themikestro

Fender of the choices that were given, maybe just because of the Jazzmaster and the colours that Fender use, so shallow! But i'd have to say Yamaha guitars are always outstanding value for money, got to love those Yamaha SG's. Mind you I have an Ibanez Talman on the way that I've got cheap so maybe i'll be an Ibanez convert!

Viola? Like the small cello? That'd be a surprise, one minute a squier, the next... Boom, a Viola!

Some of the modern Squiers are pretty good, obviously the old Jap Silver Series and Vista guitars are in a different league, I recently sold my Chinese made Jagmaster and I have to say it was a well made guitar, great finish, solid wood and decent hardware (for the price). But it's still better to either buy a good guitar in the first place, always a better option than just plonking Seymours on a crapocaster. Or of course build one yourself, but that is a different story. Oh, and Epi's, I don't think they are worth a second look, I had an Epi SG and it was rubbish. Real wood, sure, but badly put together, cack bridge and cack electrics, i'd avoid them like the plague!

If this is your first guitar and you have little or no woodworking experiance I would be careful what you go for especially if funds are tight! Try a Les Paul Junior or Tele shape, flat top, set bridge that kind of thing. Binding, Neck building and most refinishing is guarenteed to go wrong first time, so the best advice is plan real hard and don't cut of any sheets of 5A maple into pieces for your first try! Plan, measure and plan some more. Also with ebay, the only way to make money is to be very well known with a trustworthy name or selling bits and pieces.. you would have tomanufacture a really, really, really sweet guitar to even break even never mind big profits, I mean look what you can get for your money with a standard factory guitar these days! In England you can buy Gordon Smith handmade guitars (like Gibsons, maybe better than some) for the equivilent of about $750 for a Les Paul, that is difficult to compete with! good luck and have fun with your build, don't get discouraged but don't expect miracles!

Barnet.... home of the bees! It's like a little breakaway UK guitar builders sect! Maybe we should stage a luthier coup! Great work Setch it's really coming along very nicely, a proper Les Paul is an audatious project indeed, have you not been tempted to change anything in the orignal LP formula? (not that it needs it, 'cept maybe the weight!) I'd have been tempted to "tweak" things a bit, but then i'm like that. Looking forward to seeing more progress

Wahoo! My 100th post! Now i've ruined it by posting another. that's life

Why don't you carve the body from mammoth ivory, make the neck from African Blackwood, fingerboard should be brazillian rosewood. The guitar should probably have platinum inlay shaped like a dodo and studded with diamonds everywhere! Here's a though, and I say it every time; Lacewood, the flashy alder alternative! Seriously, why on earth would you want to build a very expensive VERY heavy guitar as your first time? Both of the guitars i've made are very hefty and you know what? I wish they weren't! The whole density = sustain and tone thing can only be taken so far before it gets silly.

He does, but he can't do anything about it and spends his nights weeping into a bottle of Jack Daniels, what Ken needs is understanding and a sypathetic ear. What can we learn from this sad story?

Not being gay I can't be sure but............... surely having no spam isn't a sure sign of homosexuality, and fact it would kind of hold you back, i'm not even sure I have a point to make.... anyhow I reckon Ken does and always has swung both ways, and he's always first to make sure that the keys to Barbies big pink convertable are in the bowl for the doll swapping parties.

I'm not in oz....... and I might be wrong....... but isn't lacewood (silky oak) native to Australia? It looks good, it's meant to sound a lot like alder and it should be relatively cheap. You can get a one piece lacewood blank for £28.00 not sure what that is in AUS$ but its a good price here! Helpful? I dunno!

I'm more worried about the pandas! This man can do what no zoo in the world can manage and breeds bamboo lovin' picky partner choosin' black and white bear type things! Unless he means fish........ which is more likely. To answer the previous fish question, I'm a newbie fish man and i'm mainly interested in South/central American cichlids, i've got some angels and a keyhole cichlid as well as the usual catfish, swordtails and some colombian red fin tetras. This probably means nothing to most of you! Discus breeding, demanding suckers, a bit out of my area of expertise!

Sad as this is I've become an active member of a tropical fish forum and a digital camera forum..... Just curious to see your forum habits! I vote just a couple.

I don't use/haven't used templates so I route before cutting so that I can used the routers edge guides to keep things straight. Almsot certainly not the best way, but it is my way.

I did the signature on the headstock of my guitar with one of those silver/gold gel pens, let it dry for a while then laquered it with plastikote acrylic laquer, no problems there. But do: Leave the pen to dry for a while Don't spray too thickly or it will run and look crappy. Do: Take more than one pen because they are tempramental. I did write over black laquer though, don't know if it would work on bare wood.... Party hard

Grey and rainy Lincoln, England. Not much else to occupy your time here other than building guitars!

Cheers everyone, the wenge warning is a good one, would the walnut and maple combo be strong enough for a neck, or should I go for something harder? The horns I guess are a personal thing, I dind't really want to angle them because I didn't want it to look too much like an RG or strat, but the rejig looks good all the same.

I know what you mean.. not particularly original, I just wanted to plonk something on top to finish it off... unless you mean the reverse thing, i've always wanted to go reverse!

Further revisions! I'm reopening this tired old thread! I've decided it's time to journey into the scary world of neck making (apart from the fingerboard... buying that pre done) and I reckon this project is going through neck. I've heavily revised the original design to the point that i'm mostly happy with it. Any ideas? What potential problems am I going to have here? Should I substitute wenge for Walnut? (I want a dark wood) and does anybody hate the design? I've looked at a strat, parker fly, Warwick bass and Ibanez JS for the body. I'm reusing the parts from my first guitar that is also in the album (which is now apple green) so the pickups and bridge are staying 'cos I like 'em! There will be a switch as well but I haven't put it on yet! Check the link and let me know before I charge off and buy the stuff, cheers!

I teach photography (you wouldn't know it from the pics i've taken of my guitars though, right?) so i've got me a big rig, but for a point and shoot the low end Canons and Olypmus mju stuff is pretty good, I don't think too much about the Nikon's until you spend big money...... dpreview.com is an excellent site as is photographyreview.com if you want to check out user reviews.

Tough choice! Had to go with Setch if for no other reason than to give him a sporting chance against *THAT* strat, the other entrys this month are excellent as well, best not to forget that!

Y'know, I like it and I think the fenderish vibe you get from the pickguard is a good thing, not all guitars need to be maple capped, clear coated carved tops now do they? Lookin' good! Don't see all that many block colour guitars on here... I know why after refinishing one of mine recently, without the proper kit it is a pain in the bum.

Looking very good indeed, i'm thinking of giving a neck a go for my next project while work is slow this summer and this thread smells like a neck making tutorial to me. Keep up the good work!

I've lost the equivilient of about $200 with transactions to the states from the UK.... the problem usually comes from people using weird payments, that I can't bank here.... Oh, and people not realising that a UK £ is worth more than a $ and pulling out of auctions. Generally though it's pain free and you can get some great bargains if you play it right.

touchstonetonewoods.co.uk aren't bad, but craft supplies are great and have some unusual woods for some very good prices. For little bits and bobs highlystrung.co.uk are very good as well, not for wood though.

That should work fine, mine is a bolt on but but is pretty much the same setup and it sounds great. I've not put it through a big tube amp yet, but so far no feedback issues at all.