daveq

If I were to build a guitar with a maple quilt top, what options would I have for the body wood (I want a transparent / translucent stain finish)? If I used something like Walnut or some other dark wood, wouldn't it look strange? Do I need a lighter colored wood for this to look good?

Has anyone ever built or played a maple body guitar with a maple quilt top and a maple fretboard (with a maple neck)? Would it sound too bright?

I've only done one but I cut the body shape first and routed cavities much later. I had no problems at all routing the cavities. If you are worried about not being able to support the router, you could always lay some 1 3/4 wood around it (if that's the thickness). Some router templates also provide support as well. I would definitely keep going with it.

I guess I wasn't clear on my question. I was really looking for how to handle the holes that are NOT critical to the operation of the guitar such as the strap holes, string retainer, ... The holes such as the tuners, and cavities are not things I would imagine going without testing first. Here's one more related question: When I paint and clear coat the guitar, what is the likelyhood of me creating problems with the drill bit? What I mean by that is - if I go to re-drill the holes for something like the string retainer, will I have to be surgeon-like with the drill to not take out a chunk of the finish or is it fairly easy to drill after the guitar is finished? I don't mean slipping, I'm just talking about the drill bit chewing into some finish and not cleanly removing it. Does the paint and clear completely cover the holes or can you still stick a drill bit right in there and just clear a little out? I'm also a little confused by how the wood filler/putty works (I saw the Erlewine video but he skipped the part where he actually paints over it). In case you can't tell, I've never painted / finished a guitar before. Thanks for the opinions, and information I'm getting a little nervous about finishing this thing I have been pouring my soul into. I want to try to avoid making mistakes that I could have prevented if I only asked the right questions - ya know? Dave

Sounds great. Does anyone sell pre-cut inlay material in ebony or rosewood? Are hole saws available that would be small enough to do it yourself?

I've just wired up my self built guitar (with EMG's) and compared it to my Ibanez RG550 with stock pickups. Huge difference. The EMG's are much clearer sounding and have a real mean growl. I'm sure EMG's are not the only pickup that would sound better than my RG550's but the thing to note is that the pickups themselves make a very big difference in the sound. I have been searching for a good thick and full of harmonic type of distortion for a very long time. I have tried just about every pedal / effect unit available. Nothing sounded good. After plugging in my new guitar to the very same amp (no distortion pedal) I have been using, the sound I have been searching for was there! I'm considering trying Duncan's in my RG550 soon. I love my EMG's but I would also like to try out a Duncan. If you're willing to try new pickups, I would bet that this will help.

Hey Scott, how/when do you apply the clear to the maple fretboard? Is this done after fretting? I have noticed that my Ibanez has had quite a bit of the clear worn away and doesn't look very good. Would it be better to just leave it natural or does that cause more problems?

Any idea where I could find onyx? If I go with black plastic, does anyone know if it can be sanded without seeing scratches?

What inlay materials could I use with a birdseye maple fretboard? Would abalone look weird? I guess it would have to be some sort of dark material, right?

This isn't the one I was thinkig of but here's a decent listing / description: Tonewood descriptions I'll see if I can find that other site I was thinking of.

KrazyDerek - I have seen a very good website that describes the hardness, workability, and all of that good stuff in my travels. It was intended for instrument builders, I think. I will see if I can find it again.

I was wondering what you guys do when trying out your guitars (before finishing). Do you avoid drilling holes to make finishing/painting easier or do you go ahead and drill everything before finishing? I have heard that the holes will make it difficult to deal with when painting and using the nitrocellulose. The holes that I am considering drilling are for the strap, the string retainer, and a few other misc. holes. If the answer is to not drill now, what are the odds of me drilling after finishing and chipping the paint off with the drill bit (will the bit tend to tear a chunk out)? Thanks, Dave

I have used dowels without too much trouble. All you need is a pack of those handy dowel insert things. They mark where the hole on the other piece needs to be drilled. I don't know if biscuits are appropriate or not. Others on this site will probably be able to tell you.

Thanks again Brian. I just wanted to mention that Brian saved me a ton of work calling every guitar shop I could find, hassling EMG, ... I originally looked at stewmac's site a few weeks ago and noticed that they were discontinuing the 25K pots. After Brian sent me a message saying that they had them, I looked and the warning about discontinuing the 25K pots was gone. I don't know if I'm going insane or maybe they recently updated their product line / web site? Anyway, if anyone needs them stewmac has them.

Yes, definitely. There are many types of Maple though. Which type are you talking about (hard/rock maple, soft maple,...)? I have read that maple gives a "brighter" sound and tends to stick out (nicely) on recordings. I guess it depends on what style of music you want to play but if it were me, I would be thrilled to have a solid maple body.

