Metalmattm

Sorry, I didn't have the notification ticked, so was not aware of your posts.... Thank you and Metalmatt for your kind comments. It does feel different, and also smells different, but I have to say right away that had I known that the wood was such poor quality, I probably would not have bothered with this - the wood is so soft that it marks with even the slightest pressure. It is also very difficult to maintain the polish, as even the very act of polishing tends to risk marking the finish - one has to use a brush to get the wax into the pores of the wood, and this in itself can damage the wood. I am not at all happy with that. But the colour and the way it matches with the pearloid finish of the pickguard, as well as the aged cream p/up covers make for a really tasteful appearance, especially with the chromed knobs. I must say that the contouring of the neck heel really does not make any difference to me, only aesthetically, as I rarely play that high up; and I agree of course that it looks ugly in its unfinished state. To answer the question regarding re-contouring the heel, no I did not go too deep, that was intentional, as I knew that I would have to recess the steel plate. It is the sideways angle that I did not count on. In fact I have to bring the level of the back of the guitar from about level with the trem rout down to match the recess in the neck plate rout. But as I am using the guitar all the time - and it sounds really amazing btw with the Fender noiseless p/ups -so there is not enough time presently to finish the job. It was a bit of a gamble, because I was worried that losing so much wood might affect tone and sustain, but in all honesty it really has not affected the tone, and the sustain is amazing. Some say that the additional sustain of a Strat is a fluke in design. I tend to agree. I feel that it is a combination between the bolt on neck and the way the strings pass through the solid steel block and the way the trem fixes to the body - which is why Eric Johnson insists on having bare wood at that point where the knife edge meets with the body of the guitar, as he believes that affects the tone. I tend to agree. I also realized that although I had originally intended replacing the bridge with a two pin more modern design, the chances are that this would change the tone and sustain of the instrument. Compared to a Floyd Rose, the sound is far fatter, probably also because the FR uses a metal nut, whereas I use a bone nut, but I am sure that is not the only reason. People say that an oiled finish is easier to repair if scratched, but if the finish were heavily laquered or painted as before, it might hold up better to light scratching anyway. I think that with a hard wood it would be far more practical, but when you have a soft low quality wood it is obviously not such a good idea. But one has to learn from one's mistakes, not a particularly expensive one in this case, but a waste of a great deal of time and effort. As regards the re-contouring and routing however, it has taught me what is necessary, which tools work, what materials are necessary and how much time will be needed to complete such a project. My original intention was to go for a pre-contoured Warmoth hollow or chambered Strat body, but my finances did not allow for this at the time, and still do not, but that is probably the way to go. I was going to choose a rear routed body, with no pickguard. Now I know that would have been the best choice anyway, as my reason for creating the rear control rout was so as to avoid constantly having to remove the neck and strings just to be able to get at the electronics - something I find absolutely ridiculous in any case. Before anyone asks why I have to also remove the neck, it is a 22 fret custom neck and the final zero fret has a lip that overlaps the neck joint so that it traps the pickguard - not good. But the guitar plays amazingly well, and now I have replaced the nut with a locking nut for the tremolo arm, I neither have tuning problems nor problems with the feel of the trem. In fact even when the Callaham bridge blocks come back in stock I probably will not bother to order one, at least unless and until it becomes really necessary. The arm itself is a little tight in the base plate, but that is actually a bonus, and is far better than having it flop around like so many do. But someone really should sort out a better system anyway. None of them work well in my opinion, not even the Parker Fly system, which is one of the most advanced. Years ago, I was involved with a project called 'The Beast'. It was a solid oak guitar in the shape of an Egytian Ankh with 18 strings, eliptically wound p/ups and an amazing tremolo based on a small fairly hard rubber ball and a screw in tensioner that could be adjusted to change the feel of the trem. Despite having so many strings, the action was extremely low and light and the trem was amazing and never went out of tune. Unfortunately we lost touch and I now no longer even remember the guy's name, but he was a genious. I also remember that I helped him build a guitar speaker that was capable of far greater amplification of a signal that any other speaker in existence. I don't remember the correct terminology, but I do remember the parabolic shape of the speaker itself. He was a really clever inventor. Well anyway, speak soon. Happy Easter and God bless, David i have been looking at the trem arms that come on Licensed Floyd Rose trems, and so far they are some of the best, i have never broken one in the last 5-6 years of using them. you can buy the arms, and they come with a socket that will fit in most tremolo arm holes. you should check them out here. they are called a floyd rose retro arm. they come in black, chrome, gold and brushed aluminum. for 20 american dollars. http://www.axcessories.com/proddetail.asp?prod=axfrarmrtba

i recomend checking out teh Kahler Trems. they offer a lot more than most otehr trems, in teh Style of floyd rose. like individual saddle height, or moving them left or right. pretty much 6 way adjustments for each saddle. plus, with the Kahler trems, you dont have to worry about balance screwing with your intonation. and they come with Brass, Steel or aluminum saddles and Cams.

