headless Phil

has anyone used ebony as a body veneer?

can this obtained in large sheets? My body design requires 550mm x 370mm

I am thinking of 5mm thick.

will this be highly expensive?

I intend to have this unfinished, I love the feel of ebony finger boards & will have a contrasting binding to make the whole thing have some definition (as it will be all black)

Cheers

Phil

Thanks for all the responses - the guitar I am building is electric (to answer earlier question)

if rosewood will be more harsh than maple then thats not what i am after, sounds like mahogany or ironwood may be my better options.

Thanks

Phil

The reason I asked is because Klein guitars have used rosewood since stopping using steinberger graphite necks.

Feed back I have picked up on the net suggests these sound better.

I had not considered weight here though, I dont want a 10 pounder!

I want warmth & sustain from the wood - are there any others I should be considering?? my existing guitar has rock maple thru neck with ebony board, I would like a slightly different sound from the next one. I was thinking of mahogany originally but picked up that this is not really that strong from this forum.

Thanks

Phil

Guys

I am deciding on what wood to build my next guitar from. My question is this – is Brazilian Rosewood worth seeking out & the extra cost?

I am thinking in terms of strength & tone / sustain.

I was thinking of using this for a thru neck construction with ash wings on the body & ebony fingerboard & ebony veneer front. The guitar will then be lightly oil finished only.

Thanks

Phil

keep checking on Ebay.co.uk I have seen a few new ones being advertised directly on there recently in the UK with plenty of good quality pics inc the back

I have an N2 which is also an excellent (cheap) guitar - I would imagine the N4 to be considerable better, hence a guitar to get your hands on.

Phil

I love the velcro idea - when I play live that would be great - I get asked all the time 'is it a sawn off?' & 'when are you going to finish it'

oh yes, drummers ask how the f**k do you tune it ;-)

as for balance, I have no problem as the top horn is much longer than a strat the strap position sits nice - & I dont bang the head on anything (like I did before when I originally built the guitar it had a Jackson style head on it)

Phil

the only thing that springs to mind is to make a bracket which screws on with the screws which hold the head string retainer on.

It would work, but if you hit it on something you might screw up the threads holding the string retainer on the neck.

As an alternative, as it is purely for show you could make it out of a material you would not normally associate with headstocks.....like rubber? or hard foam?

Personally, i will leave my headless......headless ;-)

Phil

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v292/phil_catnell/Stratus_full_view.jpg]My Webpage

had a look how truerussian did his - cheers

here are a couple of snaps - a full view & a closer look at the body.

in a nut shell.......rock maple thru neck, alder body wings, ebony board, steinbreger / floyd hybrid trem, kent armstrong pickups, roland GK2 internally mounted.

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v292/phil_catnell/Stratus_full_view.jpg]My Webpage

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v292/phil_catnell/Stratus_close_up.jpg]My Webpage

I have pics - how do you post them into the forum (they are not hosted on a website)???

Phil

body style will be an evolution of my original custom which is a kind of cross between a status bass & a strat - hence named stratus. (& yes you guessed it is headless ;-)

I did this 14 years ago & have played it ever since but I have the bug to do V2

Phil

next phase of my current design is deciding on a head stock.

The two in consideration are a reverse parker or a version of nuno signature (reverse strat).

Does the parker style lose anything being very minimal?

Is that style prone to damage?

Help as always appreciated guys

Cheers

Phil

After great advice from this site regarding a trem system which locks when not in use & unlocks by simply moving the trem arm, I snapped up a NOS Wilkinson convertible from Ebay for $82!!! (very happy)

Does anyone have any installation docs for this trem - I would hate to screw up the installation as the locking device uses the rear trem cover, so body depth could be a factor in the install (not a problem - as I have not built the body yet!)

Thanks

Phil

does anyone know of anyone who manfuactures full internal midi converters?

I know Parker have one in the Midi FLY but I cant get any response from midi axe who provide that to Parker.

Are there any others?

I already have internal Roland kit but would like to just midi out on my next guitar.

Thanks

Phil

I contacted Ed regarding a steinberger trem system, he quoted me $1200 + shipping. I got one from another dealer for $600, I understand supply & demand but this was alittle TOO much for my tastes.

There is a lot of talk on the Steinberger forum (too much in fact) regarding Ed.

At the end of the day if you dont care about the cost he is ok, unfortunatley thats counts most of us out ;-)

Phil

max gauge is .060 - I always use 9 to 42 or 9 to 46 so no problems there.

This is the site for Bailey, they dont actually mention LSR's on the site but I have contacted them & the do stock most options. www.baileyguitars.co.uk

Bailey Guitars

Burn House Cottage

Culroy, Maybole, S Ayrshire

KA 19 8 ER

SCOTLAND/UK

Tel 01655 883 138

mark@baileyguitars.co.uk

this is the site for LSR tuners

http://members.aol.com/intertunei/LSR.tuners/

Phil

thankx 4 grammar correction ;-) .....dont u find i.t. people just get lazy with that!

I use steinberger stuff now, so I'm used to 40:1 ratio & like it. This is one of the main reasons I wanted the LSR's - my next custom will have a headstock but its 14 years since I had a guitar which was not headless!

Phil

For anyone interested -

I mailed intertune who produce the LSR's in the states. They sell direct on the internet but if you are in the UK (like me) they have a UK distributor - bailey guitars in Scotland.

Think I will avoid Ed Roman - had dealings with his pricing on the steinberger stuff - no thanks.

I think I am going to take a chance on these, even though I would have prefered a recommendation from someone who has actually used them. The only point of reference I have is an old review in guitarist mag of a jackson custom shop, which they quote them as being ' straight out of the top draw' .....which I assume to be a good thing.

Phil C.

anyone??...LSR's???

has anyone got experience with LSR tuners?

I intend to use these in a reverse head configuration with a wilkinson roller nut & wilkinson trem system.

Also I intend to use the adjustable spring claw system which I think is made by schaller - saw it on Status web site as they fit it to their 6 strings.

advice welcome

Phil

Thanks guys

I did some digging around VS100 convertible is the one - just what I was looking for.

Thanks

Phil

Does anyone know the model of the wilkinson which can be locked via the trem arm?

This is what I am after - the ability to lock / unlock by moving the arm.

Thanks

Phil

I remember playing Bonds, the earlier ones had a plastic type pitch board but I think that suffered with rapid wear. The later ones had an alloy pitch board with better wear charateristics.

As I remember they felt nice to play (but I didnt buy one......so maybe not that good ;-)

They needed phantom power also - pain.

Phil C.

Hello all

does anyone know of any trem systems which can be locked / unlocked via the trem arm, other than the steinberger transtrem system?

I do not need transposing facility but really want to be able to go from locked to unlocked trem on the fly.

Thanks

Phil