SwedishLuthier

Both Larose and your logos look clean and sharp. As I havn't used rub down I'm getting interested too. Pos and Cons compared to water slide? I've had problems with the water slide decals I used under Tru-Oil. Had to do a schellack barrier or the water slide would dcesintegrate. No biggie, but ane stel less would be nice. Aslo: Do I understand correct that the rub downs do not have a "carrier" sheet? Re the cost: If I want to have the logo in black, gold, silver I need to order at least three sheets of rub downs and that get costly, but I get your point

I use Rothko and Frost. The cost of one sheet of rub down metallic from scary creative equals what I payed for 12 sheets (4 variations in each gold, silver and black, about 30 logos per sheet) from R&F

OMG, that hurt my eyes

Carl: PM me and I might be able to make something interesting guitar2005, you are absolutely right, a four conductor pickup is of cause something to look for if you are going to split it(run it in parallel mode.

OK, not for the weak at heart: Wax potting pickups by Lindy Fralin It it is a new pickup, try to have it exchanged before doing this as it will void the warranty Edit: Do you by any chance have mounted covers on the pickups? If so that is most likely the problem as a non-potter, after-potting mounted cover will squeal like ...yeah you know. Potting a new cover

Haven't had the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison, but they are both OK, slightly lower output, slightly cleaner-in-a-good way sounding. To be honest it was quite some time ago I listened to either of them but I think the DiMarzio was slightly "warmer" sounding.

Warm and bluesy: Pearly Gates or Seth Lover from Duncan, PAF from DiMarzio will probably all be good alternatives. Or I can wind you a custom pickup...

Welcome to the forum When reading the description it sounds like you have microphonic feedback. The difference between "normal" feedback (you know, the Jimi Hendrix style we all like...) and microphonic feedback is this: The "normal" feedback is caused by the sound of the speaker making the strings vibrate, this vibration being amplified and send to the speaker that makes the strings vibrate stronger. It is a musical type of feedback. With the microphonic feedback it is not the strings that vibrate but the tiny magnet wire inside the pickups. This is often a high pitched squeal. Also not a very musical feedback. The frequency of the feedback is one thing that makes me think it is microphonic feedback. The other thing is that it doesn't die when you mute the strings (as the problem isn't that the strings vibrate...). So what to do about it? There are a few things and apart from the most complicated solution I generally don't think that you will like any of them but here we go... - "Pot" the pickup. This is the method of submersing the pickup in hot wax to solidify the coil and stop the wire from vibrating. Probably something you need to have a pro do as it also can ruin your pickup(s) if done wrong. And that was the solution you might like. next up are: - Lower the volume of the amp - Lessen the gain on the amp - Lessen the compression used - Increase your physical distance from the amp And as you have problems with both pickups (although the bridge is the worst one) I think it is a combination of the last four you need. And when looking at you choice of pickups and amp I guess you know what sound you are after and then you need all that gain/volume/compression. Hairy problem...

Spin-a-split

I think we all knew that, but it isn't as much fun... I think you have established yourself as a very interesting and good inlay/scroll saw artist that most of us is a bit surprised that you ask for inspiration at all, at least I am.

Yeah, and make the rout a bit deeper and then cast clear epoxy so that the picks are set deep into the fretboard! Hard to find picks that fit between the higher frets thou...

I have a love/hate relationship with my safe-t-planer. It works really well for some tasks like how Chris use it, but I'm scared as h**l when using it. On the other hand it is at least safer then chucking a big router bit in the drill press... It you use it for thicknessing thin items, with the planer quite close to the drill press table, I think it is reasonable safe. It is at least not worse than an ordinary router table. Love the clean look of this guitar!

Good, I didn't know what level of electronics understanding you were on and didn't want to offend you... Another thing to consider is the flexibility you have with a HB. The most common is to split it to have the option of a more SC sound via a switch or a push/pull pot. However there are a few more variations I would like to push (at least to experiment with, possibly also to gain some experiment with guitar electronics). There is something called "spin-a-split" and similar solutoions that let you seamless fade between full HB and SC sound from the same pickup. However if you manage to balance your HB and your SCs there is a good possibility that the split sound will be noticeable lower than the SCs you have. Then it might be a good idea to try a series/parallel swithc instead of a split. Normally the coils in a HB is connected in series, giving that slightly fatter, hotter sound compared to a SC. you can also connect the coils in parallel (like the position 2 and 4 on a Strat pickup selector). That will change the sound from the HB sound to something a bitt more SC-ish. It will also dropp the output a tad, but not nearly as much as a split and it is often a very good alternative for matching a HB to SCs in the bridge + middle position on a strat. Seymore Duncan has a lot of schematics and is a good place to start: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/ Guitarelectronics is another place http://www.guitarelectronics.com/c=B1QXto9ceI3Wk8I9wDNw1QqZG/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams/ and fot the more adventurous, DGB studios: http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/index_e.htm (some really odd things like variable mid cut filters without induction coils etc...)

