Johnny Foreigner

Starting to plan out the next build. It's going to be a superthin variation on my first build, clocking in at around 1 1/8" The body is going to be black limba with a spalt maple cap. The neck is going to be 5-lam - bubinga - curly maple - padauk - curly maple - bubinga. What I can't yet decide on is: a) pickups b ) colors first, pickups: one option would be to take the superthin idea to its logical conclusion - superlight, in which case I'd go for a single alumitone single coil, with a single volume control. option two would be to defy the superthin idea and still have it be fully featured - two humbuckers (each series/parallel switchable) and an under-bridge piezo. Three volume pots, n-tune, pushpulls, l-shaped toggles (like an SG / V) so here's option one: and here's option two: NB. it may be the body thickness isn't enough to support push-pull pots, in which case I'll ditch the n-tune and put the parallel/series switching on mini-sliders. EDIT: option three, which would include the benefits of option one without being quite such an aesthetic stretch, would be this:

So looks like we're definitely renting out our house and moving into an apartment in the city. Which is great. But means my drums have got to go. I bought them last June for a smidge over $2000 all told, and I just want to get enough for them to pay for a semi-decent electronic kit. Many more pics here: http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a346/tom...X%20drum%20kit/ Full specs: Pearl Vision VMX 6 piece drum kit in "sparkle silver" with maple shells 10 x 8 tom 12 x 9 tom 13 x 10 tom 16 x 16 floor tom 14 x 5.5 snare 22 x 18 bass drum Pearl 700 series hardware: throne hi-hat stand straight cymbal stand boom cymbal stand snare stand bass drum pedal CP70 cymbal clamp Sound Percussion SPC21 cymbal clamp Additional boom cymbal stand Zildjian 2009 ZHT cymbals 14" hi-hats 16" medium-thin crash 20" medium ride 18" fast crash 8" splash Kaces KCP-5 drum rug with bass drum stop Vic Firth mute set with cymbal mutes I'd prefer to do a local deal on these (Melrose, MA) but would consider shipping. $1100 firm for everything listed.

seriously? In Massachusetts people drive to New Hampshire to buy big ticket items because they're so outraged by the 6.25% sales tax in MA. NH has zero. I tell people what it's like back in blighty and they simply don't believe there could be a 17.5% sales tax. Oh, and sorry to be a pedant, ghendrickson, but you implied it was a matched set. We may have inferred it because you implied it. Okay, I'm not sorry at all. I love being a pedant.

in place: glued in place, with a slit cut for the piezo under-bridge pickup, and a hole cut for the mag pickup: I used spray glue, by the way, deviating from Our Soul's published guidelines. I had previously tested it on a piece of scrap, using the corner of the printout, which I then shot a few coats of sanding sealer over. Looked fine. All tidied up and trimmed flush: and with the cutout glued onto the mag pickup. not sure how this is going to impact tone, but as this is essentially one big joke, who cares?

Ok, time for the big reveal. And remember, this is for one of my best friends, in celebration of his 30th birthday. And also remember that he and I share a stupid sense of humor. .... .... IT'S HIS OWN FACE!

I bought a set of their Dragonfire screamer pups for my crappy LP copy that I'm refinishing. Not done with the refinish so don't know how they sound, but as my ear isn't all that discerning anyways, I already think they're going to be good vfm.

So my 4/4 piece of limba (so, 13/16") combined with my .30" maple top should work provide the electronics will fit. Which they will. that's around 1.1125" or 1 1/8" it's gonna be tight....

inspired a little by Restoration's superthins, I'm becoming a little obsessed with building a super-thin, super-light guitar. so my question is: what's the thinnest body you've ever built that worked.

frets in: This is one area where I've noticed a definite 'practice makes perfect' improvement over the last build. I learned a lot and applied it here to end up with a better (tho not perfect) fret job. awesome. and this time I got a nicer, tighter fit on the neck pocket, tho didn't 100% manage to line up the neck on the centerline. not that you'll be able to tell. and the neck goes in to glue. getting close on this one now.

