TemjinStrife

I dunno, I always thought a rear-routed 4003 would look really classy... but I'm not a pickguard kind of guy, so to each his own.

Alder will give you a more snappy, clear sound, while mahogany has less "presence" and more lower-mid "push." For a clear solo sound alder will give you slightly more "cut" and snap on the strings, while mahogany has a warmer sound. Imagine a gentle EQ "smile" and you have alder... go for a slight angle towards the bass side and you have mahogany.

Agreed. The long inline nature of the Firebird headstock would make the (relatively dramatic) 17 degree back angle a liability. I'd try 13, 11, or 9 degrees personally.

Awesome paintjob and instrument! I'm in the planning stages for a headless R-trem equipped Sustainer guitar... let me know what kind of crazy stuff you can do with that T-trem and the Sustainiac!

Right down my alley! I look forward to your progress. Especially the "twisted/helix neck"... that sounds like it could be comfortable, and as i suffer from tendonitis on bad days, that could be an interesting design feature! EDIT: Also, let me know what happens with your headless tuning bridge. I am very curious to see how it turns out... especially if you can make one that works with single-ball strings!

Yeah, you're best off making a new body to go with your neck. The time spent filling holes, rerouting, and finishing would be better spent making an entirely new body. Also keep in mind you won't be able to get an 8-string Tune-O-Matic style bridge... generally the only available 8 string bridge is the Hipshot one, which is a flatmount Fender-style hardtail, so your neck angle will be important.

Looks awesome. Glad you decided to finish it. I bet it'll sound MASSIVE.

Awesome detail work on the string anchor and backplate!

Rics are 32" scale if I remember correctly. And honestly, when I think of a Ric I think Fireglo... a great reddish-orange to natural burst, like McCartney used. But, there's nothing against doing something unique... I'd love to see a Ric with a walnut top and no pickguard myself.

For what it will cost to have it modified (new neck, new routing, new hardware, lots of hole filling and probably a refinish) you would be better off making your own guitar or having someone custom-make it for you. In order for this project to work you'd need: A new neck (much wider and a bit longer) -new neck angle Body modifications to fit new neck -rerouting and regluing neck pocket -refinish -filling bridge and tailpiece post holes -possibly would need to fill pickup holes for rerouting or to make room for neck -rerouting pickup holes Hardware -new bridge -new tuners -new pickups At that point, you're actually doing more work than making the guitar itself. My recommendation would be, if you're not willing to do much work yourself, buy an 8 string, or buy an 8 string neck from Doug at Soulmate Guitars (bolt on, set, or neckthru) and get 50% of the work out of the way. Then you might be able to either a) make a body yourself or pay someone to make a body and put everything together, then finish the whole thing. Regardless, turning a 6 into an 8 is not recommended.

Unfortunately, the guitar is miles away right now and I honestly can't remember the value. My father designed the wiring diagram for me as he's got the engineering background to do so... I'll have to get back to you guys.

Sperzels can be disassembled and reassembled pretty easily to convert them to the "same side." This guy will custom order you a set of Sperzels in any type and/or color, and he's also got the Hipshot lockers (which I like since they fit up to a .70 string gauge with no post reaming): http://www.tkinstruments.com/id75.htm Also, check out the closeup of the back of the Teuffel Ni-Wa headstock in the "Odd Shaped Guitars" thread. They recess the tuners from the back, and it looks pretty cool. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davogtr/38582...57594528352076/

ESP Custom Takamizawa Angel Sword: http://www.guitarsite.com/news/electric_gu...p_sword_guitar/ ESP Angel Guitar http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/WNAM.../esp3-large.jpg ESP Takamizawa Venus Angel Guitar: http://www.bmusic.com.au/prod3376.htm Chris Forshage Hollowbody Guitar http://buildingtheergonomicguitar.com/2007...ric-guitar.html Teuffel Birdfish, Tesla, and Ni-Wa http://www.teuffelguitars.de/instrumente/b...sh/index_e.html http://www.teuffelguitars.de/instrumente/tesla/index_e.html (I particularly love this one!) http://www.flickr.com/photos/davogtr/sets/72157594528352076/

