Dadovfor

John!! Why do you do it??!! Now Wes will want to know how you know what a$$ tastes like!! It's Pepsi Max for me ... and way too many cups of coffee. The coffee dehydrates me ... the Pepsi Max rehydrates me. I like to throw 'em both in together and let 'em fight it out.

Yes. Sorry for the short answer, but I guess there isn't a whole lot to explain. This is not necessarily true. If you had a body that had the neckpocket and bridge routed for a 22 fret neck, yes ... you'd have to route the neck pocket slightly further into the body to accommodate the small 23rd and 24th. But if you're starting a build from scratch, then you decide the amount of overlap and fret access. So it may be that the neck extends slightly further away from the body ... rather than into it ... if you can picture that

Do you have your real build timber yet? Gilet Guitars at Botany (Sydney) is worth having a look at ... see guitarwoods.com.au. I've bought from them several times and they're very helpful. If you're confident in rummaging through a wide range of timbers, Anagote at Marrickville (also Sydney) gets good raps. I went there ages back before I had the confidence or experience to know what I wanted / needed ... and so didn't end up buying anything .

On my first build I did what you're proposing. In my case I removed the existing nut and filed the area level (essentially that was just the 2mm or so on the tuner side of the original nut). That created a surface with just enough 'meat' to screw the locking nut in it's correct place, but a small shim might have made it slightly prettier. On that build I used a single locking Floyd but on my most recent build I used a double locking Floyd. I'm not the guitar player, my youngest son is, but we both prefer the single locking Floyd. I'll leave it to others with more knowledge and experience to point out the pros and cons ... but I find stringing and tuning the double locking Floyd to be a lot more fiddly for no discernible benefit. Sorry about the lack of pictures ... I'm at work and I don't have a specific photo in my photobucket account. But let me know if you need a picture to make sense of this post.

Well I must be the only one who isn't glad to see you back?!? I always found you to be a condescending, supercilious, trash-talker with a bad hair-cut who delighted in denigrating the talents of others while failing to demonstrate an ounce of talent yourself!! And you have man-boobs!! What?? You mean it’s not … ??? Oh sorry … I thought Simon Cowell was back. WELCOME BACK DRAK!!! You were around for 6 months or so when I joined and was lurking around this forum and you were one of a few who I sucked up enough knowledge and courage from to finish my first build. I'm now finishing build number 3 ... and Britney Spears loves my guitars!!

Welcome aboard ... it's good to have another Aussie on the forum.

Generally true ... skulls can look like you're trying too hard ... but Dreadmeister's are the best I've seen.

If you're going to go with skull knobs, look up the web site for Dreadmeister ... a guy called Sid in New Zealand. He has skull knobs and tuners that are fair dinkum ... not like a lot of the 'toy' stuff you see around.

I'm only getting the front photos ... that may have something to do with the filter here at work?? But I love it ... great work. I'm looking forward to getting home and checking out the other shots ... but I've only been at work 30 minutes!!

In addition to creativity with wood and a positive attitude, we highly value grammatical correctness. Welcome aboard. And better luck with your second build! Don't forget to post pics.

There's a logo tutorial at the PG home page: Jehle's logo tutorial Using much the same principles as you'll find in the tutorial, this is a logo I did for my daughter using water slide decal paper. If you do a search on water slide decals (here and on the net) I'm sure you'll find a bunch of information.

Looks good so far ... how have you joined the headstock to the neck?

I'm not sure about different TOM set-ups but I used one with a sting though on my last build and it was pretty straight forward. As for the string through ... larger ferrules inserted into the back of the guitar hold the ball end of the string in place ... smaller ferrules on the front make it look pretty (and stop the strings cutting into the body). You can get both types of ferrules all over the place ... but take a look at Stewmac to see what I'm referring to. Stewmac ferrules As with any part of guitar building ... measure twice, and drill (or cut) once. Depending on what type of drill set up you have, you might find it easier to drill your (larger) string holes into the back but only go half way through. Then turn the body over and drill the smaller holes from the front. That way you shouldn't go out of alignment and have unevenly spaced string holes.

