capu

great job! that one looks beautiful. what kind of nut is that?

Is a Fender LSR roller nut.

Here you can see a detailed picture:

Well dude, that is a beautiful guitar! I´m going to make something like that, but with tremolo and emerald green colour. I hope it will be nice like your one!

I'm sure you will do a nice work ! Let me know when will you start your project, I'm interested in it.

Thank you all for your posts! :-)

I hope the images are not a problem, they resides on my website.

Anyway, the staining process was very simple: I applied only a coat of a water base stain then I wiped with a damp cloth (I did this because the final color was a little too dark).

Some people suggest to sand the first coat and to apply the stain again, this enphasize the flame. Another way to emphasize the flame is to apply first black stain, sand and then apply the final color. I, personally, prefer applying only one coat of stain without sanding: in this way the wood looks 3D, in few words, depending on the light angle, the pattern varies and the maple seams alive (the main problem is that to see this effect when you apply the sanding sealer).

I hope this will help, if not, don't hesitate to ask me again.

Thank you all again :-)

I replaced the standard studs with locking ones (more sustain, more stability) like these:

(Picture taken from http://stores.ebay.com/South-East-Music)

Hello,

You can find some information on how to install that bridge on: http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator/

Put in the form the data and then click the "Calculate" button: there you will find the measures for some bridges.

I like that bridge (the Badass one) because you can set it up perfectly. I also used Wilkinson's one (the one used on PRS) but, in my opinion, it's not sufficiently flexible. The main problem is that it's a little too high so you need to design your guitar to fit it.

I used the Wilkinson's on my SC-Curved but recently I upgraded it to the Badass one.

I installed the Badass also on my last project:

I hope this will help you

Here are the specifications:

Body

· Solid body

· Mahogany body with flamed maple top

· Finish: flamed royal blue

Neck

· Angled headstock

· Flamed Maple

· Wide fat contour

· Indian rosewood fret board

· Tree-of-life inlay (epoxy inlay)

· Set-Neck

Pickups

· PRS Dragon Pickups

Wiring

· 5-way rotary switch

Great idea! I'll keep tuned because I'm really interested in seeing the final result.

Very very very nice!!! Really a GREAT job!

Great work!!! ;-)

Very very very nice!!!

Great job!!

I'll post some sound samples as soon as possible.

If you have any question about the building process give an eye also to the others chapters on my web site under "The Building Process" section

Hello guys,

I completed my last project: a PRS style guitar.

With this project I would create a replica of a PRS. I was faced with several challanges: I started from blank piece of paper and re-designed all. I have to thank my friend and collegue Lorenzo Sommaruga because he suggested me to build something challanging: only in this way you can learn something new.

Here some pictures:

pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

Pic 6

Pic 7

Pic 8

On my website (http://www.power-development.net) under the section "The Building Process" / SC-SetNeck, you can find some pictures of the building process.

Did you have problems with sheptone's site or with mine (power-development)?

I know that there are problems on my web site with Opera (doen't render correctly): what browser did you use?

Sorry for this inconvenience :S

I went to the site and it caused problems with my computer. It took forever to close the program. I finally had to cold boot to get rid of it. Just a heads-up.

Hello guys,

I found hand wound PAF replica pickups at an affordable price by Sheptone (http://www.sheptone.com). I installed them with my complete satisfaction on 3 guitars I built and I think they are really interesting.

If you want you can listen to some samples on http://www.sheptone.com and also on my web site (http://www.power-development.net) under "Guitars" / "SC-Hollow" and "SC-Curved".

The last set I bought will be installed on my new SC-SetNeck that will be finished soon (I'm going to paint it).

I hope this information about these pickup will be useful for you.

Regards

Hello guys,

I uploaded, on my site (http://www.power-development.net), 2 pictures rendered from the CAD drawings of our new fiber carbon guitar.

You can find them under: "Carbon Guitar V2.0" / "The Drawings".

I'll let you know when will we start the building activities.

Regards

Forgive me, I am a bit confused here...nothing new really. Am I understanding that you are comparing a semi hollow with a solid body but attributing the difference to the wood? If that is the case, then you are comparing designs and not woods. I would think the only way to do it would be to have 2 identical bodies, made of 2 different woods, and use all the other pieces in both i.e. hardware, neck, electronics, string gauge (if not actual strings) etc. Then you would have to make sure that your amp was set exactly the same, or go direct to headphones ensuring that your mixer (or driver) settings did not change. Also, any processing or high volume or pre amp gain will start to disguise any difference that might exist. Please correct me if I have misinterpreted the test parameters you have given.

I will always take Rich's word in matters of wood characteristics.

Peace...Rog

Hello Rog

You are right, I'm comparing a semi hollow with a solid body (I built both guitars from the same plans).

What surprised me is the fact that a semi hollow body should sound fat and warm but in my case the sound is bright and I suppose this is due to the fact that the ash I used (european) is very very heavy and very very very very hard. This fact is driving me crazy because that sound is not what I expectes...

