mikhailgtrski

Well sure, it will "work" as long as you don't mind the ball ends sitting proud of the body. A funky setup, for sure, plus it'll scratch up your belt buckle Several ways to do this, but here's what worked for me: 1. Drill the string-through holes perpendicular to the back with a 3/32" bit. 2. Set the drill press table at 3 degrees angle (to match the carve top) and re-drill with a 5/32" bit, just deep enough for the top ferrules. 3. Put the table back to 0 degrees and re-drill the back side with a 5/16" brad point bit, deep enough for the back ferrules. Somehow I drilled the G a little off line from the others - should be enough lip on the ferrule to cover it, though

You'll have to drill again for the back side ferrules anyway - they're larger than the top ones. back top That is, unless you want the ball ends of the strings to hang out the back

The Classic does it for me. Nice and understated. I almost voted for the acoustic since it's a such a nice build for a first-timer, but I decided to leave out the newbie factor.

You might want to trace the outline on paper first and use that as a template to gauge your routing progress. Better to have to go back and route a little more than to fill a large gap. Take it slow, have fun, and post us some pics when you're done. Mike

No, but you can drill out the screw holes to accept the bushings, assuming there's enough surrounding wood. Use a drill press - you sure don't want any crooked bushings.

inlay tutorial I glued mine on with a small amount of Duco cement and used an x-acto #11 blade to scribe around it. After scribing I popped them off (carefully) with a razor blade, then rubbed white chalk in the lines for routing. Pieces that span a large section of the fingerboard work better if you can inlay them in segments, otherwise you may end up sanding through any edges that don't lay flush in the cavity. Mike

Just one more reason why I'm building (well, modding/finishing/assembling Warmoth components anyway) my own... Plus I'd have to custom order a PRS to get it configured the way I like it. $$$$$

In '82 a friend of mine got a '65 Fender Duosonic from his aunt. Perfect condition except for a little scrape in the top finish. Of course, we ripped the pickups out to put in some hot DiMarzios and drilled a hole in the pickguard to install a coil tap switch. For good measure we stripped off the transparent cherry finish and threw some danish oil on it. Oh, to be young and stupid again. He eventually traded it for an old Micro-Moog.

They had to go and make it left-handed, didn't they? And apparently they're not allergic to cocobolo anymore.

+1 Definitely full price - no discount there. You could order the same neck from Warmoth with abalone dots for $15 more. You'd spend way more than that in $$ and sweat changing out the creme dots.

Well, this is where I'm at so far: The experiments continue... Mike

If you're interested, some better pics of the inlay are here: Completed Vine Inlay Thanks again for looking Mike

Finally done This is my first go at inlay work. I'm pretty happy with the results - not perfect by any means, but I can live with it. Paua abalone, red heart abalone, and bronze MOP inlaid in brazilian rosewood. inlay 1 inlay 2 inlay 3 inlay 4 inlay 5 headstock inlay Many thanks to Craig Lavin for his tutorial and advice. I also learned a lot from Larry Robinson's "The Art of Inlay". Thanks for looking. Mike

"Anyway, Rush is one of my favorite bands period and they more than make up for Celine." +1 Just have to tell my Rush Encounter story... Last year my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary by staying at a nice downtown Seattle hotel. I had to leave for work early the next morning, and she was going to check out later. (This was the day before Rush was playing the White River Amphitheater.) So, she walked out the front door of the hotel and noticed a couple of guys waiting at the corner. One looked familiar and she asked him, "Excuse me, aren't you Geddy Lee from Rush?" He said, "Me? Yes, I am." She went on to tell him how her husband is a huge fan of theirs, etc., and got his autograph made out to "Mike". Then she turned to the other guy and asked, "Are you with the band, too? Can I get your autograph?" They both laughed and he replied, "No, I'm just here to keep him in line." So they said their goodbyes. A few minutes later my wife realized that the "other" guy was none other my favorite guitarist of all time, Mr. Alex Lifeson. I should have taken the day off. Mike

