TemjinStrife

PRS uses a 10 or 11 degree angle for exactly that reason, if I remember correctly. They want downward pressure, but not too much so that the strings are able to slide around in the slots with trem use.

No experience on the Saga kits. Warmoth is extremely expensive but very high quality within the limited framework of Fender-compatible hardware (they don't do custom neck tenons or odd pocket sizes, etc.) I like EMGs as well. SAs are amazing for just about anything, and their humbuckers (particularly the 60, 85, and 89) are excellent for very clean or fairly dirty applications; in my experience the humbuckers don't do "vintage breakup" well.

Well, I'm pretty sure what I'd read was that Epiphone used undersized bushings, but didn't bother to retool for them. A cost-saving thing. How would I be able to tell?

Here's a picture of someone's SG that has the *exact* same problem: Here's its original context... http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28993

Whatever you do, make sure your bridge of choice matches the radius of your fingerboard. Most TOM-style bridges are 12", but some are 14".

Unfortunately, I can't get a decent picture of the problem with my only camera (a cell phone one) so I have attempted to draw a diagram in CAD of what is happening: Basically, the bushings are not pulling straight up and out, but rather forward and then out. The bushing on the high E string has worked loose enough that I could probably pull it out by hand, while the low E string is just leaning a little forward right now. EDIT: The leaning stud above is a very very slight exaggeration of what my high E string side is doing, to give you an idea...

I have an Epiphone 1958 Korina Explorer reissue, in the natural finish. It's flat-out beautiful, and I love the thing and use it for rhythm duties (which means that it is on the receiving end of D'Addario 12s tuned anywhere from drop C to concert pitch). However, I noticed the other day that the stop tailpiece has started to physically pull out of the body. Not the screw-in inserts, but the bushings themselves have begun to pull out and lean forward, especially on the high E side. Now, I believe the thing is still under Epi's "limited lifetime" warranty (since I haven't modded it and I believe it counts as a workmanship/materials issue), so I'm gonna see if I can send it in. Has anyone dealt with Epiphone's warranty service before, and would the use of heavy strings (albeit not excessively so) void the warranty? Also, I am curious what sort of repair they would do on it to fix it, as if I'm not mistaken it's screwing up the wood inside the body around the tailpiece studs due to the way they are leaning out. With a natural finish, it'd not be very easy to hide a dowel cleanly. Would they just shove the bushings back in and send it back out? Epoxy and drill? Or would they send a whole new guitar? I suppose I'm more curious than anything... I have no way to get to the dealer I bought it from at the moment and am interested in people's opinions, experiences, and advice than anything.

RAN guitars does KL-esque explorers. Check the gallery on their main site for a number of excellent examples (albeit mostly shot very close-up.)

If you've got four-conductor wiring it should be possible. I don't know the specs on the pickup offhand, though.

Wow, that's beautiful. I especially like the understated inlay at the 12th fret and the band of inlay between the sides of the bookmatched top!

Just don't attempt to raise or lower the bridge posts while under string tension, as that will tear up the knife edges on the Floyd Rose bridge.

I personally think beyond body thickness, you really won't get any dramatic change in sound. I have heard someone somewhere explain a Flying V's "nasal" sound as a result of the missing scoop of wood behind the bridge, but I have played a few Vs and don't consider them especially nasal. Also, I remember a while back (we're talking years) when I was looking up stuff on Explorers, and I came across a site that hosted a physics project in which some students measured the resonances of an Explorer body and deemed it less than ideal. Personally, I think you won't be able to tell the difference. My solid maple Spirit Steinberger neck-through "broom" with a JB pickup sounds more "Les Paul-ish" than many Les Pauls I've played, and it's neither mahogany nor shaped anything like a Paul, and my Epi Korina Explorer sounded about the same as the Epi Korina V that was next to it on the shelf... the Explorer was just lighter and more comfortable to play (and I preferred the shape) so I grabbed that one instead! EDIT: I will say this, however. Different neck joints sound different... I played two very similar guitars, one singlecut and one double cut (neck thru on both) and there was a slight difference in sound, probably due to the increased support on one side of the neck joint in the singlecut.

While I have no idea as to the effect on tone, what was said about EMGs and tapers with 250k/500k pots is definitely true. Basically, what they mean about the pots acting as a switch, is that the taper is very extreme. At full-on, the pickups are on; however, nudge the pot a tiny bit and the volume will cut right out, essentially creating a switch. It's great for killswitch effects, but a bit annoying cause if the pot turns easily it can get shaken or knocked onstage and randomly mute your sound.