NAWY2J ... this really is a helpful forum of people, but you need to demonstrate that you're trying to find the answers yourself. Instead of asking basic questions, tell us what you found in your research and then tell us what you want to clarify or double check. Now for some basic help ... Do you know your scale length? That will help determine the bridge placement. Take your neck and measure from the bridge side of the nut to the 12th fret and double it ... you'll probably come up with 25.5", or maybe 24.75". So the point at which your strings break on your bridge will probably need to be 25.5" back from your nut. But got to the Stewmac site and enter your frets and scale length and it will give you the specific / accurate measurements for your bridge. Stewmac Fret Calculator As for the tailpiece, you've got a bit of flexibility there. It'll be about 1.5" further back from the bridge but take a look in a guitar store at one you like. Also when you are doing that, note the slight angling of the bridge. As for earthing your electronics ... if your using a T-O-M bridge, carefully drill a hole from you electronics cavity through to where one of the TOM posts will go into the body ... you'll probably need an aircraft drill to do that. Feed your earth wire through and (preferably) solder it to one of the posts before you tap it into the body. But go back to the Stewmac site for wiring diagrams which will show you all your earthing (and other) points. Basically though, you need to drill connecting holes through each of the cavities and jack outlet. Stewmac Wiring Diagrams I think it would help if you post a few pictures as well so that we can all see how you're progressing.

I refuse to participate in this thread because I'm more than triple your age and I think it's disgusting that people your age are doing work this good! P.S. As for the lack of replies ... just keep posting your progress. Sometimes you'll get some conversations going, sometimes you won't ... it just depends on lots of things: what other builds are going on the forum; the weather; how innovative you've been; whether Paris Hilton is in the news ... who knows?!?

What your planning is only vaguely possible in the time ... but it's going to take a lot of focus and a decent amount of research. Click on the link below and visit the best amateur (and professional) guitar building site on the net ... it has a stack of easy to read information and tutorials that will take you through all the steps you need ... and the search function is good. Very useful guitar building site After you've done that you'll be in a much better position to ask some good questions ... which the folks on this site will be happy to help with.

Perhaps this might help ... looking at your parts list you'd spend somewhere in the order of $700 to $900 to build your son's guitar and if you went in and picked up a name brand guitar in the same configuiration off the rack you might be looking at $1,000 to $1,500. So your son is getting a flash guitar ... but with a whole lot more love, and opportunities to brag about your amazing skills built in. But could you sell it for $1,500? Probably not ... although, I seriously doubt you're contemplating that.

It doesn't cost a big builder much to send a cease and desist letter ... but that letter will cause a large load of porridge like substance in the trousers of a small or hobby builder. That said ... it's not entirely clear whether John intends to set up a commercial enterprise or not. If you have ambitions on going commercial John, then do a little more homework on design patents and trademarks. But if you're only building for yourself (and family and friends) then you're pretty safe to copy designs ... but copying logos is bad karma at any level. Parodies or "tributes" are a different matter ... I'm currently building a "tribute" guitar for one of my sons that is pretty much a straight copy of Alexi Laiho's ESP with some small differences. But the logo will very clearly be my son's name ... so not even a vague attempt at passing it off as a genuine ESP. I'm sure Perry can add some valuable (and more accurate) insights to this post.

John, I think Rick is right ... it's design patents and trademarks that you have to watch out for ... although your essential concern is correct. But from my memory the key issue you need to look into is headstock shape, not bodies. And as for finger-board length, I'd be amazed if you had issues there ... particularly given that all companies tend to be within an inch of 25" and fret placement is purely a function of scale length. I know that Fender has taken action against other manufacturers, including cease and desist orders, to prevent violation of the strat headstock design. I don't ever recall hearing anything about body shape though and I think you're a lot safer there. I was recently buying a few bits and pieces from Gilet Guitars here in Sydney and he had a bunch of necks with paddle headstocks to avoid compromising Fender design patents ... but he had pre-made bodies that were traditional shapes. I'm sure a quick search of the net would give you enough guidance. Good luck with it.

I just opened your post and son #3 (sitting at the next computer) said "that's cool" ... so you've got his vote ... and mine. Perhaps you can expand on Kenny's idea and come up with your own 'faux burst'?? Welcome aboard.

How would I know?? How would any member of this forum know?! None of us has graduated from the program ... we're all still addicts.

That's very brave Kevin ... you've taken the first step. The next step is to show us pictures of your wood ... then step 3 is to describe your wood

Veeerryy nice Daniel ... this is coming together beautifully. For a while I've been throwing ideas for a bass around in my mind and the design elements of this guitar capture the style and quality I'd like to achieve. Keep the pics coming!

It looks like a guitar ... and it sounds like a guitar ... well done!! And welcome to the addictive world of guitar building.

Your guess was right anderekel ... I am spraying paint (nitro this time) ... should have stated that in my post. I do use a long length of hose but I need to look into the moisture trap aspect.