A HB is generally a bit hotter than a SC, so a mix of a low to medium output HB and medium to high output SCs are a good start if balancing the outputs are important. Something often overseen is the art of balancing output via adjusting the pickup height. You might think that is a nobrainer, but I had a customer in today with a nice sounding Tele with bad balance between neck and bridge pup. A quick tweek and the neck pickup were up and the sound/output balanced.

turquoise reconstone: https://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-not-wood/inlay-materials/stone-inlay-material/faux-turquoise-inlay-material or is that too obvious?

First I didn't really got the faceplate binding pic, but as soon as I did I had to do a face palm. That is so brilliant! No too complicated. A hint: The wooden binding and the MOP strips have roughly the same thickness. Got it? If not, heres how to do it: Tape the binding to the fretboard on the opposite side as it is ending up and cut the fret slots on the fretboard and the binding at the same time. Next you carefully cut out the parts of the binding were the MOP goes and glue the binding to the fretboard. Now you only have to cut the MOP strips to the right lengths and you are done.

Phfff, c'mon carl that's tooo easy, its going to be a 20.515" scale YJM custom strat clone. Next question please...

The reason I mentioned the "problems" with woods that have quite a difference in hardness in summer/winter growth is that not everyone knows/thinks about it. Having made a few necks from Oak (similar issue) I have experienced the problem, and as RAD said it is all about using ridgid blocks, no sanding with you fingers wrapped in paper or on soft cork/rubber blocks. However that is how I prefer to do the delicate neck/body and neck/head transition and after a few experiences (OK, none with ash...) I just don't have the time to deal with stuff like that. Having said that I recently made a 8-stringer with a spanish cedar neck, maple head and to make things worse a maple/cedar lam in the head scarf joint and a thick head being planned down from the back, meaning I had a huge problem keeping the lines in the head/neck transition area due to the great difference in hardness between the maple and the cedar. I should have known better... Apart from that I say go for it John

YEah, I know that 27"-ish is usually considered minimum for 8-stringers. I have pretty short fingers and a 27-28" scale would be too much of a streach for it to be comfy for me. And this is a test guitar that I will probably keep for myself so if it turns out only half decent I', OK with that. I have ordered special string to see it that can help a bit. However what this company does ins't going up in gauge. They produce a standard gauge 7 and 8 string but with a much stiffer feel to them. I think this will fix the problem and also maybee change the way we look at minimum required length for low range guitars. Or it will only be a half-decent solution and I need to step up in scale for the next test. If anyone is interested I'll report back Got it now... let us know how they go. I know I have a couple of 7 string 25.5" scales in the wild that spend a lot of time tuned to A that would benefit from a higher tension string. Finally got the strings here. Have not had the time to play tooo much, but the guitar play better with those strings. Having that said I think I would have stepped it up a notch to a 25.5"-26.5" scale if I was to do it again. The stiffer strings are better indeed and not as rubbery at all, but an extra 1/2" would probably made the timbre of the low F# more jump out and make it cut through better. Anyway quite interesting to see that it was possible to remedy the rubbery feeling in the strings with a stiffer set but with the same gauge. If someone is interested the maker is octave4plus.com

Great stuff here. I did something similar to those fret markers a few year ago, I inlayed a thin strip of MOP in a wooden neck binding, as long as the fret it is supposed to indicate. It is barely visible here: and you can se one single marker here: Not really the same thing but a bit similar. To me they were a bit too hard to relate to when playing as the guitar also has that intricate inlay on the front of the fretboard so there is no help there.

Only issue for me is the ash neck. I think the Ash will be a PITA to get even and nice in the neck to body transition. Apart from that; Go for it.

Hi Ken and welcome. Best way of getting you on track in regards of neck building is probably, after the nice introduction, to start posting questions in the "solid body guitar and bass" section. Maybe show us what you want to achieve and the general questions. The rest will come naturally.

So true! It is a common misunderstanding that building your own guitar will cost less than buying one. When you get to maybe no 4 or 5 you can make a "cost efficient" guitar that has the same quality, or better, than what you will have to pay for parts, wood etc. I think the best advice this far is from RAD; keep it as is. I still miss my first guitar. I would probably hate to play it but I still know what I would do if I got my hands on the bastard that stole it...

I have been planning to make a jig like that for quite some time but havn't been able to find the time to build one. Just a question : Will the jig accept a body that is 20.5" long to fit my NorthStar body? If so Im in for one of those!

So true