Guitarfrenzy

Just an FYI: don't be tempted to try and ship that across any national borders; odds are, sans CITES paperwork, it'll get confiscated by customs. I know your shipping says US only, but I figured I'd point that out...

Thanks for the heads up Mattia. No, I'm not going to ship this outside of the US, but thanks for the warning. It's some great wood though, and I definitely wouldn't be offering it up if I didn't need the money.

I'm still trying to raise some cash, so I'm selling some of my good Genuine Honduran Mahogany. It's some great wood and wanted to let you guys know about it. Here's the eBay links.

Body Blank 2pc

Neck Blank

Thanks,

Matt Vinson

Leave it to me to have a picture of this.. haha

This is a picture of my Fender Roland Ready Strat, yet it's a Mexican Strat, since they don't make an American Strat that has the Roland synth pickup on it, so I ended up with this one. First off, it's obviously the way they cut the neck pocket out, it's not something that was altered, as mine was bought brand new also. It's not really going to affect anything as long as the neck is stable and makes good contact like others have suggested, but it still makes you wonder the exact reasoning for routing it out this way.

On a side note, my Strat plays like a dream, and I found it odd that when researching the Plek machine, one article talked about how amazed that out of all the guitars they put on it, when analyzed, the Mexican Strats had better fretjobs than anything else. I'll try to find that article.

The person who hasn't made any mistakes at all, hasn't done anything either.. lol We all will make mistakes, it's inevitable, just learn from it and move on. The worst mistakes you can make, is not to learn from your previous ones. I've made plenty of mistakes. The first mistake and worst one I ever made was when I was carving the back of the neck contour, everything up to that point was going great and I was getting a little brave. So I'm carving the neck and I wanted a thin neck, but I took no consideration for the truss rod slot depth, I just figured, hey Ibanez can do it, why can't I. I admit, I didn't plan ahead on this aspect of the build, so I just assumed, and you'll see what that got me.. lol We'll, I carved it down to around 18mm behind the 1st fret, no big deal. Later after everything was said and done, I strung it up, adjusted the truss rod, heard a crack, turned the guitar around so I could see what was going on, and it wasn't a pretty sight. The truss rod nut was visible through a small crack and I could see why, it was probably only 1/64" of wood left. AARRRGGGGGGG. So I said a few bad words, removed the fingerboard, threw the neck wood away and proceeded to make a new neck. What was so bad, was that I was almost done, and in the setup stage, So it goes to show you, just one slip up and your back to square one again.. lol I was later talking to Driskill and told him how stupid I was in carving away too much wood on the neck, and he said, "I did the same exact thing before man. I was using a spokeshave on my first guitar neck, and everything was looking good, then when I was making my last couple of passes, the spokeshave hung up on something. I looked down and it was the freakin' truss rod." So you see, every guitar builder is going to have mistakes somewhere down the line. Don't feel so bad, you're not alone..

My first was a Tele. I tried to drill the connection holes from the pickup route to the control cavity and used a loooong drill bit. But I drilled some, checked to se if the drill had reached the control cavity (nope not yet), drilled a tiny bit more (no, still no visible drill bit in the cavity) drilled some more and I hade drilled through the back of the guitar!!!! (I wasn't laughing at the time)

I had used the wrong angle and rushed things. Big lesson learned. Nowadays I drill those connection holes through the output jack hole and mark the drill for how long I expect the hole to be. Then I know if I have drilled longer than I need and can abort.

You don't know how many times I've feared of making that mistake. It's one of my biggest fears and I go to great extremes to make sure I don't mis-drill through the body. I'm probably due to make that mistake soon though, knowing my luck.. lol

....

Two big things I learned about routing --1) always wait for the bit to stop spinning before moving the router away. 2) Make sure the router is well supported and keep an eye on the supports --most of my routing mistakes come from that little wobble you get when the support of the router shifts out from under the base.

