TemjinStrife

The "sitting" comfort factor is the big one with a V, but depending on your playing style you can actually play seated classical-style with a Rhoads-styled V with just a bit of adjustment by putting the middle of the crook of the V so that it hugs right thigh (assuming a right-handed playing position)

Personally, if you can find the wood for it (as in a body blank large enough,) I'd recommend an Explorer-style guitar. It's a bit of my own internal bias for shapes, but they're actually incredibly comfortable to play. Upper-fret access is excellent, you have the same large back bout to rest your arm on that the V has that I find really locks the guitar to your body and moves the neck to the right playing position. Also, they actually stay on your leg if you play sitting down.

For pickups, I'd recommend active EMGs or Guitarheads Active humbuckers (you can get a set of them off of eBay for $80 or so) if you're really looking for clear, precise cleans and distorted tones... either an 81/85 or a 81/60 if you go EMGs. Seymour Duncan also makes actives, but I haven't tried them yet.

If you'd prefer passives, you can go with the time-tested (and at one point Mustaine's favorite) Duncan JB/Jazz combo, or perhaps a JB/'59 or a pair of Invaders.

If you go active (or extremely high-output), the wood and construction have a bit less of an effect on your tone. Alder and Basswood are very even-toned woods, with Alder being a bit brighter and harder. An all-mahogany guitar has a lot of "push" with actives, putting out a lot of every frequency band. I prefer maple necks for a little extra attack and stability (especially if you want to make a skinny flattish "shredder" neck) but you can easily make a carbon-fiber reinforced mahogany neck that's just as stable.

Also, if you're not sure you want a Floyd, DON'T PUT ONE ON. Use a wilkinson-style, Kahler, or even a Steinberger double-ball setup, but I can't honestly recommend a floyd. I love shred-style playing and my first project guitar had a Floyd. I ended up putting a Tremsetter on and rigging it so the lower two strings stayed unclamped so I could easily drop to D. Tuning up and changing tunings on those things is a pain in the butt. Hell, if it's only dive-bombs you want, put a Fender or Wilkinson-style bridge on there so that its baseplate is securely against the face of the guitar. It's incredibly stable that way.

The remainder of the "metal" accoutrements would probably include extra-large frets, a wider nut width (I'd go for either 1 11/16 or even wider... my friend has a guitar with a 7 string nut width modified to fit 6 strings, and it's incredibly nice for lead playing and bending.) Also, a flatter (14"-20") radius fingerboard is more comfortable for quicker runs in my opinion.

And of course a black paint job. If you go mahogany, I'd definitely recommend a black or dark red stain, but use a solid color for alder or basswood as they're not terribly pretty to look at usually.

I'm a very heavy string bender, and have noticed a significant increase in tuning stability (especially on the unwound G string) when I swapped the standards on my Epi Explorer for a set of gotoh mini lockers.

Only guitar I own now that stays in tune better is my Spirit Steinberger "cricket bat" with double-ball strings.

Damn, there goes my idea for a stage guitar with protective rubber coating!

So, an update:

I sent it in for warranty repair, and got it back in under a week. I was shocked. Turned out the place that I gave it to for warranty service instead got confused and sent it to their own workshop, then tried to charge me for fixing it. I was able to get them to waive the fee thought... looks like they epoxied the bushings in there. Got me a new set of strings too... all in all, turned out reasonably.

Regardless, it's very stable, although I'm not so sure I'm gonna be tuning those 12s back up to concert pitch anytime soon... although playing a whole-step down with my singer doesn't quite work so I may have to compromise and go down to 11s... or just take the plunge and tune up again and trust in the warranty. I shouldn't be screwing anything else on the guitar up by doing so, should I?

Gold and black do look very good on green... but so does white. My superstrat-parts-o'-caster has a Kramer body finished in an alarming shade of pastel surf green. However, gold hardware and white EMGs set it off very nicely. Unfortunately, I have no pictures.

But, if he's open to it, I'd recommend the white EMGs and pearl or white buttons on the tuners just to do something different from everyone else who uses the black EMGs. They stand out pretty nice, too.

You should build one with a Bigsby. GuitarFetish has some B5s that are going for pretty cheap.

