Kevan

UPDATE Holy crap! Artist confirmations are coming in fast and furious! We have a bunch of new folks with sick amounts of talent joining us this year, and some Jemfest regulars... - ROB BALDUCCI- Rob's been with us from the begining, and he'll be with us until the end. His latest album, "Color Of Light" is available thru Favored Nations. Rob will probably be doing tracks from this record and a few of your favorites off the older albums, Balance and Mantra. Check out Rob's new site, and cool new message board here: www.robbalducci.com Don't forget about Rob's "Lick Of The Week". Fun stuff! - GARY SCHUTT- Gary's been to a couple of Jemfests, but hasn't played...until now! This Berklee grad has a bunch of records out, including one called "Excruciating Pleasures" which is entirely about a psycho ex-girlfriend. LMAO I love that record. You'll catch him around the Tampa area with his own band, or globe-trotting as the bassist for Jeff Scott Soto. Gary's got a bunch of new originals that he'll be playing at Jemfest 2005. You can check him out here: www.garyschutt.com Oh, and yes- he's the guy that does the "Yngwie B. Goode" song. The Download section has plenty of stuff to check out. - MIKE MARTIN- This Eric Sands-find is one serious player. With a background in classical, jazz and full-bore metal, Mike can get the guitar work done....no matter the genre'. This was proved to us back in 2002 when he played with Eric Sands' band "Strangeworld", and dropped some solos that discouraged a lot of up and coming players. LOL Mike got a call one day to join his buddy Sean Delson in the band Fozzy. WWF/WWE fans will know the name Fozzy; it's wrestler Chris Jericho's band. They started out doing covers, and now have some great originals on a new record. Mike's having a blast doing the Fozzy thing, dropping in for some fun with Rich Ward's group,Stuck Mojo, and performing live all over Atlanta. You can get a preview of Mike's stuff here: www.mikemartin.net , and then Fozzy stuff can be found here: www.fozzyrock.com (Check out Mike playing his UV777PBK in the video for "Enemy". Nice!) So far, so great. As soon as I get more confirmations, I'll let you folks know. This year is gonna ROCK!

I've seen a few of the 'stock' bodies (pics on Ebay), and a couple of the 'custom' ones he's done. Your best bet is to email Jim and ask him for some pics.

I guess I didn't full understand the question. Are you asking about the guitar in the video, or the "7th Heaven" video itself? The forum at JohnPetrucci.com might have info about the guitar. It's a little easier to search there than on Bannersite....ooops.....Jemsite. Mainly because the JP Forum search feature actually works! Most Ibanez dealers that carry 7's received the video from Ibanez. I'm willing to bet that a store near you has one. If not, as Scott pointed out, FleaBay has them every now and then.

If I remember right, there's some info about it over on Glensite....oops, I mean....Bannersite....ahem...Jemsite. A Search over there should get you some results.

Ok, no whiners now. We've had guys come from as far away as France, the UK, and Argentina to go to Jemfest. Plus, if you need a ride from TX, give Gabe a call.

Hey folks! Jemfest time again! Here's the info: DATE: June 24th and 25th LOCATION: Orlando, FL VENUE: Radisson Resort Worldgate TIME: Afternoon-ish until they turn out the lights! :-) ARTISTS: I'm still working on confirmations from artists, but trust me- they are all fantastic. There's going to be something for everyone. Well, maybe not the rap guys. LOL I'll post a complete list/schedule as soon as we have it. ADMISSION: FREE!!! But we do respectfully ask for donations at the door. We've blocked off rooms at the hotel especially for Jemfest attendees. In order to get the group rate, you'll need to call them (toll free) at 866-705-7676 and mention "Group Code: Jemfest". That will get you the discounted rate on rooms. We've tried to get all the Jemfest rooms next to each other to limit the number of late night noise complaints. You know who you are...heh heh. The rooms are a touch more expensive than last year, BUT...it's 10x the hotel, and it's super-close to Disney, Downtown Disney, and it has a FREE shuttle to all the major parks (Universal, Sea World, etc.) Trust me- this place is AWESOME! Great venue for the event, 2 pools, a couple of restaurants...all within the hotel! The downside is that they don't have a free shuttle to the airport, so if you need wheels to/from the airport, contact Gabe or Kevan and we'll come and get you or drop you off. Again this year we'll be doing a live webcast, or at least as live as we can get it with the available hookups at the hotel. So, if you can't make it down this year, you can still catch the performances from the comfort of your easy chair. You'll only miss out on the room jams, Brian running around the main pool in his thong (again), and all the other cool stuff we do over the weekend. As soon as I have the artist schedule, I'll post it here.

