MuffinPunch

That thing looks rediculous!! Super cool, but rediculous. BTW where did you get those Misfits pajamas?

Thats good to know. Thanks.

Just finalizing the design up a little bit. Got all of my templates drawn and ready to cut with the laser. Im hoping to get the bodies and necks cut and partially shaped before I really go nutz with the Giger guitar. Depending on the time table for the other guitar I may be able to get these two close to done in the next few months. Im gonna hold out on getting the hardware and electronics until later. Im trying to decide weather to add graphics to the HS in addition to the body. Ive decided to badge it "Maiden USA". Jackson decal may or may not make it onto either of the final products, but Im including it here for continuity sake.

I was gonna guess that you stopped seeing problems when Ibanez replaced the ZR with the ZR2, but I see that they are only using the ZR2 on the prestige models. The standard ones still get the ZR...

is there a way to tell when a bridge was manufactured? Im really planning on buying used and I dont want the thing to break on me down the road if it turns out it was made when the QC was bad.

Hahahaha! C'mon, be nice! Its true, but to be fair, the Edge Zero gives you the best of both worlds. The Edge + Zero Point. They are just so new that they cost a fortune and are extremely hard to come by used or new. To each his own...

Thanks dude, I appreciate the words of advice. I wasnt exactly sure what you meant by that last sentance as it looked like you started typing blindfolded with your face, but I gathered that you were saying I could find Edge bridges on ebay for around $200? Ibanez only puts the ZR bridges on their S series. Personally, Ive never read a review or talked to anyone who didnt like the ZR bridge. Ive only played one a handfull of times at the guitar shop, and I wasnt plugged in, but it felt good to me. I like the Edge too tho. But, a big part of the point here is to emulate an SHRG, which uses the ZR trem, and I have found listings for under $120 used. Set up and intonation is incredibly easy with the ZR from what Ive learned. Its not a "floating" bridge in the traditional sense, as it utilizes a ball bearing pivot rather than a knife edge, so they potentially stay in tune much better and longer, and are more durable, and it essentially has a built in tremsetter and stop. Its kind of an all-in-one vibrato and Id like to try one out for a while. To be honest, I was sold when I saw Herman Li hold up his guitar by the trem arm in the middle of a solo and return to perfect pitch at my first DragonForce concert (dont judge me ). Yes, I know the Egen has an Edge Zero on it, but he used to use a standard S Prestige with a ZR, and the Zero Point system is identical in both bridges. I dont profess to be an expert on bridges, but I know what I like and I know where I feel other bridges are lacking. I may find that I prefer the Edge over the ZR down the line, and I have yet to try a Kahler, but by then I hope to have built and/or acquired a few guitars with each. I have plans for about 5-6 different guitar and bass builds at the moment with more coming all the time, and no intention of selling a single one of them yet. That may change as I gain more experience and confidence, but Im not getting into this because I think I can make money doing it. (Although, in order to convince my wife to let me set up a wood shop in our future home Ill have to use that as an excuse. )

Hope the new owner will dig it.

A quick burst with the sandblaster will do an amazing "frost" job. I was thinking I would frost the entire backside of the guitar including cavities, but that still needs to be worked out. I always thought Metalhead28's headstock looked more like an exaggerated "metal" PRS shape, and I admit that I love it. I was going for a 3x3 Ibanezesque shape. It kinda failed tho. Im working on some new headstock designs for this guitar which will probably carry over to the bass as well. Im still going to finish the Battleaxe first, and eventually the bass and San Dimas Jackson copies will get done, but as I mentioned, I learned I can get school credit for doing this one so Im giving it priority at the moment. Ill post some headstock mockups when I get a chance.

Thats a good observation. I gotta say I completely agree with you on both points. I will definitely work on the headstock design. My original intension was to mimic the original Ibanez HS design in a 3x3 format and slightly more aggressive. As far as the wiring and control cavities go, I hadnt really thought of that much. I figured if I frosted the inside of the cavity it wouldnt show as much. Ill look into the white coated wire.

Ive been excited about the prospect of building a seven string guitar, but after some shopping around, Ive come to the realization that having a limited budget is going to make this guitar a bit difficult to build. The ZR7 bridge alone will cost more than the rest of the guitar altogether, including mould blank and casting supplies. However, I came accross multiple listings for a standard six string ZR bridge on ebay that cost less than 1/4 of what Ibanez is asking for a new ZR7 bridge. So to make a long story short, I have reluctantly decided this will be a six string build. I will save the seven for another bridge design. To solidfy in my head that this change is a reality I have also thrown together one last mockup, which I really think is the best combination thus far, using an all matte black finish and a maple fingerboard with the black plastic spine inlay. The headstock got a little messed up here. the real one will have a shape much closer to the one I designed for the 7. I may deicide I want a slightly mor weathered look when I actually start finishing it, but as this guitar will be build from the mould blank for casting the acrylic body, it will be secondary in importance. I have also figured out a way to use this build to get school credit, so It will definitely become a reality this summer. Cant wait!

Now Im really impressed!!!! How did you manage to take this picture while the camera was on the table???!! Seriously though, looks like this is shaping up nicely. Cant wait to see this come together.

