IbanezDudeCK

I just started restringing and installing a bridge truss on my 12 string that I bought used a couple months ago. When I tried taking the old strings off, the old pins WOULD NOT come out. It took some humidifying, a lot of pushing and a lot of wiggling with a pair of pliers to get most of them out where my good acoustic generally takes a slight push from the inside or gentle tug to remove. Even worse, I got brass pins to put in and they sit about 5mm above the top of the bridge. I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to muscle a piece of tapered brass into the bridge so I'm assuming it needs a little modification. I know you can carefully us a round file or regular reamer in place of a bridge pin reamer, but how tight should the holes be and should there be a slight gap between the bottom of the pin head and the top of the bridge or should it fit flush against with a slightly snug fit around the edges? The pins are the round, flat top ones instead of the regular 'ball' top ones.

That's pretty cool. Is the neck still pretty solid with that fancy neck joint angle thingy? I like the looks of the wraparound with the wood plate better. Would look really cool with a Dean Soltero style carve on the part where you're forearm rests. Did you find a way to wire it with quick connect pickup connections to change from the bridge HB to SC pickup when switching the bridge?

That's one huge plastic backplate and a ton of controls for a 2 pickup guitar. That neck joint is pretty sick looking though. I love Sycamore guitars. Would've bought a flame sycamore acoustic but the acoustics were extremely outdated. Sounded great unplugged though. How much did this thing cost?

Interesting guitar to say the least. Good idea for getting the top radiused. How much is it going to weigh? Looks heavy.

Simply amazing. I'm jealous. It must take skill to take 'junk' and turn it into something awesome. The textured front and the headstock are the key features for me. Not a big fan of the pickguard (or pickguards in general), but everything else is great. The fretboard/neck will look amazing once the finish starts wearing off and you get all that grime and fading on it. Makes me want to go out to my Uncle's ranch and steal some of the wood from the old homesteads on the land.

That's a very valid point. I hate a lot of pawn shops. They'll never admit to something being stolen or broken when they sell it to you. Wish they'd just man up about it.

Haven't seen them but I'd recommend putting an add like this on any of the Craigslist sites for your area if you haven't already. That and the pawn shop are the two easiest places for someone to get rid of them and make money. I've seen it happen before and I say a guy get one back through Craigslist help ads. Best of luck

Not sure about the convenience of the locations on the side, but I've seen it done. I believe RKS and that dude that made guitars that look like motorcycle fuel tanks both did that. I like the looks of that hand grip cutout, but I think it'd be weird having the knobs in an unusual spot like that.

I don't really have nearly the tools (or cash for tools) that I need right now for building properly and was thinking of ordering (or scrapping guitars) for necks for a while to avoid paying for all the fretting tools and everything needed for a neck, but by the time you buy a Warmoth or Carvin 7 string neck, you might as well have bought the tools. 7 string necks are especially hard to find so I can see you having a market in 7 string necks. If you could make a fairly completed (minus the heel portion and headstock) 7 string neck for under $150, I would definitely consider buying.

It's ALMOST done. everything is pretty much in place. the neck pocket is made, the neck heel has been adjusted, the front and back plates are on and the logo is inlayed. The frets are all in, leveled, crowned, and rounded. The body has the rounds around the edges. Still need the backplate for the control panel, some headstock shaping, tuner holes, and the holes for the bridges screws. Still need to add my fancy headstock taper/ledge/color change thing. Right now, everything is being 120 grit sanded. The rounds and neck have been cleaned up since the pictures I took last night. Neck Pocket: Neck Heel: Headstock side: Headstock inlay logo: Body: Body back:

Looks a bit like these guitars I remember seeing in Guitar Player for a few years. Can't remember the brand, but they were usually red and held by some creepy goth looking girls. Yours looks a lot classier though with the curved edges and the ornate fingerboard/bridge. Is that an extra fret slot at the end of the board though?

Interesting. I like that single coil/humbucker idea with the dual neck pickups. Like a metal HSH and a classic strat in one. I can see why you'd need some colors to help you with all that pickup stuff. I almost always stick to the bridge (I also just use 2 channel amps- I have one for metal, one for other stuff. I guess I like my tone and don't want to change it) so I probably wouldn't need anything as fancy as that. That's also why I'm thinking of putting a Sustainer in one of my extra guitars- I don't use the neck position. It definitely looks like you enjoy having millions of tones from your guitar and that huge Line 6 Vetta. Do you know if there's a way to simplify the lighting system to just stay one color and have a on/off switch to conserve battery? Also, can't wait to see the next few. I wonder what crazy ideas you have for those, a fretboard that has scrolling LED light messages maybe?

That's pretty cool. Did you wire the 2 neck pickups together or something to create a mega-pickup or something? The only thing you didn't put in was a Fernandes Sustainer. I like the looks of the wenge strips that you did. How long/expensive was the whole inlay w/fiberoptics process? I've kinda wanted a guitar with the big light up dot inlays but it looks like too much work for a little 'visual improvement'.

I did where a full face shield when routing around the body if that makes you happier. Anyways, I have posted an pics or any progress, but it's now fretted and has a headstock backplate that was just glued on last time. The neck joint is roughly drawn out and the neck is 120 grit sanded. Here's a pic of the neck before frets and backplate. And the headstock 'logo' inlay is cut, needs a bit of filing. I've got the headplate piece and need to cut it to the right shape and glue it on then put in the inlay.

