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Ragasguitars

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Everything posted by Ragasguitars

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Yes its airbrush, I must have been editing my first post when you replied
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. It is a rip off if you can build it yourself. I was just using th price he gave and saying what he could get for it, if you want I could give you an exact number of board feet I could get for 70. Just an quick estimate was given.
  16. That's a rip off. You should give another go at making them yourself. If you can build a guitar you can make a pickup ring. I have made one before, had to remake one cause I had the same problem with the inside. First make a template and mark everything on your piece of wood. Drill your holes first, then using the template route your outside corners only, then drill out the inside then route the inside, then cut the outside and sand it by hand on a flat surface. Should have no problem. Try this again before spending that much on something like this, you can get a nice piece of mahagony at a lumber yard for 70 bucks and build a whole guitar.
  17. I totally understand, this "company" is not about making money right now, so I really don't consider myself a true professional, as it may seem implied, I am up front to anyone willing to get work from me that I am not a full time company, I do this to help get my name out until I get the money on my own to start the company, everything is legit. I even take small payments and post pictures for any "client" as work gets done so they know I am not trying to steal their money and so they can actually see their money get turned into materials. This is just a way to get people to recognize the name as it will be in the future and it even says on my site this is a business that is trying to get its start. Besides its easier to make guitars when other people have money for materials. I can only do them as I get money for myself. Just a way to help build up a body of work and a clientel which it takes to get started even though there is no money made, its a good investment for the future. Also I use the strings and tunings each person uses and do a proper set up job on the guitar before it goes out.
  18. My website implies that I offer my services to other people, I only work on one guitar at a time since that is all I have time to do and it takes me a while since I have another job. I have built guitars for cost of materials, not making money does not make you a pro even if someone pays for materials.
  19. That's good to hear you say that, thats all I was trying to say, but I had to say it twice so you would understand it was not a factory guitar. Didn't mean to cause so much crap but things happen as they will, thats the beauty of a forum, can't be the way you want it all the time. On a side note, as for not filling the grain, many companies don't always fill the grain, take warwick basses for example, they don't always fill the grain, they leave it as natural as possible. So saying a finish is not professional cause the grain is not filled doesn't mean squat to me, it can be done, just not popular, gloss is the in thing. I just feel that some things are said in an uneducated way, with assumptions being made without finding out the proper information, that can be taken as an insult very easily. As for being a sore loser, any extra votes I would get won't make a difference, I don't care about that, it's the assumptions that were being made about my work that bothered me. I am in no way a professional yet, I do good work, and I also do work for other people, that doesn't make me a professional. But there are ways to say things, like saying that a guitar is crap cause there is no grain filler is a bad way to make friends, asking why someone didn't use a grain filler is a better way to make a comment and get information. Thanks for all the comments either way, whether destructive or constructive criticism. And if anyone can tell my site is horrible, and I can only put pictures that are so big on the site cause its free.
  20. I am referring to everyone's work, I don't care if I win or lose I am just making a general statement about people. There a a lot of people around the world who love my work and yes I do things differently sometimes, like not filling the grain to keep a natural look, and the scrape is actually sanded all the way around the fretboard to give it a little border, pictures and site suck but I have no money to build full time. I was just making a comment about someone in particular cause there was a false assumption about my work made twice by the same person. As for everyone else I was just venting about stupidity. Yes the guitar was built for me, I love it and it doesn't matter I just like to vent sometimes about stupd things, has nothing to do with the contest. I have called people stupid in other parts of this forum before because people do ask and say dumb things all the time.
  21. You are an idiot. I made a comment meaning I did build my own neck, so I took it as an insult. The fretboard is stained and I removed the stain to mark the frets after masking it off. The picture may not be the greatest but if you see the closeup of the fretboard you will notice the grain runs through the fret markers, not filled in. If you ask you will get the answers you need. It's just that I am saying something now about how people vote cause I am in the GOTM this month and most people make stupid assumptions and have stupid ways of voting but thats everyone's right. Like whoever said a fretless is beyond their skills so they didn't vote for it, that's just stupid, don't take out your lack of skill on the rest of us, or voting cause someone used a color you don't like. I just think most people miss the point of custom guitars. Everyone this month and most months for that matter are very well built and beautiful instruments and I think there are too many idiots who seem to miss that and have to give their reasoning for voting. I'd rather not get any votes and not hear the reasoning for it than to hear all these stupid reasons for voting. And if a guitar looks too metal for you it's probably because that was the intention.
  22. I have used epoxy on buckeye burl, that stuff is like a sponge. I heated it both before and after I put it on the wood, but used 2-3 coats in places. Heating before allows you to spread it out, by heating after you can thin it out more and it will seep into the wood and help seal it. The second coat should just about fill up all the little spots. Like I said, touch up spots after sanding. Just keep priming and sanding till things look perfect. Don't be afraid to spend a few days and let all the coats cure very well.
  23. First, you can get it at any hardware store probably, and use a 2-ton epoxy. Any brand will probably do fine. I have a Devcon applicator gun with epoxy cartridges and static mixers but you don't need to buy all that, just makes things easier. Most epoxys come in a premeasured applicator that dispenses the right mix. Just squeeze out onto something to mix it. Put on latex gloves, and get a hair dryer or heat gun. Heat up the epoxy to thin it out a little and just rub it on. Then heat it up some more once applied to help it get in real good. Hanging the guitar will help you keep both hands free and don't by shy with it, you are going to sand it when it cures anyway. Plus it dries glossy so you can really see the low spots. If you sand through in spots on accident just touch up that area the same way. Do a little section at at time cause it can start to cure before you want it to if you mix too much or work too slow, but you should have a good bit of working time, most say 20 minutes but for this type of application its much less. Once you heat it you might have 5 minutes of good working time.
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