MzI

I think I am semi qualified to answer this question. When purple heart is cut or sanded or planed it turns a brownish color thats really far from purple. To get the purple color back, let it sit for a week or two it turns dark purple through oxidation and sun light. So, as time goes along it becomes a darker purple which is the ultimate. For the neck blank, think of purple heart as maple on steroids. Its stronger, harder, more dense, and brighter. You should have no problem using the piece either quartersawn or flatsawn without carbon rods. I generally do multi lam necks just because the wood I buy is generally flatsawn and I make my laminations and turn em quartersawn so that I have a three piece neck. And with an ebony board these necks will never move its great. If you are using the purple heart as a top piece, be careful not to remove too much with the router at one time because, a) you could destroy your carbide router bits, first hand experience, the router could kick back at you, and c) tear out the wood. Hope that helps MzI

the last guitar I made which was a soloist copy with neck thru ran about 10 or 11 pounds. It was also made out of purple heart and maple so there was no light weight wood in the thing. Personally I like a heavier guitar 7lbs is a minimum for me lighter then that and its just uncomfortable. I generally play V's anyway and they tend to be heavier anyways. MzI

very cool, I think he could have done the top dye a bit different to bring out the figure more but then again thats what the actual gibson lp's look like MzI

black with red or dark red bevels MzI

Yea, sorry about the links, I just recently set up a photobucket account now I can actually post pictures. MzI

do you mean like this Soloist i make all of mine short scale because I perfer gibsons MzI

If you think rosewood is hard dont even bother with ebony. MzI

i personally like the 2x4 idea. itd be cool if you were limited to a regular pine or duog fir 2x4 available at home depot MzI

If its under the clear your gonna hafta sand it down and then put clear on it MzI

I got my Single Recto head for 700 Shipped MzI

I use a combonation of things, ill do my regular plans and section and elevations and what not in autocad, I generally use 2004 or 2005, 2006 sucks horribly. Then Ill plot out my drawing. If it is a custom design like the one im working on now I generally hang it on the wall and draw all over it with a pencil to make sure all the lines and curves are the way I want them, next step after that will be foam models to get a 3d feel then Ill go back scan my drawing in and finalize my cad drawing and plot it again. THis is one of the great advantages to being in Architecture school is I have all of these special tools, problem is I never have any time to use them. MzI Ps. We also have a huge CNC that ill be using this semester wooohhhoooo

id suggest a Mesa from the recto series, extremely versatile from high gain to marshall plexi sounds. the cleans are crystal clear too. Id recommend checking out ebay for used ones. MzI

I know Gibson sells prebent and pre cut fretwire, its medium jumbo sized, check there website and check your local music store they might have it there MzI

I made the tablesaw jig, its fairly clean I usually have to do a little sanding but each one gets better so I end up having to do less sanding. It would prolly help if I had the correct blade on the table saw too. MzI

id recommend the Mesa signle recto series in a 50 watt 2x12 combo, I have the head version through a marshall 4x12, I can get any tone out of it I want. They are amazingly versatile and the cleans are crystal clear. For those your best bet is definetly ebay. I payed 700 for mine with shipping. MzI

For that price ill stick to my two part poly. MzI

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Its 10 or 11 pounds, that is because the piece I used is exceptionally heavy, this is not the case for all purple heart. While I was searching for the board I wanted I picked the heaviest piece I could find with good straight grain. The piece is also beyond hard. Other pieces I have used which are normal weight are similar to that of maple. I personally like heavy guitars so it does not bother me, I also have a solid purpleheart Flying V in progress and it weighs about the same as this soloist maybe a lil less. Generally if your only gonna put on a 1/4" or even 1/2" top I would not worry about the weight because it will not make that much of a difference. One thing I will say about the guitar is that it balances perfectly so the weight isnt really noticed, only when you actually pick the guitar up. MzI

Lets put it this way, my other guitar which is maple neck rosewood board with mahogany back and maple top sounds thin compared to this guitar Purpleheart soloist Link to progress pictures I have this guitar tuned to double drop D and it sounds beyond amazing, the lows and highs are strong with good chunk but not overly bright and not muddy in anyway, the only thing is I will not do another carved purple heart guitar way too much work MzI

you may also want to consider the fact that generally Gibson necks are made of mahogany while fender necks are generally made of maple which is signfiicantly stronger. I currently have two Gibsons, one with a maple neck and one with mahogany and havent had any problems to speak of. Another way to cure the headstock break is to make a bigger volute on the back of the neck. Having more wood there will help prevent the breakage at that point. I personally use scarf joints because it saves wood, its stronger, and i like the look especially using contrasting wood for the headstock, I also tend to turn my wood quarter sawn and make multilaminates which also heavily increases the strength of the neck so that may be something to look into also. MzI

how long do you usually spend buffing with that oh so wonderful looking machine MzI

you should check out the jackson snake skin finish, theres is custom airbrushed but there is really good pics on their site or in the custom shop area not sure MzI

I personally at this point would just go on ebay and get the fender neck that you want and save that neck for another project with a 12" radius MzI

It doesnt even have a maple top on it. MzI

I ended up designing my own and building it out of 2x4's just cuz i already had em lying around. Holds 9 guitars. guitar rack with guitars its also a bit bigger then conventional racks just cuz most of my guitars are V's so i need the extrra width MzI

Guess ill throw my latest into the mix. Yea there is an abundance of super strat/ soloists but whatever. the specs: Custom Soloist body, semi carved top purple heart Neck thru, 5 piece Eastern hard rock Flamed Maple and purple heart 1/4 sawn 24 3/4 gibson scale, 22 frets, Ebony board with no inlays Reverse Purple heart headstock with scarf joint at the first fret Bone nut, tune o matic with strings thru 2 hunbuckers Duncan JB in the bridge and a Full Shred in the neck 3 way with 1 vol 1 tone Control cavity cover and truss rod cover made from the same maple as the neck and the pictures Body front Back whole Headstock Back close up MzI