digi2t

Personally, I call them "Rat" guitars. I borrow the "Rat" term from a motorcycle magazine I used to read many moons ago. The last page of every issue featured a Rat Bike of the month award. Basically bikes that were customized by their owners to varying degrees. I mean VARYING degrees. Horns on the bars, pots and pans, anything goes. Pretty wierd stuff, but hey, it was the guys ride and he was proud of it.

Myself, this is my Rat Axe (nicknamed Stratotang);

One mans garbage, another mans gold. '66 Mustang neck mated to a Mighty Mite mahogany Strat body. Got them in pices from a guy about 25 years ago in exchange for an old Goya (SUCKER). Dice on the switch, knobs from an old stereo, pickgaurd painted with gold automotive touchup paint by yours truly. I just let my imagination go. The little "high 5" hand was off a little plastic ring that my daughter got out of a vending machine when she was 10. Little piece of her in the creation, plus it covered up a screw hole just perfect. The finish is a custom "Mother of wear".

I've gotten some wierd looks from so called guitar "afficienados", but screw them, this is my mojo. In fact, this baby just oozes personality when you play her, and in my book, that's all that counts. She can produce sounds as only she can. She's better than any woman, friend, or family pet. Never lets me down, and when I'm down, always picks me up.

The long and the short of it is this; It's your baby, treat it as such. Taste is so personal, no one can judge... ever. Long live the Rat Guitar.

Maybe we can start a parallel GOTM contest for this catagory?

Cheers,

Gibson Explorer. Sleek, elegant. Reminds me of a high class hooker. Glides through sheets like an F-18 glides through clouds. Or a weak phalic symbol. Depends how old you are. In any case, that's my 2 bits.

Thanks for the review. WOW... for 175, you were way better off at the party! Didn't miss any deal there. Enjoy your new toys, and a Merry X-mas to you and yours.

Happy holidays

Gigi. Where "Class" meets "Bling".

Well, here she is. Meets with the wife's approval, hence bear's the wife's moniker. This is my third build, but my first really serious build. Been showing it off on the forum over the past couple of weeks. Now it's time to see how she holds her ground against some of the finest instruments in the best forum this side of Saturn.

Basic "classic" V body. 1.5" bookmatched maple, .25" flame maple top. Sedona Red, Ebony Black to highlight the flames, Poly clearcoat.

Back view is here.

Mighty Mite hardtail through-body. Stew-Mac "Golden Age" hots, with separate coil tap switches. 2 volume, 1 tone setup. Allows for scratching using the selector as a kill switch ala Morrello. Jack is right in your face. PNP in it's simplist form.

This is where the "class" end and the "bling" begins. Antonio Tsai inlaid rosewood fretboard on a Modulus Graphite neck. 24.75" scale. Rodeo Drive meets NASA. Dunlop 6000 frets, Graphtech nut, and Ping tuners. Yeah, yeah, I know, the 6000 fret wire is like a railroad tie, but I'm a long time Ibez RG player, so I like the big frets.

Non-traditional 6IL tuner arrangement (my Ibez side showing through), with an actual Ibanez string guide for all but the low E.

Some more views here;

Fretboard closeup

Headstock

One more full front, along with an autographed Nazareth album as a crowning tiara.

This project has basically been a mix of old and new, knowns and unknowns. I relied heavily on this forum and all who participate as a principle resource, so I can honestly and shamelessly say that a little bit of all of you is a part of this project. I've tried to do it as tastefully as possible, but always respecting what feels right to me. After all I'll be the one playing it. One thing for sure though, the minute you plug her in, you better get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on. She WILL leave you breatheless...

Cheers

I agree with Supernova9, get that Gibson logo off of there and put your brand on. BE PROUD DUDE. Let that sucker cry "The Truth" to all. Otherwise, it's all just a big lie... Like Super says, Gibson finds out, your toast.

