Stolysmaster

First off, I don't think I understand your use of the word "proxy" in your post (twice). A proxy is a person, or object, that is a "stand in" or substitute for something else; meant to act in place of him/her/it. I'm not sure if that is actually what you meant to say, but maybe so. More importantly, if your theory (actually a hypothesis) is that a guitar with pickups mounted to a pickguard sounds significantly different than one with pickups not mounted to a pickguard, all other things being equal, I think I would disagree based on my personal experience. With my Gibson '67 Reissue Flying V played unamplified, I can tell no difference at all between when it has it's pickguard attached and when it does not. And I cannot tell very much difference between a Gibson '76 Reissue Explorer and a Gibson '67 Reissue Flying V played through the same amp. The Flying V has the pickups mounted to a pickguard, and the Explorer soes not. They have the exact same pickups, hardware, and wood used. Yes, there are some subtle differences, but no more than you might hear from any two identical Strats you would find in a guitar store. I simply have not HEARD any significant difference, all other things being equal, in how pickups are mounted in a guitar. A pickup, being an electronic device, really does not care too much if it is vibrating minutely in concert with the strings as a result of how it is mounted. Any movement (vibration), that the pickup is experiencing indirectly from the strings is so insignificant compared to what it is actually picking up from a magnetic/electrical standpoint, that it cannot be a large factor in tone. But this, of course, is just one guy's opinion. I've been laughed at by some when I claim that I can hear the difference in six inches of pickup wire that has just a few picoferrads (sp?) less capacitance than another wire! Maybe a lot of what we think we hear is just our imagination, or how tired we are at the time vs. when our ears are fresh. I know that can make a big difference when recording!

Not only will more maple add more brightness, but the more maple you have, the "tighter" and more focused the sound will be. I own two Ibanez Artist guitars with thick carved maple tops and maple necks. The rosewood fingerboards tend to calm down the maple a little, but actually I think they are too bright and tight sounding for my personal taste because of the amount of maple used! You mention that you are using a "neck through" design, and then you state that the mahogany and neck have already been joined!?? There is no neck/body joint in a "through neck" design. I suspect that what you meant to say is that it is a "set neck" design. Maybe I am incorrect; that what you meant was that the mahogany "wings" had already been cut and joined to the neck.

Excellent! I hope my first project turns out as well. I love the natural color; don't care about the multi piece body. I probably would have put the pickup slightly closer to the bridge, but that's me. I would like to know if you think the strat scale changes the tone from what you would hear from the traditional scale.?? By the way, how thick is the body?

Because the guitar (Explorer, mahogany body) will be stained in a rusty red mahogany color, any color contrast between laminations would not be seen very well anyway. So, if I do not have to go to the trouble of cutting and glueing wood for a laminated neck, I would prefer not to. The pictures of the White Limba blank's grain on EBAY looked very straight to me, and the pic of the end grain shows it to be almost perfectly quartersawn.

I have just purchased a neck blank of White Limba that should arrive in a few days. It is a quartersawn piece measuring 1.75" thick x 3.375 wide x 30" long. I bought it because it is quartersawn and will therefore allow me to use it as is, and not have to cut it into three pieces and laminate it. Before I proceed with this "one piece" neck I would like to know if this sounds OK, or if I should cut it into three pieces and laminate it anyway. What opinions can I get on a one piece vs. three piece White Limba neck? If it makes any difference, the fingerboard is ebony. Thanks

Hell, I don't like Vs either...ultimate poser guitar...the only guys I ever see playing those are 40 year old guys in spandex.... Let's see... Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Lonnie Mack, Andy Powell, Micheal Schenker...OVER 40, Yeah(except Jimi of course)................... But SPANDEX??? I don't think so!!! Sure, I love woodgrain instead of paint too, but I have to agree about cutting the value by refinishing. HOWEVER, I must have gotten lucky when I recently sold a 1992 Gibson Flying V '67 reissue that I refinished from black to heritage cherry. I got about $900 for it on EBAY; and, of course, I mentioned that it had been refinished. The guy loved it because he said it looked just like a factory finish. So, sometimes it might depend on the quality of the refinish, and if it still ends up a factory color.

Sorry, duplicate post.

Does anyone know where to find "Mother of pearl" paint for custom headstock logos? I have an actual black "Gibson" Explorer headstock overlay, but after reading all the negative stuff written about using the Gibson name on a custom guitar, I thought I would just paint my own initials or name on it.

So...Bolivian Rosewood is the same as Pau Ferro. I did not know that. Thanks. The Warmoth site indicates that Pau Ferro is about as bright as hard maple! If that is close to being true, I'm not going to use it because I am going for something less bright than an all hard maple neck; understand that the fingerboard is already finished and it is Ebony! I keep thinking that an all maple neck with an ebony fingerboard might be too bright, even though the body is one piece of 27 year old mahogany. So, I'll just have to keep looking around for some East Indian Rosewood. OR, maybe I'm making more of it than I should...just go with the all maple neck with ebony FB and be done with it! I already have the maple. I just need to cut it into three strips, turn them sideways, and glue 'em up; so it will be "quartersawn".

Has anyone ever heard of Bolivian Rosewood? I am going to laminate the neck (five pieces) for my explorer using about 25% maple and 75% Rosewood, and I wanted to use East Indian Rosewood. But, I cannot find any locally. I have found some Bolivian Rosewood though. I am wondering if Bolivian Rosewood sounds closer to East Indian, or is more dense and sounds similar to Brazilian Rosewood...which is brighter and tighter sounding. Any info?

One problem that I see with this idea is that it does not take into account that the 90 degree angle that you would normally have on a flat top guitar would start to change the moment the forearm contour began. The side of the guitar remains perpendicular to the table top, but the edge of the countour, relative to the side, changes constantly through the curve of the armrest. I don't know of any bit that can do that! Do you?