Oh yeah, and another thing: I always plan plenty of time to get something done. Even though I think something will only take me 10 minutes, it always ends up taking 2 hours. Today, for example, I routed the channels for a pair of CF rods. No big deal, I thought, be done in half an hour...took me three hours! And I'm still not done (just gluing them in right now). But they came out pretty good, so I'm not complaining.

I've made that mistake before myself. I was routing a pickup cavity and I was in a hurry, so I tried to move the router before it completely stopped spinning, put a nice little nick on the template. Thank god that was all it hit though. So yeah, definitely wait for it to stop, sometimes you think you can lift it straight up and out, but it's best not to chance it. Being in a hurry doesn't help you finish any faster, and fixing mistakes you made because you was trying to hurry, can end up costing twice the amount of time it would have taken if you'd just took your time and do it right in the first place.

These are some very good tips...

OK OK, NO BURST!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, I will leave it as is.

That's right Mr. Drak, freeze, drop that paint gun, and back up!!! Your under PG arrest for trying to kill some beautiful burl!!! lol

Just kidding, but I still think this guitar would look better natural also. It's your guitar though, and if you do paint it, please don't tell me about it, I'd probably break down and cry.. haha

Drak, that's totally awesome man, I REALLY LIKE THAT GUITAR!!!

Have you thought about making wide pickup rings out of the burl wood? That would be killer and cover up the pickup route at the same time. Anyway, that's going to be one bad muda after you get it completely finished. Keep us updated....

Mattia and Perry summed it up nicely.

I think that Kevan and Bill both have a great invention, each implemented in a unique way. We've had the pleasure of watching the Tremol-No come from conception to reality, unlike the FreeLok, which most of us haven't heard of until now. I'm sure both of them have their own patent, pending or established. It's really up to them, and their lawyers to deal with the business end of it, and who legally can do what. I think both inventions are great, good luck to both.

^^^^ fantastic start. Now add about $10,000, a couple mad scientists, and a class room full of sound engineers, a couple hundred pieces of wood, various glues, and a bunch of different blocks of metal...

Exactly. It would be a major undertaking, and very expensive, plus it probably wouldn't help you build any better guitars after you knew an answer... lol

Stevie Ray didn't need no steenkin' room full 'o space scientists to tell him what sounded good.

...All he needed was the right hat.

.. and a tube screamer!!!

....

That being said, if the wood doesn't make any difference, why aren't we all playing plexiglas or metallic guitars?

Of course, too much gain on your amp will make pretty much anything you plug into it sound the same.

There are pefectly good guitars made out of alternative materials. How good they sound is up to each individual though. One thing to know is that a guitar string can be tuned so that the fundamental pitch is the same, regardless of what material is used to build the guitar. In other words, no matter what material the guitar is made up of, it can still be tuned up and played like any other guitar made of wood. The thing that it will change is the timbre of the guitar tone. Basically, the harmonic content of the pitch will change in relation to what the guitar is made of. Also, timbre is determined by the attack and decay of the pitch, which is also related to the neck and guitar body material. What makes a piano playing an A(440Hz) note compared to the guitar playing the same exact pitch? Timbre. That's also what makes each guitar have slightly different sounds. Now, the wood does help determine the sound by some degree, but after the signal is transferred from the pickups, the electronics can change the sound also. Then, when you plug the guitar into effect pedals, amps, etc... That changes the sound even again. So really there is a lot of varibles, way more than you probably would think about, and they all determine the tone of your guitar. Maybe you should have been more specific with the question, like: "How Much Does Wood Effect Tone On A Solid Bodies Pickups?"

The fun of building guitars, for me at least, comes from trying out things you'd never be able to buy off a rack in the store.

And that includes funky wood choices, etc.

The whole idea that I can make an entire guitar from start to finish --and I know I can now, even if I still have a lot of mistakes to make along the way -- has me planning three, four guitars in advance already.

Of course, I love to cook (referring to the 'design' thread), and I'm also interested in new ingredients.

I agree... That's how things got where it is nowdays, from years and years of guitar builders experimenting with different things, until you have pretty much standard tonewoods. That's not to say that everything has been done before, because it hasn't, there is plenty of room for new ideas in the guitar building world.. You can't limit yourself to that way of thinking anyway.