Good call. Let me go thru this with Brian, and see what we can come up with. In the meantime, let's stick to the 'one per post' in the In Progress area. Another good call, but instead of using inches, use pixels. :-) 600 x 600 max. (for now)

Be VERY, VERY careful what you wish for. I'll look around the Invision forums for some code, but......if the new code slows the forum down at all, it'll get yanked immediately. How we have it set up for now is that when a thread "graduates" from the In Progress section to the Tutorials section, all the pics go with it, and are 'unlinked' (i.e. displayed). It will remain that way until further notice.

It's actually not my rule, per se, it's the forum rules. Today, most dig. cameras have a setting of 640 x 480. That is *plenty* big enough to show off detail. I'm gonna get with Bri and the other Mods about this and we might make an adjustment. That way, folks won't have to Photoshop stuff down to 600 just for the site. And guys, take it easy on the Mods. First off, they're brand new at this, so they're still figuring stuff out. Secondly, it was hard enough with Simon, Wes and I. 3 more Mods helps, but it's still A LOT to go thru each day to make sure it's all up to snuff. I'd like to thank those that have clicked the "Report This Post To A Moderator". Those notifications REALLY help us out. I'll keep everyone abreast of the 640 x 480 details.

You betcha. :-) But I'd have posted the same thing even if he wasn't.

"Dreamscapes" from Milan Polak just arrived in my mailbox today. I was going to type out a big huge review, but I think it's best if I put it this way: It's a GREAT guitar record. I've heard TONS of guitar stuff in the last 15 years or so. This one stands out to me. Milan covers so many different styles and genre's- everything from metal to flamenco to shred-fu to the blues-ish ballad'y slow. He's shown me that he's the Leatherman of guitar. Totally and completely versatile. (I would have said "Swiss Army Knife of guitar", but Milan is Austrian. LOL) It's easy to see why Falco chose him as a guitarist. If you get the chance, head over to MilanPolak.com and pick up a copy. I think he's got some MP3 samples up there too. The samples are good, but the rest of the album is just plain awesome. HIGHLY recommended for anyone that likes guitar.

If the pics are 'on' this board, 600 pixels is the MAXIMUM length for ANY side. If you're posting a link to a pic, size it however you want. In my experience, 600 x 600 is PLENTY big enough to show great detail. After all, none of us are printing Vogue covers, right? Also, ONE PIC PER POST. The rest should be links. Reference Link: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11235

Matt- before posting any more pics, read this: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11235 Thanks.

For more information on chip repair, check this thread out: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=4923

