DRAKO

I know you already said you’re going topographical on it, but I’m plus one for the angle grinder. It’s the simplest method I’ve heard of. Metalhead28 was kind enough to talk me through the particulars, and I was very surprised at how easy it was to get a great carve. You may want to take a look at a few of the builds he’s posted. They sold the idea for me.

you can't sharpen plane or spokeshave blades on a guide correctly anyhow

the only way to do it properly is by hand as a hundred generations of woodworkers have done before you

these honing guides sharpen a blade dead flat accros the leading edge - wrong

the main objective of a honing guide is to get the money from your pocket into the wood tools suppliers bank ac

there is plenty on the net to show how to do it properly

i laugh at you girly guides

Okay... I respectfully disagree.

Do you use the special mirco-abraisives with the film backing? I find they work a treat.

No just the regular wet/dry stuff. I’ll have to look in to that.

You could also try replacing the springs.

That was my first guess. I say that because you’ve already talked about the fulcrum points being clean. I think you would notice something if that were the issue. If slipping was a problem, the counter tension on the strings would cause some of the strings to go sharp and others to go flat. In other words, all the strings would not detune uniformly.

Nice guitars...inventive concepts...

If I were to make a steel hollow body(I would not though) I would encase the pups in wood.

Agreed.

You may want to consider doing a typical build, and then doing a chrome paint job. I use catalyzed urethane (car paint) for any opaque finish. Alsa corp. makes this chrome paint that is just killer looking if it’s applied right. The metal flake in it is REAL finely ground and it gives the appearance of steel. It would take a little creativity, but it would probably be lighter and easier than machining a bunch of steel components. Or you could just combine the two, do the chrome paint job on the wood surrounding the pickups and attach whatever steel appendages you could come up with. That would give you the option of a set neck if you wanted it as well.

I would have gone with the epoxy for this job, but at this stage you might want to use some of that concoction you made there on a piece of scrap wood and see how it reacts when you throw some sanding sealer over it (or whatever comes next for you). If it still acts up go for the mulligan and get the epoxy ready.

2, 3, and 5 are a little busy for my taste, but the rest of them look good. # 4 is also my favorite.

I went as far as calling EMG and getting a diagram to eliminate a tone pot in a dual humbucker setup. I blast it anyway, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s just one less hole I gotta drill. Everything tone and EQ wise takes place in my rack and on my amp.

I think the difference between a 25.5” and a 26” would be negligible for drop C. There are plenty of 25.5s out there ready to go that would tune to drop C, arguably, every bit as well as a 26” scale length. I’ve heard a few people talking about that scale length lately, but can’t think of anyone who builds it regularly. However, if you’re gonna get a custom job done anyway, I don’t see a reason not to go with the 26”. I would definitely recommend experimenting with heavier gauge strings before making that investment though. After all, I’ve seen guys tune 25” scale length guitars to drop B, and they seemed to live with it just fine.