I found a discussion on the topic from this past November, and the question was never really resolved. That is, how to rout a binding channel on the top of an "armrest", like that on a Strat without using a CNC. One person said that they had chisseled the contoured part by hand, but it did not turn out as uniform and smooth as the flat part of the top. I don't think I will be able to do it. I'll probably have to settle for an all flat top without the armrest if I want binding.

For some unknown reason, the search engine on this site will not allow me to search for a particular topic! When I try, the result is a page that says that the webpage is not available, and that I may have a connection problem to the internet.? Can anyone help me with this? Thanks

I have always heard that you don't want the strings to be touching the back side of the bridge; but I don't know why. I have even read a quote by a guy in the Gibson custom shop, commenting on his restoration of a '58 or '59 (can't remember which) Les Paul, saying that the guitar sounded better if the strings were not at such a steep angle behind the bridge to be making contact with the back of the bridge. Even if that is true, I would think one would want as steep of an angle behind the bridge as possible to maximize sustain, but maybe not to the point of touching the bridge. I will be making the same decision on my Cadillac copy before too long, so I'll be watching here to see what the more experienced builders say. As far as the ferrule placement goes, I'm leaning towards a design that has two diagonal rows of three holes, parallel to each other. I've seen that quite a bit and I think it looks pretty sharp.

What is the thickest flat top Les Paul anyone has ever seen? I seem to remember an early 80's model with a FLAT maple top and humbucker pickups with NO exposed pole pieces...it was pretty thick, maybe 1 7/8" - 2". The reason for the question is that I want my flat top Cadillac to be thicker than the Dean USA models, I think they are only about 1 1/2" thick. BUT, I don't want it so thick as to look weird. It will have a bevelled forearm area and belly cutaway, like on a Strat. Any suggestions?

What do ya'll mean by the term "sticker"?

if you're asking if it can be buffed to a high gloss like lacquer i couldn't say. one thing about tung oil or the hand made finish that i use is that the more coats you apply the higher the gloss. i usually stop when it gets a nice semi-gloss patina to it...that's the look i like for my guitars and my sculptures. the natural feel of the grain still comes through at this point. my only experience with tru oil was on the stock of an old double thumb buster shot gun and the final finish on it was extremely high gloss...not the deep, thick look of lacquer but high gloss just the same. so if you're looking for a really high gloss look without the buffing needed with lacquer i'd say that tru oil would be the way to go. I love the way lacquer looks, that's why I have sprayed using lacquer in the past. And I don't have to buff too much to get it glossed up because I spray my last coat wet enough to be glossy before I even start polishing. The reason I wanted to know is because there are some obvious problems with lacquer over time; easily chipped, shrinkage cracking, temperature change cracking, etc. So, I was thinking that if I could get the same kind of gloss with an oil, I might try it. I know that poly is more durable and forgiving than lacquer, but I just refuse to spray a nice wood guitar with plastic...just seems inherently wrong to me. A freind has been trying to get me to use tru oil for a number of years. He knows nothing about guitars though, just guns (I'm a gun nut too). Maybe I'll try that when I finish one of the two guitars I'm working on (still) now.

Doug, Can tung oil be polished to a high gloss after it gets hard; like a lacquer finish?

Great feedback so far, I appreciate the input. BUT, what about the effect on STRING TENSION due to the longer overall length of strings with a string thru?? I'm just as concerned about string bending and ease of wide vibrato as anything else.

I can't decide on whether to use a string thru design or a standard stop tailpiece on my Dean Cadillac I'm building. It's going to have a TOM bridge. I'm wondering what the pros and cons are to help me decide. The only string thru guitar I've ever owned was an Ibanez Flying V copy made in 1976. I don't really remember how it affected the string tension or anything else. What is the general consensus on this? Thanks for any info and opinions.

I plan on making it longer. Do you think I should make it wider too? It just seems to me that there is more strength in a tenon that is wider than that.

This is a picture of a one piece mahogany Gibson Custom Shop Explorer body that I bought on EBAY 2 1/2 years ago. The guy worked in the Kalamazoo factory, and took it before he left. He said it was made in 1980. I bought it for $100, and most of the routing was done, except for the pickup cavities. My question: is a normal Gibson neck pocket usually this narrow? It is only 1.25" wide. So, I was thinking of making it a little wider. And since the pickguard covers the space between the pickups on an Explorer, I was thinking of making the neck pocket longer too, to accomodate a long tenon...all the way to the bridge pickup. I originally wanted a mahogany neck to match, but I already own two all mahogany Flying V's. So, for a slightly brighter tone, now I'm thinking maple laminant neck with two rosewood stripes.

Yesterday I had a phone conversation with an experienced luthier who told me that he only uses traditional single action truss rods in his guitars because they make the guitars sound noticably better! He went into an explanation involving kinetic energy being reinforced by the single action rod, and being hampered by a double action rod. At least I think that is what he said, I was kind of confused. He also said that he uses a flat bottom channel for his single action rods rather than a curved channel. But, he slopes the channel downward slightly going towards the body. (?) So, I thought I would see what opinions I could generate here. What do you think? Does one type sound better than the other, and if so, why?

Very, very classy! A beautiful guitar with superb attention to the fine details. Interesting to see how people have different ways of carving tops. I like your method of using the router in concentric levels. Does it take a lot of practice to be able to do that without screwing up?

Since I am not getting much of a respone on the " put it to a vote" section, I will try to get some more feedback here. I am still not decided on whether to go with a flat top, like the USA versions of this Cadillac design, or do a moderate carved top like the Korean Select models. I know that the carved top will take longer and be more of a challenge for a first timer like myself, but if I decide I like the look better, I will try it. Any preferences or suggestions out there?