Rocket

Yes, unless you go really deep I suppose.

Yes, I've seen that custom blue swirl JEM on some other forums and it's one of the coolest I've ever seen.

Warmoth's 7 necks are 25" and Ibanez makes longer scale 27" 7's so scale length is wide open.

There's no reason why you can't use locking tuners instead. It just won't stay in tune as well as a lock nut.

Compared to Stew/Mac anyway. Stew/Mac wants $46-$49 for 15 yards of the stuff(+shipping)

& this place has a 45 yard roll for around $30 + shipping. I just got a roll in the mail today. A lot of you might just use sandpaper & spray adhesive but I just thought I'd pass this along for anyone else.

(it's www.autobodysupply.net)

And move with the lie of the strings, I got that out of The Guitar Player Repair Guide.

Thought this might be useful to somebody. Save some dough.

"Making Straight-Edges From Scratch"

I did this to an old RG550 body from eBay. It really wasn't that hard and holds solid as a square joint. The hardest thing was drilling the recessed holes for the neck screw ferrules.

Oh, I almost forgot... the tool I used the most and really couldn't do without is also the cheapest one.....

A piece of straight wood with a beltsander sandingpaper glued to it....

Feel free to ask my anything you want.

Coen

Looks really good. What did you use the wood/sandpaper for? What did you use to glue the sandpaper to it? Did you cut the pickguard?

The beltsander/glue idea seems like a good one. I never thought of that. I've been trying to think of ways to avoid paying StewMac $45 for 15 yards of that Stikit stuff. Are the beltsander papers expensive though? It might work out to be the same price

Hey Brian that's really cool. But I was wondering, since Ibanez' radius for RG's and JEMs is 16.97" (430MM), would using a 16" caul without changing the fingerboard radius work O.K.? Or would they not go in all the way in the middle? Or could I hammer them down in the middle a bit? I know in your tutorial you rounded the board to a straight 16" but then of course the bridge and nut are still 16.97". I'm going to refret and RG and am kind of stuck on what to do. I suppose I could just forget the caul and hammer them in.

I'll bet Roger Jeannie at Jeannies Pickguards could do a carbon fiber or carbon fiber look pickguard.

I have a few on my guitars, Ive cut one. Most mirrored ones are plastic so it would be no different then any other pickguard. One thing to be careful of when cutting and handling is scratching the backside of it because it's the mirror stuff you're scratching and will look bad from the front.

I'd go with the Floyd Rose PRO over a regular Edge. Less contact with your palm. I guess it depends on how you play, but I noticed when I had an Edge briefly that I was really spoiled by Edge LoPro and Floyd Rose PRO trems.

Impressive.

I wonder is this is advisable. I ruled out the fallaway idea and got the action lower on this Ibanez 7 (Universe) I have. Treble strings feel pretty good and don't buzz. BUT the low strings are buzzing like mad. Mostly low B and low E around 0 through 7th frets. I'm thinking it may need a nut shim on the low side for open buzz and more clearance after the first fret to take care of 1 through 7. So my idea is to level out and crown only under the lie of the low B, E and A strings.

Is this ever done? Or what else could I try?

Like Brain said, about creating more bow for the same effect, that's what I've been doing all along. I rough it in with the trem posts and tighten the truss rod until it feels right. I'm kind of cro-magnon about it, I'm not a tech. I never measure it, it's all by feel. But the guitars in question, what I originally posted about, aren't working out with my method. Maybe because they are 7's. I don't know what that would have to do with it but they have that in common. The problem is at both ends really because not only do the upper frets go when I lower the action, the first fret strarts buzzing too. Maybe they all need a leveling.

I'm waiting for Earvana to release the replacement locking nut version. Seems like it's been "coming soon" for over a year now.

Great info, thanks!

I see your point. What is the difference between shimming the neck as you mentioned and just lowering the action via the saddles or trem posts?

Oh, you said "top of the pocket'. I guess that would make the neck angle upwards? Does this help low action? (inquisitive, aren't I?)

No ,I'm talking about when the 14th through 24th are somewhat lower than the rest of the frets. They are leveled gradually lower from the 14th->24th. I've also read where some guys use gradually shorter frets to create a "fallwaway". It's in Steve Kerstings tutorial, "Fret Level & Crown", in the paragraph underneath the first two photos. He calls it "ramping" but it's the same idea.

I've been reading the Guitar Player Repair Guide and read the tutorial about leveling. How important do any of you feel "ramping" or "fallaway" -(as Erlewine calls it)- is? From around the 14th to the heel is how Erlewine explained it. I'm thinking I may need this on a couple of my guits as when I try to get the action lower those frets are the first to go dead.

I have an old Rockinger locking trem that has one of these behind the nut things.

THanks for the response. Problem is, I don't think I have the skill, tools or patience or guts to level. My guitars that need leveling, because of pits, and various buzzing problems, I've decided to leave to a tech. But straight crowning I think I could handle. The kind of top I want on the fret is a half circle, like you said ")". Most of mine look like the tops have been lopped off of them, flat. Only my Ibanez Universe has good tops on them. Anyway, thanks.

This isn't related to my other thread about leveling but I have some guitars that have no pits in the frets and no abnormal buzzing but the fret tops look flat, like they were leveled but never crowned. Can I just go ahead and crown them?

I was thinking about trying to level frets with these 3M "sanding sponges", they're spongy blocks with sanding material on all sides. It would seem they would automatically match the radius of the fingerboard because it's soft, and would form to whatever is underneath it. Am I just wrong thinking this?

are you sure the stew mac one is a licensed copy? it does`nt say anywhere that it is

john.

It's a Schaller. Look at the pic. It has writing near the fine tuners (Licenced Under Floyd Rose Patents) and says "Schaller" on the base next to the low E saddle where on a Floyd Rose it would say "Floyd Rose". Schaller's have the hardened pivot inserts, as shown in the pic, Floyd Rose's do not. It's a copy.