i think you did great. and i think what you were saying is that you wanted to make the plate flush with teh body right? but you went a bit too far, and this is what you got? either way it looks neat, and i love the contour on the cutaway. i would like to do this on my Kramer explorer when i paint it.

the only things i can think of, are either the saddles on the high end have burs (rough part that cut into the string enough to weaken it) or you could be clamping the saddle blocks too tight. ive been using guitars with floyd style tremolos for about 5 years, and i have only broken one string. and that was from my stupidness(it was a .009 and i put it on first, then let go of the trem, but the 9 was teh only string on.... and teh tuning machine was in teh perfect position, and it ripped it enough, that i couldnt use it.....pissed me off.) wait two strings, the other was on my seven string, when changing to new stirngs, i broke the high e again, while de-tuning from low to high. and there is about 130 lbs of pull on a set of 10-56 for a 7 string... blah blah blah. but i think it might be that you are are using too much torque on teh saddle blocks. -Big Matt

wierd, i did do that lol i went out and set it that was the first thing i did when i adjusted it the otehr night, tried bending it back some and did and adjusment and waited a couple hours and checked it then did it again. i can fit a couple pieces of peper between the 7th fret wire and the string. the action is perfect now! thanks everyone! -Big Matt

You sure about wanting to do this? I say go for it if you've got the guitars to waste. If it's only sustain you're after, forget about it --get a compressor pedal and--even better--a little five-watt tube amp cranked, that'll give you all the sustain you'll ever need. I'm loving my Epi Valve Junior. The biggest issue I can see is that the tolerances for bolt on and set necks are not at all the same --a setneck requires an extemely tight joint. But a bolt on joint can be fairly loose --it's the compression produced by the bolts of the neck wood against the body wood that makes the joint. Hell, you don't even need a 'pocket', just the two pieces of wood screwed together. So chances are, if it's a guitar you're willing to waste (i.e., not an expensive guitar), the tolerance of the neck joint is not going to be tight enough. My take is that the choice of set neck vs. bolt on is really about two things: looks, because they look very different. And feel --because there's a big difference between the way a Fender-style bolt-on and an LP-style setneck. But that's only an issue, of course, when you're playing on the upper frets. There are probably tonal differences, but that's impossible to quantify, so don't bother doing this in search of 'tone'. But if you're after changing the feel --then consider replacing the plate with screw inserts, which will allow you to reshape the heel a bit too. On the other hand, if you wanted to convert a bolt-on neck to a setneck for an entirely new body (that is, one where you route the neck pocket specifically for the neck), then this is entirely possible. hmm the site never sent me any notification emails... so yeah, i decided not to follow up on the deal, just sat and thought about it, i thought it would cut down on the necks movement even more and allow for a bit more sustain. i have thought about the screw inserts though. ill probably try that on one of the cheap guitars. i only thought about this stuff to maybe learn something. thanks for the info Mick! Big Matt

So should we call our beloved (and the original MetalMatt) small Matt? haha i am taller than him. im about 6'3 hes 5'9 plus i probably out weigh him. im about 400 lbs \m/

yeah, they sell the first act guitars at wal mart, and I noticed a little display with GHS strings, too! That's here in knoxville, but I would imagine that all wal marts have the same stock. Damn, 40 miles? you must be waaaay out in the country! haha yeah, im in a dead oil town in southern California. good ol Taft. 40 miles from Bakersfield 140 miles or so from Los Angeles

ok this helps me too! thanks a lot man! and by the way its an electric guitar lol which i plan on putting around b standard tuning all strings down 2 and half steps.

are you shitting me palecriminal?! at wal-mart? haha i did not knwo that. but i havent been to a wal-mart in about a year. plus i still have to travle 40 miles just to buy strings. because the nearest music store is that far away, and the same with any wal-mart. or i coul get some strings from k-mart, you knwo the first act ones that suck pretty bad....they come with half nickle plated strings lol and they woble like old strings when you let a high note ring out... haha. so i just use my Dr hign-beams 10s and 11s

yes it is an electric, and yeah in players position. i do have too much relief being i jumed from a set of 10s to a set of 13 - 56s (the 1 - 6 strings from a 7 string set of 10s) i understand what you said, now the other thing i needed to know was if the neck will show the adjustments imediatly or will it take some time for the neck to give from teh rod bending it? thanks for your help Ken. -Matt

you see im afraid to go too far and which way to adjust. this guitar is about 10 years old and i and putting some pretty heavy strings on it (13 - 53) the 4 four bottom strings are wound, and im tring to lower the action because its bowing the neck which way should i adjust to get this tention? to teh right or left? (if i have the ehadstock pointing at the roof haha) and does the adjustment show imediatly or will it take a few minutes for the wood to give or what? sorry if this has been posted already in another thread. but i could'nt find it if it were there lol its my first neck adjustment and im afraid ill break the thing even thought its el cheapo haha. still would like to make a player out of it. thanks much guys and take your time in getting me an answer. -Metal Matt (oik i think i got all of it lol later again)

