VanKirk

HAHAHA! I thought I was the only nosey one that saw those. That taught me a lesson to look ONLY at the pic that's talked about. I think I'm forever scarred.

Check out the link in this thread. He has flamed maple, rosewood & ebony humbucker pup rings, not sure what he has for a bass but since he's a member here, maybe you can send him a PM.

If you're gonna bookmatch it your gonna loose about 1/8" from the blade then another 1/8" (approximately) to plane out the saw marks. For a PRS style carve you'll need close to a 2" figured piece ($Cha Ching$) to get it as deep as they do (before bookmatching) and still have another 1/4" for the faux binding. So approximately 1/2" of material will not be carved once you add the sawing, planing and binding leaving around 1/2" deep carve (maybe add 1/8" since the carve is slightly deeper than the edge binding, good to have a little extra to work with though). You can get a little creative on how you approach your carve instead of doing exactly as PRS and still get a similar effect & skipping the faux binding will save you another 1/4". I was able to use a 15/16" figured piece for the carve because instead of bookmatching the top I had a piece that was long enough to do a flip join. Then I lined the figuring up as close as possible (the wood had a pretty consisent grain pattern which helped alot). The flames don't line up exactly but it's really close and I'm happy with it. Quilted maple I think would be tough to line up though. If xebryus' 1/2" piece is already bookmatched and ready to carve you'll have enough for the PRS style carve if you skip the faux binding. IMO, for a PRS style carve and binding you'll need about a 3/4" ready to carve top.

I've seen you post about this on the Reranch forum as well and... No offense but it seems you're more into endorsing this book. I could be very wrong and sorry to offend if I am. I'd just hate to see this site turn into advertising for products instead of info sharing. I think you mean well by sharing this but at the same time I'm a little unsure of your real intentions. Oh well, it's late and I'm probably just tired.

You may want to link to ONLY the pic with your guitar idea and not the nude gay photos. Justa thought.

Yup just masked off. Myka's link doesn't show the clear going on the edge but he shows how he masks the binding area off very well.

Maybe, along with the rose you could have something on the body or headstock. Something like... A fluffy white cloud on one side, a unicorn on the other side and a pretty rainbow coming out of the cloud that.... comes to a point impaling the unicorn! ...with blood dripping off it! MWAHAHA!

That guitar, like PRS guitars, doesn't have a routed channel. It's actually the natural wood taped off and shot with clear. I plan on taping around the area I want the binding at then shooting clear over it. Then I can tape off the clear coated binding and proceed with dying the top and painting the back. This way, if you get any dye or color on the binding area, you can scrape it off without cutting into the wood and altering the shape of the edge. I think Myka has a great pic tutorial on how he does it. Edit: I found Myka's tut link

I've read somewhere that part of the high-action-for-good-sustain has something to do with how the magnetic pole pieces speed the strings natural decay. Higher action means the strings are further from the magnets so the strings can vibrate more freely, sustaining longer but I also agree that notes don't choke out as easy when bending.

There's a bar in downtown Seattle from the early 1900's made out of mahogany. It's a HUGE bar too. I'd love to hack it up into blanks.

Check out the pic of my scrap piece in this link. I used a water-based walnut stain, sanded it back then applied another coat before I tru-oiled it. It looks good and the flame figuring looks really 3-D. I got the stain and tru-oil in the same package from a local gun shop. After wiping on about 10 coats I used the aerosol version which is thinned a little more than the wipe on. It made a nice high gloss finish and was really easy to apply. After doing that over the summer it's still high-gloss but you can now see a little bit more of the pores in the wood.

Gigliotti's son worked at the local Guitar Center here in Tacoma, WA and let me play one. Kinda funny if you look at the website. Notice how all the pics of the headstocks have his logo over them? Fender sent him a couple of threats so he's changing his headstock design. Maybe that's why he's looking into a patent...to get them off his back (just a guess though). If you look carefully at the pic of the guy playing one on-stage you can tell that they corrected the pic to hide the headstock. A few months ago it showed a fender tele headstock. He outsources most all of the work which is probably why they seem a little expensive to me. He has USACG build the necks and bodies, sends it to Roxy for painting then has someone else do the set-up. They really are nice playing guitars though but for the $ they better be, hehe. Doh! sorry I highjacked the thread!

I knew it!! J/K I don't think hanging guitars hurts them at all but I've never taken caliper measurements after hanging one for extended periods of time.

Good prices too! I really like your wood pup rings. Rosewood, flame maple & ebony, they'd make a great touch on any guitar. Any chance that you'll have any flame maple control cavity covers in the future?

Why do you need printer ink to show pics online? Are they not digital so you have to scan them? Either way, how does the printer enter the "picture" hehe. Just messin' with ya. Welcome to the forum

Gigliotti Guitars makes metal capped guitars. He has USA Custom Guitars do all the wood work and he assembles them. They're strat & tele bodies with a thin aluminum top. I didn't think they would sound good but I've played one through an old Vox tube amp and sounded great and played even better.

That looks alot like LGM's Leviathon. His looks like it was an RG inspired guitar while yours looks like the same idea applied to a Les Paul or PRS shape. IMO, the waist section seems a little too thin. Just a little bit of refining and that would be a very cool shape.

After you shield your guitar you can isolate the bridge & strings from AC pop by using a 0.1uf 450V (or so) capacitor between your cavity shielding and string ground. Does your guitar have metal knobs? If metal knobs are used on the pots, the pots and the pup switch won't be grounded.

I would say go for a good playing, good sounding guitar with a small, decent sounding amp first. Then, if you have money left over use it to get a Line 6 POD or a Johnson J-Station. They have alot of great sounds to tinker with. You can have a great sounding amp but it's only going to amplify the tone that's already there so start with a guitar that sounds and feels good. I've found myself switching amps several times through the years but I still keep the same couple of guitars around. A good guitar will grow on you and break-in like a good 'ol pair of jeans but you may get bored with the sound of an amp. I agree that MiM Strats are a good way to go. You can modify them to sound and play as good as an American series with a lil fretwork, pup upgrade & wiring mod. They're easy to find parts for. I guess the guitar/amp you get depends on the style of music your gonna use it for but Strats are pretty versatile.

You can get away with not "ground shielding" your guitar but you still need to have both pups grounded to the jack to complete the circuit.

Well, after an immediate response from Brian (Thanks, excellent customer service) he mentioned that exchanges are made through Dimarzio so I checked the website. This is what Dimarzio's site states about "F" spaced pups: I have a fixed bridge & a 1-11/16" nut so I should be OK but that was a good thing to point out Kyle, thanks again.

I'm tryin' to figure out that rear control cavity on Koa Kountry...how do you get such a tight fit? I would think that the saw blade alone would take off enough material to cause a gap but that one is barely noticeable. A scroll saw? Sweet guitars and fantastic pics as usual.

I'll make sure to check that after the neck and bridge are set. The bridge spacing is right on but the neck pup pole pieces might be spaced too far apart so I'll measure it and exchange it if needed. Thanks for the heads-up.

I've ran steel wool over one of my necks because the gloss made it feel sticky when my hand sweats. It deffinately plays better now. I love the feel of a tung-oiled neck. It's like butta.

Have you tried a hand plane and lotsof clamps & cauls when glueing pieces together?