ooten2

Hey, if you're in the market for a 5150, and the price/condition is right, why not?

I got my income tax refund in 1999, and went to a local store to buy a Vox ac-15 amp. I grabbed a Gibson LP DC standard off the rack to try out the amp, and ended up taking the guitar home and leaving the amp at the store. That guitar has been my #1 ever since. Overall, it was a great buy, but there are still times when I wish I had that amp.

Cool! I can't wait to see the results.

Rich, do you have any myrtle tops for sale?

Brilliant!!

Love those pickup covers!

I got a limba neck, too. If I'm brave enough, I'll attempt a neck, it will be my first. I'm still debating though, because I'd have to buy a boat-load of tools to do it, and I don't want a half-@$$ed neck on this limba body.

The black limba and the ziricote go so well together. I was going to use pau ferro or cocobolo for the fingerboard, then I unwrapped the ziricote and set it up next to the limba. Wow, what a great combination! I think the ziricote would make great pickup covers, too.

I can't believe Rich is selling this stuff, as nice as it is. I'd be keeping it! Makes me wonder what else he has stashed away for himself that he isn't selling...

Looks like western Kansas...makes me homesick...

My first guitar build was a mahogany body that I built to fit an old pawn shop guitar neck that I had laying around. The mahogany was pretty small, barely bigger than a steinberger headless type thing. It was ugly, and the control plate and jack plate were cobbled together. The pickup cavity was horribly disfigured, but the pickup and rings covered it all up.

I was in high school at the time, and using my dad's tools which consisted of a hand saw, a jig saw, a hand drill, and a couple of files. Although the guitar was butt-ugly, it was playable, and the intonation was ok. But the guitar was only as good as the pawn shop neck, which pretty much sucked. I have no idea what ever happened to it, might still be in my parents' garage.

Currently, it's my Les Paul DC standard. It's the "standard" by which all others are judged, in my eyes.

A few years back, I played an old beat up melody maker in a local store. It wasn't much to look at, but I know what you mean by that magic. It played so well, and had such a great acoustic tone. I LOVED the neck, it made me a better player. They were asking like $600, which I didn't have at the time, or I would have snatched it up for sure.

I saw Dan Fogelberg play an instrumental version of "Eleanor Rigby", I think on a 12 string, that was just awesome.

Both Fogelberg and the Beatles have alot of songs that work well with 12 strings. Good chord progressions that hold their own without vocals, etc.

Rush, Xanadu, is another good one.

Michael Hedges, America, and Yes have alot of good 12 string stuff, too.

I have a SansAmp bass driver. Every time I play bass, I go through it because it sounds so excellent.

But back to Peavey... For my first 15 years or so of playing guitar, I was on an extremely tight budget, so I played Peaveys all the time. This would have been from the mid 70's to early 90's.

During that time, I never had a Peavey break down in any way. They bounced around in a trailor, endured extreme temperature changes, lived in dusty, smokey environments, and were basically abused to the point of absurdity, and withstood it all. As for the sound quality, I felt that they were very versatile, and I never had a problem getting a tone I liked. Factor in the relatively cheap price tag, and I was very happy with every Peavey I ever owned. But, I've never played through a valve king, so I can't comment specifically about them.

From my experiences, if you're on a tight budget, Peavey is a great choice. Even if you're not concerned with $$, having a Peavey around is never a bad thing.

I may be interested in some walnut as well.

Wow, I guess some of you guys have personal issues with this guy or something.

The ego thing is a bit much on the website, but we all have to do self-promotion. Some do too much, some not enough. Whatever.

I'm not much into this kind of music, whatever label you want to put on it, but I'd like to offer my opinion on some things that I think might make the song sound better. (whatever my opinion may be worth!)

Tighten up the rythmn tracks. If the drums were the first thing recorded, which is how I usually do it, make sure they are tight and in time before overdubbing other things on top. Make sure the length of any breaks are in time with the song, and make sure all instruments come back from the break at the same time. Make the drum timing TIGHT, and very crisp. Then when you overdub other instruments, just play in time with the song; that way you're not struggling with the time signatures. I think the drums not being tight in places is the root of the whole timing issue that everyone mentions.

On all of your tracks, whenever there is silence on the track, turn the volume down to zero. Or go back and digitally edit out all hiss, noise, etc. when the instrument is not playing. I could hear drop outs from tracks ending in the background while other tracks were still playing.

Too much reverb and ambience. Add just enough of this stuff to the mix where you DON'T notice it.

Alot of the lead guitar in this song is just running up and down a scale. If that's what you were after, ok. Maybe that's the wind? I might reconsider some of that, it sounds like you're practicing your scales. But then again, many songs on the radio nowadays sound like the guitarists NEED to practice.

Ok, after all that, I would like to say that I read all the bad and negative comments here and on the jem site before listening to the song. I was expecting something totally horrible. Actually, in my opinion, it was pretty cool. It sounds to me like a home recorded song, which it is. I can hear the cinematic element in there, too. I think it has the potential to be alot better, if it had some better production. But that's ALWAYS an issue with those of us who record at home. Fixing those timing issues would go a long way towards improvement.

Keep up the songwriting, the recording, and the guitar playing. Thanks for sharing your tunes.

Rich,

I just received the wood that I bought from you today. The black limba body blank is flat out gorgeous, and the ziricote fretboard is really nice, too. The pictures don't do them justice. Thanks for the woods, Rich. It was a pleasure doing business with you.