Ahh... thanks for the clarification, black_labb. I knew about the different angles of stability (and the prevention of headstock dive) but I was under the impression that raising the rear strap button would help headstock dive as well... j. pierce - Hmm... I guess this is where our individual aesthetic tastes diverge. I'm not a big fan of dramatically recurved tops or the sort of curved raised central sections on Mosrites... I like a cleaner line from center to edge. The aesthetics of this design, as I see it, are all in the profile, and I kind of want to emphasize that. Maiden69 - I'm playing with your cutaway ideas and I can't quite get them to work without dramatically altering the lines of the design. However, I did notice that when designing the guitar, I kept the nut location at the same place as a 25.5" scale Explorer design when increasing the scale to 26.5", so I moved the entire neck/bridge/pickup assembly out a bit to compensate. Now, the neck-body join is once again at the 19th fret and full access shouldn't be a problem, especially since I've enlarged the cutaway scoop. Once I get orthographic views going to show body shaping I'll post an update... I'm curious what people think of the carve I've got going.

j. pierce - Now that you mention it, my old cello teacher bought a VERY high-end Brazilian rosewood classical guitar from Val who (IIRC) used to work at the Burlington Violin Shop. I have seen some local marques at Burlington Guitar and Amp too, but as you noted mostly acoustic stuff or electric mandolins/fiddles, no electrics. Xanthus - Standard two-point physics... placing more mass below the line created by the two suspension points increases the stability of the entire structure. With a straight-pull 6-in-line headstock, longer scale, and a wider/deeper neck than a standard Explorer, I'm gonna need all the help I can get. My Epi Explorer headstock dives like it's it's job, and if it wasn't for that nice back point to rest my arm on it would be very fatiguing to play. Also, keep in mind that a momentary switch will cut the signal when it's pressed, which is a tad unintuitive as you have to time the "let gos" to the beats instead of the presses. I'm actually considering going with a two-position rocker switch and using two fingers to get the effect, as pushing with one finger mutes and another unmutes the signal. Even cooler if I get a lightup one, cause the switch will flash as I hit the killswitch (assuming I can find one that can be powered with a 9v battery. If I do that and have some spare power left over, I may even toss some matching LEDs in the pickup cavities so that they give a muted glow around the pickups (that flashes when I use the killswitch... hmm... While I can't find any decent pictures of the back carve or side view of the SLSMG, this is the kind of carve I'd be going for: a gentle "dressing away" of the area around the bridge/pickups in a smooth line on both sides.

I should qualify my endorsement of the Wilkinson-style trem by noting that I am NOT a traditionalist when it comes to looks on guitars. I don't like body shapes, headstock shapes, or parts that I feel are ubiquitous, overused, or just plain common. Thus, I really like the look of the Wilkinson bridge because it's so unique. The performance is excellent too (first consideration of course) but the look isn't for everyone who wants a traditional Fender-style trem.

Here's a bit of an experimental drawing. The lower cutaway shaping (kind of like an extended PRS 'scoop') echoes the scoop on the headstock, a design element that I know I want on there to facilitate reaches and 'bring the whole thing together' somewhat. However, once I put the scoop on, I decided I'd see how the thing looked if I was going to put a bevel on it instead of carving it like a SLSMG or Ibanez 'S' body. Here's the result: What do you think? Bevels or no bevels? Again, if I don't bevel the thing, I will be shaving down the back and front in a gentle radius to slim down the body edges to add a more streamlined feel and reduce weight. The bevels create much more of a "metal" feel, while leaving them off and arching the body seems a bit more "high-class-feeling" to me. With a body shape like that, I'm leaning more towards the high-class feel of the arching to balance out the fact that this will not be 'just' a metal guitar (imagine lugging this thing to a jazz gig... if wood selection, scale length, and pickup choice is any indication, it will perform fairly well in that regard too!) Here's what it looks like without the bevels but with the lower bout scoop: http://www.uvm.edu/~jdrucker/ExplorerinCadScooped.JPG j. pierce - Yep, I'm a college student in Burlington. I was unaware that there was any sort of interest in instrument building at all around here... when I brought my Kramer/Jackson superstrat I built from parts to Advance Music (the largest local music store around), they seemed to find the idea of someone building their own guitar unique. Where are you based out of? Anyways, what do people think? Bevels or arching?

If you feel you can afford it, go for the high-end Wilkinson two-point system. It's the only standard whammy bar I really like, in terms of looks, feel, and stability, and it's fairly forgiving in install because only one of the two posts needs to be right on. http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/br...idges_wilkinson Well, that and the PRS one.

Usually a deeper-set neck goes through the neck pickup cavity, but I've seen some people do it all the way to the bridge. The measurements are really up to you, as long as you're capable of routing a tight joint. Before you glue it in, you're gonna want to do any routing or cutting to fit it under the top and/or pickups. Here's a basic tutorial: Set Neck Tutorial

Alright, I had some free time to play with the drawing after class, and here's the result: Note the more centered neck, subtly wider waist, and more normal control placement. The control placement may change to follow the angle of the bottom point; however, I like it this way right now and it gives me room to use a long-style stereo jack (so that when I do the body contouring I can go slimmer on the edges due to the 1/2" diameter hole.) Also, I added the strap buttons. Note that the rear strap button is a bit higher than normal; this will help with balance by placing more of the guitar's mass below the hanging points. I'm gonna take the killswitch off the design until I can decide whether or not a pushbutton or lever-action switch is right for me... I am also considering the idea of a DPDT mute switch that uses a pushbutton as a kind of a reverse killswitch (turning on when pressed), or even a reasonably sized rocker switch to help me get the "push -> on" type of killswitch feel I'm looking for. Speaking of contouring, I'm also considering carving this thing like a Jackson SLSMG Soloist (one of my favorite guitars, I'd love it more if it was 22 frets and had a beefier neck though!) which ranges from 1/2" to 3/4" at the edges to a full 1.5" to 2" at the body.

