Ragasguitars

As far as how the tone would be, probably very bright and metallic. I used to work for CA Guitars, did carbon fiber composite acoustics, they used a certain type of bracing to try and tone down the bright sound of the carbon fiber, but it just didn't work that way, they are very bright and metallic but they are loud. I'm sure alot of the resonance will come from the thickness of the body walls so if this is something you want to try out, you should try out several with different body thicknesses to see what sounds you can get.

Flatwound strings. they don't dig. don't know if you have seen them before but they are very smooth strings.

The fretless is the smoothest feeling guitar I have ever played. I have flatwound strings first of all and there is a finish on the fingerboard. Its the same finish on the whole guitar, makes finishing really easy, no masking. And like Matt said, its not for doing too many chords, some are just impossible. But I love it, it is so different and awkward but very comfortable at the same time. The fingerboard just feels so slick. And hopefully when the money is available I will start on my next guitar, an 8 string. I already built one but its signed by SLAYER and I dont want to mess it up. Gonna be a second standard model for me when I start doing guitars full time. The design is almost done.

I would still do it with the curves, even if your top is thin, you said you wanted to burst it, by using a black fade from the edge or a really dark color you can conceal the edge where the solid body would show through. If you don't have spray equipment this is an easy way to do a burst. 1. Do the whole black/dark stain first then sand away to really bring out the grain. You might have seen the tutorial on this site, if not look for it, I don't remember where its at, sorry. 2. Do your first coat of your main color, while its still wet, use a seperate cloth with water, alcohol, whatever you need to use as a thinner for whatever type of dye you are using, and keep wiping away starting in the center and work your way out. I use a spray bottle and I just keep spraying and wiping till it soaks up the excess stain. 3. When it is looking close to how you want it let it dry, sand with very fine paper to try to enhance the fade and stain again. Each time you do this leave the area you want lightest without putting stain on on. After a few coats you can get a real nice burst effect and you have a whole lot of control with it, just work fast and with confidence. 4. When done do your black, or darker color to conceal the joint , unless you can inlay something at that border to make a nice transition of woods. If I were you I would make some kind of inlay or border and really show the edge where the two woods meet. I used this stain process to do my V.

Might not be the fastest or easiest method, but I always pick up a hammer and my set of chisels when I need to do some shaping like that. Start off with a router bit with a guide to take out just enough to leave an even edge all around the edge. It could be a straight bit or even a cove bit http://www.routerbits.com/cgi-routerbits/s...649840_14409+24 I would go with the cove bit personally, set your depth, then if you don't like chisels, make yourself a sanding template, or just a little acrylic template with the profile you want, and just sand it by hand and check with the template. There are also these types of bits http://www.routerbits.com/cgi-routerbits/s...649840_14409+66 bit # 3294 If you find one with the right size or even close to you want might be the quickest method. Just use a router by hand, but clamp down the body and do it befor you put your fretboard on, unless its a bolt on, then dont worry about that. Just see what bits you have or can find or borrow, and don't be afraid to use several different bits to get everything even.

It can be less than with regular tuners since the string locks in the tuner about .050" above the headstock instead of about .250" like on a regular tuner. Does that make sense? Just estimating on the dimensions, but its close enough. Don't know the actual angle difference but there is a minimum for each type of tuner without having to use a string retainer.

Yeah, you know as well as I do that some people are scared of things they can not do and too many people don't like to stray from tradition. It's crazy that you designed the IMPALER, I have been thinking of working on something that was a take on a warrior style body only more evil for a long time, I think you have accomplished it. Also, everything Godin said. So far you are the only person who not only sees things like me, I think we are in a class of our own, If you lived closer to me we could really F*** some S*** up in the guitar world, I think we are already on the path to doing that on our own .

Matt, playing a fretless is so wierd, I f you want fret markers like I have on mine let me know, I will tell you how I did it, its real easy. Godin, can't wait to see your next guitar. I think between me and matt we could kill a few people with our guitars. Hopefully some more weapons will make it to the competition.

It seems like us metal heads have the competition monopolized at the moment. Good luck to you and it's good to see you and the IMPALER in the running this month. Looks sweet, deadly and evil all at the same time. Get your next one done for July, I will have another one ready to go if the paint is done.

As far as how those steinberger gearless tuners work, they kick ass. They can fit on any headstock shape, and the gear ratio makes for super fine adjustment. They are easy to install and use and you can even use less headstock angle since the strings are lower when locked into the tuner. You should definitely try them out.