You have your thinking cap on? Ok then,..

If we are truely going to see what degree wood has on the tone, we need to start from the beginning. I had always assumed that a pickup only picked up the string vibrations. My theory basically was that the wood vibration wasn't picked up through the pickup at all, and only after the string vibrated, which in turn vibrated the wood which accentuated some frequencies and dampened others, then the wood vibration changes the way the string vibrates, and overtones within the fundamental frequency. I think this is only partially correct now though. Here's why.

My first assumption was that if you tapped on the guitars body with the strings off, you'd get no sound out of it. I found this to be wrong, even though it's not very loud, the tapping is very audible. That disproves my first assumtion that the pickup only picked up the strings only. Although this might be adding to the sound the pickup gets, it still has to be accounted for. So your pickup is not only getting the string vibration, but the wood vibration by a very small amount. Yet, like we said before, the wood has an effect on how the string vibrates also, thus the wood has an effect on both ways the pickup recieves signal. So yes, the wood definitely has an effect on the tone. Just how much? We'll that's the debate isn't it? lol

If you don't believe the wood actually vibrates, then do this simple test. When playing your guitar without being plugged in, walk up to a wooden door thats closed, and while playing, hold the guitar so the headstock touches the door. LOUDER? It will amplify your sound, as will any other material that will vibrate. That tells us that, yes, indeed, the wood vibrates or resonates when the strings are plucked. What you'd have to do though is figure out how much wood vibration comes through the pickup, and in turn, into your amp. Tapping on the guitar isn't really a good representation of how the wood will vibrate when a string is plucked. So you'd have to compare how loud the string vibrations are coming through the pickup compared to how much wood vibration is going through the pickup. That's your assignment for today!!!! lol

Find out how to isolate the string vibration volume, from the wood vibration volume that the pickup puts out. That way you can get a rough estimate on how much wood effect the tone.

Now get to work.. or don't ask questions like this again.. haha

I try to keep my guitars around the 7 pound range myself as well. Most people don't want guitars that weight 10 pounds, and after playing 4 hour at a gig, their back is killing them. It's a balancing act though, you don't want the guitar body so light that it's neck heavy. If you make the body too light, the weight from the tuners, etc. on the headstock will tend to make the neck drop when your not playing or holding the neck. This can be a pain and annoyance to players. It's really just a personal preference though. You bring up a good subject though, because weight should definitely be taken into consideration when planning a build.

Question: How Much Does Wood Effect Tone On A Solid Body?

Answer: More than you think, and less than the pickups will allow.

These things can be debates till the moon falls out of the sky, but trying to put a scientific number on how much wood effects the tone is anyones guess. The one thing I feel pretty convinced of though is this...

The wood effects the tone of your guitar much more when it's not plugged in, than when it is..

yes it IS necessary (except in some rare occasions, determined by the pickup manufacturers specifications, eg: EMG). Les Pauls are all grounded.

What Perry Said. Most TOM guitars I've seen have grounded bridge or tailpiece studs.

Totally agree 100.5% .. lol...

Mm its a good cuestion, i have a LTd 7 strings with 2 humbuckers and makes an awful bzz, i replaced one pickup, i replaced the volume, i replaced the 3 way selector, i shielding and still make the horrible bzzzz, its crazy, i think its about the bridge, its not from metal, maybe its not grounded well because the bridge its like alloy or something different.

Your bridge might not be grounded. When you touch the bridge does the buzz go away? If so, it's grounded. If it doesn't go away, it's not grounded. Simple as that. Grounding the bridge won't take away the buzz your getting, it will only get rid of it when your fingers are making contact with the bridge or anything connected to it, like your strings.. Shielding isn't good unless it's grounded itself. Actually it could make the interference your picking up more audible, because it can act like an antenna. Also, all grounds must go to the same point and all connect one way or the other.

Might as well lock this thread it's sold.