Here are some tips/pics from my first-ever MASSIVE chip repair (down to the wood!). First off, I have to say that I've only done minor finish work- simple ding/dent/scratch repair. A drop of CA (superglue), and some quick super-fine sanding in a very small area, then polish and buff. I've only had to do it a couple of times, so I'm definitely no expert at it. While searching around here and elsewhere online, I came across this site with some great information on chip repair: http://www.members.shaw.ca/wilkatguitars/git_tips7.htm He's also got a link to ProjectGuitar.com, so he might be a member here. :-) If so, THANKS! All of his tips in there are fantastic, esp. the one about going slow and being patient. The other good one is about trying your skills on a POS body first. Get your techniques down, figure out solutions to problems, and THEN you can get into the real repair. This helped me immensely. Tools- The suggestions on the site are great, but I wanted to add some things. I was at the grocery store and saw a nail buffing kit. Hmmm...interesting. I picked up a couple different 'sets' of nail files. These ranged from fine to super-fine to "does it even do anything?". One of the sets had a nice thick foam core, very helpful when trying to get stuff level. I suppose the checkout lady thought I might be over-primping for a date, but..... I picked up a set of buffing wheels (cloth, spiral sewn) from Home Depot for about $7. Two wheels- Medium and Fine- for bringing out a mirror finish. At the auto parts store, I purchased a tube of Meguiar's "X-Scratch" polish/scratch remover. The directions say to rub it on, let it dry, then wipe off. Well, sometimes the directions suck. LOL In the case of the guitar I was working on, WET X-Scratch worked 100x better than dry. If you're fixing a chip that's really deep, I highly recommend the CA accelerator. While CA bonds skin instantly, it doesn't *dry* instantly, and can take several hours. If you're building up CA, get the accelerator (hobby stores have it). This stuff is VERY, VERY, VERY caustic, so don't lick your fingers after spraying it on. It's nasty, nasty stuff, but does a good job drying CA. Tips- If you're building up CA and using the accelerator, watch for 'white out'. I'm not sure what else to call it. When the accelerator hits the CA, it causes a chemical reaction- you can see little poofs of "smoke" come off the CA. Sometimes the CA bubbles and turns white. If this happens, remove ALL the white, even if it means re-building the CA more. I didn't do this on one little spot, now it's buried so deep...ugh. Sanding blocks are your friend, but there are other means as well. The super-fine emery boards I got were thick enough that they layed very flat, and gave me a nice flat finish, but flexed enough to get around the radius of the edge. I used my tiny (1" x 1") sanding block to find the high/low spots and built up my CA with that. The rest of the sanding was done with 1000 grit (wet and dry) and then 2000 grit (wet) sand paper, then the ultra-fine emery board, then polishing compound, then the Meguiar's. So, here we go: BEFORE- http://www.tremol-no.com/images/2020pix/P1030066.JPG AFTER- http://www.tremol-no.com/images/2020pix/P1150068.JPG I didn't get the radius along the edge perfect, but it's damn close. If the guitar didn't have to be built tonight, I'd go back in and build up that edge and get it dead-on. Also I *did* get a super-close match to the original finish, but I think the CA or accelerator yellowed it a bit, and thus the slight hue change. It's really hard to see from a foot away (but I know it's there....and that drives me nuts. LMAO). Here are some other After shots from different angles: http://www.tremol-no.com/images/2020pix/P1150069.JPG http://www.tremol-no.com/images/2020pix/P1150070.JPG http://www.tremol-no.com/images/2020pix/P1150071.JPG All in all, not bad for my first down-to-the-wood chip repair.

This is something that the licensee and I have talked about. With so many different backplates out there, it'd be tough. We might just start off with white/black Strat plates and 'superStrat' plates, both pre-cut with access holes for the Tremol-No. It'd be offered as a package: Tremol-No, Deep-C and backplate. Something like that, trying to stay in the $50-60 range. We'll see what transpires. Right now, I'd just like to get the basic unit out there. That'd be a great start. :-) ....but if I said "the release date is somewhere within those 14 pages", could you then be bothered?

I'm not quite sure how to answer this...because you've already answered it, kinda. :-) The templates on Tremol-No.com are basic guidelines for those plates. Due to differences in setups, folks might need to slide that access hole backward or forward to meet their particular needs. The distance between the outside edge of the backplate, and the top of the thumbscrews is about 5mm (on average). If you can't reach 5mm inside that access hole, well...there's not much I can do for ya. In otherwords, thumbscrew length is not an issue. Trust me- you don't want a longer pair. Regarding leaving the backplate off, I'd say it's about 50/50 with guitarists.