Actually, if you ditch the "Gibson", and did "The Truth" in place of "Les Paul" in the same script on the headstock, it might actually look really cool, in a mystic kind of way. Whoa, dude... gotta roll myself another one of those .

UPDATE...

Well, NOW it's done. I recieved the fretboard from Antonio Tsai Friday, and here is the finished product;

Some closeups;

Full view

Fretboard

Fretboard Closeup

Yeah, real... busy you may say. But, the wife loves it, and around here, that's what counts. Plus, we all know how women love "bling". Hence, this V has been christened "Gigi".

Let me add the following info. This was the first fretboard I get from this guy, and the slots were very shallow. I had to resaw them all. Also, at first measure, the slots are not cut spot on. I ran the numbers through the fret tolerance calculator (Calculator click here), and they were borderline +/- 10 cents, so I ran with it. As for the stability of the rosewood, only time will tell. The inlay work is fantastic to my eyes though. I don't know what kind of wages they're making over in Taiwan, but 25 bucks barely gets you a piece of rosewood over here. Never mind the boggling amount of work that went into this piece. North American workers...YOU ARE DOOMED!

In the process, I did come up with a nifty idea. When I was preping the fretboard, I saved some of the 320 grit sanding dust of the wood. I used the dust mixed in with any epoxy I used to color match the wood. Worked fabulous. Just thought I would share that with you all.

For any graphite aspiree's, I used Weldbond brand glue. Removal of the prior fretboard proved a good bond, but not so much that I had to destroy anything during the removal process. I've never tried Titebond on graphite, but this try proved Weldbonds worth with graphite. If anyone would like to see pics of the 6mm threaded inserts I used for the neck/body attachment, let me know, and I'll post them. They are available in any hardware store.

That's it... for now.

P.S. The autographed Nazareth album is NOT for sale. So don't waste your saliva.

Avengers63 might be right, sublimnally, the X-mas holiday probably affected my choice of colors. I'll try a rendering of Xanthus' idea of centerline and wing angle.

And by the way, there was nothing wrong with the 80's. Besides the fact that spend most of them in an alcohol induced haze, nothing at all. I wish I had all the hair I had then today.

PS. Xanthus, really like the concept of the V link you sent me. VERY classy. No shame in tooting your horn on that one.

Thanks guys.

Yabadabadoo!!! I finally figured out how to add custom wood textures to Inventor. I have to admit, you were all right. The more I looked at it, the worse it looked. I tried a 2 color maple/bloodwood (or mahogany) scheme, and this is what I got;

Here is an other view.

Less is more? Any takers?

I'd like to see another render with real wood Using rendering programs is too far beyond my skill. I've got the MS Paint skillz!

I just noticed that the first render has some endgrain glue joints uh oh!

Yeah, unfortunately, I still haven't found any "PLANE" or "SAND" commands in Inventor . As for the real wood, too hard on the monitor, impossible to email or download. Uses to much bandwidth according to my ISP...

God I love this place. You guy's know how to bring out the Homer in me.

I think there's a little too much going on. It looks like it's going to be a butcher-block kind of laminating. I haven't seen this look good on a guitar yet. Take out the extra two strips of the core wood and let's have a look. Maybe a maple core, mahogany after that, then walnut on the edges.

OK, I'll try that and repost the result. Thanks for your time and input.

Actually, the wood pictured is straight out of the Inventor content library, and NOT what I was envisioning. I'm still in the process of figuring out how to import jpg clips into the library and then applying them to the rendering. In the meantime, I figured I would get some input and hopefully the two would come together. I'll redo the rendering with the Maple/Mahog/Walnut/Rosewood combo and repost. If it doesn't work with Inventor, I'll do it with Paint Shop Pro. I'd really like to figure it out with Inventor though, It's gotten personal now.

Hi all,

Thinking about a new V body, the rendering is below. I need your opinions on what wood configuations I should go with;

Here's another view;

Pic2

My goal is 3 different type of wood, I could even go 4, using the fourth (say ebony) as 1/4" stripes between the main pieces.

