javacody

I think the les paul with Ibanez headstock looks pretty cool. I'd go for it!

I'm sure he means forward of the 25.5 inch line. None of my guitars' saddles are all the way forward, FWIW.

I still haven't built the black ice yet. I'm waiting to find a source for schottky diodes who will accept paypal.

You could go the Gibson route. LOL. Install your first set of strings, smack them with a hammer over the saddle, and then take them off as they are now ruined. Next install new strings. Can you believe a major manufacturer does something this stupid? I believe one of Dan Erlewine's books covers slotting saddles - THE RIGHT WAY.

Doh! How did I miss that? I was scrolling down to read the responses and I noticed it the second time around. I always thought a strat with a tilt back headstock would look wierd, but Hyunsu, you've done an awesome job!

Yeah, the elite also had a dummy pickup (one of the etc. etc.s from my previous post). Freddy Tavares (one of the original co-designers of the strat) had a hand in its design.

http://www.mycgiserver.com/~javacody/images/tonecaster2.gif The black ice overdrive circuit is basically a pair of diodes that clip your guitars signal. I'll try to dig up a schem. Edit: See the link above. It is for an effect project that combines an offboard tone control, the black ice overdrive (switchable from the tone control) and a vintage cable sim. You are interested in the 250K pot and the two schottky diodes. The black ice works much better with higher output pickups, as it is completely passive, it relies on the juice your pickups feed it, which ain't much. If you need any basic electronics help, I suggest the faq over at aron's stompbox forum

hyunsu, with a straight angle headstock like on your strats, its the usual practice to include "string trees" to pull down the e and b strings to increase their break angle over the nut. Did you leave them off yours on purpose? I really love that walnut topped strat by the way, how does it sound?

Didn't some famous guitar player impale his hand on a bigsby trem arm?

Fender mutilated their trem in the 70's, going from one bad "improvement" to the next. I can't remember if they made a top loading bridge in the 70's though. There may have been some funky Kahler type top loading trems on 80's strats. EDIT: Just looked at A.R. Duchossoir's the Fender Stratocaster, and it sounds like the body at least was from an early 80's Elite Stratocaster or an 83 to 85 Standard Stratocaster. Here are some Elite Strat features: * bi-flex truss-rod adjuster * neck angle adjuster located in the neck plate * a slightly wider nut width * a flatter fretboard radius * EZY-Glider point contact string retainers * high-ratio, lash free, specially lubricated tuning gears * security lock strap buttons * heavy duty cast bridge assembly with 'drop-in' string loading * Freeflyte tremolo system with tension adjustable from the top * snap-on Torq-Master tremolo arm * Alnico II single coil pickups without protruding poles * noise-cancelling pickup system with a dummy coil between the lead and middle pickups * etc. etc The 83 - 85 standard strat also adopted the Freelyte trem system with 'drop in' string loading. Hope that helps, because it was a lot of typing. Maybe you can find a replacement trem or saddles on ebay.

I've thought about making a guitar body and a regular bolt on neck and simply removing 1/2" from each side of the neck and adding 1/2" to the side of the neck cavity, making a psuedo mortise and tenon joint. I think that would work well.

You may have better luck pore filling with the polymerized tung oil or a product like waterlox (tung oil/phenolic resin based varnish).

http://riflestocks.tripod.com/fgrain.html Ask and ye shall receive. Also, I would be prepared with extra bits/blades for cutting wenge. It's some hard stuff.

The neck should be fine as long as you release the tension from the truss rod.

For the record, Tung Oil can be used to fill pores. I ran across how to do so on a rifle stock finishing site. I'll see if I can dig up the article if anyone is interested. For what its worth, Wenge doesn't need to be finsihed at all, if I remember correctly.

Where do you live? I ask, because I've been able to find mahogany locally for about $6 a board foot.

Here is the switch I think you want: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...p_Switches.html Here is the schem from Gibson: Ace Frehley wiring Hope that helps.

Where are these new rules? I'd like to read them. Never mind, I found them here: new rules

What kind of guitar is this? I suspect that you have a pancake body there. You may be able to glue that back up with probably minimal problems.

tung oil would give you a similar feel.

I don't remember the name of it, but you have to register at www.thelespaulforum.com to see it.

I've read that some folks believe that to have maximum transference of vibration between the neck and the body, then the neck pocket of a bolt neck has to be completely clean from any kind of finish. Tung Oil probably wouldn't count here. For a little perspective on Tung Oil, remember it was used in china to waterproof boats. It is a fine protective coat, it's just not a thick, plastic coat like poly would be. I personally think Tung Oil is better for tone than poly.

A couple of things, first I've never used Warmoth products. However, I've used USA Custom Guitars bodies and necks, and I can literally pick up the body with the neck without the neck being bolted on. Second, I would suspect that the Warmoth neck is fine. I'm willing to bet that Fender allows looser tolerances than Warmoth does. Third, most folks believe that the best neck joint comes from having no paint at all in the neck cavity. Where does that leave you? Well, where is the slop in the joint? Is it on the sides? You may just try making a very small shim.

I've read about the same thing. Dan Erlewine has a forum on the LesPaulForum and seems to disagree with this. I suppose its worth a shot, but it's pretty much exactly opposite of what a vast majority of guitar techs believe. Let us know how it works out.

I was hoping to find the steel inserts. I can get the brass ones at my local Menards.