javacody

And the roo steaks? Can we all get one of those too? I'd be interested in this group purchase as well Perry. I ate some New Zealand tiger mussell at a thai restaruant a couple of years ago. Those shells were amazing! Can you use that for inlay?

Yeah, and I agree. You have to remember though, that any luthier who makes Les Paul copies, is good at it, and starts to get attention, gets a visit from Gibson's legal team. Even PRS couldn't beat Gibson's legal team, how does a small time luthier even stand a chance? I'm eventually building up to build my own burst copy, but if and when I do, I won't be selling them. I don't want Gibson to take my children and home away. I also don't believe in putting other guitar companies names on guitars that I build, but I know Gibson is very, very concerned when people either copy the body design of the Les Paul too closely, or the Gibson "open book" headstock. Of course, this is only an issue in the US. It doesn't seem to be an issue anywhere else in the world. In fact, there is a Russian guitar company called Shamray that will build you a burst copy at a very reasonable price, but I digress.

Someone who can take Paypal. I'm interested in both Gibson and Fender scale boards, preferably made out of Rosewood, Cocobolo, or Pau Ferro with a 12" radius. I'd like 5 boards (3 Gibson and 2 Fender) and am willing to pay $85 to $100. I love colorful fretboards with lots of reds and browns. They would need to be at least 1 3/4" wide on one end (and wider on the other end of course) and preferably 1/4" or slightly thicker. I'll make do with an eight less of wood if I have to though, thickness wise. They would have to be at least 19 inches long. If you have boards like this and can take paypal or know someone who does, I'd appreciate it if you PM'ed me. Thanks!

Awesome link! I have one of those pedometers from the McDonald's adult happy meal. It's already got a reset button. Great idea.

Well, I've read about really talented luthiers taking Gibson Historic Reissues and doing the following: * removing the fretboard and stripping the rubber coating from the truss rod (called by Les Paul afficianados a truss condom ) * removing the neck and redoing the neck angle truer to 50's specs * making the headstock slightly smaller (again to 50's specs) * recarving the top * not sure what else? (this is from a thread on the Les Paul forum I read like 2 years ago) This is pretty involved stuff and I guess that folks do this so that they own a real Gibson but to get it closer to a real burst. Its gotta be crazy expensive, because the Gibson Historics are already pricey.

It's not warped on the edges, correct? You wouldn't add weight to the top for that.

If you decide to go with the pickups you mentioned, I'd swap their positions.

Frank, what did you do for a counter? Without a way to measure inductance or counting the winds, its pretty hard to get winding right, from what I've read.

We don't have an FAQ here, but Aron's stompbox page does, and it will answer a couple of your questions (scroll down through it). electronics faq

Hey Perry, if I order from you, will you throw in a free kangaroo steak? I've always wondered what marsupial tastes like (possum are just too damn ugly to eat!!). LOL

What the heck does yonks mean? Can we get that translated into 'merican?

Welcome Joe. Are you the same guy who posts at the TDPRI? If so, I love slanted tele barrel saddles! LOL cSuttle, come on, don't be embarrassed. If enough people are interested in what you had done, then Warmoth can start offering it as an option and make their customers that much happier. You would be helping them, not hurting them!

Single cut Jr's (or specials if they have two pickups) really are awesome tonewise. Way back when, my guitar teacher had one and let me play it during one of my lessons. What a sweet chunk of wood. Amazing tone. Of course, that was solid mahagony and not "tonewood". (sounds like the mystery meat in the school cafeteria, it definitely is NOT beef LOL) Some people think that a glued on wood top inhibits resonance somewhat. I'm not sure what to believe, but if you decide to go through with this, you must realize that you will be removing the neck, shimming the existing route, and gluing the neck back in. If you are a beginner at this type of stuff, well, good luck. I'm real curous as to how you are going to get the neck out. I doubt they used glue that you could steam out. And you better make sure you get that angle right the first time when you shim it and glue it back in. You are also going to probably have to take some thickness off the body. (actually, if you took the thickness off the top, you might be able to get away with leaving the neck alone, but if you screw up, the neck is a goner). This is not a job for the faint of heart and I doubt its a job for a beginner at this kind of thing. If you were going to go to this effort, it may be better just to build from scratch and use the epi to become a better guitar player.

