skibum5545

While I agree that the execution on this formidable design is undeniably laudable, and while each element in and of itself is a good idea, the whole picture just doesn't do it for me. It seems too busy, with all sorts of oddly contrasting elements. You use the white rosewood, a subtle and complex wood that could easily stand alone, but also add black MOP purfling; you have a top that is complex and stunningly executed, but then add busy knobs and a pickguard with linear patterning that detracts from the radial nature of the flame patterning; you have all sorts of beautiful, exotic woods, and then dye the top. It just seems that you had more ideas than anyone could successfully incorporate into one guitar, but tried to do it anyway. Anyway, you certainly put a lot of work into it, and I applaud the quality of your workmanship. In general, I like your guitars; this one just doesn't do it for me. I look forward to the next one, though!

Actually, the non-custom models aren't too badly priced: http://www.alembic.com/prod/prices.html For a bass of that absurd quality, I'd say it's worth every penny. I got the opportunity to try out an acquaintance's wenge-topped Rogue bass, and, well, it was a religious experience.

Tuners will always tell you what size hole they fit when buying them. Bridges will always tell you the spacing, and (if applicable) the radius too. As long as you have your neck in hand before you start routing, you'll be fine for the pocket. Single coils and humbuckers have pretty standard sizes, so no worries there. Every piece of hardware usually takes its own size of screw, but they also usually come with. Just make sure you get your string spacing, neck angle, and scale length down before you try to build anything. Also, most powdercoated black hardware isn't gloss -or- matte, but a nice middling semigloss. It'd look fine with a matte black finish.

I really like the feel of this guitar. It's got a very retro thing going on, and the pickups really add a lot to it. Oh, and Lietuvis, your avatar is awesome.

Okay, I have one to add. It's ASM's ebony and rosewood special: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=10693 He got pretty far, but we never did see an end result. What's up?

Welcome to the forum, Slaytanic. We welcome any questions and comments, and feel free to keep us updated on your progress!

I certainly don't have the skills worthy of a tribute bass to BP, but if I could be any help, financially or otherwise, I'd love to do my part. His Southern Pearl bass was a huge inspiration to me, so it'd be a real honor to help towards bass worthy of his memory. I would imagine a Rickenbacker-inspired bass would be in order, given BP's tastes.

I had always hoped BP would be one of the PG'ers I got to meet in real life, as he seemed to be a genuinely cool guy. While I guess I won't meet him in person, it was a pleasure and an honor to have known Steve online. My condolances to his family and friends.

I've discovered, in trying to design nice guitars, that no matter how many nice elements you have together on your guitar, it's not going to make it a pretty guitar. For that reason, I think a lot of guitars you see on hear are too complicated, or too busy, and although all the elements are nice, they just don't come together to form a classy guitar. The Surfcaster is the first guitar I've seen around here in a long, long time that truly blew me away. It's understated, and yet every little nuance fits perfectly with everything else. The color scheme is both retro and original, and combining the surf styling with the Tele shape is a perfect match. That thing just blows me away Congrats to everyone, though, for building a guitar. Just getting far enough to enter your guitar in GOTM is an accomplishment in and of itself.

The upper horn seems to have a "kink" in it towards the top, where the curve doesn't seem to be going straight; this makes the horn look too thin there. If you plan to correct that unevenness, I'd lean towards making the horn wider at that point rather than narrower.

I can't believe that thing sold for over $100-- what does that make your profit on that little bugger? Congratulations; this sale is well deserved. Maybe you should go into business.

Yeah, foot shot! I think the body shape needs to curve in more along the top, and the top horn shouldn't pinch off so much. Aside from that, though, it's a very original and cool idea.

I love driving stick. My car is small and fun to drive, so the added element of controlling the gears just makes driving that much more fun. Moreover, I drive a very small, underpowered car, so I need that added element of control when I downshift to, say, get up a small hill. That said, If you have trouble learning (which you shouldn't as it really isn't that hard), you can always put one of my custom stickers on your dashboard; I have one, but it's more just to scare off skittish passengers:

I figured out the problem with the pics. When you click one (I'll use the first as an example), it takes you to the address: Note the file name "JamCam051%2Ejpg"-- change it to "JamCam051.jpg" and all your problems are solved; that is, the "%2E" should just be a period. That said, the guitar is stunning. I especially like the inlays you did. Congratulations.

This looks a lot better! I can't wait to see this thing finished.

