Keegan

Did you put new strings on them, bluesy? If you didn't, I'd bet it was just the necks setting since they've never been hung before. I'm not surprised that the brand new one would be flat, because of the new strings, the other ones surprise me though, especially the custom.

This had better be some ugly walnut. Hardware looks good, I hope those tuners will fit the 7th string. Now you just need to start building it =P

Thanks psw and supernova. I think the body is going to be around 1-7/8" when I'm done, so that should give me room for any controls depth-wise. I guess I'll have to take apart my strat again to measure the pots. From memory I'd say they're around 7/8"-1". I think I'll be safe with an inch. I can always go back with the drill press if they don't quite fit. Sorry I'll have to keep you guys waiting on pictures, it doesn't look like I'll be getting into woodcraft too soon. It'll be best if I wait until I have the hardware before I do any routing, too.

I know there's no substitute for actual experience, that's why I'm asking people who have actual experience. I have figured out most of the stuff for myself, I'm only asking a couple quick general woodworking questions since I have no woodworking experience. I have started building, but I'm planning ahead so that I don't ruin a nice piece of padouk over something silly. If you don't want to be helpful, you don't even have to reply. At least I'm not asking you what color it should be or what pickups I should use like most of the newbies that come here do.

Some kind of darker wood or something would look nice to border it. It looks great already though.

So I have this tele control plate I want to inlay instead of having it rest on top of the guitar. I'm thinking first I need to make a template the exact size of the control plate, then follow that for a shallow pass the thickness of the plate with a ball bearing bit, then use the brass inlay bushing set I have for cutting the control cavity. This will allow me to use the same template for both parts of the process. I have a couple questions though: 1. How much width do I need to leave in there for controls? Is an inch enough? This would give me 1/8" sides for the plate to rest on. 2. How much wood should I leave around the screw holes? 3. How deep? Is 1/4" enough wood to leave below the rout?

I've never had trouble, but it's dry as hell here in Colorado, so acoustics need a lot of oil to keep shape. The solid tops like to try to flatten out, but my acoustic has been safe in it's Gator case, even though it smells like dead skunk now(must be the foam in the case or something). The strat stays on the wall(exterior) and has never untuned itself, well, except for new strings, but they always do that for the first few tunings.

Hmm, I guess it's just my Takamine that's 25" No, it still buzzes tuned standard. Octaver? Like what?

Isn't the standard dreadnought scale 25"?

Sorry, I was being a smartass, I guess you didn't appreciate my sense of humor.

Well I just got the top glued on. It kept trying to shift when clamping it though. Good pour out though, would have been nicer if those stewmac cam clamps had some decent pressure. Edit: Guitar building is nerve-wrecking.

Hmm, it would make a good cap for a Les paul or similar carved-top. Maybe convince people to stop using that damned flamed-maple top.

I'm just tuning down because I like the sound more. Playing comes to me more naturally at Eb or Db somehow. I can play them just fine at standard E, I learned on acoustic with .013s(though tension on an acoustic is less). I just didn't think of it because I'm always tuned low. The heavy strings sound better at any tuning too. I'm aware that a strat isn't "made" to downtune, but 25.5" is a pretty long scale, long enough to tune that low with the right strings. I'm in the process of building a baritone so that I'll have that extended range when I need it. I was mostly just asking to figure out if it was more likely the frets or the action. Now I know, and I'm following Ilikes2shred's action/relief guide to remedy it.

http://www.nsa.gov/ I'm sure they can help you.

Aluminum will vibrate like aluminum, which is a cool sound if you're so inclined. Nowhere near a spruce sound though, as it resonates wayyyy more.

It will be exactly as wide, but a 12" radius is flatter on top, and a wizard neck profile is thinner on bottom.

Well, you can string anything up with EMGs and play metal.

Already mentioned.

The strawberry ice links are dead. My pickups should be hot enough, they're all wound to 10k+, and I'd probably only use it with the bridge, which is 12k, and they're pretty close to the strings. I thought about the EMG PA2, but I didn't want to boost the noise that the guitar is already making. I found some diode part numbers in some of the old threads I might try though, 1N5817 specifically. It's .45V to put it into clipping, the lowest I could find. Can I check the voltage of my guitar by simply using a multimeter at the end of the cord? Also what do G, RL, and RLG in the diode part numbers mean? Do I want to avoid those and get ones that are just 1N5817(as opposed to 1N5817RLG or something like that)?

Well now I feel stupid, they're fine at Eb, except for the 4th string, it's still buzzing at frets 3-7. Edit: Tuning it higher or raising its action doesn't help at all. All of my locking tuners are tight.

It was cut by someone with years of experience, and I had him size it for the set I'm using, .011-.054". He did screw up the first nut he cut for me on the 3rd string, but he did a second one for free. The second one didn't have any obvious problems, except that the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st seemed a little "tinny" but that was probably just because I was going from plastic to bone. He didn't set it up at all, only cut the nut, put it in, and strung it up to check his work. I guess it started after that, I haven't done anything except change to a wound 3rd of the same size(the plain .022 3rd string had way higher tension than all the other strings, so it sounded a lot brighter) and I disassembled the guitar to polish the body and take a look at the neck pocket. I had a good look at the frets while the neck was off and they all seemed pretty uniform except for some scratches from the wound strings. Then I strung it back up, and set the action/intonation again. Maybe the bigger strings just need more action. I'll try resetting it at 2.5mm. I don't remember what it was at before, but it was way up at 3mm after I put the neck back on. Also, I tune 1 and a half steps low, they probably need more wiggle room that low. I haven't checked to see if it goes away at a higher tuning. I'll try Eb, at E they're like piano wire though. I'll do this first before I mess with the action.

I'm surprised there isn't noticable dents in those suckers. Just one notch above that Asian wire that seems like aluminum. Nope, no dents. I don't think the previous owner played it much. He spent a lot upgrading it to Highway One specs though.

Orange is the complement to blue, it should just make it stand out more.

99% sure that is your problem. Press down on the first fret and the last fret and look under the string at around the middle of the neck. There should be a *very* small space between the string and the frets. If it's touching, your need to loosen up the truss rod, if there is a wide gap you need to tighten it until there is a very slight gap. And to check if your nut is the issue just put a capo on the first fret to take the nut out of the equation. If it's still buzzing, it isn't the nut, the nut only affects open strings. There's still a gap, small, but I can still ring a note if I pick it with my thumb while holding it down at both ends. And it still buzzes with a capo.

I hope you're oil finishing it. The headstock wings should be something dark, like the bicote, or the same as the fretboard wood. And just bevel the edges, you need to keep this thing looking mean.