Nekul

Silky oak (other countries call it Lacewood) is actually not that heavy, I would say it is a medium weight timber. Definitely not as heavy as mahogany. It seems to give a really bright tone and is probably close to alder as a tone wood. Warmoth offer it, PRS did a limited run with Lacewood tops, Charvel did some production guitars in the mid to late 90s with it. Fender have also done a tele with it. Like I said, Queensland stuff seems best, at least to me. If you get a good piece it looks almost like a snake skin. I go to Brisbane a fair bit to visit relatives so I could bring up a body if you want to look at it some time. Problem is I wont be up there for a few months yet. If you are really bustin to get something quick then fill those pickup cavities. Like the other say, just be careful with what you use. Shrinkage may be a problem. I would fill the holes with some stable hardwood so that it fits pretty snug and then fill the gaps. If you do a tracing of the pickup cavity then use that as a guide it should fit pretty good. I would use a good quality filler too. I could certainly help you out with building a body at some stage in the future. I have an OK home setup to knock bodies out and it only took me a day to get the main wood working done for 2 bodies. I havent put the neck pockets in yet until I make a final decision on what neck to use but if you are careful it is not that difficult. Cheers

The buzzing isnt as prevalent now. I have let it settle in withthis setup for a while now and it seems OK. I am now just getting little buzz on the high E string when fretting at the the 2nd and 3rd frets so I will shim the floyd nut maybe another .002 and see how that goes. I did as you suggested by setting the relief (still at .oo7) then capo the 1st fret, set action to be 3/32 on both side at the 17th, then take the capo off and check nut height and action again. Nut heights were as reported but obviously still a little low on the high E. It still feels high on teh low E with the .020 clearance to teh first fret though. That is about right though isnt it? Luke

George, I live not that far from Brisbane, well several hours drive and I love your idea of a one pickup up RG. In fact I have actually made 2 bodies exactly like you are talking about already. I have had them for about 5 months now and am just waiting to get enough cash to get an old RG from E(vil) Bay. I already have a left handed RG with a busted (repaired) neck that I made a H-S-H replacement body for out of Mahogany so those parts are used already. I made my new RG bodies out of local silky oak. I found a huge log that the council left lying around and milled it on a home made chainsaw mill. I now have about another 10 or so 2" thick boards about 600mm long. You are lucky enough to come from Brisbane where silky oak is abundent, not only that, it is the best stuff around. Check out Jacksons and others custom shops from a few years ago and you see that they offered Lacewood as a high priced wood option. Thats just your local silky oak. Of course it is the primo quality stuff, not just stuff left laying around. It is really resonant and easy to work with. If it is quarter sawn the grain looks unreal. I think Carvin offer it, check out their site. As for keeping your RG as is I think that is wise. If you ever want to sell it no-one will give you a good price for a modified Ibanez. Keep it stock, get some silky oak and have a go at building a body. The tutorials on this site are awesome and even though I am only new here this is by far the best site I have ever found for people being genuine, honest and willing to help people out. There is a great culture here.

Im sorry I didnt make my post clear, Ill try to fix that. The bridge is a Floyd Original so it has a 10" radius and the neck is definitely a 12"radius and I have levelled the frets at 12", they are spot on. I know I should have done them at 10" but I dont have a 10" racius block to use. I am pretty sure I can get away with this setup without refretting and radiusing teh board itself. Setup is my issue, at least I think so. Last night after reading your posts I decided to adjust the height at the nut. It was set up with about .003 clearance over the first fret when fretted between the 2nd and 3rd frets. I was thinking maybe this was the reason I was having problems up higher. I adjucted it and now the heights are .005 on teh high E string and .008 on teh low but for some reason it feels uncomforatbly high on the low E string. Neck relief is set at .007 on the 7th fret. I then capoed at the 2st fret and set action to be just below 3/32, same on both sides. Ithen took teh capo off and measured clearance at the nut (with the string stting on nut and bridge, nothing in between). Clearance on the low E was 0.020 and high E was 0.014. The low string seems really high at the 0.020 though, am I just being way to fussy here? Action at the 17th fret on the low E string is just below 3/32 and teh high E is just below 2/32, only just. It seems like I might being pretty hard my setup. Is that right? Am I being too fussy? Thanks again for all your replies.

First of all, this is by far the most comprehensive guitar building site I have found and this section in particular is a godsend. I am hoping someone can offer some advice here, I am sure this is not an isolated problem. I got an old Hondo (yeah I know) flying V from my sister for my 30th. It was real nasty but the body looks awesome. I junked every bit of hardware and just kept the body. I routed it for a floyd original, even though it is a 10" radius and I wanted it flatter. I got a Jackson style reverse headstock neck which is OK but not great. I levelled the frets, they are dead on. I set the guitar up and didnt like it so went to the turorials here and did as instructed. It was much improved. Now, the problem: Height at the nut is perfect, neck is straight, frets are level but I still have to have a reasonably high action because it is buzzing on both the treble and bass strings after about the 12th fret. It still plays OK but it just isnt comfortable with the action high and if I go lower it buzzes. It doesnt fret out with bends and the strings still vibrate OK but it just doesnt feel right. What can I do?