Brian, I tried AllParts and they said they were out of stock on that part (I'll call them again today and see if anything has changed). That's actually where I got the Push/Push pot from. Thanks for looking though. If anyone knows of a supplier that has one in stock I would love to know. Westhemann, Have you ever used the EXG circuit? I didn't install the pickups without it so I'm having a tough time determining how much of the great sound is comming from that or just the pickups alone. Either way, I really like the sound and I'm glad I chose EMG for this guitar. Thank you, Dave

Are you saying that I should contact EMG directly? I didn't think that they sold to individuals - just distributors/dealers? The EMG 81 / 85 combination was the set I was refering to when I was talking about some users not liking them. I have done quite a bit of research on them and I was aware of the other products but thanks for the info anyway. The common slam on the 81/85's seemed to be the notion of them being a "manufactured" sound. I don't agree with this idea since all they really do is filter (EQ,boost,...) the original guitars sound - they certainly don't generate the sound all on their own. I'm getting off the topic also but this seems to be a common misunderstanding about the EMG active pickups and it drives me crazy. They do sound different from passive pickups - no doubt about it but they do still use the original tone of the guitar as a base signal. I once read somewhere that someone thought an active EMG pickup would sound the same mounted on a 2x4 as a $2,500 guitar I would disagree. Sorry for the ranting.

I just wired up my first guitar tonight, checked for smoke and let it rip. It has EMG 81 / 85 's in it and it sounds mean! I can see why some people don't like EMG's but my guitar was meant to be a copy (sort of) of George Lynch's Kamikaze II so the mean streak is just fine with me. I also put the EXG circuit in it - no opinion on it yet. The problem I have is the volume / pickup switch. I couldn't find a Push/Pull 25K pot anywhere. Some site listed as having them in stock but when I placed the order they all said they were out. I did find a push/push 25K pot (the one I am using now), but it really sucks. It's tiny and makes some strange noises when operating it. I will try to clean it with contact cleaner but I'm not expecting much improvement. Does anyone know where I can find one of these things? I don't want to put a toggle switch in my guitar so I am pretty much set on a Push/Pull (or Push/Push) combo. Thanks, Dave

I think I'm in good shape now. I did throw in the third spring but I'm not sure if that was responsible. I made sure the bridge was in a neutral position and tuned it up (took several passes). Then I adjusted the truss rod to get most of the buzz out of the lower frets and the bridge for the upper frets. After giving it a while, things started to sound and feel good. I compared it against my RG550 and noticed that it had some buzzing in it. These were all things that you guys suggested but I guess I wasn't doing them right earlier - or maybe out of order? I guess from here, I will make small changes and not be so picky. If you disagree and think I should shoot for no buzzing at all, please let me know. The original problem does seem to have been fixed though. Thanks so much to everyone for helping out. Thanks Scott. Dave

I have tried several truss rod adjustments and bridge adjustments. The bridge is a 10" radius and the fretboard was 10" when I bought it. It is possible that I sanded the fretboard down to the point where it is no longer 10", I'll look into it. Thanks again - do you think the 3rd spring would have any affect?

That's a good point. I am using 25.5 scale standard tuning but I have not installed the third spring yet (OFR bridge). I am currently using two springs. Would that have any affect on this? Thanks Scott, I know my questions are probably driving people nuts. I'm so close to being able to use this thing that I've been pouring my heart into for so long - I just want to be sure I do the right thing at this point. Dave

OK, I decided to try to level my frets and re-crown. I used one of those stewmac bars with the stick-on sand paper to do the leveling. I tried not to take of too much material but being the first time doing this, I had no idea what that really meant. I used a perm. marker to coat each fret and watched to see it dissapear as I worked. How do you know when to stop leveling? I used a feeler guage (.004?) to see if any frets had a gap. When I could no longer slide it under, I stopped. This may not have worked for the inner strings though since I only checked the high and low E strings. The end result is less buzzing. If I try, I can still get some buzzing randomly (mostly on the lower strings still). Sorry to bother you all with this. If there's anything else you can share, I would really appreciate it. I have a feeling that I did not complete the leveling properly. Dave

Thanks for all of the replies. Am I correct in assuming that a neck that bows away from the players body (front bow?) would normally prevent buzzing? I think LGM is basically saying that a front bow is usually desired and would help this type of problem? When I set it to bow this way, should the string height stay uniform from low to high frets or should it change slightly as you move up the neck? By the way - this is a new guitar that I just put together and not an old guitar with different guage strings. The frets look like they are well seated. I expected some buzzing but not on all frets. That's why I thought it was not a high fret but a neck position / bridge position problem. Thanks again for helping out. Dave

My lower strings are buzzing on pretty much every fret except maybe the first. What would be the first thing to look for? The upper (higher pitch) strings seem fine. I have already adjusted the bridge up and down without much change. I did a quick truss rod adlust to make the neck bow away from my body, and set it back again after learning it did not help. Thanks, Dave

In case anyone else wants to know, here's what I found: I am using an original Floyd Rose Trem (from Warmoth). I used a 25/64 bit (thanks to KrazyDerek for letting me believe this could be right). The posts seemed like they were not going to go in and I was worried that I would pound them in part of the way and try to back out and be stuck. They actually went in fairly easily with a dead-blow and a piece of oak. I put them as far in as I could without running into trouble on the back side. After trying it out with the bridge and some test strings - things are starting to look decent . I really didn't have anything solid to go by for guessing the proper depth except an estimate of the fret height and the maximum depth the guitar's body would allow. I guess time will tell if I have to rip it back out somehow. Thanks very much to all who helped. I will try not to bother you too much at least until I get to the painting/finishing stage (yikes ). Dave