guitar2005

I think that a les paul with a floyd is a great idea. EVH had one and I'm sure many others back in the '80s. As for single coils, I believe that a fender sized single coil might look strange. I'd go for P90's

I have a degree in electronics. By adding a minimum of two resistors, you could divide the voltage going out to the amp by any given amount. I don't understand why anyone would do this though.... What will this do to the sound? It will do the same as reducing your volume control. The higher the resistance values (just like with the volume control), the less impact you will have on the overall tone. If you are having noise problems, your shielding or wiring have to be revisited first. As for reducingthe amount of signal that goes to the amp, that's what a volume control is for (variable resistor).

There is a guy here in Ottawa Ont (I think he may have moved now) that made a knotty pine guitar. He called it the Ikea Special or something like that. He also made what he calls the home depot dumpster guitar, out of pine. http://www.zacharyguitars.com/071199pics.htm Anyways, the thing is that you could select a lighter wood, like say, basswood, light hardware like a hardtail, mahogany neck (lighter than maple) , rosewood board (lighter than ebony) etc...

I clean up with a router using an MDF template. Cleanest cut you'll ever get.

Looks pretty normal to me. You could try to go a little slower but I doubt that the quality of cut will be substantially better.

I think you're right. I just get the stew mac ones. the price doesn't seem so bad no that I see what the options are. Thanks all!

Hmmm... those blocks don't look right to me. Is it just me? Did you try those? I did find an ebay source for plastic inlays pretty cheap and good quality but I really want MOP. I can't see myself spending all this time and effort and end up using pastic to save 20bucks.

I'm working a two projects on which I want to have white MOP inlays. I don't want to spend the time cutting the pearl myself but if I can save a lot of money, I will consider doing this. Stew mac seems a little expensive at $40.00 for a set of gibson block inlays. Question is, Is this a good deal? Could I buy the MOP, cut it myself and save some money or this the difference minimal?

Hard to tell without seeing the guitar. You mention the bridge and you could be on the right track. I have an Ibanez Edge bridge on one of my guitars that gives me some buzz on the low E saddle if the saddle if not properly aligned. Every so often, I have to give the saddle a nudge so it stops buzzing. Never seen this on my other guitars. If that's your problem, a permanent fix could be to install a shim in there to tighten things up.\

That's funny... I was watching the movie Castaway yesterday and woke up this morning thinking about this FedEx guitar.

Very nice desin. The guitar is comnig out very nicely but I have two comments. 1) The guitar neck seems to be deeply set into the body and it doesn't look like the upper registers will be accessible. You should seriously look at fixing that before its finished. 2) For the final outline of the body, you should use a router with a straight bit with a bearing guide so you can guide it along your template. If you plan on sanding the thing to get the final outline of the body, you're gonna go crazy and it will never be a sharp as with the router.

Very nice color on the body. It has a lot of depth. About the neck, did you do the inlays yourself? F.M.

I think the handle looks great and not crowded at all. Will you be doing a flat top (for the abalone inlay) or do you intend on having a contoured arm rest?

We all know you didn't "builted" that guitar. Geez...

well i sanded it with a power sander and now there are several spots that even if i try to sand them by hand would not become as the original was..i mean i oversanded some areas and if i sand them more then i will hit the mahogany. What a waste. I don't think that guitar will come out well. You obviously don't have the skill set to work on guitars. The top looks runined, even for a solid color. My advice, sell it to Rhoads56 (he suggested you sell it to him in one of the posts in this thread). Why would anyone do that to a high quality guitar is beyond me. You (or your parents) must have a lot of money to waste. Personally, if it was my guitar, I'd remove the top and put a new one on.

I agree - That's what I'm doing on my next projects. I wanted to try to do this myself at first and it cost me more money and more time.

A readily available rattlecan finish is Deft nitro.

DO NOT USE DUPLI COLOR CLEAR. I learned this the hard way. It does not cure well and will remain soft for at least a year. DO NOT USE THIS STUFF! the dupli-color lacquer colors seem to dry faster and harder than the clear. My guitar has been finished since last June and its still soft. If I play the thing sitting down, my jeans will leave an imprint on the guitar. Its getting better with time but still unacceptable. I'm not the only one that has had problems with this. This is a known problem. Dupli-color clear is only meant to be sprayed 1-2 coats max (dupli color customer service guy)

1) Tung Oil does not darken wood very much. More coats won't make a big difference. 2) Your stain may not have taken due to a number of factors. I suspect bad wood prep. You must sand to the bare wood at about 220 grit, then stain. Depending on the type of wood, you may have different results.

A hand plane and straightedge are essential in getting the neck blank flat and true. A stationary electric planer is nice also and a lot faster - but you still need to ensure that the board is flat. If you're making the fretboard yourself, you'll also need a band saw to resaw the wood unless you want to spend time trying to find the proper piece of wood, already thicknessed to 1/4". Radius blocks for sanding a radidus on your fretboard and levelling frets after they're installed. The stew-mac fretting saw and miter box are really nice for cutting slots. A small hammer or fret press to install frets. Small pliers to cut the fret wire. A metal file to file down the fret ends (if its a bound neck, its a different story - you'll need to cut the tang on the frets). A drill press to cut the tuner holes and drill bolt holes for attaching to the body. A coping saw or scroll saw to cut the peg head design. Clamps to glue stuff together. Rasps and wood files and maybe a spokeshape to contour the back of the neck. If you plan on doing inlays, you may need more tools.

Jatoba - Brazillian Cherry. Nice, but heavy wood. Very Dense and stiff. I'm making a birdseye maple neck with a 3/4" jatoba strip and its coming out nice. Very good wood for building necks but if your neck is all Jatoba, it may unbalance the guitar and make it neck heavy. F.M.

My question is, how do you know it sounds like sawing a frozen cat? That's scary.

Actually, there is a technique to fix a stain job on a sand through. I've done it before and its invisible. Its described in one of the stew mac tutorials. I'll update this post when I get a chance. http://www.stewmac.com/tradesecrets/bridge...e_guitar04.html

Get the drill press. They have 'em on sale for less than $79.00 bucks. That, or find someone that has one.

What I would do if I absolutely had to use the same body is put a 3/4" flame maple top on it. Run the body through a thickness sander and glue to the top on. Then, you pretty much have an RG body blank to work with. Like I and many others said, you'd be better off starting with the proper body. The path you're going down will cost more money and time, guaranteed.