IbanezIceman

Hey guys, I have run into a serious problem with my Widow guitar project. I used 30mm thick Beech wood for the body, and a 10mm layer of Birch wood on top of it. This summer I finished all the routing, cavities, holes, neckpockets, etc. The body was sanded and ready for primer soon. I haven't had time to get any more work done on it the last few months but when I looked at it again here recently, I discovered to my horror that the top layer of birch has expanded / shrunk in its place. On some sides, it is sticking out 1-2 mm, while other places it goes in too far. Talk about a bummer... I thought for sure the wood I bought was pre-dried and ready for use when I bought it. Appearantly, it still had humidity in it and is still "settling" (or whatever term you use). How do I deal with this? Should I wait for the wood to "settle" to its final size and then try fixing the problems with re-sanding, filler, etc.? Can I dry it out to accelerate this process somehow? In either case - this sucks pretty hard.

Wow, I really appreciate the feedback here, everyone! Thanks to all suggestions so far. I'm gonna measure with the straightedge and post my findings here soon. Today I got my EMG 85/81 pickup set in the mail and I'm excited as all hell. My plan is to wire them with two 9-volts in serial to make it 18-volts of pure awesomeness.

I see you changed your reply. Well, let's all have a group hug then, lol. Thanks for the tip. I will check out both Fender and Strat hardtails. I will keep you guys posted with pics when I get close to installing it. P.S. to forum admins: Perhaps this forum can benefit from having a "Newbie" section. I would have posted this thread there if I had a choice, but the only section I saw fit was this one. Maybe with sub-sections of Hardware, Pickups, etc. too. Just a thought.

What the...?!? Looks like I pissed someone off… Listen, just because I asked a question which in your opinion is not a "hard problem" - doesn't mean I'm the kind of person who needs to be led handheld through the entire process. Before you throw out rude remarks like that, consider the following: - this forum is dedicated to people who want to either customize or build their own guitars from scratch, and a large amount of forum members have never worked on guitars before, let alone done any woodworking, luthering, electronics, finishing. - a lot of people (me included) are still on their first project - building something from scratch (well, aside from the guys building replicas). They therefore get easily overwhelmed by the myriads of part choices out there. - the parts market is crowded with many, many different styles, variations, brands, compatible vs. incompatible setups, etc. Secondly, don't tell me of all people how to do research on a subject before asking. Product, niche, and how-to type research is part of my business as a successful internet marketer. I am well-known on several large marketing forums (under a different nickname) and run my own blog dedicated to the subject of making money online. I am the kind of guy who ALWAYS prefers to read around and research before I ask questions. I make sure to try - before I ask, because from years on various forums (and an avid internet user since 1992), I know from experience that people hate it when newbs come in and are too lazy to research something. They rather ask. There are a lot of things I'm very good at. And then there are things I'm not good at. Like most people, I can be a pro in certain areas - and a total clueless amateur in others. But I still always try. Because learning by doing or learning by self-education is always the best way. So when I finally DO ask something - it's when I have already tried to search around for a solution, but didn't find one. Believe me, I have spent the past few days searching Google and forums for a good answer to my original question. All I found was contradicting answers and misleading "facts". The internet can be an awesome resource, but sometimes you just realize that asking someone directly is your best bet. And so that is what I decided to do. Lastly, I'm curious - from where exactly do you base your comment about me supposedly having to have my hand held "through the whole thing"?? Have you seen me post a question regarding my guitar project on each and every step along the way? NO. I have been working a LOT on my guitar and have done everything (except for the neck, which I bought) myself. I learned to use the tools and I followed through with no help from others. The things I didn't know, I found in the Tutorials section of this site or by reading around - again, without asking to "have my hand held"…. I would like to thank Prostheta for actually answering my original question. His answer now put me on the right track to narrow down which bridge I actually need.

Hey everyone, It's been a while since a I posted here (2+ years I believe), but I'm working hard on my guitar again now and it's time to find the right bridge for my project. The body is flat, with a BC Rich Warlock neck that I will bolt on paralell to the body. The fretboard will be 3/8" above the body surface. I'm using EMG 81 / 85 pickups but would like to hear your guys' recommendations for a good quality bridge. So, I want a flat-top bridge that: - is not a tremolo bridge - preferrably has fine-tuning knobs on it (but this is not a requirement) - transmits string vibrations well to the body wood for nice sustain and resonance - is chrome and doesn't look like sh*t Specific model numbers / brands is highly appreciated. Thanks!!

Rock on!

