El Dangerouso

Thanks for all the sweet ideas. I got two thin coats of clear on, and the color is really looking good. I couldn't decide on a good color for the flames, so I think I'm going with a nominally modded take on croaticum's idea. I think subtle is definitely the right track to take as boggs said. I think I'll mask off the "flames" with frisket and clear the rest of the top with matte nitro. Scrape a "pinstripe" around the outline, then take off the frisket, and clear the body with gloss. That way, the guitar can keep the sweet appearance of the copper tone mettallic, and have the subtle flames. This site and all you guys who offered advice, just totally rock!

It's standard thickness, more in line with the P series. I suppose it's about 1 5/8" or so. I'll post some more pics tonight before I start the clear.

So, here is my first, color coat done, will do first thin clear tonight. I did a mock-up of the hardware so you can see what it will look like assembled. It is copper tone metallic, and I though of maybe royal blue/lake placid blue flames with possible silver pinstriping kind of in the pattern of Satch's in the second picture. What do you think, flames or no flames?

Play the 9-46 Ernies pretty much exclusively. 42s are just too light and floppy for my taste. I was thinking about giving the GHS boomers of the same makeup a shot. We'll see. My hat's off to anyone who can get the job done on 10s much less 11s. I never could. A wound third? In my camp that would be heresy, but more power to you if you can bend that sucker.

So here it is.......I was thinking Royal Blue Flames maybe pinstriped with silver. I'll take any advice.

OK, so this weekend was the Dallas Guitar Show. For a $15 entry fee, I get in on Sunday, walk to the Peavey stage, and see Andy Timmons rock for 45 min. or so. Great show, worth the $15. But then, bonus of bonuses, written in on the list of performers, my personal favorite, Satch. He had some backing tracks (couldn't get the band thing together in time) and played some classics (Satch Boogie, ...Blue Dream, Always with me...) and some tunes off an album that was just released Tuesday! (Up in Flames, Hands in the Air, Gnaaah) Then, when I thought the show couldn't get better, Andy Timmons comes back with bassist and drummer, and he and Satch jam on Up in the Sky and Goin' Down. It landed somewhere between totally badass and total guitar nirvana(not the Kurt Cobain kind). Boo Yah, definitely a top ten day of my life. Why is this in this thread you ask? Well, after the show Satch was cool enough to do autographs for anyone who wanted one. I, for I think the only time in my life, had the forsight to bring the neck of my project, and Satch (my most admired player, did I already say that?) SIGNS THE BACK OF THE HEADSTOCK! You know the beyatch will play twice as fast and 10x as smooth now that I got that mojo! Anyway to the true nuts and bolts: The headstock has one or two thin coats of laquer on it, and I obviously want to preserve the signature. Am I OK to just put some more over it, or would that melt the sharpie ink, and put me in a perma-depressed state? Sorry about the flash, but you get the idea.....

Thanks for all the help. Finishing is totally my weak point. What I've got is a guitar I'm doing with kind of a thick Parker Fly Mojo shape, and I've done it in Copper Tone Metallic with creme binding. I thought it looked a little bland, so I though I might add the flames to spruce it up. (I promise to post pics tonight for advice on the flame color). The snakeskin pattern might be a bit more than I'm up for, so I might just stick with the flames, although I might go as far as to do the pinstripes. We'll see......based on your advice. Thanks again for the expert help. ED

I knew I'd get that wrong and somebody would call me on it. Clearly, I'm not the biggest Led Zep fan. Thanks for setting me straight.

If anyone has seen the G3: live in Denver DVD; I'm wondering how to do the flame on front/silver surfer on back guitar that Joe used for Mystical Potato Head. I'm sure it's not easy, but how would you do the flames, and the art, like the SS on the back? Beat Navy, ED

Just interested in seeing the variety. Clearly this is a personal choice, and I don't think one is any better than the other. It's all about expressing YOURSELF. That being said.... Primary Dunlop Big Stubby 2.0mm Secondary Right hand multifinger tap Hybrid (Very Rarely) Fingerstyle Love to see how others make it happen!

If you want to do some more with tapping, there are two good books I know of. There's "Progressive Tapping Licks" or something very close to that, I think it's form MIT, can't remember the author. Also, "Over the Top". I think there both on the order of $15-$20 US. Pretty cheap investment for some cool ideas and techniques that could last a lifetime. I especially liked "Progressive Tapping Licks".

I doubt it has a key change. Do you have the chord progression, or would I have to transcribe it AND figure out the key/tonality?

Just by 2.0mm Dunlop Big Stubbys. Problem solved.

I could name a few: James Mankey of Concrete Blonde Steven Egerton of Decendants/All Tim Reynolds (DMB associate) Joe Stump (doesn't get nearly the exposure he deserves) Johnny Hiland (the man is a total monster) Andy Timmons (formerly of Danger Danger) Chris Poland (formerly Megadeth/now OHM) Beat Navy, ED

I go with the traditional; similar to Krazyderek in the third picture, but with the point of the pick centered between the tip of my index finger and the first knuckle. Basically, I held it like a pencil and rotated my index finger 90 degrees. For me, I found that this allows me to do all the things I want, play with pick, combine pick and tap with middle finger, hybrid with pick, middle and ring, etc. I think what matters most about holding the pick is that you are: a) comfortable achieve the control and speed you desire c) are able to play what YOU want to play However you hold the pick and get that, it's the right way, kind of like a putting grip. Beat Navy, ED

Excellent work! Great looking with some cool mechanics/electronics. I'll bump mdw3332's questions. I'm very interested in how you did you binding. It looks B A D A Double S. Edit: I see from your pics it was masked off. You almost had me bowing to the master. It still looks nothing short of excellent. Hats off! Still interested in the knob/switch depressions.

