GEdwardJones

The scale length of a Les Paul is 24.75 inches (do you use inches in Quebec? I know they do in the rest of Canada for heights, I don't have a handy standard to metric translator).

The scale length is the length of the string (chord) measured from the nut to the bridge. The pickups can be any place you would like them to be, different people find that different pickup positions sound better to them, but generally people tend to put pickups to places with strong natural harmonics.

Damn! I wanna go play at G. Edward's house!! Puh-leez, huh, huh,can I?!!

My wife and I were thinking of moving to Harrisburg, PA (her hometown) for a little while. I hat to tell her that I was NOT going to paint another office like this. the walls took about 24 hours to finish. The doors are on their third coat and still neet to be painted again.

I use this little unit. 2 speed (20,000 and 30,000 rpm) comes w/ plunge router base, 2 freehand bases (1 w/ handle - 1 w/out), circle cutting base, and cable extension for dremel work.

I have that same tool, only the 6 speed Black & Decker version. They call it a "rotary saw" basically it's a heavy duty Dremel with a built on router base and handle. If you ever want to re-grout some tile, lemme tell you that's the best tool in the world

Theoretically you could do them freehand with an airbrush, although it might be easier to do it the other way.

My office wasn't done by taping off anything and it was a total pain in the arse:

eh, I sit down, but I play with the guitar hanging low anyway. it's more comfy for the way I play rhythm.

Do all the glue joints kill tone?

I guess that totally depends on what you consider "tone."

i wish they would.i could go around to music stores with my v showing people what a metal guitar SHOULD be

Pointy and hard to play sitting down?

I knew it'd look cool. But I wonder if it's a pain to work with.

My wife put the bug in my ear about making a guitar out of a butcher block. I don't know why, but I think that would look really, really cool. Has anyone tried this and if so, how hard was it and how did it turn out?

Danke,

g

I think Gibson went on a "cease and desist" rampage when they introduced the Epi Elitist line. Although it's a legally dubious tactic (that body shape being widely copied since its inception to the point where most people only care about the headstock shape) they've got enough $$$ to draw the legalities on for a good long time.

The guitar Derek is talking about is Uli Roth's Sky guitar.

Washburn had a series of guitars (can't remember the name right now but I'm positive they've been mentioned on here before) that had a 29 fret model (s/H pickups) and a 36 fret model (H pickup). I've seen a couple at Guitar Center and they're pretty fun even if the paint splatter finish is not my taste.

25 all the way

ok, I'll bite, what?

as we say here JUST south of the mason dixon line, you've got the gift of gab

My wife, from JUST north of the Mason-Dixon line says "Dang, shut up already!!"

isn't that what i said? small hands = small neck?

Actually what you said was:

"but wouldn't that mean a person with smaller hands should go for the original wizard neck? or just play a *THINNER* neck like 42-56 instead of 43-57" (emphasis mine).

I was stating that they might want a narrower neck as well, possibly even moreso as my wife does better with a thick/narrow than a wide/thin neck.

isn't that what i said? small hands = small neck?

kinda, but I think you were talking about depth, a lot of people don't think of width which can be just as (or more) important.

but wouldn't that mean a person with smaller hands should go for the original wizard neck? or just play a thinner neck like 42-56 instead of 43-57

Not necessarily, my wife's fingers are shorter by the length of one knuckle than mine and she can barely reach the low strings on a guitar with a wizrd neck (forget it if that guitar has 7 strings). She does best with a thin/narrow neck. Me, I do better with a wide, fat neck. It really is what you're comfortable with.

I love it when you get into a debate G

It makes for good reading while I'm at work doing nothing

It's because I talk a lot, isn't it?

As we say down here way south of the Mason-Dixon line, "I get it honest" you should see my momma.

Does no one play clean anymore...?

I do. A lot more now than I used to. Body wood makes more a difference there (IMHO, and yours too, apparently).

I'm with Wes.

You shouldn't need supa dupa processing to make the guitar sound good, that's what Cher does and she sounds bloody awful.

YOU CAN'T POLISH A TURD.

