Black Mariah

I'm a straight-up Jackson guy. Pretty much eveything else is overpriced garbage. It said so in my employee handbook.

Then move it and use it. *POKE*

Let's see if I can remember everything I had at work... - Angle nose pliers (if you've done any work in small control cavities, you'll know why this is my #1) - Various screwdrivers - Soldering iron - Needle files - Fret leveling file - Fret crowning file - Razor blades - Nut files - Truss rod wrenches - Fretting hammer - Wire strippers - Wire cutters - End nippers - Electric drill That's pretty much everything I used on a day-to-day basis. Other things might be useful but not neccesary, like a buffing wheel and fret benders. You can do pretty much anything with the above stuff.

None whatsoever.

The Duncan Distortion isn't that great for low tuning, in my experience. It has a tendency to be muddy. On the other side you have EMG's and Lawrences that have a real lack of low end. My point is, some pickups just aren't meant for some things. I wouldn't use single coils if I was playing in a death metal band, I wouldn't use Live Wires for country. The guy asked for a bassy pickup, and pickups don't get much bassier than Invaders. It's a starting point and nothing more. He may find he doesn't like the sound, he might like it. I don't know. It's just a recommendation.

Alright, cool. I think I'll give it a shot. I guess for $100 if it sucks too bad it'll make a good smashing guitar. I've always wanted to do that. The trick is finding the right thing to smash it into.

Hi, I'm Michael. I'm 23 years old and live in Fort Worth, Texas. I like fluffy bunnies, helping old people, and.... wait, was that out loud? I've been playing for nine years, doing all my own repairs and fixes along the way. I worked for a short while at Jackson/Charvel as the main QC guy and sometimes warranty-repair-boy. When Fender bought Jackson they moved my and everyone else's job without us. I've been doing random repairs here and there. I'm trying to find work as a touring guitar tech, but there just isn't much call for it around here. I'm not a luthier. I think that's an abused word. Too many people think they're luthiers because they put together some parts from Warmoth. That's nice, but let's see you build one from scratch, along with an achtop jazzbox, a violin, and a cello or two. If you can do that, you're a luthier. I can't, so I'm not. I don't even consider myself a repairman. I don't do finish work, I don't work on acoustics much, so that's stretching it a bit. I'm a guitar tech. I can set guitars up, I can swap necks, I can change pickups and pots and bridges. I can do it all fast and do it right. This isn't ego, it's truth. I'm not a repairman, and I sure as hell am not a luthier, but I am a pretty good tech. The only thing I've ever built is a parts guitar made from a Charvette (yeah, you read that right) neck and a Washburn body I picked up on eBay for $35. I learned just how weak swamp ash can be when I nailed one of the trem studs through the body while installing the bridge. Score one for harder woods. It's a great guitar, despite the super cheapass components. I'll have to get some pictures of it sometime soon. I think I'm about to embark on a Saga kit, so I'll probably chronicle that a bit. Should be fun. I've been toying around with some pine I had laying around, building bodies with it. Nothing worth showing yet, but I'm getting to the point I'm ready to use some REAL wood.

Should, but probably won't. There's a difference between a low note and a low tone. Some pickups just don't play nice with low notes. I'd start with the Invader and work from there.

*points to his post count* Who the hell is Brian? Is he the guy that runs Universal Jems?

I know budman from the Jackson forum. Cool dude, does good work.

I've been looking over the Saga Tele kits for a while, but I'm concerned about the quality of the components. I'm pretty sure a pickup and tuner replacement is in order (it's nice to have parts lying around) but what about the other components? When built up, do they feel like real guitars or like a crappy kit? I know that the builder has a lot to do with it, but just speaking in general... are they even worth the $100? I really liked the Muddy Waters replica I saw on guitarattack.com, so I want to build one of my own.

Turning down the guitar volume doesn't always help. Trust me on this one *hugs his Beta Lead*

Duncan Invader. I don't think any other pickups can touch it for low end.

Pickup swaps are mega-easy. Unless you have to rout new cavities, then it's a pain in the ass. Standard humbucker wiring echoes single coil wiring. You have a lead, you have a ground (two, actually), and everything else can be soldered together, taped up, and ignored. Manufacturers provide very clear instructions on how to wire pickups, so it really is an easy thing to do. Actually, as far as guitar mods go, I'd have to say this is the easiest. There's very little soldering to be done, there's not any routing (unless you want to), and you can do it in under an hour.

Yep, I was QC. The difference between him and me is that I actually liked my job and cared enough to not get fired. He didn't, so he got fired. The way we worked, we were all in different areas of the room facing different directions. No time to stand over anyone's shoulder and see what they're doing. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had half a dozen or so 27" scale guitars with 13's go out tuned to standard.