Woow.

Wow. Looks amazing! It's also got a funky '80s retro vibe with the body shape, colors and reverse explorer-style headstock.

Some more complex top and rear carving might be a good idea to try for... take a look at Ulrich Teuffel's designs for a good idea. Here's a video of his new Ni-Wa that shows some of its rather impressive contouring. http://www.gearwire.com/teuffel-guitars-winter-namm.html

As for myself, I have drawn up plans for:

-A 7-string Explorer/Warrior hybrid http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=351027

-A 6-string Teuffel Tesla lookalike modified with a Klein lower bout for ergonomics with Fernandes Sustainer and Killswitch, set up headless with Steinberger Gearless Tuners behind the bridge Scott-French style

-A 6-string Teuffel Tesla lookalike with single soapbar P90 and wraparound bridge

The Tesla Birdfish has three individually positionable and rotatable pickups.

http://www.teuffel.com/instrumente/birdfish/birdfish_e.html

Check out the back view to see how they fit.

Some other guy had modified a Tele to have a sort of "swimming pool with rails" allowing him to move his single humbucker from neck to bridge position and in between... he sent it in to Guitarist magazine but also noted that Bill Lawrence or Ken Laurence or Kent Armstrong or somebody (I'm bad with names) had already patented a similar design.

Actually, if you turn the inlay right-side up on that Rickenbacker, it doesn't look half bad.

You could do a sort of "double V" kind of like a symmetrical Dean ML, and mirror it in the headstock. Talk about a showpiece!

Are those ferrules reverse threaded into the neck? If so, where did you get them?

Without opening a huge can of worms, the tension from using a stop-bar or string-through is perceived instead of being real. Extra tension would increase the string tuning. String stretch beyond the saddles or nut may increase perceived string slinkiness, perhaps.

I know the "tension" is the same, as that determines pitch along with string gauge. However, a string-through setup "feels" much tighter than a top-loader, and helps calm low-string floppiness in my experience.

What kind of bridge are you using? A hardtail string-through Strat-type, a Tuneomatic with stop bar, or a tuneomatic string-through?

If you're running a 25.5" scale, I'd recommend the tuneomatic string-through, as it seems to "tighten up" the strings quite a bit for a less floppy feel. The string-through Strat-type is the next best, although it's not quite ideal in my opinion. The stop-bar leads to a very loose feel, not great for a low B.

Interesting 60's vibe in the shape combined with a 70s look to the neck and "hippie sandwich" body construction.

Quirky and cool, how does it sound?

Godin uses poplar for body wings around a silver maple core.

My general experience with bass pickups is that placing the neck pickup too close to the neck results in a muddy, boomy sound that tends to just add mush to a mix rather than any real bass frequencies.

Honestly? I don't know. I've seen the Charlie Hunter 8's, and his design looks nothing like that. No fanned frets, no nothing.

I think it just came out of convenience. He had a set of lefty guitar tuners lying around and 3 random bass tuners left over from a 5-string project. So, he put them together, and visually, ergonomically, and functionally, it works. No need to drill out tuner holes or anything!

I haven't had any experiences with ash as a neck wood, but I know it makes a mean baseball bat, javelin, and spear. Perhaps this indicates strength enough for a neck?

One of the local guys here has an 8-string plan that uses a 2+6 headstock setup, with two bass tuners on the low side and a set of six lefty guitar tuners on the high side. It doesn't look too bad and it makes an awful lot of sense.

Thicker finish would work well on this particular build due to wood choice; purpleheart and padauk tend to fade with exposure to UV light, and some extra protection could help protect the color.

After all, it'd be a shame to lose the great purple/orange contrast you've got going!

I also found out in my seven-string fact-finding (read: playing every single one I can find) that running a TOM-style string-through setup improves low-string floppiness the most, while a hardtail string-through helps a bit less (but is still quite good) and a stopbar or top-loader results in a looser, floppier feel.

You know, if you don't like the pickup placement, use the neck on this thing on your new 8 string body and build a six string bass... you can definitely get some great bass tones with pickups in that position.

Dynamic. Much more stable than the floating Jazzmaster/Jaguar trem, with more sustain and less dead string length.