I really like the LED idea. The wiring you'd want to get them to turn on is really very simple. Instead of using a mono jack with the strat jackplate, which only has contacts for tip and shaft, use a stereo jack, which has contacts for tip and 2 separate shaft contacts. Wire your pickups as you normally would, ignoring one of the shaft contacts entirely. Now, for the LED's: solder a wire to one of the shaft contacts, through your battery box (make sure you get your voltage and resistance worked out in advance; it varies depending on your LED type and color, but spec sheets are available), through your LEDs, and back to the other shaft contact. At this point, your circuit is incomplete and will do nothing. However, when you insert the cable, the shaft, being a mono cable, will complete the circuit and turn on your LED's. I don't think this will interfere with your pickups, but I could be wrong-- wait for confirmation before going through with this. Anyway, very cool bass, and I will definitely follow your progress.

This is the standard product for ebonizing fretboards: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supp...oard_Stain.html Usually Pau Ferro fretboards have little on them but lemon oil and a couple years of grime. With some naptha and 0000 steel wool, your 'board should be prepped in no time. I've never heard any complaints about the above product, but I've never used it myself. Proceed at your discretion.

Absolutely stunning, as usual. On a side note, I showed your website to my jewelry teacher--who is not easily impressed by most art, I might add-- and was absolutely blown away by your work.

Looking very nice! What happened to the whole ebony stripe idea?

I like that a lot! You don't see too many hand painted guitars around here--usually it's dye or a burst or something-- so this gets a lot of points in my book just for the originality. It's interesting too that it was based on Van Gogh's work; the moment I saw it, it just screamed Starry Night at me. That said, what are you doing for the electronics/neck? Purple pickup covers, perhaps?

I personally am a big fan of Bartolini pickups, and their preamps are supposedly very nice too. That said, is that your final body shape, or are you going to smooth it out? Right now the edge looks kind of rough and bumpy. Anyway, I look forward to seeing some progress on this bass!

Now that you have the oil on the guitar, you can't use a water-based stain. You can, however, use this: http://www.woodburst.com/Products.html It's a tung oil based stain that comes in a variety of nice colors, and may suit your project nicely. It can even go right over your existing oil finish, and the darkness and richness of the stain will depend on how many coats you use. If I recall, someone did a purple guitar with these that turned out really nice; I'll see if I can dig it up. EDIT: Here it is. The results are even nicer than I remembered, and it sounds like the process is similar to yours, too. http://lizzydaymont.com/bolt_gtr_info.htm

I'd go with Pat Robertson. I mean, you can get whatever hair you want with modern styling products, but to be so completely evil and deranged as Pat...well, that's just inspired. I might go for Cheney, though-- he's got the evil thing too, as well as the "I'd really like to eat a puppy right now" grimace all the time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The United States of America has from its very inception had a long standing moral value that the people have a right to know what their government is up to. Now, whether this is in fact the case-- whether the people have that right, or whether it's being upheld, your call--is irrelevant, but nonetheless this belief has developed yet another long-standing tradition: The Presidential Address. Now, the president speaks to the nation on a variety of topics over the course of his term in office, but few speeches are as well known as the State of the Union Address. This is the speech in which the president says: --How great the nation is under his administration --How great the nation could be if it weren't for the setbacks caused by previous administrations of opposing parties, and --How great the nation could be if all current members of Congress from across the aisle would go drown themselves in the Potomac. This particular tradition of paying lip service to the rights of citizens has been going on for longer than I can remember (or care to look up, for that matter), under both Republican and Democratic administrations alike-- and would continue, I imagine, even under 3rd party candidates professing a heartfelt desire to make the government more honest and open. Anyway, this tradition has sparked similar traditions on all levels of government. We now have State of the State addresses and State of the City addresses; my dad even gives a State of the Family address, and if you're lucky, sometimes you can catch the crazy lady downtown giving a State of the Shopping Cart address, which is often about as interesting and literate as the State of the Union Address after which it was (loosely) modeled. The way I see it, Brian is like the president of this forum. Everyone keeps saying, "Brian's Forum, Brian's Rules", so it seems to me that he has both the right and responsibility to keep us forum-goers up to date on the State of the Forum. So Brian, if you would be so kind, please fill us in on the State of the Forum, touching on such topics as: --How great the forum is, --How the forum could be improved with the help of the members, and --Which members you'd like to see jump in the Potomac. Thanks! Dan Dryden skibum5545

I think it might've been social commentary on the...erm... overzealous moderation in this forum. While I'm not sure I'd call Maiden69 a nazi-- I mean, if he's a nazi, then what's Rhoads56?-- but Francisk did make an excellent point about file size vs. picture size, and perhaps the modersators should take heed rather than just dismissing it as another case of "Brian's forum, Brian's rules". Just because it's against the status quo doesn't make it a bad idea, y'know.