That headstock and the shape on the end of the fingerboard really add class to the design. Is this going to be your guitar? Or is it getting sold?

I'm guessing you don't have a router? Or you didn't use templates? I've seen folks chisel out cavities, but until they've had lots of practice, the cavities end up looking real butchered. As long as the rings cover them up though, then its not so bad. I'd have to vote pretty good job for a first guitar. Have you checked that the neck and bridge will line up properly? Those are the most important things. Great choice in wood though. I'm a big fan of walnut guitars. I'm going a curly walnut top on black limba for my next project.

Cool. I did a similar parts project with an unknown licensed rosewood fretboard neck (allparts?) and a sunburst alder johnson body. The johnson "teles" are top loaders. If its a top loader, its just not a tele (unless you have a bigsby on it). I got to drill my first ferrules and string throughs. I had to sand the neck pocket. Apparently, the folks in the plant who made it thought a neck should couple up to a really bumpy, partially paint filled surface. I had to fill the old neck screw holes, because they weren't even close to Fender spec, and I had to fill the original pickguard holes. I then got a replacement vintage type bridge, pigtailmusic.com compensated brass tele barrel saddles, an earvana nut, some Kluson copy tuners from Brian (great tuners Brian!), and a Fender vintage reissue top plate, with pots, cap, and switch still in it and soldered up. Last but not least were Mighty Mite tele pickups. I'm sorry, but name brand pickups don't sound $100 better than these $30 pickups. Anyway, my point is that I screwed up in bridge placement the first time. I had to move it over about 1/8" or so to the back and left (looking down at the front of the guitar). Of course, now the string through holes don't line up right. I drilled a path through, but its hard to get strings through. I figured I can bend the end of the string a little and turn the string until it finds the path. The guitar sounds and plays great though, and its my first tele in about 10 years. After screwing up bridge placement (it was similar to idch's problem), I'd read someone say they ducktaped their bridge on the face of the guitar and use the two E strings to line everything up. It worked like a charm. Its perfect now. Man, I love duct tape!!!

Not my cup of tea, but that guitar really looks sharp!

You cant get a black traditional tele bridge? And GregP, why is your avatar giving me the finger (sorry, that joke never gets old for me! LOL)? Is the shell you are showing in that other thread going on this guitar?

Wow, I'm not a fan of "metal" guitars (well I still like the mockingbird), but the amount of effort and skill in your guitar are swaying me. There are lots of extra touches on that guitar that really stand out. What an inspiration!

So you are going with a standard tele bridge pickup? I'm confused now about what bridge you are using?

No, how about cherry on top and cream on the bottom. Cherry cheesecake. Mmm...

I'm not disapointed too much. It would be cool if you used a hard tail strat bridge and modded it to use Tele saddles, or maybe you could have someone cut the front off of a tele bridge. I think you should do a bigsby. A bigsby always seems to add a touch of class to a guitar, and with that green burst, it would be real classy. I'm very excited about the color scheme. That is too friggen cool. I can pardon a non-traditional bridge on that, as long as I know that there will not be a floyd on it. That's worse than putting a floyd on a Paul. Blech! What kind of pickups? P90's? Ooh, lipstick tube! I love living vicariously through others. LOL

You don't want cherry, you want A1 steak sauce.

Wow. Great wood in that top. I agree with all the comments. I would have probably been a little gentler, but good job taking all that criticism and not having a hissy. I think you've got a great eye for picking out wood, I just think that with your body styles, the headstocks are all wrong. I think its time you made your first neck, or start buying necks with paddle headstocks. I also agree that if you are not going to do a time proven design, that you should prototype the body AND neck and see how they go together. Post some pics here and get some feedback. Man, I really like the top on that twisted SG, care to share your wood source?

Wow, we need a TV show, called "Guitar Doctors" or something like that. Very interesting to see. I think that guitar repair of this nature is an art.