VanKirk

Seattle-Tacoma Guitar Show Was curious if anyone from PG was gonna attend. I'll be there and if anyone wants to meet, send me a PM. The Seattle-Tacoma Guitar Show Held September 26th 2004 from 9:30am till 4:30pm at the Kent Commons located at 525 4th Ave. N. Kent, WA 98032. Thanks for the fix, Brian!

Cool info, thx. This thread topic is another example of why I get mixed up info about stains/dye. Thread topic says "stains" but then discussion is about "dye". Very confusing for a mentally challenged noob like myself when trying to sift through all the hits using the search function. If you have time Metal Matt, let me know what caused your problem and how you fixed it. Please and Thanks!

Don Grosh http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/Big...stGroshTele.jpg

Heya Java. I recognize the name from the USACG Forum. Welcome! Doh! Hijacked thread

When looking for that SRV sound on one of my solid body strats, I played Lace Sensors (blue, gold & red), Fender Texas Specials, Bill Lawrence (the real ones not the knock-offs) Fender Vintage Noiseless & Wolfetones. I liked the Bill Lawrences, Wolftones & the Vintage Noiseless. I went with the Vintage Noiseless since they were easily available off the shelf from my local music store ( and I got a great deal). I may switch them out for the Lawrence's though. I haven't played Rio Grande pick-ups myself but have read good reviews about them.

This guy sells custom colored Sperzel tuner parts and also has some nice tru-oiled guitars as well. They even have Sperzels with a built in D-tuna. Sperzel tuner parts Sperzels RAWK!

I thought I'd mention an alternative to Warmoth, USA Custom Guitars. Tommy and several of his crew used to work at Warmoth and in my opinion (having bought body & neck blanks from both), I think they are very close but it was Tommy's customer service that pushed USACG over Warmoth, IMO. Good enough customer service for me to drop his name whenever I can. Between Brian at Universal Jems and Tommy at USACG, I've found the only sources I need for guitar parts/accessories. I don't think either one carries finishing supplies but between the two you'll be able to get everything else you need to build with. LoL I sound like a commercial! I've played neck-heavy guitars as well and have found that my fretting hand spends as much energy or more holding the guitar up than it does playing which is annoying and tiresome. Along with actual neck to body weight, balance can be made, like www mentioned, in the placement of the strap pins.

Here's a thread that discusses a few people's opinions on lower end acoustics. Actual guitar brands are mentioned about 12 posts or so down the first page. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...wtopic=6008&hl= As for low-end Martins, I LOVE the sound of my Martin DX1. It deffinately doesn't sound anywhere near my D-28 but your talking a HUGE price difference. My Martin DX-1 starts sounding muddy pretty quick into the life of my strings but sounds great with a slightly broken in pair of Elixirs, IMHO. As for the "Made in Korea" label, they're taking over the manufacturing world (next to China) and already produce a HUGE amount of guitars worldwide as well as pianos and other instruments. I'd rather support American made products but if they play great and are low priced, it's hard to beat. Just look closely for any manufacturing flaws since I've experienced a VERY LARGE percentage a manufacturing flaws that get shipped out of Korea compared to American quality but that is my own personal experience.

Natural harmonics are not only on open strings. Read my post about Natural harmonics and give it a try. You should see what I mean. Try a 'D' chord and play the natural harmonics the same distance from the 12th fret as the fretted notes are from the nut. Some notes sounds clearer than others but you can get natural harmonics all over the neck. Pinch harmonic= Artificial harmonic

OK. but please, no photos while your 'tunging' your guitar That looks much better than the black. I bet the 3D look to the grain looks awesome! Well done

What truerussian is describing is called a natural harmonic. That's different than a pinch harmonic. Natural harmonics give a bell like tone while pinch harmonics give a screamin' sound. Zakk Wylde uses them alot and so do ZZ Top, to name a couple. For pinch harmonics, I hold my pick close to the tip. All in one downstroke of the pick, the tip of the pick hits the string then the edge of my thumb gently brushes by the string. You can move your picking hand to different locations along the string to change the effect too. As for natural harmonics you can try what truerussian said, say on the 12 fret. Lightly touch the string (not pressing down just touching) at the 12 fret. This will give that bell-like sound. Now press down (normal fretted note) at the high E string at the 2nd fret (F#) with your fretting hand and at the same time, lightly touch the string at the 14 fret (1 octave higher than your fretted F#) with your right index finger and pluck the string with your middle finger. (like truerussian described) You can play entire arpeggios in natural harmonics with this and it sounds very cool. Hope that made a little sense.

