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daveq

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    GOTM Jan 2005

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  1. I recently finished a PRS clone with a Floyd (OFR). Here is a pic of it before the finish was applied. I guess I don't have a pic of it completed. Anyway, it certainly can be done. I'm a bit biased but I really don't understand most of the "put-downs" when it comes to the Floyd bridges. I grew up playing a fixed bridge guitar and switched to Floyds after about 5 years of playing. Cutting the ball has never been a big deal to me - it doesn't take more than a few seconds. Tuning a Floyd after all of the strings have been removed used to drive me crazy. I have a piece of wood that I place next to the spring block and it takes care of most of the problems. A little spring adjustment is sometimes needed also. To avoid these issues, try not to remove all of the strings at the same time. Once in a while you will have to remove all of them to clean the fretboard but mostly, one string at a time will get the job done without having to do the things I mentioned above. The slams I have heard about Floyds not being good enough for people who cannot earn a living playing guitar are the ones that really make me wonder. The typical "kills my sustain" and "sucks my tone" comments are amazing to me. I guess if Steve Vai or Joe Satriani were to say that they just can't use a Floyd for these reasons, the comments may carry more weight with me. When a 19 year old who isn't quite sure what "Modes" are tells me that Floyds are great for dive-bombing and "tricks" but won't meet his tone and sustain requirements, I have to smile and shake my head. I don't mean to sound like there are no reasons to dislike a Floyd. If you really can't get the hang of tuning one or if you just don't like the feel - I can't argue with that. It's the comments about them somehow being a downer on your otherwise famous tone and sustain or the notion that they are only useful for "divebombing tricks" that I have to disagree with. The Floyd adds a tool for expression that is very hard to duplicate by bending the neck or other means. P.S. - these comments have nothing to do with any posts here - this thread just reminded me of previous discussions on this topic.
  2. Now, being a huge George Lynch fan, you'd think I would have known about that. Then again, he's endorsed and developed so many products, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Thanks for the tips, I'll check them out.
  3. I have a friend (really - not me) who has a multi-effects processor and some floor pedals that he would like to use for two amps. He has a Mesa and a Peavey amp. He does not like to use the Peavey's preamp - he uses his multi-effects for the distortion. He uses the Mesa's preamp though (of course). So, should he be looking at using some A/B/Y's or can he use the effects loop of the multi-effects to send to the Peavey, ... ? Lots of ways I guess but I wanted to at least get the question started. I'll try to provide more details as needed. Thanks, DaveQ
  4. This caused quite a conflict last time I saw this question posted. I think the basic answer is that the SD isn't really supposed to be a COPY of the BL version. It is supposed to be Dime's SD product - and I'll leave it at that. For what it's worth, I have the Dimebucker installed in an all maple guitar and really like it. I have not tried the BL product but plan to.
  5. I know, ... what could be less inspiring, less creative, less interesting than the one millionth PRS style homebrew guitar. What can I say? I've never owned one, rarely played one, but I thought I would give this carved top thing a try. When I use the PRS name, I certainly do not claim to have reached anywhere near their level of craftsmanship - I just use it to describe the shape of the guitar. It will have: - Alder body with 3/4" quilted top - Curly maple / Wenge laminate neck (7 piece if I remember) with Wenge headstock (2 way rod) - 24 fret curly maple fretboard with wenge bird inlay at 12th fret - Chrome floyd with R4 nut - Chrome tuners - SD Jazz in the neck, SD JB Trembucker in bridge - 3 way toggle, 500K vol, 500K tone (push/pull for coil tapping) - Set neck construction From a design standpoint - it really isn't anything worth getting excited about. I'm still focusing on getting better at the finshing stages. I do have another in the works that should score some creativity points - none here though. Here are a couple of pics of the body being finished: Blue Burst Blue Burst II
  6. I'm horrible at internet sarcasm. I hope you didn't spend too much time with that. BTW - does anyone use anything other than google nowadays? Is there any way MPA can sue for the use of that word? (that's more of that sarcasm again - no need for reply)
  7. Does anyone know how to contact these people or a way to express - umm, ....... let's just call it an "opinion" directly to them? I'll try to remember not to use any sentences or groupings of words that may have been in any song ever written in my correspondence.