Thats so METAL dude! inspiring work. I dont think Ive heard that it cant be done, but all the same, thats impressive! Now Ive got to see how quickly I can shape and rout 2 strat bodies.

Sounds cool man, if it were me I would use graphics from 'Powerslave' or at least 'Somewhere Back in Time' with pyramids if I were going to do the eye if Ra inlay. This project will be a long time in the making so dont hold your breath...

I guess I just cant help myself. I decided to redo the mockups of my original three with the new body shape. and of course: I doubt I will even make a decision until i get ready to start finishing the body, but I dont know what else to do right now. Im obsessed with designing guitars! I want to build them all RIGHT NOW, but I cant. I guess putting together hundreds of mockups is the closest thing I can do at the moment so I hope you guys like em cuz Im sure they will keep coming. I know I said at the beginning of this thread that I would stop posting design ideas for future builds, but I have nothing better to do and I still have a plethora of ideas overshadowing my day to day thoughts. When It comes down to it I will probably have to put to a vote which project to build, not how I should do each of them.

Dude that looks like an awsome abstract sculpture or something and looks right at home sitting there on your coffee table. Please tell me you kept it there!

That thing isn't real is it!!??!! I also like your first design over the second one. It looks more intensional.

Now that you mention it... Its does have some similarities to the LGM Laviiathan. Primarily the upper horn. A can assure you, that wasnt my intention, but as that IMO has some nice looking design features, ill take that as a compliment. The flat top version of my design bears an even closer resemblance... But the Leviathan is a bit busier and not as refined i think. Essentially they are both variations on a Strat, so you could technically say its the same design as an RG, a Soloist, etc.

I have only looked into it a little bit, but a quick google search turned up things like this. Its a clear acrylic casting resin and catalyst you can use to cast a block for machining or whatever, or cast your part (shape). They also sell it in blocks and sheets.You can probably add pigment to it to do custom colors too, but I really have read into it much yet. People at school make acrylic peices all the time so I will definately learn more about it whan I get back.

Fair enough.

Hey Mods, is there a way I can go back and edit past postings? I want to see if I cant fix all of these broken picture links.... Thanks.

So... I started making the plans for laser cutting my templates using the best Strat CAD file I could find. Its the Yngwie Malmsteen model on the DL section of this forum. But it doesnt have a body profile image which would be nice to have, and the San Dimas has a few important differences that I want to make sure I get right. The output jack is on the side rather than the top, it has a HB at the bridge rather than a SC, and the headstock shape is a little different that the swoopy paddle Strat version. Also the rout for the top mount OFR is different than a standard Fender trem and obviously requires studs. I can mash up components and peices to come up with a final product if I could only locate decent ones. I know these kind of questions are frowned upon in this forum and Im already expecting to get the "do a search" response, but I was wondering if anybody knows where I can find a CAD drawing of a Jackson San Dimas? Or any similar drawing I could use. Not the one with the traditional Jackson headstock though. Id rather not have to pay for them either, kind of defeats the purpose of making my own templates in the first place. If it came down to it I could easily use an image of one and draw it out myself, but that wouldn't be as accurate and Id prefer to not to. It may seem like a minor thing, but any help is greatly appreciated...

You're absolutely right. Id love to give it this kind of effect: but im not even going to try to mack that up... But after giving it some thought, if Im going to have to build the whole thing from scratch and im not making an effort to be true to th original design, theres no real reason why I should restrict myself to an Ibanez Sabre shape. Instead, Ill use a Sabre style carve on a body shape that ive been working on. I think its gonna be my "signature" shape for a while, so I want to put it to use on some more projects. Originally I came up with this shape for a flat top bass (Crimson King project) but I did a couple of sketches with a full carve top and bottom and it would look really great. I still want to do an acrylic body with a possible internal LED lighting, but I will be making a casting of it so I will need to build a body that I can use for the mould. No reason why that body cant be finished and made into another guitar right? So I put a few more mockups together using the new body shape, this time playing mostly with matte black here. tell me what you think! By the way, Prostheta, do you have a thread on this forum for the "Dark Sabre"?

I made the mistake of "organizing" all of my photobucket images so most of my so the links are broken to most of the images Ive posted. So I will at least repost the most recent sketch I did of this project. I finally got around to building a digital model of this bass that I will be able to use for making y templates. Its pretty basic and the hardware and other details are very quick and dirty, but it is what it is. I forgot to model in the rear contour, so it looks kinda flat and uncomfortable right now, but that will be remedied before I print any plans. Here are a couple of screen shots of the model. I want to have all the plans ready to print so I can get my templates laser cut as soon as I get back to school.

Dont know how I missed this build. They are really turning out amazing. Great work as usual John. I do agree with whats been said about it not really being necessary to change plans for both guitars because of a negligible mistake on one of them. They will both turn out really well no matter what. However, I also appreciate and respect your reasoning for doing so. Being something of a perfectionist myself, I have been guilty on more than one occasion of making a similar decision based on something my peers disagreed with. And I really understand the concept of 'theme'. If your building them for yourself than it is important for YOU to be completely satisfied with the results, especially since you are obviously capable of doing so.