Hehe, no CAD plans for an Iceman, yet - only a 3D Studio model of it that I made 10 years ago. I also made a spinning animation gif out of it, which I uploaded to the Iceman site (check my signature). Since then, it has surfaced on several guitar sites on the net... But I plan on making CAD plans for several guitars soon. Maybe some finishing ideas in Photoshop too.

Same here... the best is to use the actual cutout scraps. But I'm sure pine and poplar is great too.

From what I have seen of misc. articles on the subject, it seems almost any paint / laquer that will work on a car will work on a guitar as well. Read some of the tutorials on the main www.projectguitar.com page. Lots of good info there.

As soon as I get 3D Studio and AutoCAD installed back on my machine, I will be able to create more guitar plans and 3D images of projects. If anyone has a sketch they would like drawn into a dwg or dxf, I can take care of that. (but like I said, I gotta set up my 'puter first) I have a 2-year education in Technical Drawing using CAD

Welcome aboard the board!

That would be awesome! Thank you...

Maybe we can get some of the ideas drawn on paper, scanned, and then posted in this thread so everyone can get a better visual of the ideas? Hey Krizalid - do you have an Iceman too?

Happy birthday greetings from Norway !

These guys have lots of misc. hardware, and I'm pretty sure they have a good selection of black hardware too: www.greggrogersguitars.com Hope that helps.

Thank you!.. at least I know now what they are. Hmmm... could it be worth the attempt to contact Ibanez directly and see if they can get me these keys ? I want them SOO bad.

Yup...amazing craftsmanship there... Kudos to the guy! But each to our own - this is what I currently strive for: Let's see more pics of you people's dream guitars at the moment....

Hmm well there is a link to a jig like that off of the main www.projectguitar.com website. Look under Tutorials, under Tools or Others I think... If you can't find it, let me know and I will dig it up for you

You might wanna check places like these: http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/features/tonewood/ http://danube.westminstercollege.edu/stude...r/woodBody.html http://www.bhefnerco.com/woods.htm Or search for "tonal quality" on your particular woods on Google. Hard to find a place that tells you what the combination will sound like, but at least if you know the properties of each wood, then it gives you a better idea of the combined sound. Generally speaking though, the bottom body will pick up vibration from the neck, whereas the top will pick up more from the bridge. (of course this depends on the thickness of each layer too) Eskil

But thank you for the respone, weezerboy. It's the thought that counts! Yeah those are kinda different. It's strange - why are these knobs so hard to find?? Makes me wonder if they were especially made only for the Iceman and never mass produced for the custom parts market... I remember seeing a complete set of 3x3 of them on eBay one time that had been taken off an original 1970's Iceman. They sold for $90 but silly me didn't try to buy them at the time.

this is true!! i cut my body out with a jigsaw, and it wasnt straight. its the internal curves that kill them. the blade binds on an internal curve, and heats up causing friction, then the blade becomes more susceptible to bending forces, and it tends to spiral inward. it didnt matter with my body, as there was sufficient wood to shape this out, it actually followed the shaping i wanted pretty well! use a coarser blade also, these cause less spiriling, since they can cut the wood easier. easier cutting means less friction = less heat = less spiriling. D'oh... I wish I had read this the day before I cut my bodies yesterday. I used a jigsaw and I kept somewhat distance to the drawn body lines on the wood. But still, I noticed afterwards that several lines had been cut uneven - certainly not straight - and in some places I am not sure how to recover it. Learning it the hard way I suppose Do you guys think I can fix some of this up with woodfiller? I'll keep at least 1/2" distance next time I jigsaw a body.. Eskil

Hmm, I have tried to edit the original post and the thread *title* to "Hard to find machineheads / tuners" with no luck. .....it's the keys (or knobs) I want.

Sorry - I should have phrased my question better - I meant "what are those knobs or keys?" It's the knobs I am interested in, not the tuners themselves.

Sheeesh....sorry about that, people.. Tried forever to find a good hosting service, and when I thought I had - it gets all f***ed up. Anyway, I edited the old post with new link to the photos. Can you all see them now??

For the longest time, I have searched the internet for stores that might sell the knobs/keys pictured below. All I know about them is that they were common on several Ibanez Iceman models. I want them for my own Iceman, as it only has the stock, plain knobs/keys. I found these pictures from eBay auctions a while back: Here they are on an Iceman.... Link to the photo: http://home.tiscali.no/eskilnor/iceman_tuning_keys.jpg ...and here they are on some unknown guitar: Link to the photo: http://home.tiscali.no/eskilnor/iceman_tun...uning_keys2.jpg I guess my questions are: 1) Who manufactured these? 2) What are they called? 3) Most importantly - where can I buy them? Any help is greatly appreciated!