I used to work there, thats why I started the topic just to see if anyone had heard, played or had any opinions on them. I wanted to see how many people thought they were junk. To be honest some of their guitars are not junk, SOME of them were actually pretty good, after I made their fret slotting jig accurate 4 years after the company started. Their production was screwed up, I tried to fix what I could, or I should say was allowed to fix. If they don't get sued they will never go out of business, I can't explain. They will never be able to make guitars properly either though. Come to think of it I made one tool that was so accurate it showed all the inconsistencies and problems with all the other parts of production, which were not allowed to be fixed. Anyway I could go on for days. I will leave it at that.

All mahogany neck through fretless V bocote fretboard natural finish 25.5" scale length Custom bocote bridge with ebony insert and carbon fiber saddle Emg 85 On/Off switch LARGER PICTURES

All done Finished Fretless Guitar

The brass bar is going to be what aligns the strings and pulls them over the zero fret. The notches are there just to help guide the strings into the brass bar. I am just going to have one humbucker in it. I am putting an emg 85 in there for now, might end up changing it out. I want it to have a really thick mellow tone, so I might just keep the 85.

I have a brass string guide that goes behind that, the notches are there to help the strings angle down into the guide. I will have a truss rod cover, had to do some things different than I would have hoped, I started this guitar a long time ago and made some changes since I decided to finish it and had to make up for it.

Got em from stewmac. should be in today. The carve was done by hand. I used a radiused router bit first to get the bulk of it and get an even line around the edge then did the rest with a chisel and sandpaper. Yes, I stained the bocote, only to match the color and for the overall design. I did sand around the edge of the fretboard to give it a nice little natural edge and I masked off where the frets should be and used acetone to fade the stain out so I have fret references. I drilled small holes on the side of the fretboard for my fret markers. I will have better and more pics once I get all the parts put on it with more detail shots.

Im' gonna have more pics when the guitar is done. The back on this one has the same fade and Its even on the neck too. I will have pics with all the cavity covers and pickup ring, which are bocote. Should be done really soon. And thanks

Almost done, got the stain and finish done. I guess I would call it Black Cherry Burst, semi gloss natural finish. Bocote bridge, using the concept of an acoustic bridge. Fretless V Should have the rest of the hardware in tomorrow.

The LumberLady.com

For the V I used a router bit that has a convex 1" radius on it with a guide. I set the depth and just run it around the guitar. After that I use chisels, dremel sanding drum, sandpaper. The little horns by the neck were done with an 1/8" dremel cutter, i made a template and just had to raise it up a little so the shaft would guide itself on the template, only took off about .050" per pass, took a while but for something that small and unique it was no problem. There are a lot of little tricks you can come up with by not having all the tools you really need, and in the end they end up working better than the specific tool would have done. Its a good thing to not have money for things, helps you get creative. I always use chisels, once you get the hang of themm the amount of control you can get with them is incredible. Sometimes I use a hammer with em, sometimes i just use hand power.

Gonna use Steinberger gearless tuners. You can have just about any headstock shape with them, they adjust from the bottom, not from a tuning key from the side. As far as playing it, I don't know yet, it's gonna take some getting used to but I will have side markers on it, maybe even some wicked inlays that mark the frets.

Got some new work under way, should be done in a week. Mahogany neckthrough neck and wings Bocote fingerboard Gonna have steinberger gearless tuners, emg 81, possibly an 85 also, on/off switch, string through body, custom bridge that I will make after I design it. Pics are posted on my crappy site New Guitar

That is going to be a 6 string guitar. I think my next one like this for myself will be an 8 string, gonna probably get some sweet ass top wood for the 8. I got an 8 string already but i want to keep it from getting messed up, the first build I ever did, signed by Slayer.

That's crazy that you would ask about fretless guitars, I am working on on right now, and just got done posting some progress pics of it on my site. Go to the post before your last one and go to the link. I am hoping to be finished with it in about a week or so, unless I can't get the money for a pickup or tuners. $200 might not seem like a lot of money, but trust me if you were me you would understand. Anyway, go check out what I have so far, an keep up on it. Only thing I would suggest is to use a very dense wood for a fingerboard and get some flatwound strings if you decide to go fretless.

Thanks guys. My main site is crappy, don't have my company running yet, gonna be a a few years probably with a full time job to support the company. Anyway here is my main site My Webpage , only got a couple guitars, the one i posted the link to will be painted in a few weeks probably, and I am working n my first standard model, this first one is for me, will be fretless, will have pics soon. Anyway, for JimRayden, a neck angle is not necessary, especially with a one piece build, but If you want you can spend more time building a jig to put a neck angle on the guitar. If you recess the bridge if it is too high you don;t need a neck angle. Adding one will just be more diffucult. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have two guitars to post.