rough carve on the neck: lil smoother: And I'm now essentially back to the point I was at when it was pointed out to me that my last neck was a trainwreck. That was July 25th. Sigh.

that tailpiece is BADASS!

don't know diddly about the EMGs, but as far as the jack goes, general standard seems to be that the outside arm is ground, the shortest is positive/tip and whatever you have left is ring. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...utput_Jack.html http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/pro...Jack?sku=363051

Nah, I'm pretty stoic. I am English, after all. Passion is a dangerous thing, characteristic of the French. The main thing is that with everything that goes wrong, at least you learn the lesson and make sure it doesn't go wrong again, right? I look at my photoshop mockup and it makes me giggle everytime, but that's because I and the eventual recipient have a shared and very very stupid sense of humor. We'll both find it hilarious, everyone else will probably be nonplussed.

Now, mainly for reasons of aesthetics, the top of this one needs to be as free of clutter as possible. So I'm only having one (mag) pickup, and because of the depth of the body, I'm not going to be able to direct mount it, but I also don't want to use a pickup ring. So I decided to make pickup holders out of acrylic that are basically the end bits of a pickup ring, without the aroundy bits. I was prepared for the edges of the acrylic to be made opaque by the machining, but I maintained the patience to sand up through the grades all the way to the end of my micromesh, and while I wouldn't claim total transparency, I think these came out kinda good.

scarf: truss rod channel routed: I forgot to take pics of shaping the neck and headstock, so we skip onto gluing on the fretboard, which I salvaged from the old, broke neck.

Ok, with the finishing on my other one waiting to cure I'm back to this one again. Got enough wood for three necks: As I'm giving this guitar away for nowt, I chose to give it the least visually appealing of the three: padauk, bubinga, maple, bubinga padauk. It should end up looking like this, if my photoshop skills are to be believed: Here it is glued up:

You've done the rust before - you can do it again. Have a crack at the paint.

I disagree! (no you don't)

Fo shizzle. Had to be HOD, although I could see myself voting for either of the other two any other month. Again, another acoustic makes me thing 'lectrics and 'coustics should have separate GOTMs. But then, insanely good guitar should also be barred from entering, if you ask me. I'd also like to see a separate first build GOTM (or maybe just GOTY) - no kits allowed and has to be your first build that would qualify.

Musiclogic - don't take it to heart. Everyone here is somewhat of a prick on their day. Maybe we should have a separate section for noob questions - then anyone going in to post their obvious question would see how many times it has already been asked. There should also be some sort of disclaimer with a list of question liable to start flame wars. One other thing, Musiclogic: welcome. Enjoy. It's worth getting past this introduction, I promise you. And if you want to endear yourself to fellow PGers, I suggest asking some insightful questions about sustainers.

thanks all. think i'll start with the P1 from AX84 and then maybe graduate to the DLite 22/33 if I enjoy the process.

Yeah, I was actually looking at AX84.com and their kits. Seems a fairly cheap entry point, pretty easy to learn the basics and end up with a decent sounding amp. I'm interested in as far as it would be a fun project, more than that I'd end up with the killerest of killer tube amps.

Apols this is a little off topic - didn't seem OT enough to go in the OT section tho... anyone had any experience with build your own tube amp kits? I'm thinking it would be a fun little project - I'm sure it would work out no cheaper than walking into GC and buying a JCM800 or whatever, but seems like it could be fun and informative and stuff. any experiences to share?

So there's a reasonable chance that I may be leaving my house in the suburbs to head into the city for a return to apartment living. If that happens, then I'll lose my little basement woodshop. One of the options I'm looking at is a place called Artisan's Asylum in Somerville, MA (http://artisansasylum.com/). They have some decent tools and seems like you can rent out a little corner for your own stuff. So three questions: 1) anyone know of any other co-op woodshop type places in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville? There's a chance I might be able to get access to the MIT woodshop through a friend but I'd like as many options as possible. 2) does anyone have any specific experience with Artisan's Asylum? 3) anyone have any general experience with this type of place. common pitfalls? questions to ask, etc?

Well, you did somehow find yourself on the wrong side of the Penines and have yet to extricate yourself. If the boot fits...