Interesting. You're last one was so traditional now its super modern. Not the most comfortable looking shape but neither is the Halo Reaper that I want to base my next one off of. Are you just doing a natural clear finish on the whole thing or are you going to do an aged brown look like the last one?

I've always kinda been one that doesn't buy a guitar unless it looks awesome. That's probably a bad thing and yours does look like it'd be easy to play with it sitting on the left leg like how I play, but I usually play standing and I really don't mind my RG's and Superstrats when sitting. Lots of people seem to be doing 'ergonomic' bodies but I still like the good ole super strats, explorers, and V's. I do have to admit that certain bodies drive me up the wall when it comes to comfort though. dang Ovations. I won one in a raffle and it's a pain to play cuz the dumb bulb shaped back sticks right into my gut. For me, the order of importance is the neck feel, a cool but balanced body, good hardware, good pickups, and then a comfortable body for sitting. Like I said, I play standing so (for me at least) an ergonomic body for sitting is not important. For some people it's probably the most important though. I like the orange though, unique in a cool way.

To be totally honest, I hate the way the body looks, but it's kinda like paint splatter art, some see it as art, others see it as a horrible middle of the night, last minute decision. That red swirl body looks totally sweet though.

The body just doesn't really seem like everything fits together. The holes look really modern but the body as a whole looks like a really old vintage style hollowbody. Maybe it'll look better when the cutaway is done but to me, the body shape looks vintage and the wood and holes look modern. it just doesn't seem to have a modern, slim and streamlined look like the F holes.

Just a quick clarification, birdseye is basically a random 'defect' in the wood structure and grain. It looks good but is supposedly a pain to carve (lots of sanding after, just like all figured wood) and makes it less stable, therefore a birdseye neck is more likely to crack than a regular, unfigured maple neck and the more 'eye the weaker it becomes so you don't want to much, you need to find a balance (at least thats what the guys at Peavey say). That's probably what he was talking about. Next I'd like to say DAAAANNNNNNGGGGG you're good Jimmy. Both of your first 2 look sick. I kinda liked the purple more than the green but that's just me. Green is more unique I guess. are you doing the headstock this time too? And do you have the templates on your PC? I'd kinda like a copy of them for future use cuz yours looks almost exactly like a real one (other than the 'flatter' not as concave arm rest)

For the strings, I'd try the Zakk Wylde GHS set with the 72 low E or a baritone set. Maybe a 7 string set without the high e (it'd have a wrapped 3rd string like an acoustic, but it'd be thick). Daddaario has a new drop C set too that's thick as can be. I like the look of that top, but I hope the body isn't finished. It looks really wide and not really fluid. The cutaway is WAY too small. You're neck clamp things for attaching the fretboard are pure genius though.

First, I like the looks of it, especially the brown stain. I like guitars with a really dark black/brown stain on them without a high gloss clear, real rustic looking (provided it's not something super amazing on the top). Those CADD drawings must've taken forever to get exact if you did that all yourself. Second, DANG you take a lot of pictures. Third, hows that Craftsman router working out for you? I'm thinking of buying the 2 base set Craftsman router like yours.

The taper from the fretboard to the headstock looks a bit weird and it looks a bit rough around the 'binding' part, but I really like the shape and the brown stain. The top stain is OK, but the aged brown is sweet. Nice inlay too.

Is your neck joint super tight? I'm not sure how much it effects the actual sound, but when using bolt on necks, they say it's essential to have a super tight fit with little to no gaps. I know it has a huge effect on sustain but I don't know about actual tone. Make sure the neck is on their super tight and solid. Also, make sure the strings clear the first fret easily. One of my kramers sounds real 'thin' and weak compared to the other almost identical one and I think it's because of the fret buzz. I need to shim the FR nut up to get it to not skim the first fret. Fret buzz is not good at any point on the neck. I usually get a little just cuz I like low strings, but you can quickly lose tone when getting little amounts of buzz. That's why I hate my 7 string- I pick like a freight train and the low string always hits the frets making it sound weak. Those are the two things that make my manufacturer guitars sound bad so try checking that. I love that top and the color btw. I like those body styles but your bottom horn looks a little weird. Too wide and not deep enough so slightly out of proportion maybe? The dark green carved top Ernie Ball Musicman guitars look beast but cost as much as a car or I'd have one BTW, is that a microwave suspending your guitar body on a stick over a load of dirty laundry on an unforgivably hard tile floor? RISKY!!!! O yeah, a Seymour Duncan JB bridge and 59 neck. Or a JP Dimarzio set. Maybe the CJ Grimmark Lundgrens if your rich.

More pictures. The Neck and fretboard are now attached, the fretboard is slotted and inlayed (dots), the LMI truss rod is in the neck, the neck is pretty much carved, needs cleaned up with the fretboard on it. The body is pretty much shaped up now, need to add pickup slots and clean up the control area. Just pictures of the fretboard being glued to the neck, lots of Stew-Mac neck clamps, other clamps, and a big piece of metal.

Well, more pictures and progress. First, some pictures of me cutting the body and top to get ready to glue. The routing was done before gluing and you can see a part of the route in the last picture Picture of the body and top being glued together: The body and top after unclamping The neck being glued (2 piece maple) And slotting the ebony fretboard