86barettaguy

planning a strat-style parts guitar. I haven't decided on the exact specs yet (floyd or vintage, scalloped or not, what pickups etc) and I'm not really sure where to start. should I get the body first? or should I get the neck? of course, if I find another YJM neck (the last one I found around here was sold when I had the money) the problem is solved also, is it common for (finished) maple necks to feel very sticky? or is that simply caused by the small frets on the ones I've tried?

I'm guessing you're talking about the EVH d-tuna (are there others that attach to the trem?) the trem has to be of the kind where the locking screws protrute behind the trem (like on the OFR, schaller or gotoh floyds). no lo-pro stuff. it is easy to install. just remove the standard locking screw and put the d-tuna in its place. You don't have to block the trem to use it if you're only going to fool around at the house. you will get close to drop-d tuning anyway. you will be a little off though. If you want to use it playing with a band (or recording) you will have to block the trem or it might end up sounding horrible.

Anyone have any idea on how to get the centerline of a cut-out body template? or is this one of those things you have to do before you start cutting?

the template is done. almost. I have the basic body-shape at least. one problem though: seems like we cut it a little too close at the heel. I'm sure I can live with it by moving the neck just that small fraction of an inch, but still... how do I proceed now? do I buy the wood and rout the shape and then send it off to have a pro do the neck-pocket?

on a 25.5" scale guitar the holes for the posts are positioned 25" from the nut. so you could start by drawing a straight line at this distance from the nut. to get the floyd in the correct position along this line you attach 2 strings, one at the low E and the other at the high E. then you just move the trem along the line until you feel that the distance from the strings to the sides of the fingerboard is where you want it. mark the position of the pivot points on the previously drawn line. now you have the positions of the posts for the floyd. repeat the process a couple of times to make sure you're in the right spot. once you've drilled the holes for the posts, fit the floyd and see if you need to make a small recess. if the body wasn't routed for a trem, I'd still make the holes first (only difference is that you can't have the spring block on the floyd when measuring for the holes). I'd then continue to rout the hole for the spring block. there are templates for this. I'd recommend buying Hiscocks book "Make your own electric guitar" since it has full scale drawings of many useful routs along with some good tips on guitar-making.

I'm in Borås, Sweden. actually I know someone who used to work at a... *lost the word* eh... one of those places where trees are turned into usable planks... what's the word I'm looking for? anyway, I'm going to ask her if it's possible for people to buy wood from there. there's also a store called GMF that sells blanks, but they cost $100 which is about as much as one of their korean strat bodies...

sometimes I wish I lived in the US. as it is, I cannot really afford a neck-through neck (and if I could I'd get a local luthier to do it as I could get it exactly the way I want it). but thanks for the tip I'm more worried about warping than breaking (putting the guitar in a cold car and then bringing it inside a nice warm room doesn't seem to be the best thing to do if you want to avoid those little accidents...)

ok, the decision was basically made for me this time. my girlfriend figured that for this first guitar (if it ever comes true, in which case I would start planning a neck-through version) I should just copy my '86 baretta. it makes sense since I don't have to worry about screwing up all that much. so this weekend I cut the template for the body-shape from 7mm plywood (yeah, I'm gonna use a router to get the shape of the body). now I need to buy me some good wood for this. preferrably without spending as much as I would if I just bought me a body. I guess the next step, after routing the body-shape, would be finding a neck. I don't think routing for the floyd and the pickups is a good idea before I have the neck so I can measure positions...

oh... then... shouldn't the link be removed until they're back in business? it's a shame... he was the only supplier of Ibanez/JEM-style bodies and necks that I've heard of, except for ER of course, but he doesn't really count... I think that vh-guitarstore might be able to make necks to fit Ibanez guitars... at least they're making JEM bodies. I'm pretty sure they could make a custom neck even if it's not in the price-list...

I think that the MusicYo Kramers offer the best value for money. more specifically I'm thinking of the kramer baretta. where else can you get those specs at that price? and the licensed floyd is actually pretty good (well, it stays in tune when I use it anyway).

I know I recall there being some company making both bodies and necks from scratch... *goes to check jemsite* Custom Guitar Wares Inc. that's the company I was thinking of. the link over at jemsite seems malfunctional though...

stay as far away from that cheating lying POS asshole ed roman as you can, he will **** you blind, he doesn't have a clue about anything except screwing people. go to ebay, go to the dump, go to a store, go to a custom luthier, but don't go to ed roman!!!!!!!!! for some reason I doubt he ever got the chance to learn how to actually screw people... that said, if you order from Ed Roman, chances are that you will end up with a cheap POS. doesn't Eddie Kolezar make necks? I thought the Little Green Man made necks as well, but maybe that's just finishes... or maybe it's something completely different... I don't remember. but jemsite.com has a few links that could be of some interest.

while I might have decided on body-shape for my project, I still have to decide what construction I should use. It's going to be either bolt-on or neck-through and both have their advantages (and disadvantages). neck-through: supreme fret access but if it breaks I'm f****d. and it's harder to make on my own (finding the right wood, laminating and cutting it). and the neck angle has to be planned from the start. I won't be able to swap between ebony, rosewood and maple fingerboards every time my mind changes as to what looks and sounds the best. bolt-on: sturdy and allows me to just get a new neck if it would ever break. plus I'd only have to make the body (as opposed to the whole thing). but fret access isn't as good. and I could still mess up the neck pocket and render the whole thing useless. but the neck angle doesn't need to be determined until it's time to rout the neck pocket. what's your take on this issue?

if you're building a LP-style guitar, I'm guessing that you will be using a slight neck angle? if you plan on using a neck angle I suggest going for a LP-style carved top. if not, keeping it flat seems like a good option to me. using a carving you don't really like seems like a bad idea. besides, the PRS design looks best with heavily figured tops, and since you aren't using one...

I have a feeling that there are far more ibanez (JEM) fans here than old-school Kramer fans so I'm not surprised by the results of this poll so far the OFR is, and will always be, the real deal IMO. I cannot think of anything that could be better on it. honestly. some of you will say that it's not as comfortable as a lo-pro edge or similar, but since I don't rest my hand where the finetuners are that doesn't bother me at all. plus it has "the look"

nice work how about introducing a "blueprint of the month"?

click "Reference" and you'll find a link to the download section.

almost. it's an s/s/s configuration (well, ok, technically they're humbuckers but they're sc-sized). I don't know if it's routed H/S/S?

just looked at the stratocaster drawings in the download section and noticed that the only one I can currently view (the acrobat reader version in the .zip file) doesn't seem to be scale 1:1 as the poster claims. I compared it to 2 guitar bodies I have and it seems that the drawing is slightly smaller than 1:1. is this just an illusion? just felt that it would be nice to know

don't have time to give you a long explanation of this request right now, but if anyone has drawings for an Iron Maiden strat or other strat body I'd appreciate it if you'd share them with me

maybe I should just do it the scribbly way at least for the template. what should I use to attach the template material to the body? double-sided tape?

I actually thought about that router option. couldn't figure out how to avoid fouling up around the comfort contours... wouldn't using masking tape help prevent the marks? I'd really hate to ruin the finish of a perfectly good body (well, I could use a scrap body I have, but I'd prefer the one of my #1).

does anyone here have tips on copying an existing body? with a soloist-style guitar I suppose it's not that hard since the edges have a pretty small radius allowing you to trace most of the shape with a normal pencil. but how do you go about copying a strat body? I suppose you'd need something to have the pencil follow the edge of the body? notice: I do not intend to copy a standard strat body and I don't have a pin router. all I have is the body I want to duplicate and some basic tools

that is very nice indeed... how did you get the shape?