if you want cheap in price go with ernie balls, but myself i like the Dr Hi-beams 10s. they make 11s 12 and 13s i believe? i knwo they do in teh tite fit models but they got for 7 bucks a set on a bad day, when ernies can go for as little as 2 and half for a set down here. i used ernie balls for a long time but they always broke on me. and dr strings have never broke on me once. a frind of mine has had a set on his showmaster for almost a year and a half, they sound like shite now but they still play haha. check out dr hi-beam ehr-11s i think? jsut tell em you want somethign cheap and heavy haha.. later man

bust out the ruler and measure the trem plate to see if it is level with the body. if its pulling back to teh body tuen teh strings up about 25 cent. then take tension off the springs in teh back (only a little at a time untill you are about the pitch you like) do this untill its at teh same angle as the body. if the plate is pulled up then do what i said in cemetry or something? what i like to do is take how many dimes (the 10 cent piece haha) and stack 'em under teh bridge untill it is at the same angle as the body. (this is with all of your strings on the guitar) tune to the tuning you use if they dont fall out when you get to the pitch you use with all of the strings, take some tension off the springs in the back. (if they fall out before all of this then tighten the spirngs untill the tremolo rests on the dimes, also remember to detune the strings if you dont want them to break hah) just keep in mind you want to do this untill the coins JUST start to come loose then lock the nut and fine tune. i do this all the time with my kramer and it will stay in perfect tuning except for the G string for a couple weeks at a time, but since i have a cheaper licensed floyd rose on it i can pul the tremolo back to raise teh pitch and it will go out of tune becasue it wont come back to the zero degree mark, but to fix this i just lower the pitch with the bar in a dive bomb and it come back to the pitch on all strings. well i type too much so later guys send me a message or ill check back here to see if i left anything out peace nukkas

[quote name='Pushead' post='31336' date='Oct 23 2003, 02:08 PM'] [url="http://junior.apk.net/~ibzrg470/equip.htm"]Pus' stuff[/url] [/quote] .....wow.......you have my very first dream guitar haha, that ltd ex model haha, that hetfield f is the sh!t too man, nice collection

lets see, my favorite guitar that i own would have to be my cheap import Kramer imperial fr404 it has the floyd rose tremolo, and is all stock right now being i spent money on another guitar to fix up. i got this guitar becasause the gibson explorer was my ultimate favorite style at that time, then i saw this thing, 24 frets an a floyd?!? i creamed my jeans lol well i ordered it got it home really nice rock and metal tone can come outta this deal, plus it has a coil tapping spec so i can get a kinda explorer wiht a single coil tone haha its a little diffrent but i like it for clean tones. i still havent bought a high end guitar, becasue im poor, and ill need about 2700 bucks for my dream gitstick. this is a rick spec bc rich Stealth i still havent picked the color i would like, i was thinking a silver burst? nothing black, tired of dark colors myself..maybe neon green with hot pink dimarzios in it? oh yeah! well im done lol thanks for reading Big Matt

ok i got some guitars lying around and i was thinking about glueing the necks into a couple of them to see if it might allow for more sustaine. got this bcrich kerry king v with a qual wrap around bridge, was thinking about doing this to it. i already know all of the neck angles i need/want. so i was just looking to see if anyone has done this yet and what they got out of it thanks Big Matt

hey man check out a dimarzio dp158 evolution in the neck and a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge the x2n is the highest output pickup dimarzio makes i believe and works for all spaceings because its has bar pole pieces. its got an awesome metal tone, great for some rock stuff, but it can sound kinda harsh when run into a clean amp. but i like it. Chuck schuldiner used the x2n for over almost 20 years before he died, plus his tone on Symbolic is way cool imo. im done being stupid but if i ever say anythign good then at least try out the x2n

you should check out the Kahler 2300 profiler tremolo, they better than the floyd rose tremolo. the saddles are fixed not to move so when you dive bome you wont lose your intonation if the trem doesnt came back to the zero point. and you can adjust the saddles to the left or right to get them in teh center of the pole piece of your pickups. they come wityh brass or stainless steel saddles in chrome, black, or gold. you could get the one that fits your bridge studs it would be easier, all the diffrence is that you dont screw the tremolo plate to your body, just set it on the studs and it locks in place i believe. www.kahlerusa.com try here and read up on the model you want, they will tell you what you need/want and how to do stuff to install. and im sure you wont have any problems with hurting the guitar if you use the instructions right, but if you are still to nervous have a qualified luthier install it for you. -Big Matt (ok this is better than what i had posted with less spelling errors and more punctuation.) later man and good luck if you havent done it already