Run a set of middle-output clear "bell-like" humbucking or P-90 pickups and add an EMG Afterburner. The clear humbucker/P90s will do all styles very well (especially if you wire a coil-tap in) and the Afterburner can hike your signal up to 20db of clean boost if you really think you need to shove the front end of an amp while retaining the nice clear tonality of your pickups... great for definition in rock and metal.

http://www.scottfrench.com/s/Gallery/Finis...%20SF3%20Guitar Scott French beat you to it. I like the design a lot, especially since I am a cello player first and foremost.

I don't know too much about paint, but I do know that you're gonna have to make sure that on whatever body you use the nut->12th fret distance, is the same as the 12th fret->center of bridge saddle adjustment to make sure everything intonates properly.

Damn... I probably would have gone for single- or double- rail humbucker with a wraparound tailpiece to leave as much of that top open as possible...

Fender Bass VIs were often converted into baritones, and baritones can work as Bass VIs with some heavy stringing. Schecter makes a Bass VI (which is a six-string guitar tuned an octave below standard) that has a 30" scale, and that appears to be the standard for Bass VIs as well.

Don't knock "doubled" 8-string basses. They can really sound incredible.

You know... contrary to my previous assertions, I find myself really liking the extreme nature of the top carve now...

I'm not much of a trem guy; however, that's mostly due to the ridiculous tuning issues, incredible amounts of maintenance required, and general unfriendliness putting me off actually playing the things. The R-Trem is stiff enough to barely detune on unison bends when unlocked (and can be locked!), can be easily adjusted for spring tension with convenient wheel, and with double-ball strings you can practically tear the bridge off while stepping into a blizzard and it'll return to pitch... all sensibilities that appeal to my hardtail-loving instincts. Sure it takes a metric ton of force to move, but that's kind of the point for me... I can dive and warble and whatnot without losing tuning stability, then turn around and double-stop bend and stay in tune without fiddling with buttons or levers. Despite my general belief in the superiority of hardtails for most guitar work, I received a Fernandes Sustainer for Christmas, and I think getting the most out of it would involve putting it in a heavy-duty trem-equipped guitar with a killswitch and a decent bridge pickup for sheer noise-nik awesomeness.. I'd stick it in place of the (currently nonfunctional) neck pickup in my Spirit in an instant, except it's one of the "broom handle" ones and there's not enough room in those for a 9v battery, much less a circuit board with two hard-mounted integral toggle switches. I'm loath to disassemble such a unique (and frankly wonderful-sounding) guitar for the project as I've played many Spirits that weren't nearly as good as this one and I don't want to lose it. However, it looks like I may have to gamble on an eBay Spirit and loot it for parts. Thanks for your help guys!

The AllParts ABM unit is very nice (and very expensive!), but unfortunately I'm looking for a trem. I saw those eBay headless trems, and I'm a little leery of them because if they don't work out, they use an entirely different route than the Steinberger trems, which I know work very well. However, if those bridges are any good, I might not need to worry. I know at least one person on the forums has used one, but he doesn't speak English very well and hasn't given any real feedback on them.

+1 on what GregP said. Is it a good headless bridge? Does it work well?

You know what's real bad? MusicYo doesn't even carry Spirits anymore. Are they genuinely out of parts/manufacturing, or are they just trying to increase demand? The Spirit line has been constantly sold out or out of stock for over a year, and now they've been pulled from the MusicYo site altogether. I'll try some more research.

I am looking for an aftermarket R-Trem for a project... Does anyone know where I can find one? MusicYo isn't selling them, eBay comes up dry, and I'm a little leery of eBaying a Spirit and dismantling it because it's impossible to tell the condition of the trem without using it yourself before buying. There are cheap Steinberger copies all over eBay... does anyone know if those trems are any good? I have an old Spirit with an R-trem and I honestly like the stability and stiff action (despite the pain of getting double-ball strings) over pretty much any other "extreme" trem setup... so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!