Ragasguitars

I actually edited it before you posted and was hoping no one read it as I knew it was wrong. Just venting. I don't mind answering question, but what I don't like is assumptions about my work which I take a lot of pride in. I hope we can stay cool! As far as the sound is concerned, it sounds great in my opinion and in the opinion of everyone who has tried. As an example to the comparison of sound, a guy at a Guitar Center was playing on his 7 string Ibanez with EGM's, asked to play this guitar and was shocked at the sound. I have actually compared it to my Jackson Kelly with EMG's and it blows it away, mostly due in part to the Floyd on my Kelly which has the middle of the body completely routed out which I have always thought sounded thin to begin with. It actually sounds better on clean if you ask me and I am a metal head. As far as hand cramping, I thought it would be difficult to manage that at first but this is the only guitar I have been playing since I built it so I guess my hand over came the initial shock and adjusted quickly. My hand would probably cramp going back to a thicker neck now as I am conditioned to this thin neck.

The fact is that not everyone is satisfied with what is available. That is where guys like me come in. It's like telling Shaq, "Sorry, we don't make shoes for you because your foot is not profitable and we only make average sizes." Sometimes it is alright to step outside of the box because we are all different. While I understand that what I am doing is not for everyone, I disagree with the statement that what I like is not a personal preference, that is a contradiction to the definition. I now prefer this neck style as I have always wanted a thinner neck, I am the first customer it was built for and although I may be biased since it is my design, it was built to my exact personal specs. I have as many people tell me they want a thinner neck as I do that say they want a fatter neck so there is some personal preference involved when purchasing a guitar.

You are absolutely right Avenger, that is why I edited my statement. I was trying to make a play on words with the apples thing and the hand cramp thing was out of line. I apologize. Not to mention I can't type worth a crap either.

To answer some questions, concerns or misinformed opinions: The fretboard is made of stainless steel and the neck is made of wood. The neck is constructed no different than any traditional guitar except for the fact that it is thinner. There is dual action truss rod functionality, that is where the truss rod cover comes in, it covers the truss rod nut. It is a newly engineered fretboard and truss rod under patent review. The rivets are merely for show and act as the fret markers. The frets are 1/8" stainless steel which provides a scalloped fretboard feature. This guitar is no different than any other guitar, it is stable, tested, playable, made of wood, and yes, thin. Why so thin, because it is a test on the limitations of how thin and strong a neck can be and yes while I do agree that it is extreme, it is complete personal preference. Why does anyone like thick necks, or the color blue? Before posting this I knew it would spark some interesting feedback as it is highly unconventional but I do appreciate the time everyone has taken to comment on this.

I have read several posts concerning how thin a guitar can be. This should change your perception of what is possible and help you think outside of the box. The neck is .625" including the fret height. There is a Dunlop Jazz III pick for scale in the second picture. Click here to see the World's Thinnest Guitar neck, the Ragas Razor Neck

Yeah, the internet is a wonderfull place, got an email with a picture, built it, carved it and sent it on to the paint. The guy did a killer job, I almost don't care that all the buckeye was painted over but the painter was the designer.

Drak, I didn't know all the buckeye would be painted over. On the back the tribal design is actually the only place the buckeye shows through. I don't even think Alan Glassman knew or his brother knew what the paint job was going to be like in the end. Originally the buckeye was just going to have some accent paint in spots but the theme ended up taking on a new form. I would have just used the all mahogany body, but I like working with buckeye and I want to use it again. I had no control over the paint, I was given the design, built and carved it and used the wood and materials he wanted. He picked the buckeye, but he gave full control of the paint job to his brother.

Yes its airbrush, I must have been editing my first post when you replied

Goratory guitar This guitar is finally painted. The link is to Goratory's forum, the pics are posted there for now, gonna have some more pics on my site soon. I built the guitar and did the carvings, Alan Glassman of a death metal band called Goratory, the guy in the pics, owns the guitar, his brother did the airbrushing, looks killer.

If you have the resources, don't be afraid to make your own parts. Dimensions are not set in stone. I built an 8 string for my first guitar and I didn't want the neck too wide so I modified some saddles and made a bridge plate so it is about the same overall spacing at the bridge as a 7 string. Also a 7 string pickup works for the string spread I chose to use. You will have to adjust your playing either way and get used to the extra strings so dont be afraid to do some things differently.

I built that one piece with no neck angle. If you ask me. neck angle is only to compensate for the thickness of the bridge, most standard bridges require a neck angle, but if you recess the bridge you shouldn't have to worry about neck angle. a piece that is 20/4 would be enough to do two guitars if you could get it cut in half. For the headstock angle, use as much angle for the length of the headstock you want to use, you can always add string retainers if its not enough to work with the tuners you get, and if you get the wood down to 2.5" thick you should have enough to get a good angle on the headstock. I used an 8/4 piece.

http://www.angelfire.com/la3/powerguitar/Glassman.html This is a one piece mahogany. http://www.angelfire.com/la3/powerguitar/index.html Its the most difficult way to build I have found, but with a few quick and simple jigs you can make it easier. Several parts of the process had to be done a little different. Overall the sound is killer though.

You probably wouldn't.

I am not slamming anyone, all I am saying is that he should give it another shot himself. Besides using some scrap wood that matches the wood you are using already might make for a better look in the long run. I made a pickup ring in less than an hour with some bocote that was left over from the guitar I built. That includes the template. I even had the same problem doing the inside and tried again and it was still less than an hour. Wes just jumped my ass from the get go and it was unecessary, sorry using the term rip off sounds too harsh so I will change it, "You should try building it again yourself using the method I described, and you will save yourself some money if you can pull it off. Shouldn't take more than an hour." If you want, buy it from someone else, just my suggestion, just like everyone else has a suggestion. You people take things to heart too much. All I was trying to do is help someone.

That's what I built for 70 bucks, a one piece and enough left over to finish up a neck through. I just think its a waste of money to buy something you can build. Especially if you have enough time and skill to build a guitar you have the ability to make wooden pickup rings, that's all. His time and money, just thought I would give him a boost of confidence to try again before he spent his money. No need to attack me for trying to help a guy out.