skibum5545

My only experience is with the opposite-- a bass through guitar effects. The only thing I really have to add is that on Danelectro Auto Wah pedals, there's actually a Hi/Low switch, depending on whether you're using it for guitar or bass. A bass played through the "Hi" setting loses its bottom end, and just ends up with a wah-ish clicking noise; on the "Low" setting, the full tone comes through and sounds great. I've played my bass through a variety of guitar effects, and it's sounded fine. My only experience with a bass effects pedal was a little Boss number, and it didn't sound particularly good even with my bass, so I really can't comment on how it'd be with a guitar. My advice? Get down to your local Guitar Center and try out as many pedals, guitar or bass, that you can find.

I think a small pickguard like #5 looks good on a carved top guitar like a Les Paul because of the way it separates itself as a separate plane from the surface; I'm not so sure how good it would look on a flat top like this. I'm afraid it might look a little too much like a patch-up-- like you're trying to hide a single mistake at the cost of the total design. A design like #2 or #3, while it does cover more wood, nonetheless creates a more cohesive overall design. Besides, the entire top half of the guitar is still exposed, so it's not like you're painting the whole thing black or anything. It is, however, your guitar, so you can pick whatever design suits your needs. It's your dream guitar, not the forum's!

Nice finish! Care to post your bursting technique? It looks a lot better than a lot of similar bursts I've seen, and if you managed that without an airbrush, it's doubly impressive-- perhaps even tutorial-worthy? Anyway, the color choice is good, albeit a bit tobacco burst-ish (given that tiger eye was your goal), and the maple is really original and interesting. I like it a lot better, in fact, than the "perfect" parallel curls and quilts one sees. It really has a sense of original attitude, not unlike the playing of the guitar's namesake. Anyway, I'd love to hear a sound clip. What kind of pickups?

Hey all! I'm writing this in an internet cafe 2 minutes from the San Lorenzo church in Florence, Italy. Just wanted to say hi to all of you guys and to let you know I'll be back and posting Sunday-- and might even get a little luthiering done before school starts Monday morning! My internet time is almost up, so I should sign out. Ciao!

I knew you'd come around eventually....

Is there any way you could paint the pickguard the same grey as the back? It seems like that'd tie the whole thing together better than slapping on a pickguard that doesn't match the rest of the body, and it'd be a lot less trouble than trying to match the color of the front. Aside from that, I'd go with a nice glossy black pickguard.

That. Is. One. Sexy. Bass! The curves seem a little awkward in the way they line up, but it gives it a sort of funky, amorphous, organic thang going on, like the bass might crawl away if I don't keep my eyes on it. The finish is really classy, and well-executed, too. I tried something like that on a scrap piece of wood a while back, and it's a lot harder than it looks, so I appreciate the trouble you went to to get the whole thing looking so good. Congrats! --Dan

I'll be heading off to Cornell University, hopefully to major-- and maybe even do a 5-year Master's program?-- in Materials Science and Engineering. However, I've been weighing my possibilities, and basketweavers do get a pretty good salary right out of college....

Definitely no pickguard! I really like the grain on that oak, and the laminates of the neck all look really good together. To then go and cover that all up with a big sheet of black plastic would just be wrong.

Do you mean Alsacorp? http://www.alsacorp.com/products/crazer/crazer_prodinfo.htm

I've never seen a dyed burl top before, but I have to say, it's just stunning. Excellent work as always, and that color is just dead on.

I have to believe that those umpteen-piece jigsaw puzzle bodies used in lower end guitars don't sound as good, if only because the wood probably isn't as high quality, and all the pieces resonate slightly differently, attenuating a wider range of frequencies. On the other hand, I've heard really cheap guitars (like this one here) that sound very decent--and I have no idea what's under that orange finish, but it's probably not wood. It seems that we luthiers have a habit of nitpicking the details. Any well-executed glue line won't affect the tone near so much as a player's technique will, and in a loud, live setting (we do, after all, play these things, right?) the difference couldn't possibly matter. Conversely, a poorly executed neck joint or glue line will affect the tone, but it's not the glue that's the problem-- it's the quality of the luthier.

It's that time of year where we seniors are hearing back from colleges and making our plans for next year and the rest of our lives. I know there are a couple other Seniors on this board besides myself, and I was just curious what colleges or other plans you guys had for next year-- schools, majors, jobs, etc. Happy building! Dan D

I like that you finished the neck to match--very slick. I agree on the cavities, though. A simple black finish would do wonders for the overall look.

Truly a stunning first build. Congrats! I think the yellow top looks good, but part of me thinks you should have gone with the pink in one of your color samples...

