fookgub

True, but if you happen to already have a serviceable body that you like laying around, I don't see any good reason not to do it. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a body, though, since building one is only a little more work. I've had a frustrating time with this guitar. I botched the nut slotting, which really sucked because I had a lot of time invested in making the nut. Now the string spacing is off, and it's hard to tune because the strings are binding in the nut. Also, I had a lot of trouble getting the neck relief right. I've got that settled now, but I had to tweak on the truss rod more than I wanted. Finally, I hated the pickups when I first plugged it in. I had always heard EMGs are loud and powerful, but I found the bridge pickup (81) to be weak and tinny. I think I should adjust the pickup closer to the strings, but I need to find some longer height adjustment screws first. I stripped of the heads off the cheap pot-metal screws that EMG supplies, and had to replace them with shorter ones from the hardware store. Anyway, a friend of mine came over in the midst of all this to play some music. That really changed my feelings about this guitar. With a modern crunch dialed in, and my friend accompanying on bass, it just sounded "right." Sat perfectly in the mix, and overall my playing sounded better than I'm used to. Even with the messed up string spacing, I adjusted to the seven pretty quickly, and I was loving the possibilities. I still don't like the sound of it solo, but if there's one thing I've learned from bass playing it's that your ideal "solo sound" usually doesn't work in a band. So I'm pretty happy that it sounded good in a mix. I've got a Floyd nut on order which should hold me over until I can build and properly slot a new nut, and I'm thinking that some playing with the pickup heights can give the guitar some more punch. So it's not quite done yet... but getting there.

There is a guy on Jemsite building a stone guitar. I'm not trying to talk bad about him because he appears to be doing an amazing job, but the weight still qualifies the guitar as "unergonomic," I think.

Most, if not all, of the "voice" is in the pickup. Besides that, the preamp. The rest of the bass is pretty standard Fender-style stuff. Drop a MM pickup and preamp into a P-bass and it would sound identical.

Plays great, just the way I want: low action, thin neck, hot pickups... a real shreddy guitar. I was looking to build a weighty guitar, so 10.5 pounds is not surprising to me. I know it's a hotly contested issue, and I'm not looking to start an argument, but I've always thought more weight was good. The guitar just feels so alive and resonant. I'm very happy with it. The tone kills through a Fender amp... just what I was looking for tone-wise. The only setting that's a bit iffy is the neck single coil mode, but that's to be expected when splitting humbuckers. I may build myself a S/H version someday, because I do really like the sound of a true single coil in the neck. I'm thinking about swapping the piezo system, though. At the very least the Graphtech preamp has to go... too noisy. I need to check around a bit. I may build a new one, or I may just buy one if I find one I like.

Ok, teaser shots. I didn't clean off the fingerprints and dust very well, but at least you get the general idea. My tech wouldn't slot the nut because he said brass will clog up his files... guess I'll have to do it then. I'm going to try to get my photography student friend to take some classy shots once it's all done. http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7_pv1.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7_pv2.jpg

Finally got around to weighing this today: 10.5 pounds. I think that's almost Les Paul territory.

... but they didn't! The bridge arrived on Monday. It's extremely high quality, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when I unwrapped it. After all the waiting and hassle, it's just a bridge.... a very nice one, but still just a bridge. Anyway, the guitar is assembled. I wanted to post some teaser shots tonight, but it wouldn't play nice with the flash. I may be able to get a few shots in daylight tomorrow before it goes off to my tech to have the nut slotted (still haven't bought those pesky files yet). I'm pretty excited... I've been waiting to play this thing forever, and the moment is almost here!

Apologies if this has been covered before. I did a little searching, and couldn't find it. I'm working on templates for my Tonemaster guitar, and I'm having trouble locating the bridge pickup. A little measuring from images on the net and some precise "eyeballing" puts the center of my pickup at about 24" from the nut. Could anyone confirm this for me?

Yeah, you can downtune, no problem. One thing I forgot to mention: if you're having tuning problems, you might want to look at the nut first. 9 times out of 10 tuning problems are caused by strings binding in the slots, not by bad tuners. Might be worthwhile to take it to a tech, or even just dab some graphite lube in your string slots. I had a 321MH for a while and I thought the tuners were pretty decent. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not so sure the planet waves tuners will fit. Do the tuners on your guitar have a little set screw to hold them in place (like this), or are they just rounded? If they're rounded, you would have to drill to install the Planet Waves tuners. I'm not sure what would be a drop-in replacement in that case.... maybe Schallers. FYI, Stew-mac has dimensioned drawings of most of the tuners they sell, so you could use that as a guide.