You really have to start with a strong mix of brown or mahogany, wipe it on 2-3 times, let it dry for an hour, then sand back. My first tries were with the 1:16 mix and it didn't get nearly dark enough. I used 1:4 on the last batch. I'll post some pics tonight if I have time. Mike

Drak says he darkens up his red base with a little black. A strong mix of dark brown or red mahogany will also work. One of my test pieces with the dark brown base turned out really close to your pic. It looks like there's a little yellow or amber in there along with the red. Mike

"Plus, I'm color-blind." As am I (a little trouble with greens & browns) so I always get a second opinion on my colors. I tried sanding back a little after the light brown pass - it got a little too dark otherwise. And I switched to alcohol for the scrub out - works better as it dries quicker and doesn't seem to disturb the underlying dyes as much. I sealed my samples with a washcoat of shellac, then hit them with a couple of coats of nitro lacquer. Talk about popping the figure! But I'm not quite there with the color. A little less red, and I want a little more contrast - the lights need to be a bit lighter. I'm going to try sanding back just a little before the last pass of yellow. Glad the info was helpful to you, Grindell. Mike

A bone nut will give you the best tone and sustain (in my opinion). It's very hard and takes more work to file, but I found that a jeweler's saw works great for roughing it out. Cuts through it "like buttah". If you're using a trem and you have stay-in-tune issues you might go for the Graphtech. Mike

"I'm so boring and predictable it's disturbing." Yeah, but in a good way. Nice work.

Just for the record... no claims of originality made here. My "original" plan was to just go ahead and cop the PRS shape and call it good, but then my son did some sketching and I liked what he came up with. To me it looks like 'a lotta PRS' meets 'a little old school'. But that's probably just me. I like Perry's headstock shape, too. Me thinks you could open some really big bottles with it. In "more important" news... Almost got the dye sequencing worked out for the maple top.

Getting awfully close... Tobacco Brown (Colortone - 1 part dye to 4.5 parts H20) Red Mahogany (mixed at 1:4.5) sand back Tobacco Brown (mixed at 1:16) Cherry Red (mixed at 1:16) Scrub out with damp rag Lemon Yellow (mixed at 1:16) Another pass of yellow The red mahogany really adds a lot of contrast compared with using brown alone. I'm still playing with the red/yellow balance. Pics as soon as my camera comes home.

Nothing new under the sun...

"in matt black" Hey !!METAL MATT!! has a color named after him But after that tease I thought we'd be seeing a red guitar

Actually, that was my son's design, and he's never seen an Ormsby.

Hi everyone, It's been long enough - I figure I might as well start posting some progress pics... the specs: Body - modified Warmoth chambered VIP - AAAAA flame maple on african mahogany Neck - modified Warmoth angled paddlehead - 25.5" scale - honduran mahogany/"SRV" asymmetric back shape/flame maple headstock veneer/brazilian rosewood fingerboard Inlay - paua abalone, red heart abalone, bronze MOP Frets - Dunlop 6100 Hardware - LR Baggs T-Bridge, brazilian rosewood "stopbar" + string-through (concept courtesy of David Myka), Grover locking rotomatics, bone nut Pickups - Seymour Duncan '59 @ bridge + neck, SSL-2 Vintage flat RW/RP @ middle Controls - Megaswitch "E" 5-way, push/pull volume (magnetics - pull to add middle p/u), coil split (inside/outside), volume (piezo), 3-way toggle (magnetics/both/piezo) Finish - TBD tortoise shell/tiger eye, faux binding, nitro lacquer clearcoat grovers headstock body body side back inlay 1 inlay 2 inlay 3 inlay 12th strung up 2 I strung it up temporarily last night... ended up playing for an hour. It's already sounding incredible It's going to be hard to leave it alone for a month while the nitro cures Sorry for the camera-phone quality pics My digital camera is in Chicago this week with the other house guitarist (my son). I'll update them later as things progress... Thanks for looking! Mike