I went with finishing tips. There is no doubt that it is also my weak point. I would like to see some stuff on binding carved bodies, etc. The paint/finish seems to be pretty well covered, but some of these other areas could use some advice from an SME. Beat Navy!

Mine was a Fender Strat Deluxe - I got a Japanese Strat Now it's the one I'm building, but out of the manufactured stuff, I'd say a JS1000 or a PRS custom 24

BLS - I know this may be hard to believe, but I made up the dictionary entry (did you not catch that it was a little over the top?)

This will be my last post in this thread, no matter how bad future posts may make me want to reply. To Snork - Brother, I have no reason to doubt you practice 6-8 a day. (I wish I had that kind of time to practice, frankly, I'm jealous; I haven't been able to do that since high school) To get to Slash-level playing in a year or so is great, especially if you've done it through self study. To help you understand the view of at least some of the 30+ crowd, Slash would NOT be "shred". In my opinion, and from what others have said, we would consider him to be a good rock player, but undoubtedly not "shred". So if that's the level you're at, very cool. We (some of the 30+) just don't consider it "shred". As far as your theory goes, please take me at face value, no harm intended. You have a long way to go. Which is fine, you've got plenty of time to learn. Your statements in the renabilistec "blues scale to play blues thread", you said (paraphrased) Clapton is major pentatonic, (can't remember the name here) is minor pentatonic, and Steve Ray is Dorian. I can prove to you in an instant that these statements are not, at least exclusively, conclusively, true. You submitted them as if they were. The "I can play pentatonic and Lydian" comment shows the same gap. Again, I don't doubt your work ethic. I don't doubt that you study theory. To illustrate, I was in the army for six years. When I was a platoon leader I had a private whose boots always looked bad. I told him needed to shine them, several times. Finally, in frustration, he said "Sir, I shine my boots for two hours every night. What are you talking about?" He put in the effort, did the best he could based on his knowledge, he just didn't achieve the correct, expected end result. There were gaps in his boot shining knowledge. I have some gaps in my theory knowledge, I'm sure. I'm certainly no Walter Piston or Arnold Schoenberg. My modal theory is solid, however, and I'd love to help you with yours. I'll be glad to do it via e-mail for free.

Ahhhhh.....music, since we're talking about art, it's tough to draw clear lines between where one thing stops and another begins. Is shred metal only? Then what about Allan Holdsworth and Frank Gambale? Mike Stern? Albert Lee? Johnny Hiland? Dan Crary? What about Van Halen? Is shred only, or at least primarily instrumental? I don't know where the line is and I'm not going to say there is only one answer. I put these guys in the same category with Satch, Stump, Vai, Firkins, Morse, Malmsteen et. al. You could seperate them as "fusion" or "hot country" or "bluegrass" and it would be hard to argue that that wasn't right too. Maybe they're all cousins in the "shred" family. Shred, I feel, is certainly the technique part of the equation. Clean, clear control of the instrument. Ability to play technically challeging parts at will. Can you sweep cleanly, as well as up to tempo? If I only hear the first and last note distinctly, then you need more practice in my book. Can you tap? Good legato? Alternate picking up to tempo? Hybrid picking? Are all of these played cleanly? Can you alter your emphasis on licks at will? Can you combine these in interesting ways? What if you can't do one of these, are you still a shredder? I say yes, Paul Gilbert nor Satch can sweep an arpeggio to save their life, they're still, to at least the vast majority of the population, shredders. What might take a shredder to the next level? Songwriting ability. Check out Francesco Ferreri (I might be a little off on the spelling), he's on the net. I checked out his lessons. Jaw dropping. Then I checked out some clips from his album. It didn't do it for me. My ears just get tired of listening to notes played a million miles an hour with no change. I think it would be better if there were a mix of tempos, etc. Good knowledge of theory wouldn't hurt a shredder, either. Not that you can't get by without it, but I think it's a tool that can help take you to the next level, especially compositionally. My favorite players combine the shred ability with songwriting. My personal favorite? Satch. Just my opinion, totally biased by my life experiences and tastes. I have heard other opinions and arguements from other players that I considered equally valid. To answer Daveq's question, from what Snork says, there are clear gaps in his theory/composion knowledge. That takes him out of the running for a level two shredder. He's only been playing a year or so, so that's not not really a knock. It takes time to learn. We'll see in the post his command of the instrument and techniques. If he plays fast pentatonics, then he's a one trick pony, not a shredder. If he has learned a Lydian "box" position and plays it over a A chord, then he's a two trick pony. If the plays it over an A D E progression, I'll ask why he chose to do that, and depending on his answer, I might offer him lessons.

I found this in the dictionary... Shred - a style of guitar playing made popular by several players in the '80s, emphasizing a variety of techiques (tapping, fast scalar runs, tremolo picking, whammy bar tricks, sweep picking arpeggios, right hand above left, etc) played extremely fast and accurately. Waning popularity in recent years due to a growing resistence in technical competence in musical movements such as grunge (i.e. Kurt Cobain - look where it got him) and nu metal. WOW....I can't believe they had this in there...especially that bit about Cobain. Long live Joe Stump! BTW I'm 30, so maybe I was brainwashed by the late '80s early '90s.

Easiest way is to use a hipshot. Stabilization without losing the two-way trem travel.

Brian sells those also, I've got one on order. I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks Van Kirk.......string tree is exactly right. I couldn't remember it when I was typing. You're absolutly right...the bass strings tuners are closer to the nut, increasing the angle. Winding the strings from top to bottom on the tuners will also help.