It's possible, however, that you need supa dupa to get the sound that you hear in your head.

the truth is they don't use basswood in so many guitars today because of it's tone...they use it because it is cheap.basswood imo is only REASONABLY decent for high gain situations and even then alder is better.i don't really care who plays it or how you amplify it.the bottom line is that all that amplification is just to mask anotherwise one dimensional tone.alder,mahogany,and the other good tonewoods all have depth of tone.basswood and agathis and chesswood don't.bottom line is if the guys you are talking about can't tell the difference,then why would they want to argue about it with someone who can.

but the question was and is do woods make a difference.the answer is YES

Your first point "Basswood is only reasonably decent for high gain situations." Is, again, your opinion, and you're welcome to have it. However, that's not the gospel truth. Some people like the sound of basswood, some people don't.. I mean, off the top of my head Steve Vai, Rocky "There's Never Enough Distortion" George and Paul Gilbert all use(d) basswood guitars for a good long while and the one time I met him Rob Balducci (super nice guy for those who don't know him, killer guitarist as well) went on and on about his love of Basswood and maple bodied guitars. Old Danelectros were made out of counter tops and a pristine one costs more than my car. Obviously SOMEBODY likes that sound. Ken Parker has recounted on many, MANY occasions how he got no end of crap for his choice of construction methods (carbon fiber, basswood and poplar? POPLAR!!!!!!!!!????????) but you find so many people who swear by Parkers these days. You have ibanez making guitars out of sawdust and plastic, aluminum guitars, etc., etc., etc. The sky's the limit it seems.

As they say, "Ice cream"

Your second point about if the guys who can't tell the difference, blah blah blah. I'm not arguing, really. I'm just presenting another point of view. If you have woods which you think are good or better, that's very good for you. Some people can plug almost anything into their setup and get "their sound" what's the point in telling them that their favorite guitar is made out of wood that will always sound like crap?

I've never said that wood doesn't contribute to the sound, I think if you read back I've said, from post one that wood definitely does influence the sound. However, more than anything I think wood determines the type of pickups you use. (Other things that I think influence your sound, your body chemistry, your body type, heat, humidity and elevation relative to sea level. Seriously, think about it) Like I said, that's only my opinion, your mileage may vary. But when it comes down to it there are a couple of facts:

1. Everybody's taste is different

2. Wood is but one component of an electric guitar's overall amplified sound.

3. We could go back and forth forever and never agree on much more than these three things

i agree that the pickups make MORE of a difference.but alder is so cheap and sounds so good ...why use basswood or some other slightly cheaper wood when it won't have as clear a tone?

Off the top of my head?

You like that sound better

You like that sound better

The pickups you have you heard in a ____wood guitar and that's the sound you're going for.

You can't tell the difference

You run your guitar through a dozen FX units

There are bound to be more reasons. But, again, just my opinon that with the state of amplification today body wood (and to a lesser degree pickups) are becoming more and more irrelevant with regards to sound. Fact of the matter is, if you can get a "tele like" sound from a humbucker equipped, basswood super strat (and I've heard that description used for more than one) then traditional ideas about guitar construction start going out the window.

Helllloooooooooo Ken Parker...

The wood is the foundation that the pickups build on to get the final sound. If you start with crapy wood, a good pickup will make it sound better but you will not get a great sound. I know because I tried to get a better sound out of a junk guitar of mine and I could not get a great sound no matter what pickups I put in it.

Mike

Oh, don't get me wrong woods and pickups interact to make the final sound that you hear. But in this day of high gain modelling digital supa dupa processing I think the wood is almost the least important part of the equation for anything other than a nice, clean tone.

I know this might be blasphemous to say, but it is my deeply held belief that when dealing with electric guitars wood matters less than pickups.

The guitar Steve Morse played in the '80s comes to mind. How many PUs did that guitar have? At least 4 if not 5 including the synth PU.

-Sven

Steve Morse MM's have two HBs and two SCs, modeled after his original super modded Tele.

Nigel Tufnel had a custom 4 humbucker Music Man in the video for "Majesty of Rock" (that pops up every now and then in various "weird guitar" photos) so it can be done.

Thanks. That guitar plays so nice. I can't stop playing the thing. I made it to fit my body based on my favorite guitars so I guess it fits the bill (pun intended).

I hear now that Ace is the place... Oh, Ace has a good selection of Minwax products too. I always seem to forget about them.

That's good to know. Herself and I have a couple of cabinet projects we want to get done around the house and we've been trying to find stains that work with the colors of the rooms.