YetzerHarah

Random suggestion, take it or leave it: You could do a reverse bolt on w/ an extended tenon, & bolt the bridge strait into the neck, like on this Travis Bean

(It works if your neck is wood, not just on aluminum neck/body combos)

I find that Gibson has been pretty much hit & miss since the '70s (not to say that there haven't been periods of more hits, or misses). The newest Gibbo that I've had the chance to play extensively was a 2010 SG, it wasn't bad, but had a few issues. Obviously, full set up, had to clean the edge on one of the frets (but the overall level, crown, & polish was fine), the nut had sharp edges that needed to be rounded, the knobs where cheap flimsy plastic (I guess they don't make them like they used to), & one pot was set too low so the knob rubbed against the top.

I this Hofner factory video, that someone posted earlier (sorry I didn't have the patience to dig up the original post):

it shows them making the laminated tops/backs I know it's not exactly what you're thinking of, but maybe it's an option.

Don't get me wrong, it is a great & very in depth book, but I still feel like that was a glaring omission (the only one I noticed in the book, I might add).

Yeah, I was more than a little annoyed that Bob Benedetto's book all but ignored the subject, but I guess you can't win them all.

It's interesting how he calls it Obama's war, when Bush signed the amendments to the Lacey act, that are causing the current problem, by adding the asinine, pretty much impossible to observe, & unenforceable, requirement that you not violate other countries import/export laws.

Honestly I doubt it's even on Obama's radar, the man has bigger problems.

Don't forget that Oak dust is carcinogenic & to protect yourself accordingly.

Now that is ballsy.

This probably isn't very helpful, but why don't you just give it the notyou / pfeister once over & relic it so that it looks genuinely like something forgotten from the art deco era?

some inspiration

I couldn't see any templates or guides for cutting the slots.

SR

You missed what I thought was the coolest part of the video. If you pay close attention that board he puts on top of the fretboard & slams once or twice right before he frets puts little divots into the fretboard to mark the slots. (I had to watch it a few times on full screen to catch that)

They make everything look too F@#$ing easy.

they install the truss rod at 1:06

It looks like a strait channel to me, but maybe someone w/ better eyes will see something that I missed.

I've had good luck w/ these from wdmusic:

I tried a Warmoth rod once (which was fine), but they're expensive & come in odd lengths. The StewMac ones are trash.

The aforementioned video

I'm also obviously far from an expert, but I had a couple thoughts. First off, I think that a Stetsbar might be a better option. If it's got to be a Kahler I think that I'd want to either do f-holes, or a soundhole moved to the side, so that I could do parallel bracing & run it under the mounting of the kahler. There're a lot of other options too if you're willing to do it less like you would on an electric, then you could extend the tail block & mount it strait to the block (through the top, remove the saddles, & put on an archtop roller bridge, like you would with a Bigsby.

On a lighter note, have you talked to Gary Kahler? I know that Neal's close with him, maybe he can put you in touch, & who knows, maybe he's got some ideas floating around.

Do you still have the 47mm x 18mm one?

I voted andyt, w/ verhoevenc & hooglebug tied in a close second.

Yeah, I know, I'm so helpful right?

I've been debating posting some stuff here, but I'm not so exhibitionist, & my projects go sooooo slow, since I can basically only work on them in Summer. Isn't Paul/Bitchmaker also on here?

HAHAHAA, that capacitor scam is golden.

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair

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If your main fear about having a truss rod is that you'll have to adjust it, it's better to have it there & not touch it, then to not have it there & need it. (especially when not having it there & needing it would probably mean that you'd have to pull the frets, relevel the fretboard, resaw the fret slots if you went through them, maybe replace the board if it's not thick enough...)

I'm pretty sure that they mean 44lbs per tuner, given that the tuners aren't connected so they can't feel the load on any other tuner. 44lbs should cover 6 strings, most 7 strings, & maybe even some very light 8 strings (@ standard scales & gauges), baritone depends on scale/tuning/gauge, & basses are pretty much out of the question.

I don't know that they're inherently ugly Allan, although I agree that the examples they put on their site are less than flattering.

i looked into them. cant remember what they cost, but it was enough to put me off

Yeah, they're definitely not cheap, probably not the type of thing you'd want to put on everything you do. I just thought they might be perfect for an odd project that I'm brainstorming.

Sadly, I guess no one's had a chance to try them yet.

Has anyone tried them?

http://www.g-gotoh.com/international/?page_id=2232

They look interesting, & according the spin doctors at Gotoh, they're both comparatively light weight & ecological.

If I was going to do a no-cutaway acoustic-electric type thing I think I'd go this direction:

It's a nice mix of classic acoustic appeal with modern electric sensibilities.

I wouldn't say that I "like," it, I feel like it has a lot more potential than what it achieves.

However, that being said, you shouldn't compare it to a Corvus, THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN A CORVUS.