I'm actually running a Boss GT-6 through a Line 6 Ax2 combo amp.. lol So I use both, and can get great sounds with both. I like the Boss pedal a lot, it's got a great sound once you figure out how to set it up with your amp. You'll want to run the amp clean of course, with Bass, Mids, Treble all set in the middle. The output selector on those units help a lot with matching it with whatever your going to play it through. . Combo Amp, PA, etc... I really like the GT-6 but I've thought about selling it lately, but that's only for financial reasons.. I haven't tried the GT-8 yet, although I'm sure it's great. I'm also a big Line 6 fan though too.. so..

There are a couple of complete how to make specific guitar tutorials. I even have one you might could check out called Making Of A Strat. Building an Ibanez guitar is basically the same process, minus and plus a few steps. You could also go to my site to find the tutorial just itself. I know Setch has a great article that shows how he built a Les Paul guitar at this link. There are a lot more on the site, but not sure if they are complete builds, or ones that shows you the process from beginning to end. Good luck.

I'm selling a lot of my good gear and this pedal is no exception. It's a great pedal and in excellent condition, but I need to sell it for financial reasons. You can't buy this pedal anymore and it's the best I've used for lead harmony work. Just select the key your playing in, and instant harmony for whatever you play. I just wanted to post the Ebay link here if anyone of you pedal junkies are interested in it.

Boss HR-2 link

Thanks,

Matt Vinson

I still can't see a well made scarf joint that was clamped correctly and had time to dry, having this type of problem. You claim you let it dry overnight, so that just means it either wasn't prepared correctly, clamped correctly, or glued correctly. You did you Titebond right? Was your scarf joint smooth and flat on both pieces of wood where they join? These are the type of questions you need to answer before you make any more necks. I would have heated and taken the scarf joint back apart, fixed it, glued it and clamped it back together again, even if it means removing the fingerboard to do so. Since this is a new build and not a repair, but that's just me. I'd want to be certain that there would be no problems down the road with the scarf joint. You probably did a good job and won't have any problems though.

I'm not sure you got a really good glue joint, usually the glued area is stronger than the wood, so it should have cracked anywhere except there. What kind of glue did you use? How long did you let it dry? It sounds like you got in a hurry, and didn't leave it clamped up overnight. Patience is still the key.

Read your manual that came with it. I have one just like it, and if it's properly setup it will do a good job for you. You need to go step by step and do everything they say in the setup, to insure everything will work right. On a side note though, I had a bandsaw blade have the same issue, it wouldn't align properly and keep coming off, I had assumed it was my bandsaw and it turned out to be an imperfection in the way the blade was joined together. I replaced the blade with a new one, and problem solved. So, that might also be something to look into.

I often complain, wishing the videos had even more info, but that doesn't mean I don't think they are great videos because they are.

I'm the kind of guy who needs stuff pounded into my head repeatedly if I'm going to remember it well. That's why I watch those videos over every now and then. Beats the hell out of going to a school and getting one shot at seeing an instructor show how it's done. You can't sit there in Luthier school with no shoes on, laying in bed munching on a whole large bag of Lay's potato chips (ok, that was when I was 220 pounds- 208 now)

That's one thing you and I have in common. We buy every book, video, etc... we can find on guitar building. lol.. We are information junkies..

I think it's imperative that you continue to learn more about, and get better at what your doing. That's with anything you strive to do though. That's why I spend hours everyday researching, trying to find any new information that might be of interest to me. Factory video tours, tutorials, and anything I can find, I'll read them, even if I only learn one new thing, just one new thing, it's worth the trouble. Now go read a book.. haha

all looks good and im a third of the way through the afore mentioned dvd's and im highly impressed !! Dan erlewine rocks....im a bit miffed about his "straight neck no relief" policy? i need to investigate the pros and cons of straight V's relief necks? anyone have a view on this as it kind of goes against all that i have learned these last 17 years or more of being involved with guitars?

but overall....i have watched 3 of my 8 dvd's and worth every penny !

