictly speaking, need to have an ABM or Steinberger system. With a little engineering, I have no doubt you could find a way to use regular tuners mounted into the back end of the body. It'd look very cool, too, if done right!

I've heard it said that oak moves more than a desert nomad on No-Doz, but in a laminated neck, I can't see that it'd be too much of a problem. Tonally, oak is a bit of a "dull thud" type wood; with all that mahogany, and with a nice heavy LP body, that shouldn't matter either. Sounds like a very pretty guitar; remember to post pics when you do it!

Oh my goodness...now I see why people are so fond of Explorers. No, seriously dude, this guitar adds to the explorer what it has always lacked for me: the bevels make the whole thing so much more pleasing to the eye, and the beautifully laminated neck adds that touch of class that puts it a step above its fluorescent, tiger striped past. Congratulations on a great build; I hope that thing sounds as good as it looks!

If you want Oz woods, check out lacewood! Gorgeous, has a tone somewhere between mahogany and alder, and oh, did I mention how gorgeous it is?

Well, if you're set against lines, my vote would then be for just side dots. I like the look of your striped fretboard, and any inlay would have to live up to it. So... I say go for side dots, or even side lines (see Alembic basses; lines on the side aren't visible from the front) and leave your fretboard lusciously free of complications.

I can't speak from experience, or even scientific backing, but somehow it seems to me that by essentially using MOP as your playing surface, you might run into some tone problems. Also, I think the simple round ovals laid out in such a geometric pattern looks very incongruous with the rest of the guitar. My vote? Just do very well executed inlay lines. Make them maple where they cross the wenge or purpleheart, and wenge where they cross the maple. Doing this will no doubt be difficult, but hardly more so, I think, than doing a really neat inlay job into multiple woods, leaving no room for error (and thus filling the gaps with powdered wood and CA). Even if you were to go unlined, side dots would still IMO look better than big, oval dots on the face of the fretboard.

Well, it's a good job and excellent execution. Personally, I would've liked it better without the dye; it would have increased the contrast between the maple and the mahogany in a pleasing way IMO. Still, this is a -very- nice bass!

Distorsione di velocità! Quella è una spigola piacevole. Osserva realmente buono costruito. Sono felice di sentirsi che gradite le raccolte di bartolini; sono le raccolte migliori fuori là nel mio parere. Che cosa la stringa sta spaziando al ponticello ed al dado? Osserva molto diritto confrontato a che cosa sono usato a vedere; però gioco scaturisce? Lavoro grande e congratulazioni sulla vostra configurazione! È sempre buono da vedere più bassists fuori là intorno al mondo! I, anche, può usare le traduzioni del google! (in english; nice bass, what's the string spacings, love the barts, congrats!)

Let me reiterate--I am not siding with Filthie McNastie #1, 2, 3,...,(n-1) or n! All I mean to say is that Kevan has the tendency to come across as mean when really he is not. I personally don't think that post was mean. However, it certainly came across as mean to Filthie. I know Kevan uses bold red font and large underlines in all of his posts. However, as a first response to a first post, Kevan might consider turning it down a notch or two. You're right, Kevan did the right thing by closing the thread promptly and directing the new member to the right forum and search features. However, I contest, essentially, the font in which he did it. Erikbojerik is right; subtle nuances are often lost on the internet. What is intended as a nudge in the right direction can, in the wrong hands, be considered e-police brutality. When the post is from a moderator and has parts typed in red caps and bold, underlined caps, well.... I actually like the idea of responding to such issues by deleting the thread and taking it to PM. It'd help avoid more threads like this one. And just in anticipation, I'm only dragging this thread on because I feel this issue needs to be discussed; all the disgruntled newbies of late need to come from somewhere, so let's get to the bottom of it and be done with it forever. Dan D skibum5545

Man, if you could get a deal with Knopfler, you would be my hero forever! That man is my favorite guitarist ever. No joke. Maybe he's not as fast as Satch or Vai, but his music just drips with style.

Guys, please don't take this as my siding with Filthy, but as much of a jerk as he's been from his first post through his last one, he does touch on a valid point, albeit heavyhandedly. Wasn't the point of all these "board renovations", starting with Kevan becoming an admin to clean this place up and make it generally more professional and respectful? If so, one must admit that jumping on new members like Kevan did is not exactly the warm, professional welcome we're trying to achieve here. Kevan, I understand it's your style to be tough and sarcastic when laying down the law, and it works when dealing with older members or people who come in here -way- out of line. It's just that a simple "search first; thread closed" will suffice for first posts if we want to attract new members, not scare them away. Please don't think I'm trying to tell you how to do your job. I just think that perhaps you don't realize that what you take as sarcasm or satire often comes across as anger to new members. Wait for them to get the hang of the forum first, then by all means smash their respective heads into proverbial walls. Every member needs a good slapping around every once in a while; just hold off until they're experienced enough to see it coming. Dan D skibum5545

Man, that thing sounds so great I can hardly stand not owning a bass with Bartolinis.... Congrats on the most original build I have ever seen, that still sounds as amazing as any bass I've ever heard.