Sorry for the bad news, but those things really are useless. A cheap little benchtop press like this would take care of those tuner holes and other small stuff for you without taking up too much space or breaking your wallet. It's hard to argue against a full sized drill press if you can swing it though... I use mine easily more than any other power tool. My drill presses, old one on the left:

I've got one. As a paperweight, it's pretty good. As a woodworking machine, it's basically worthless. Even if you manage the clamp your drill in so it's square (a big *if*, btw), the stand will flex as soon as the bit touches wood, and there's no telling how far it will wander. Controls and tuners can be done by hand with a little guide to keep you pretty square. A benchtop drill press might be a good idea, too... they're small and pretty cheap, and they work much better than those drill stand things.

The Planet Waves auto-trim locking tuners will fit. They're more expensive than most other options, but I liked the set I put on my RG520 so much that I got a set for the seven string I'm putting together. I managed to buy a set from Musicians Friend for $40 on sale a while ago, but they're usually more like $60.

I have a GFS "Dream-90" (P-90 in a humbucker housing) in a strat-style guitar, and it works fine. Don't know if that helps, but here's a picture.

Wow. That's pretty much exactly what I was picturing. I think that's going to be my design goal. What do you think about it? I'd love to hear some more comments. EDIT, 7/30/07: This guitar is being built! http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=31241

Is this more like what you're thinking? http://mpatton.org/Images/guitarshop3.jpg Pretty close, but I was wanting to see what it would look like with a Strat-style bridge and the bridge pickup exposed, like in Ben's rendering above. Also, would it be possible to go back to the open coil neck pickup as in the last image? Would it be too much work to use this neck instead of the Les Paul neck? By the way -- I really appreciate you doing these renderings. Feel free to cut me off at any time if you're getting bored.

ooh, nice rendering! I'm still not completely sold on the pickguard, though. What would it look like with no pickuard and standard Tele routs? I think I'll probably build it that way to start with, then see about a pickguard later. Also, I think I'm going to drop the f-hole, but leave the option to add it later if I want.

Hey, lookin' good. I was wondering whether the big rout for the tele bridge pickup would spoil the look, but I think it's fine. Would it be too much trouble to ask for a matching headstock? What do you think about it? Does it need a pickguard to provide some contrast? I like it as-is, but like I said before, I'm interested in a discussing ideas.

I'm working a Tonemaster guitar, and I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to 'shop up a preview for me. It's going to be basically the same as this guitar, except with black Telecaster pickups and a fire engine red top. I don't know much about Photoshop, but I would assume this is pretty trivial for someone that's good at it. I'm working on templates right now, so while the hardware and electronics are pretty much set, the cosmetics are still up for grabs. So if anyone has a comments/ideas/criticisms, I'd love to hear them. FYI: This is going to be a semi-hollow, and I'm shooting for Danelectro-style construction (if I can find HPL in the right colors, that is). Bridge will be a strat-style hardtail, as pictured, and the headstock is a pretty standard looking 3+3 arrangement.

Chris' workshop is less than a mile from my house. I was over there a couple times about a year and a half ago, and he was nice enough to chat guitars with me and lay down some of his building philosophy. I got to play his 7-string for a little bit (I'm pretty sure it's the actual guitar in your picture), and it was a very nice guitar with lots of sounds and a great feel. He also showed me an archtop he was working on at the time, which was a truly stunning instrument. Anyway, thumbs up for Chris.

You certainly should! I bought a set of "Tonemaster" plans after following one of your links last week. The plans came yesterday and they're very nice. They even made a few changes for me for free.

I've got a transplant in the works, too. I'm using the guts from a lefty 500 that I got on the 'bay. Mine is going to be a front-routed strat-style guitar. What are you planning to do about the batteries? I really don't like the "compartment" on the Variaxes, so I'm thinking about leaving it off, or maybe installing a regular 9V battery box "for emergency use only."

Ok, nobody else is asking, so I guess you all already know. Maybe I'm slow, but, Perry, what the heck is that thing?

hmm... interesting question. I tend to leave mine set at about 800 rpm unless I'm sanding or safe-t-planing.

I guess I left out an important point: If I do the AANJ, I'm going to have to reshape the heel of the neck. No problem, except that one of the plugged screw holes from the old square joint will be visible. I don't think it will be very objectionable if I use a mahogany dowel to plug it, though.

So, I'm building a new body for this guitar, and I'm thinking about doing an all-access neck joint (AANJ). The body has a square heel, and I've made both square-heel and AANJ templates. Which do you prefer? Either way, I will probably scallop the heel Ibanez style, but dispense with the plate. AANJ: Squre Heel: