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Thanks for your comments and suggestions: Great idea! I'll mention it to Roman (the guy getting the guitar). Hmmm...good point. In general, I do like the idea of staining/painting the headstock, however. We'll see what we can come up with. You also wrote: I wasn't sure if I would like it either, but now I think it looks awesome too. I wish it was my idea! Thanks! Actually, I did use grain filler. Did you mean a colored grain filler? Hmm... Everybody tends to like the headstock. Me too. That wasn't my idea either dammit. I'm glad I didn't try and talk Roman out of any of his ideas. Thanks for looking everyone. Best Regards, Mike.

That's it!!! That's your only comment!!! O.K., O.K....that's because it's a custom pickguard (note the middle pickup route) that I made from a 10 x 20, 5-ply blank from Stew Mac and 45 degree router bit. The recipient of the guitar needs to provide me with the control cover so I can finish the route on that part of the pickguard (he's providing his own electronics and his own tuners as well). Mike.

Hey all, I finally got around to test fitting the neck and some other items. Here is the picture as promised. I think I'll be done with this project in about a week. Thanks for checking it out! Best Regards, Mike.

I hate to gush, but that is almost unbelievably good. Sorry, no guesses on how you did the moon. Best Regards, Mike.

Hmm...., I could be wrong but I thought that the 22nd fret was an overhanging extension on the 21 fret neck meaning that swaping necks shouldn't be a problem. Here are some exceptions to this argument: From the Warmoth site (http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=faq2) Roadhouse Strat® - 22 fret, no overhang Big Apple Strat® - 22 fret, no overhang Lonestar Strat® - 22 fret, no overhang Nashville Tele® - 22 fret, no overhang Fat Tele® - 22 fret, no overhang Fat Strat® - 22 fret, no overhang Heavy Metal Strat® Heavy Metal Tele® I guess the only sure way to know is to take some measurements. Anyone else know for sure? Best Regards, Mike.

I had a similar problem with a neck blank. Check out this topic here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...topic=11593&hl= Myka and Frank Falbo encouraged me to use it anyway and it turned out just fine. I ended up running it through a jointer, applying post blade pressure to prevent corkscrewing. Here is the finished product: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...opic=11418&st=0 Good Luck! Best Regards, Mike

Real quick I thought I would do a mock-up on Virtual Guitar. Of course, the headstock will be different, but this will give you the general idea: Cheers! Mike.

Hey RGGR, Yes, the standard Tele pickguard will cover the route for the custom on-off switch. Of course the Tele control plate will cover the other route. As for the orange, I'm not sure if this is what he had in mind, or not: G&L ASAT I wasn't so sure about the orange either at first, but after seeing it I like it quite a lot. He requested a black pickguard and gold hardware. I test fitted the hardware and it does look really cool with the black/gold/orange color scheme. When I get back from my trip this weekend (it's Memorial Day holiday this weekend in the States) I'll post a picture of the test fit (the tung oil should be dry enough by then. Sorry to hear about the trouble you're having getting parts for your JS. I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Best Regards, Mike.

Here ya go! http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm Wes is right. In general, problems after the 12th fret can't be corrected with a truss rod adjustment. The truss rod cleans up problems with the early frets. If you're fretting out after 12 your action is too low. How low is the action at the 12th fret? To get super low action a good fret level never hurts! Let us know how this turns out. Who knows, maybe you have some bizarre problem.

Thanks Curtis and Angel! Hey RGGR, Actually, the whole body is smooth as a baby's butt! I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but I did mention a problem I had staining the guitar that left a couple of white spots in the cutaway. Very strange. No router marks though. In fact, the answer to both of your questions is in the text of my original post and on the web page I link to (I know, I know, I'm too verbose). Here is a picture of the just finished headstock: Thanks for checking in on me. Best Regards, Mike P.S. How's the JS coming along? You're killing me with suspense! I'm in love with my JS6. It plays like a dream and sounds sweet.

I hesitated to post this project considering the quality telecaster work being done by several members on this board (whose names certainly don't need mentioning as their reputations precede them)! Anyhoo, I decided to share regardless. This is my third project (not counting my first guitar build which was a Saga kit). I decided to challenge myself and see if I could build a guitar for someone other than myself. I immediately thought of my guitar teacher. He has helped me make several major breakthroughs in my playing this year and he is also a gigging musician which would give my work great exposure. He told me that was cool (duh) and said he wanted a custom Tele tung oiled and stained orange with gold hardware. In addition, he wanted a custom 3+3 headstock, small abalone inlays aligned with the top edge of the fretboard, custom forearm drop, and a custom on-off switch. Here is a teaser pic of the body after grain filling with oil based grain filler (available at Orchard Supply Hardware of all places), staining with water soluble Transfast orange dye and about 7 coats of tung oil: Here is a link to several other progress pictures: Custom Tele Pics After all the horror stories I read about staining swamp ash (the body is a one piece chunk of swamp), I was prepared for the worst, but it came out very nice. The body did absorb more dye at the body edges, but it actually looks really good that way, almost like its bursted. The only real issue, and it's fairly big depending on how you look at it, is there are a few small spots, mainly on the body edges, that absolutely would not absorb any dye. I did a naptha wipe before staining and handled the body with latex gloves at all times. They remained white no matter how many times I went over them with dye solution (you can see these on the picture of the backside of the body which is currently the last picture on the site linked to above. Look at the body edge in the cutaway). Very bizarre. I showed my teacher Roman and he had no problem with it so I will proceed without trying to fix them. I'm almost done and will post final pics soon. Oh, forgot to mention, he wanted a short-scale (24 3/4) ebony fretboard and I gave him my last piece of birdseye maple for the neck. Thanks for looking! Best Regards, Mike.

I admit to not knowing a a whole lot about what is going on with the Bill Lawrence trademark (and probably for good reason - wink, wink). I feel bad for anyone who has a trademark infringed, but it's not clear to me how Mr. Torres decision to back and sell the L500 and L250 pickups sold by the current legal owner of the trademark is a reflection on his business. Using that logic, I suppose you would have to also boycott Washburn since the put the L500 in the Nuno Bettencourt guitar (both versions from what I gather on the net). And don't get me wrong, you have every right to boycott anything you want! Now, if he was selling a pickup that made illegal use of a trademark, then I could understand someone having a negative reaction. Again, I just don't see how any of this reflects on the business of Torres Engineering. The fact that he doesn't open every box seems to have more bearing on the matter and even that could be arguable from a practical standpoint (it would be a lot of work to open every box and check that every screw and bolt is present - not impossible, but understandable if he decides not to. I'm sure Mr. Torres isn't the only retailer who doesn't inspect part lists for every item he/she sells retail). Again, if you want that kind of attention to detail, give Brian a call, by all means. I'm just giving you my experience as a regular customer of Torres. In my personal experience, there has been nothing shady about the shop or people working there. Your milage may vary, of course, and it would be interesting to hear from someone who has done business with Torres Engineering and had a truly bad experience.

I work about a mile from the Torres shop and have done a fair amount of business with him. Believe me, there's nothing shady about those guys. They are very friendly and helpful. I even bought a Saga kit from him and everything was fine. He sells them so fast that he just stacks them up as them come in and they are still bound and unopened. He even let me open a few so that I could get exactly the body I wanted. If you want someone to inspect the kit before you buy you'll have to go to Brian. As far as putting Bill Lawrence out of business, I'm not sure what you mean especially considering that Torres is promoting Bill Lawrence pickups on his site: http://www.torresengineering.com/picbillaw.html Personally, I will continue to do business with Mr. Torres. He has always done right by me and gone the extra mile. Best Regards, Mike.

No, I honestly didn't notice any power tools. That doesn't mean there weren't a few laying around, but there couldn't have been that many if at all. I guess the pictures tell the same story. Regards, Mike.

You're welcome Derek. I figured I -had- to share those pictures with you. If anyone would appreciate them it would be you guys. Regards, Mike.

Heh, heh...maybe you're right. She definitely gets more attention wherever we go. And she's a doctor to boot (pediatrician). I'm sure I did save some money buying directly from their "company store", seriously. I'm pretty sure that the Ramirez store in Madrid is the only one. Therefore your theory regarding paying the middleman defintely holds water. I'm pretty sure the guy working the store mentioned that it was cheaper if you bought there as well. In any case, the more I play the guitar the more I like it, regardless of what I paid. It really is a very nice guitar. Best Regards, Mike.

Check out my band's CD, biography, pictures, etc here: Official Pariah Website Don't miss my musical sketches in the music section where you can preview tracks from the CD as well. Rock on! Best Regards, Mike.

Hey all, I thought I would share some pictures from my trip to Spain and the Ramirez shop and store. It turned out that our hotel room was about two blocks from the Ramirez store in Madrid. I found the address at a local internet cafe and my wife and I set out to find the shop. We turned off the Calle Mayor near the Plaza Del Sol and strarted up a very narrow side street. After walking a fair way, we started to think that we went the wrong way. I said let's go a little further and sure enough, there it was! Here is a picture of me in front of the shop: See my other post for the story of my guitar purchase while at the shop. The next day, we took the metro to the north side of the city and visited the shop where Ramirez guitars are made (well, the high end ones anyway). The shop was surprisingly small. I was impressed by how neat everything was (notice this as you look at the pictures posted below). The people were also very friendly and accomodating of me and my camera. We got to see a couple of guitars in progess which was very cool. Check out the pictures here: http://www.pariah-now.com/ramirez_factory_visit.htm A very cool trip overall. Spain was beautiful and my new guitar rocks. Best Regards, Mike.

Thanks for the responses you guys. I have good news...I've identified my new Ramirez! It turns out there is a very good reason I couldn't find any information on the guitar. This is a special model that is only sold through the Ramirez shop in Madrid. How cool is that? By the way, it is a 2PM Cedro. It is made of solid palisander rosewood back and sides with a solid red ceder top. It wasn't cheap. I checked my credit card account and after the exchange rate I paid $1,638.46 which included a Ramirez soft shell case. However, the model it is most similar to, is the R4 which has solid rosewood back and sides is $2,719.00. I guess I did O.K.! How did I find out about the guitar? My wife is from Bogata, Columbia and I had her compose an email in spanish to Ramirez for me. This is their reply: Estimado Michael Smith, Muchas gracias por su e-mail y sus amables palabras. Su guitarra es un modelo 2PM Cedro ( se puede leer en la etiqueta) con tapa de cedro, aros y fondo en palosanto macizo y diapason de ebano. Se trata de uno de los modelos que tenemos en nuestra tienda y que no exportamos, por esa razón no lo encontrará en nuestra web, ya que la única forma de comprar uno de estos instrumentos es directamente en nuestra tienda. Esperando sea todo de su agrado, reciba un cordial saludo, Arancha Prieto P.D.: Por favor, felicite a su mujer por su excepcional español ! So, there it is. I'm very pleased with how this whole experience came out. I'll always keep fond memories of the trip and I have a wonderful momento to boot. Thanks again. Best Regards, Mike.

Hi, I just got back from Spain where I couldn't resist buying a Ramirez guitar from the Ramirez shop in Madrid (I'll put up some cool pictures from there in another post). After playing some 3K to 7K guitars I regained my sanity and walked out with a 1200 euro studio model guitar. I took about an hour and a half (drove my wife crazy) playing and comparing several of the studio models and walked out with the one that sounded the best in my hands. Here's the catch, between my excitement and my poor spanish, I forgot to note the exact model I purchased. It's not on the receipt either. I was hoping someone here could help me identify the exact model. I searched the net and the Ramirez site and it still isn't clear to me which it is. Here is a fuzzy picture of the label: It looks to me like it says 2 PM Cedro. It is a ceder top (obviously), with rosewood back and sides (another question is are the back and sides laminates - probably, right)? The back and sides have a cool green binding strip. The neck has a skunk stripe which I couldn't find on pictures of other studio models. See all three pictures here: Ramirez Pictures Any help would be greatly appreciatec. Thanks in advance. Best Regards, Mike.

Jeremy, How long is your patent good for? Is there and expiration date? Best Regards, Mike.

Check this explanation out: http://www.tejagerken.com/Article_Folder/u...water_wood.html Best Regards, Mike.

That seller has salvaged maple quite fequently and is probably your best bet. Just bookmark his ebay store and check back often. You'll undoubtedly get another chance soon. Good luck. Best Regards, Mike.

Jeez, this is definitely not the month to enter GOTM. There have been some nice pieces exhibited lately. This one's right at the top. As a huge RR fan myself, I'd definitely have to vote for this one. Nice work Perry. Best Regards, Mike.

With that material you could make Joe Satriani's Donnie's evil twin! Best Regards, Mike.