In relation to the approach you propose for the tests (2 identical bodies, same pieces,...) you are completely right: my test was not so scientific, I would only demonstrate to the friend who asked me that there is always a difference... The registration is the only element that is "scientific": I used the line 6 guitar port with a standard preset (like heaven is its name) that sets the amp type, the mids, the basses and all other settings...

I posted this message because I would have the feedbacks from other people on order to better understand.

Thank you all

I'll work on it... Unfortunately I did not test the website with Opera... I don't know why but the server consider Opera as a mobile browser and opens the mobile version of the site (you can see it from the address bar).

Thank you very much for your post

It still doesn't load with Opera. I just use IE when looking at your site, but it would be handy to be able to do it from Opera.

Hello again to everybody.

I updated my website because there were some problems with browsers different from IE.

Sorry about it, now it should be ok.

If you will experience any problem, please let me know.

Thank you all.

I think your approach is really interesting: the fact of recording the wood's characteristics is a scientific approach that will allow you potentially to precisely choose the sound your guitar will have... really very interesting!

On the other hand, with my simple test, I would demonstrate my friend that there are many elements that will affect the final sound and that the differences on the sound are really noticeable.

In addition to this, I updated my website because there were some problems with browsers different from IE.

Sorry about it, now it should be ok.

If you will experience any problem, please let me know.

Thank you all.

Hello again to everybody.

I updated my website because there were some problems with browsers different from IE.

Sorry about it, now it should be ok.

If you will experience any problem, please let me know.

Thank you all.

You are completely right. For this reason I did this test with 2 guitars I personally built.

The elements that are the same for the 2 guirtars are:

Scale

Neck wood

Neck and body dimensions

Pickup positions

Wiring (pot, cap and wires)

Bolt-on

Based on the same project/plan

The elements that are different:

Body construction (one is hollow and the other is solid)

Wood (one is ash with maple top and the other is all mahogany)

Bridge (one is a piezo strat style and the other is a wilkinson wraparound)

In my case I really think that the 2 guitars are more comparable than other guitars. In the cases you reported there are more structural differences: a les paul and an explorer cannot be compared at all (the first element is the pickup positioning and these 2 guitars do not have them at the same position). You probably know better than me that the pickup position is a key element for the sound...

In my case, the semihollow body sounds brigther than the solid body and this is due to the fact I used a very very very hard type of ash (european). What I mean with this is that the type of wood you use to build a guitar is really impacting the sound.

In addition to this, in my case I used a, let me define it, a "standardized amplifier": I used a preset of the guitarport of line6 and this allows anybody who has it to reproduce the same amp set-up (same amp and same eq set-up).

I heard some samples that were uncomparable (even if the authors didn't agree with me) because they used different amp set-up.

There has been a lot of discussion over the sounds of different woods, there was another thread recently comparing a les paul, explorer & a chipboard guitar. The problem with your experiment is that the guitars are not only made from different woods but also constructed differently. This doesn't mean that they can't be compared but any differences in sound could be caused by body wood, neck wood, chambering vs solid & pickup construction differences.

A friend of mine was not convinced that there is a real difference in the sound that a wood can produce in relation to the others.

He asked me if the difference between ash and mahogany, for example, is so noticeable or not.

I did a test to demonstrate this and the result is really impressive.

The answer to the question that my friend posed me? Yes, absolutely! The difference is really noticeable: my wife noticed it!

If you are curious you can listen to the difference on my web site: http://www.power-development.net, navigate to "sound comparaison" / "SC-Hollow vs SC-Curved" and listen to the samples.

Let me know what do you think about it

I'm very pleased to explain how to do this kind of inlay.

The mixture: mix 14g of resin (resin + hardener) and add microbaloon (glass or phenolic) till you get a sort of clay (not too hard and not to liquid).

Then fill pattern you routed on the wood and let it harden for 24 hours. At the end, with a radioused sanding block, sand it.

It's very easy!

The color of the mixture can be changed using special color for resins (liquid or paste). You can also use powdered ones but you cannot use water based or solvent based colors (they cannot evaporate and they also damage the chemical structure of the resin --> the resin is a polymer).

My advice is to do some practice on scrap wood.

Let me know if this description is sufficient and don't hesitate to pose me any question.

i noticed that you did your inlays with epoxy how exactly do you make the mixture and is there anyway to change the color of it?

I added some new pictures and I also added my usual sound tests.

Let me know what do you think about this guitar.

Thank you all

Thank you for your comment, I really apreciate it.

I actually rubbed the top and applied another coat of stain, the problem is that the picture I took is really orrible: I'll take another and post it.

In relation to the Forstner, you are completely right: I bought one when I finished the work... so I'll use it the next time

That's a really nice guitar & very well made. The tip about using a sandbag when fretting is a great idea, I press them personally but I know a lot of people hammer them here. The maple's figure might have been enhanced by rubbing back a little & then applying another coat of stain but it looks nice anyway. You might want to get yourself a forstner bit for removing the bulk of wood from cavitys, it looks like a long, slow process with that 10mm bit