Thanks for all the comments so far, guys! sb_guitars - I've played with a set of those Steinbergers, and while they look cool, I'm not a big fan of the feel in operation. Plus, they're a little expensive for what I'm looking at... $150 for a gold set and $100 for chrome? Ouch! Thanks for the suggestion though! Xanthus - So far, my favorite seven string I have ever played was a Schecter C7 Blackjack with the extended 26.5" scale, although the neck was a little slim for me. I prefer heavy strings and I started on cello and moved to bass, so I actually prefer the extra length and tension, especially if I decide to drop to A at some point. The knob placement is a holdover from when I was plotting out the body; I like having the volume close for pinky swells and I'm adding a killswitch for some staccato effects (oddly I'm not a Morello or Buckethead fan) that I would like close to the playing area as well, although not THAT close... they need to be much further back and a bit lower down! The pickups will most likely be a SD Jazz-7 and JB-7 for versatility, as despite the shape I'm looking for more than just a metal axe. The EMG-shaped pickups on there now were the only ones I could find concrete dimensions for online and I wanted to see how the whole shape worked with the offset waist and extra-wide pickups. Also, my original plan was to run the ferrules parallel to the back end, but it looked strange to me for some reason. The soft V shape of the ferrules now echoes the back line and a bit of the front "V" caused by the upper horn, at least the way I see it. GregP - I see what you mean about the close waist, I may shift the whole neck down a little to compensate for the extra-wide neck and pickups. As a starting point I basically stuck the centerline of a widened neck onto the centerline of the standard Explorer neck, which is fairly close to the top of the body anyways... so that might get tweaked. The 'chisel' point on the upper horn is a necessity visually I've found. The Explorer is primarily made up of down-angled lines, and having a straight or up-angled point on the upper horn just looks funky to me. Also, the rear bout curve is really difficult to duplicate elsewhere on the instrument beyond the end of the fretboard and the ferrules, and I've already covered the ferrules. erikbojerik - Cool, thanks for the insight. I read on one of the other members' builds that he had problems fitting the 7th string into a locking tuner hole, so I figured I'd leave the option open to play it safe. Does anyone know the dimensions of the Hipshot D-Tuner? Instantly dropping from B to A would be handy, and it wouldn't be too hard to play with the shape a bit to cover the tuner if it was bigger than the current "thumbish" area is right now...

Hey, sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Anyways, I am in the design stages of my first project that is not simply shaving some parts down to shape and slapping them together. Here's the body and headstock shape I'm looking at: I have a few questions: -First of all, how does it look? I must say the upper horn has grown on me, and I tend to like my Explorers unmolested, so that's surprising. -Secondly, does it appear to be entirely too large? It's nearly four feet long from tip to tip! -The 6+1 headstock shape allows me to use a standard 6-in-line lefty set and an odd tuner I have lying around, or in the case I choose to go with a really heavy 7th string it gives me the option of using a miniature bass tuner for more leverage and to allow the string to fit into the post more easily. Thoughts on the shape and idea? -Scale length would be 26.5," but I can't find dimensions for generic seven-string nut widths anywhere. Right now it's drawn with 1 7/8" nut width. -I know the TOM bridge is usually angled; what's the standard angling for a seven-string bridge? -Other notes, comments, and your own questions are welcome. Oh, and I do own Dan Erlewine's Make Your Own Electric Guitar book, so no need to refer me! Thanks!

Heavy. Very heavy. You're looking at some pretty weighty woods. Rosewood is great for midrange, bass, and mellower sounds, while the walnut is a good hard wood with a frequency response similar to maple with not quite as much bite.

Thanks for posting all that! I'm in the planning stages of building my own seven-stringer with either a custom set or through neck from Soulmate Guitars, and your tutorial is a perfect place for me to see everything done right!

I like the one on the top right... it seems the most "visually balanced" to my eyes. Look here for some inspiration: http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM04/Co...ying-Tiger.html Also, here: http://www.musewiki.org/Bomber_Manson If you can find some vintage-style radio knobs (with pointers and such) or maybe rig an "altimeter"-looking knob somewhere that would be cool too. Perhaps a pushbutton killswitch with the top of a bolt affixed to the switch? Also, if you're of a whammy bent, you can't go wrong with a wiggle stick for a real "divebomb!" EDIT: black labb beat me to the "divebomb" crack ...