In other words, patience and practice on more inexpensive wood first. Then, apply what you've learned from this on some more expensive wood. It could save you alot of money and stress. I agree that a flamed Koa top on alder would still give great looks and tone.

I have no first-hand knowledge but have read discussions about the tone of redwood and the over-all concensus from those that have used it is that it's a great sounding wood. Here's one with a redwood top on a mahogany back: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/BigBadWolf/tele1.jpg

I would like to read more information about finishing with dyes contained here. I see posts that confuse me because they start out talking about which DYES are compatible with different top coats, etc. but then refer to it as a STAIN further along in posts. It would be cool to have a list of products from people who have experimented with different DYES and/or STAINS and who know the differences between the two as well as a few pics showing (and proving) their results (on scrap pieces would be fine). Something similar to LGM's guides on finishing with solid colors. I know this info is available on the net elsewhere (such as reranch) but it would be nice to see it condensed into a tut here.

I like several boutique guitars that are based off the tele shape more than I like the original tele itself but the tone alters my perception. I thought they were ugly until I played a few. Now I love the way they look. I'm hoping to finish my tele-ish body soon but the new job has consumed alot of my free time. It's based off of the best playing guitar I have ever layed my hands on. A Don Grosh tele design. Round out the lower body slightly, make both 'horns' a little slimmer and then add a deep PRS style carve, a figured, dyed top and you have one of my favorite all-time guitar body shapes. (hehe, I think I just described a Les Paul but check out the Grosh site to see what I really mean).

For a gigging musician, racks are much easier. All your effects can be mounted in the same cabinet (rack) for ease of set-up when on the road. Instead of having foot pedals or effects units strung across the floor you can have it all located in one place, stacked on top of each other in a tough, protective rack. It's a good idea to have a rack mounted power conditioner that all the other rack-mounted equipment plugs into. This can eliminate alot of unwanted noise and also be safer by supplying all the equipment with the same ground potential. Another useful rack-mountable unit is a patch bay. This is basically a rack with input & output (I/O) jacks all over it. This allows you to route your effects quickly and easily in many different ways by just unplugging one cable and moving it to a different jack. Also, many rack mounted versions of pedals have more I/O jacks and some have more features that make them more versatile.

Thanks BeAR & swirlslave! Very useful and much appreciated. MORE MORE MORE!

Me too! Great minds think alike! Seems that 100% of voting is with the Drop TopShaving Method so I'd deffinately go that route.

He's famous for the "wall of death". Failed creations that haven't lived up to his high quality standards. You either are a Drak guitar or firewood. He doesn't ever seem to 'make do' with what he has.

Brian, Do you think that color shifting paint with holographic material on a guitar body would be over-kill? Would color shift paint or shades of blue drowned out the holo effect or enhance it? Thanks, Tony

!!! The links to the other pics show the holographic effect really well. I think I like the champaign color better than black with the material. ...and the pickups, that's just too cool. I showed my fiance and she loved it. I guess I'll have to build her a bass in champaign or maybe light blue and holographic material now. (I can only dream of it looking as good as yours though) Nice car btw.

Cool to see you seeking perfection! It would suck to put a bunch more work into it and still not being happy with it. At this point it's just past the 'block of wood' stage so not a big loss. Made for a good learning experience so it still served it's purpose, eh? Maybe there's still some usable scraps to experiment with finishes on.

I would have to agree. The bottom isn't offset enough to look like it's meant to be asymmetrical. Instead, IMHO, it looks...off. I think having the drawn on pickups and bridge is making it look more 'off' than it really is though. Seems that the neck is lined up a bit too far to the right. I like the neck either right in the middle or just slightly more to the left. Just my opinion as another novice builder though. Looking forward to seeing this develop.

I like it alot! As a personal preference I'm not into the white pick-up rings or knobs but that's just me. Quality looks great! Is there a way to get some pics with a little better lighting so I can see the carve better? Maybe an exact profile shot or from the bottom? That would be cool and it may help me out on my carve as well.

Lookin' good. I like the headstock as well. 4+2 with Sperzel locking tuners and a graphite nut Did you stress as much as I did when trying to glue the top to the body? Looking forward to more pics