Let me know what you guys think...

There are a few things I would change if I were building it (personal choice and all that), but overall, I think it looks really great and I think you did a superb job of it, you should really be proud if that one.

:D B)

Thanks for your praise, I'm honored coming from a VIP member. Please don't hesitate in transmitting your personal tastes and insights. I'm fairly new to this art form, and all input will help me in planning my next build.

Thanks again.

Very nice!

Makes me want a V...

Well... whatsha waitin' fer. Go get one!

Hah, there's actually a cheap tokai one on eBay that I have my eye on. Provided the price stays low, I might even bid...

The Korina? Yup, I hope it stays low for you. I'm assuming the korina, it's the cheaper of the 2 there. Unfortunately, my experience has been that these items have a tendancy to sky rocket in the last 30 seconds of the auction, or the seller has a shark in the water to boost the price. It's done constantly at estate auctions, so I don't see why it can't be done on Ebay. Anyhow, best of luck to you.

Yup. I should be in when the auction finishes so if its still low and I do decide to bid (still not sure ), I'll probably wait till the last minute and see if the price is still low (i.e. do a bit of 'bid sniping' myself )

I do anticipate the price increasing.

The question is do I want another guitar, or do I want a bass (been meaning to buy one for ages) or a saxophone...

Anyway, should probably stop sidetracking your thread

6 or 7 string sax?

Sidetracking is OK. It's the only moments we'll ever get to stop and smell the roses. Let me know what you decide on. By the way (now I'm really going to try and screw you up), just saw a one piece korina Explorer body blank on Ebay. Hee Hee....

Cheers

how about this. A guitar of the year. In January, you take all of the GOTM winners and have a final round so there is a guitar of the year.

That would be pretty cool

Excellent idea. No pressure there. One final showdown for all the marbles. Kinda like the Alamo, the Berlin Wall, The Cuban missle crisis........ WHERE'S MY PAPER BAG...... I'm starting to hypervenyolwhnqwnlwqmdnc..

Here's a trick that I used with a tunomatic install to get in the zone insofar as intonation is concerned. I first measured off and installed the tailpiece. Then I jigged up the bridge with shims and strung up the two E strings and the G string. Ensure that the shims don't block the post holes down to the top of the guitar. I didn't have the pickups installed yet, so I used a tuner with a built in mic, set it by the string as close as I could, and then tuned up to pitch. With all the saddles to center and then set intonation for these three strings by moving the bridge itself. Once everything was OK on the tuner, used a transfer punch to mark where to drill. It's common to see Gibby's with the bridge a bit of parralel offset in relation to the tailpiece. I guess it saves from using up all the saddle travel on one end or the other of the bridge. Used basically the same procedure for a hardtail install, only difference was that I had to clamp the hardtail.

I know it may sound a little hokey, but it worked for me. Hope it helps.

Very nice!

Makes me want a V...

Well... whatsha waitin' fer. Go get one!

Hah, there's actually a cheap tokai one on eBay that I have my eye on. Provided the price stays low, I might even bid...

The Korina? Yup, I hope it stays low for you. I'm assuming the korina, it's the cheaper of the 2 there. Unfortunately, my experience has been that these items have a tendancy to sky rocket in the last 30 seconds of the auction, or the seller has a shark in the water to boost the price. It's done constantly at estate auctions, so I don't see why it can't be done on Ebay. Anyhow, best of luck to you.

A theme gotm would be fine, but I would never be able to enter. Just the fact of having that kind of pressure to "slap" something together would turn me off. My Flying V that I posted recently evolved like this;

Bought the wood - March 2005

Stared at the wood - Rest of 2005

Decided on the shape - January 2006

Rethought the concept - most of 2006

Talked myself into a V - November 2006

Cut the wood - February 2007

Routered the body - July 2007

Found THE graphite neck - September 2007

Finally completed the sucker - 2 weeks ago

I'm no candidate for a "Biker Build-off" or OCC employee of the month. I need to be spiritually moved at some point, and like the Space Shuttle heading to the pad, that can take awhile...