  8. My guess (which isn't worth much in the finishing world) is that you need to bleach the hell out of it. I don't know if they use a white pigment or not - very possible. From my vast experience in dealing with this type of finish (which is one project), I'd think that a well bleached piece of wood may actually be all you need. Stain it blue, wait for it to dry, hit it with some 800 or higher and clear. I think the critical thing may be to use a true clear though. Any clear that introduces an amber effect such as shellac will tend to take away from the white that you are shooting for. I did see Erlewine finish a Tele or Strat with a transparent white in one of his videos. Maybe PRS does something like that layered with blue? I'm not sure it's really needed though. For anyone who doesn't know my history - I am absolutely NOT a finishing expert. I'm very comfortable with woodworking and pretty much everything else needed for building a guitar but finishing has always been my greatest weakness. Take this advice with this in mind. Start building now!!! We need more threads in the In Progress section. There seems to be loads of "My first project" entries but not so many from people who have several under their belts already. I like to see the new people but I also love to see the progress of the more experienced builders also. Get going!!!
  9. Yes, partly. I really like the faded denim finsh that PRS uses. I wanted that in the middle and a burst (which I don't think PRS usually does on that finish) toward the edges. I'm surprised you mentioned that.
  10. Thanks. I did it mostly using an airbrush (after rubbing the first blue coat). There's more to it than that but that's the nickel tour. I'm working on finishing it up now. I hope it will be ready soon - can't wait to hear it.
  11. As much as I was wanting to do the black burst or the brighter orange/yellow colors - I totally wimped out and went with something more familiar. I'm in a bit of a time crunch so I wanted to allow more time to practice a black burst on a future project. I still want an orange quilt someday also. For this project, I went with the ubiquitous blue-burst: I'm so boring and predictable it's disturbing. Maybe next time. Thanks for the input. See ya!
  12. Yes, it definitely can. With any figured wood, I always take off a tiny amount with each pass. I just tap the adjustment wheel, lock it and send it through. Over and over again. If it looks like you're not going to be able to avoid tearout even with tiny adjustments, stop before 1/32 to 1/16 of final thickness and sand the rest of the way. I don't normally have to sand but it does depend on the wood.
  13. Very often it "appears" as though more birds are visible. I think it's more of an illusion in that the planing just clears things up and doesn't actually uncover more. It's possible that more are actually uncovered but mainly, it's the cleaning up of the surface that makes it look more figured. To sum it up, planing it will make it look better. If you kinda/sorta like it now, you should feel more confident about it after it has been planed. No guarantees though.
  14. Here's a pic of the guitar as it is now: No points for creativity on this - just trying to put together something in the neighborhood of a PRS. I did do a more aggressive carve though - just something I wanted to do. I have more pics but they aren't on the web yet. I have a feeling that I would need to layer the black dye over some clear to get it right but I could be wrong. I wasn't able to turn up anything on this search or on mimf. I get a lot of results for the word "burst" and "black" but nothing that I could find for "black burst". So, any opinions on what might look good? Sorry the rest of the neck isn't there for reference. It has a wenge headstock and wenge bird at the 12th fret. Thanks!
  15. I'm having the worst time trying to decide on a color for my PRS'ish project. It has a nice quilt top and it's a nice bright/pale color (no need to bleach). Here's what the guitar is made of: 1.Quilt maple top 2.Alder body 3.Flame maple neck laminated with Wenge (7 piece) 4.Flame maple fretboard with wenge bird inlay at 12th fret 5.Wenge headstock with scarf joint It will have chrome hardware and black knobs. I was originally thinking that I'd do a cherry burst but I don't think I want to go that way now. Now, I'm considering these: A. Bright orange with a fade to darker orange/red at the edges B. Black burst (would need some tips on how to do this) C. Bright Yellow possibly with some fading effects D. The good 'ol Blue Burst E. Carri-burst I have no experience with doing a black burst. I also don't know if that would be a waste of a really nice bright colored top (which usually tends to go well with bright colors). I can't decide!!! HELP!!!!!!
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