I'd like to see a close-up of the fretless part of that neck; did you raise the fretboard up to about fret height there? How did you make sure that when playing on the fretless part, the string didn't fret out lower on the neck? Anyway, a very cool and innovative build. Muchos props here.

It was all about the bass for me this month. It's hard to combine exotic woods nicely; often it looks like a pile of random woods thrown together, or it ends up becoming a psychedelic fun-fest of colorful woods from all over the world. This bass walked the line rather nicely-- it's colorful, but tasteful; exotic but still classy. I especially like the bubinga top and back; that clinched it for me. On another note, Jehle's Boxcaster deserves an honorary mention of some sort; it's just too cool to pass over!

Didn't you post that Mustang guitar idea a while back? I remember seeing that before somewhere. Either way, I really dig it. That said, have you considered moving the carve just enough that the bridge could siton the higher portion of the body behind the carved part? It'd allow you to do a deeper carve without having to worry about string clearance issues, etc. I'm not sure how it'd look, but it seems to me it might allow you to really go the distance with this design. Whatever you do, I'm sure I'll love it. It reminds me of those SoCal Strats, except a lot cooler. [edit] Aw, what the hey. Since fiddling with guitar designs totally beats studying calculus, I did a mockup of where I'd go with this design; I shifted the accent carve toward the neck so the bridge could sit behind it, and changed the humbuckers to P-90's. Why the pickup change? I'm not quite sure. It just seemed to fit the vintage look a little better in my mind. Enjoy!

I was about to say, if you could find a dual-ganged pot, wiring up both pickups on a single knob would be a cinch. Have you considered concentric pots so you can adjust the pickups separately, or is your ultimate goal just to have one overarching "thin/fat" control? It's a neat and creative idea, either way-- props.

Nice job so far. The design is classy, and I especially like your choice of headstock. I do, however, have one problem with the color scheme. If you're going to go for a dark, metally color scheme like red and black, this would look a -whole- lot better with an ebony fretboard. I'd recommend, perhaps, a candy green to better match the look of this particular fretboard. Or, you could "ebonize" the fretboard with the black dye Stewmac sells. All just my $.02; whatever you do, I'm sure it'll turn out great. What color hardware? What pickups?

I'm a bassist, but my experience with Charvel is that they have a quality product. The few I've played felt good for a low-ish end bass, and the one I played that had aftermarket pickups (EMGs) had a great tone too it too. I say throw the $80; it's a good starter guitar. Oh, and welcome to the forum.

I'd say to use this incident as an inspiration... ...for some custom wood pickup covers! Rout rectangles around your current pickup routs, and build yourself some nicely matched--or pleasingly contrasting--wooden boxes to fit into the new routs. Make sure your screw holes through the covers line up with where the pickups need to be underneath them, and voila! You've got a custom option on your instrument rarely seen even in the highest end basses! Either way, this is looking great so far and I look forward to seeing it completed.

I like the guitar! But to the point, what's with the giant DVD logo hanging on your wall?

Thanks for the advice, you guys. Matt, you've been PM'ed.

My neck from Warmoth finally arrived today; here are a couple pictures: Back of the Headstock Whole Neck Not bad birdseye, eh? Honestly, I really didn't expect this kind of figure when I ordered the non AAA figure neck, but I'm glad these guys came through once again. Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the sanding process to prepare this body for a nice coat of two pack. Recently, after having my car in at a local body shop for service, I inquired about the cost of having them finish this body for me, and they offered to do it for free! Naturally, I plan to take them up on this, but I just have to make sure that the body's 100% prepped before I take it in. So, here's all the questions I have regarding prepping my body: --Grain Filler: Should I go with epoxy, clear grain filler (from Stew Mac), plain old sanding sealer, or will the poly take care of the grain? I doubt the last one would work, I have some questions as to how transparent sanding sealer would be, I have no idea how easy the clear grain filler is to work with, and I suspect that the epoxy, while effective, would be a son of a bisphenol to sand flush again. Any thoughts from the pros? --Various holes: How should I plug the bridge, neck, and electronics holes? Do I even need to plug them, or can I just drill them back out after the finishing process? Naturally, I plan to mask off the cavities, but I don't imagine I'll be able to plug all the holes effectively. --Sealing the body: Do I need to seal the surface of the whole body, or will sending it in as raw wood with filled grain be enough for the poly to stick? --Finally, are there any major compatibility issues I'm missing here? Thanks for all the help; this project is really beginning to come together, and I'm really psyched about finishing it up. P.S. Guitarfrenzy, I still haven't heard back from you about that replacement swamp ash blank. Maybe your PM box is full?