Cheers.

Very nice!

Makes me want a V...

Well... whatsha waitin' fer. Go get one!

I really like the guitar and the color you chose for the top gives it a nice vintage feel to me.

However, I’d be careful about that ebony board you are going to buy from Anostosi (SP?) My personal experience with this guy has been horrible. It took 3 weeks before he shipped my inlaid LP pickgard and a week after I got it the stupid thing rolled up into a tube. The inlay popped right out.

I wouldn’t tell you not to buy from him but I like to share my experiences.

Thank. I was really in limbo for a while insofar as the colors were concerned, and I believe my hand was shaking when I put the first coat of stain on. I just didn`t know WHAT to expect. But I guess that`s the way it goes, it`s a crap shoot sometimes. I just knew for sure that I didn`t want it too bright so it wouldn`t clash with the black graphite of the neck.

Thanks a bunch for the heads up on the fretboard. It only cost me 25$, so I`ll see whether I got gipped or not. The fretboard is rosewood, so I`m hoping that there will be enough resin content in it that it won`t blowup on me. I`ll give you feedback when I get it and let you know whether it beauty or bust.

Da-yum, I really like the look of that! I'd even keep the fretboard that's on there, anything too flowery would take away from the beauty of the body! What kind of headstock shape do you ahve on there, I notice it's a pretty untraditional (for a Gibson) 6-IL

The only thing I'm not too keen on is the rear strap button placement. How is it to play standing up? I myself like to put my knee in the crook of the V, that's why I'm asking.

The headstock is similar to the Ibanez Rocket Roll II, slightly pointer though. I agree that it looks unorthodox for a V, but it has JUST the right pointy shape to blend with the body. I`ll post some pic links tonight. All but one of my guitars are 6-IL (Ibanez RG570, Dillion Explorer, Stratotang), so I`m used to it now, although if it wasn`t for shape of this one, I probably would have gone with the traditional 3+3. I have a lawsuit Ibanez V neck as well, but I wanted to push the envelope with the graphite.

Here are some pics of the neck/headstock;

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

As for the strap button, it`s a Shaller straplock, quite rounded in shape so it really doesn`t bother me when playing seated. On a previous V of mine I tried a couple of different placements of the strap button, but I find that in the crotch of the V it actually brings the strap closer to my back, putting less direct stress on my shoulder. Also, it keeps the body symetrical and the points clean.

Had you adjusted the intonation when you took the first pic you posted? Something looks a little off, but maybe it is just the pic.

Peace,Rich

Yes, intonation is spot on. Checked it numerous times. No problem with intonation or tuning. Everything in pitch. If something looks out of kilter to your eyes let me know.

Sucka looks fast just parked there... Go for it dude.

I think he's saying the fretboard he used is 24.75" scale, and he shortened the neck before attaching the fretboard. So as long as there's 24.75" between the nut and the bridge, and the original nut end of the fretboard is against the nut, he should be okay.

I think that's exactly what he's saying. So yeah in that case there shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, that is one pretty V! (I feel a bit dumb asking this but here goes-) Are those two small switches for the coil taps?

Thank you, yes. That is exactly what I meant insofar as the neck/fretboard is concerned. Sorry to have disturbed your eyebrows . Thanks for clearing the air for me Rick500 and TheIRS. There are no such things as stupid questions people, only stupid answers. The 2 switches are the coil taps. I was a Chrysler pushbutton tranny fan, so I like lots of buttons and switches. (OOOPPPS, just dated myself....)

Looks good. How's the graphite neck to play?

Personally speaking I was pleasantly surprised. I'm a huge Ibanez RG series fan, and this neck is similar to a Wizard profile. Not as wide at the nut though, only 1 5/8", but a very, very smooth feel in your hand. Some may say cold, but I've got a warm heart. Resonates surprisingly well.