Short version: Ed Roman is actually a pretty good guitar builder that also happens to be one of the biggest pompous twits on the face of the planet. He's a loud-mouthed, hypocritical, fake-building leprechaun. He's a good builder, but his twitness outweighs anything he could ever build. This Mockingbird here is the best example of why Anvil cases were created I've ever seen. I'm sure as hell not relying on an SKB to protect it... and I like my SKB's.

So do I, and the word I get from most people is "crap". Like I already said, I've used Armstongs in several guitars and have always liked them. A lot of people just assume that since they're made overseas that they suck.

Dude, right now I'm running two half stacks in my bedroom. A Peavey Supreme/Carvin 4x12 and a Sunn Beta Lead/Jackson 4x12. At the same time. My neighbors must hate me... I've been by people far more knowledgeable about amps than I that Hotplates and similar attenuation devices don't work too well with solid state amps, to the point of possible damage. Since the guy that told me this is an amp builder (twisteramps.com), I'm inclined to believe him. He never went into specifics, unfortunately, so I can't give you any more info than that.

Very true. Like is Pagan series. I want one so bad, but I can't stand that dipweed any more than anyone else can. Something I thought about is that this is similar to the Roswellian Star that Jackson built for Amir Derakh. Roswellian Mockingbird Star?

No, not exactly... Semi-funny story related to that question. One of the guys I used to work with made mention of the insane tension on the DK27 necks. That's a 27" baritone, strung up with a 13-56 set. He said anytime he tuned one up, the neck bowed like crazy and he had to crank the truss rod ALL THE WAY to straighten it back out. I'd worked on several of them, and had never had this problem. "Umm... what are you tuning it to?" "Standard... why?" Every DK27 he sent out before then was tuned to standard when it should have been tuned B to B. This tells you pretty much all you need to know about that guy. So, in answer to your question, no the strings won't snap (maybe the high B ), because the neck will go before the strings do. *Edited because I didn't want those sunglasses

How are you not understanding the simple concept that adding relief decreases scale length and in general screws with intonation? Think about it in terms of a bow. When you pull the string, one end gets closer to the other. This is exactly what happend on a guitar neck. Like I've said a dozen freaking times, it's there, it happens, and you have to know how to deal with it, but its effect is minute. This isn't some whacko theory I've come up with on my own, it's something that was explained to me by one of my former coworkers in a discussion about neck relief. Yeah, and I've seen custom Jacksons that had trems set in the wrong place. You're trying to make an argument out of nothing here. I said it was easier to tell on a guitar with a recessed trem if the bridge is out of position. If you want to argue that point, go for it. Theoretically, you're right. In practice, you aren't. The thing is, you never know what's going to happen when you have a worn saddle. The intonation could go sharp, it could go flat. You just never know. What it has to do with this thread? Uh... maybe LOW FRETS SCREW WITH INTONATION? A low fret will send the note sharp, especially on a guitar with high action. I'm a big string/high action guy myself and have dealt with this on many occasions. So it's fine for you to put words in MY mouth, but not okay for me to put words in yours? Whatever. The first few posters jumped and said "The trems in the wrong spot, move it." My advice was to make sure that the saddles weren't worn and to check the 12th fret area with a straightedge. Which is simpler to you? If you're talking about the Jackson forums, that's me. No, my comments are not totally incorrect. They're things I earned while dealing with 50+ setups a day. If you'll look at my original post, I have it clearly split up between the stuff you keep going on about and my actual advice. Telling someone to just move the damn tremolo is bloody stupid. There are many other things that can cause an intonation problem that you want to check befor you go drilling new holes in anything. If you want to yell at someone, yell at them. *EDITED* I clicked the wrong button. *duh* I'm still getting used to this forum.

ARSE! I'll check some of the effects builder forums and see if any of those dudes have some modifications. This just won't work for me the way it is.

In answer to your question, as long as you make it small enough it won't change the volume or tone. Just keep it from contacting the top and you'll be good.

!= means "is not equal to" I've been hanging around computer geeks too long. Anyway, what I'm saying is "CNC doesn't mean it's crappy." I'm a big fan of the CNC machine, personally. Anything that can give you tolerances down to ten thousandths without hours of sanding is a good thing. I've run into quite a few snobs that seem to think unless one 80 year old guy working in his shop in the middle of the desert hand scraped every bit of wood and hand-forged his own saddles made the guitar that it's a POS, and that kind of attitude annoys me.

Mount the neck, then position the bridge. You can move the bridge around to accomadate the neck, but you can't move the neck around to line up with the bridge. Not much, anyway.