I have all those videos and can't tell you how many times I've watched them over and over again.. lol If you can't tell by now, I'm an information junky myself. lol.. They are definitely worth the money, and it's much better than just reading about it, because you can actually see step by step how Dan does things. Bryan Galloup amazes me too, as does many on the Advanced Fretting 2 video. You see that each person, like Frank Ford has their own way of doing things, and having great results at the same time. The other videos are great too though. When you get into inlay working, check out Larry Robinson's videos, they are also great. I also bought Frank Finocchio's DVD set in hopes of someday making an acoustic and although they are expensive, they are very detailed and worth the money too.

As for 'straight neck no relief', well, that's what you want to build towards. Get it dead flat, dead straight, perfectly even. And then, depending on desired action, player, and playing style, add the required amount. I can't get things to play right without some relief, but whatever.

Also, while there's nothing quite like carving a top with a gouge, violin-makers plane and scrapers (sandpaper? We don't need no steenkin' sandpaper! OK, I'm lying, but still...). But it's not something I'm keen to do again. Did that for three plates, and it's all angle grinders all the time for me from now on.

That's true, a straight neck with no relief is the ideal setup, although I'm convinced that with a smaller radius neck, more curved, (12" and under) it's harder to achieve. We discussed this a long time ago here in this thread. Basically, from my experience, all things being equal, a guitar with a flatter radius (example: Ibanez, Jackson) can have lower action before buzzing. Also, you can get that perfectly flat neck with no relief on those type of guitars. That's just from my own observations of setting up various guitars though.

Like everyone else has said, there pretty much isn't a standard for Les Paul Custom's as far as wood is concerned. Over the years it changes. I've got two Les Paul Custom guitars, one is a cream colored 1980 (Rhoads type) of guitar, and the other is a red 1987 Les Paul Custom Lite, which they only made very few years, and is even equiped with a coil tap for Stat sounds. Neither of them have the same wood combination. So, there is no definite answer to your question, just different era's of the Les Paul Custom construction. But, Mahogany and Maple are the two tonewoods used. Probably the only thing that's stayed the same is the Custom Inlay logo, and the block inlays on the fingerboard. People can change the truss rod cover to say Les Paul Custom to try to pass it off as a Custom, but if you know what to look for, like the inlays, etc... you won't get fooled. Also, another characteristic of the Custom is an Ebony fingerboard instead of Rosewood.

We'll like everyone has already said, experience. Each guitar you build, you learn something new, and like Mattia stated, each guitar build presents you with new challenges. Unless of course you make the same kind of guitar over and over again.. lol Learning that it's not just the technique you use to do something, but also the order you do things that sometimes makes the biggest difference. You learn to plan better, and be prepared before each build. That's things I didn't really realise on my first build. So yes, the second build was better, but it was because I learned from my mistakes the first time.

Anyway, I'm withdrawing any recommendation I might have accidentally made for the StewMac bridge...

It's eating my strings ...just broke the B string...the plating has developed a nasty notch in it. It already ate the D string a couple of weeks back.

It's true I don't change strings that often (only when they start breaking ) but still. This set isn't that old anyway.

Of course, I've always had a problem with breaking strings. Apparently there are guitarists out there who claim they've never broken a string I've been working on lightening my touch, guess I still have some work to do...just can't help myself, I get all carried away.

Hmmm....how about some kind of overlay that would fit over the ridges? A slippery plastic type like the graphtech or delrin stuff...of course, that might change the tone...

I'm going to clean up the notch --but that will change the string height relative to the other strings, so I'll have to make notches for all of the strings?

And besides, by that point, there won't be any plating left, right? The string will be resting on the brass (think it's brass) underneath...so what's the point of having chrome plating? Is it just for the looks?

In that case, I'm seriously thinking about shaping my own bridge...or several of them. When one wears out, I'll change it while I'm changing the strings.

Your breaking strings on the LP Junior Bridge that you got from Stew Mac? How long can you play before they break? That's odd you'd break strings quickly with a that bridge, maybe there are sharp ridges on it or something. Have you closely inspected it?