...and you guys thought I forgot about you.... Sorry for the delay. This inventing stuff is hard work. I thought it'd be "patent it; sell it; collect checks". Ummm...not quite. There's a ton of work involved that I never even considered, and I'm doing my best to get it done. At the same time, I'm going as fast as I can to get the units into your guys' hands. I want that more than anything right now. I'll toss out some quick updates: - I had a very long business-chat with the folks at AllParts on Friday. If you think you're jonesin' for the Tremol-No, take a number. These guys are so into it, it's kinda scary. But they're super-cool and are all ready to go. Once production starts there shouldn't be any hold-ups at all. Smooth sailing. (Knock on 5A flame maple) I've got some "Low B" info for everyone... - Ken Burtch, a 6'9" monster player from WA who had a super debut album a couple of years back is testing out one of my personal units. He absolutely loves it. There's a quote and pic from Ken on the site (check the Players page and click on his name). Big words from a big player. - One of my good "online friends" Drew Peterson has been bugging me since day one about getting a Tremol-No. I finally had a couple of the NAMM units (that I'd sent out as loaners) come back from the show. I said "whatthehell" and sent one to Drew. He's ALL OVER online- 6-string forums, 7-string forums...he just loves playing and typing. :-) His review, which is very thorough, can be found here: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1254 And yes- he did set a record with that install time. Then again, he said he was lit up. Fair enough. We'll have him try it sober next time....see if he can trim that time down a little. LMAO That's about it for now. I'm here on the phone or emailing people trying to get the Tremol-No available to you guys. Every minute. Every day. Well, that's not entirely true; I did sleep a little on the 23rd. Oh, and congratulations (accompanied by an almighty middle finger) to FedEx!! They are the first to break a Tremol-No! Nice work guys! I shipped one overnight to AllParts to take to Musikmesse in Germany this weekend. FedEx managed to snap the back part of one of the Classic tailpieces in half. Impressive, considering this was one of the 7075 aluminum pieces I got as testers from the machine shop. And in case anyone is wondering, it was packed the same way I've packed up every other unit. This is the first broken one. Again, good job FedEx! Now, get my claim done, damnit. More updates as soon as I get them! Thanks for your patience. I'll do my best to make sure it's worth the wait.

BP's post has me a little misty-eyed.... They grow up so fast....

Well, everyone is 'updated', and unlike SP2 for XP Pro, it'll probably work. If the new Mods have any trouble or questions with their new features, please let me know (email preferably). And, I'll talk to Bri about getting a badge with a less-fufu-font. PSW- Who's to say Brian and I aren't nutty already? LOL

This is correct, but I'd like to add something to it: not all spring attachment holes are drilled vertical to the block- some are angled! If you're not careful, you might drill thru the wall of the block. Not that I've ever done that.... When you trim the block down, the feel of the trem vs. a long block will change. The shorter block will be stiffer, because you don't have as much leverage when using the trem. Just something to take into consideration when you're doing 'feel comparisons' between long and short blocks. Also: EB/MM trem blocks are NOT a standard size. They are their own "special" size.

Not to get too technical (with a technical bunch of folks), but not EVERYONE voted. It's not a typo. I tossed the idea of all 3 becoming Moderators to Brian yesterday. We discussed it and thought it'd be a good idea to bring them all aboard. It'll certainly help with the work load, and....if someone ever needs some time away from the board (like we all sometimes do), then we're still up 2 Mods. My only concern was "cross moderating", but I think those cases will be few and far between. I have no doubt that these 3 guys will help us take ProjectGuitar.com to the next level. I thank them in advance for their time and effort. GregP- Last time I saw BluesPresence freak out...hmmm...maybe he got a little jumpy while watching the video for "Ace Of Spades".

Here they are folks: - BluesPresence - ScottRosenberger - LoveKraft Moderator functions will be setup in the next 24 hours. You'll know they're 'official', when you see their title changed. We expect you all to understand (as stated in the rules you read when you signed up here) that what a Moderator says is law. It's not up for debate. That's how it works. In the HIGHLY unlikely chance that you see a Mod going nutty, please email Brian or myself and we'll take care of it immediately. Again, congrats to you all, and a big thanks to everyone that voted!

To quote the late, great Chris Farley from 'Tommy Boy'..... "It's go time!" Announcements coming soon! THREAD & POLL CLOSED

Well, I guess I'm busted. Yes- I was talking about the Tremol-No. (Mushy: only one E, my man). I'm going as fast as I can to get them out to you guys. We're doing license and factory stuff right now. As soon as that's done, production starts. Soon after, they'll be available online, and then in stores. It's so close, it's not even funny. I checked out that Hot Rod Convertible thing. Ummm...I guess if you don't mind drilling into the top of your guitar....and enjoy flames. What I love seeing are all these people going "TREMS SUCK! I'm gonna be a hardtail guy until the day I die." And then when trems do come back, they'll be stuck with their TOM's. Meanwhile, those smart enough, will simply be turning their trem "on". That thought just cracks me up.