A+

Lance

Darker woods like cherry and mahogany respond to a saturated solution of potassium di-chromate. It burns them much darker overnight.

You can get this stuff at any chemical supply house. It's relatively safe to work with.

Rusty water will turn the oak family black.

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I've read that potassium di-chromate is nasty, nasty stuff. Serious carcinogen. It's the chromate part that makes it nasty. If you use this stuff, use serious protection; respirator mask, goggles, gloves, apron, etc. I've stayed away from it for that reason. Read up on the hazards before using. It's supposed to make mahogany look really fantastic, though.

On mimf, there's some good info about a steel wool and vinegar solution, probably similar to the rusty water thing. It's supposed to work well on figured maple, too. Do some research over there, it might help.

I've never used any of these methods yet, but seriously considering the steel wool and vinegar thing. It seems a little less toxic than some of the other stuff. These mixtures darken the wood through chemical reactions rather than dyes or stains.

Good luck!!

I'm doing a project with a spalted maple top right now. THis is my first project with unstable or "exotic" wood. My others have been mahogany and swamp ash. With all of the headaches that come with this spalted stuff, my next one might be made from something more stable. Just getting it flat and keeping it from tearing out is a major chore. But it's kinda like the burl, if you tear out a chunk, you can glue it back in and it's not so noticeable.

Good luck with that buckeye, to both of you. I'm already anxious to see the results!

Nice work! I like those F holes, too. What is the wood on the top?

Epoxy.

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That was my first thought, to cut out a piece from the scrap that would fit in the hole, then epoxy it in place. I guess with the burl, the figure is such that it might not be noticable, and would blend in pretty well. Thanks for the info.

I've seen pics of basses made from buckeye burl, and they are incredible!! Never seen one in person, though.

Wow, that's a great link. Hadn't seen that place yet. Alot of great wood there. Thanks for the link.

Quick question. I've never used burl before with holes going all the way through. What is the prefered method and material for filling such big holes? Sorry, I don't mean to change the subject....

I don't have a plunge router, just a "regular" router. I drill with a forstner to get my depth, one hole per cavity, then use my router to do the rest.

A couple of pointers:

Build a jig, buy or build a template, or use some kind of fence, to use as a guide so you don't route outside of your cavity area. Don't try to free-hand it, especially if you have little experience with a router. Practice on some scrap before attacking your good wood.

Cut small depths, and make several passes, to get to your final depth. Don't try to go too deep on a single pass.

Wear safety glasses, goggles, and/or a face shield, and maybe some hearing protection. Wear a mask if your cutting exotic wood. Be prepared to be covered with pieces of material as it REALLY flies when using a router.

Snoop around this site and you'll find all kinds of good advice and tutorials.

Good luck!

That bass looks great! Didn't know what to make of it at first, but now I see it coming together. Very unique design, I can't wait to see this one finished.

I'm a big Tull fan, too. I see your avatar is the The Broadsword and the Beast album cover - one of my favorites. Martin Barre is so under-rated as a guitarist. One of his best solos in my opinion, is on Seal Driver from that album...

Keep up the good work!

You can use a dremel for pickup or control cavities, but it will take forever because it's so small. Also, I would drill out a bunch of the material with forstner bits first if were doing it that way, and just use the dremel to clean up the edges. I have the plunge router attachment for my dremel, and I really like it for small areas, or if I need to trim something up just a little. But for large areas, you can't beat a real router. That's the cleanest and easiest way for me, anyway.

Wow, tough choice. Can I vote for all of them?!!?

The Leviation needs to be on a guitar rack in my room. Very professional.

Godin's guitar has such amazing wood and finish. Beeautiful!! I voted for this one last month.

Setch's LP is just plain incredible. Senitmental value there, as it reminds me of a guitar I used to have. LP's are very near and dear to my heart, and this one looks as good or better than a Gibson.

The blue tele is so hot! The color, the finish, the top wood, the back wood. Wow!

I love headless, fretless, and spalted maple. The bass has it all.

Matt's blue is just so good. I like the body style, too.

This one is so tough! But in the end it was down to the bass or the blue tele for me, and I went with the blue tele. Every guitar here is a winner, and it's a beyotch that we can only choose one.

Wow, that tele's turning out very nice. The quilt looks really 3-D with that color and finish. Great work!

I use Elixirs all the time on my Fender guitars. I have never needed to wipe them down, and they stay bright for quite awhile.

I wash my hands before playing, and I've never had a problem with sweaty hands and strings corroding. I know other people who, no matter how clean the hands are, have problems with gunky strings. Guess it depends on the person.

Greg, I kinda like the way that guitar looks. Only I might consider making the dark brown stripes a little bit thinner. With the limba grain to scale, and maybe some figuring in the dark brown wood, it would look great.

Douglas Fir? There's something interesting, I hadn't thought of that wood before. I had thought of aromatic cedar the other day when I was at Lowe's. Don't know how it would sound, but it sure would smell good!

That's a tough choice. Both colors would look really good.

How about a blue-orange burst? Just kidding!

I'm leaning towards the turquoise blue. But if Godin says orange... he's the man ever since I saw that buh buh bubinga guitar.

Cud, the wood work on your guitar looks so good, anything will look great (except paint!).