Mitzlflik

Happy Holidays, I am about to start my firsts project which will be a soloist style guitar done in swamp ash with a voodoo type finish (white on black). I thought I might dremel a logo into the maple headstock-paint it black and user filler for the logo instead of a traditional inlay. My question is twofold: First, is a 1/16" rout deep enough to have a clean looking/filled script? Secondly I am looking for some names of suppliers providing lettering templates or raw material to make such a template? Thanks

Exactly...which ultimately leads to notes bottoming out with more intense string bending. For me scale length is more about tone and feel than action...I just found it curious that Ibanez, Charvel/Jackson, Kramer and Schecter *I think* exclusively build 25.5 scale guitars. Incidentally I just ordered the basis for my parts guitar from Warmoth and will keep you posted as it progresses. I did opt for the gibson scale conversion neck to be partnered with a swamp ash body which I plan to rout and sculpt it quite extensively...in the end the lower half will look like an N4 while the top half and neck joint will have the look of an Ibanez S/Brian Moore. I think swamp ash sounds great but hope to warm it up a bit with the shorter scale length.

This guy was empatic that this was a general quality exibited by every PRS he had seen (and he claims to work on approx. 6 a year). The neck appears to be very straight. My best quess is perhaps that at some time in the past the nut was slotted too low on the treble side. I cannot be sure but that is where the buzzing occurs. I have the action at 3/32" from the top of the 24th fret to the bottom of the low E. It is just a smidgeon lower than that at the 12th fret. I would prefer it to be at 1/16th" at the 24th on the low E with about half that on the high E side. Incidentally does scale length have anything to do with low action? It seems that shredder style guitars tend to be fender scale but I prefer the slinkiness and tone of the PRS.

What's really ironic about this is the fact that he said he plays a Les Paul with really low action but every PRS he has worked on (and he has done quite a lot) is exactly the same. I have suspected this guy is a moron for a long time, I just needed a little extra convincing and now I cringe at the thought of how many guitars he has screwed up because he has worked at a very prominent independent music store in my area for years. I rarely ever use a tech but have been wary of doing fret work myself (I have never been inclined to learn up 'til now). I will consult another pro or 3 to figure this issue out because I can't put my finger on what the problem is.

I recently sent my PRS CE24 to a local luthier for the purpose relevelling the frets additionally I had requested action be set as low as possible without creating significant fret buzz (yes I realize this is subjective) but when I got the guitar back he had put a forward bow in the neck (I like mine nearly straight) and the action was signigicantly higher than when I gave it to him (more than 3/16" from the top of the 24th fret to the bottom of the low E; I had it at about 1/8") I asked him about it and he said thats the way PRS are meant to be played. He said "they are not designed to have low action like a Jackson or a Les Paul." I found this hard to believe and am looking for a second opinion. I purchased the guitar off of Ebay about 9 months ago and I really love the tone and how it is contoured but I am used to Jackson/Charvels and play a lot of metal which I find more challenging than with my other guitars. Is this guy correct in his remarks or is there something I can do to make it play more like a Jackson (refret)? Just a few basics for your reference: It has a good bit of fret wire left which I would consider to be about medium height, much like a fender, personally I prefer thin and tall wire. Like all PRS it is 12" radius but I don't have problems with it bottoming out... when I lower the action the buzzing occurrs in the 1st-4th positions, adjusting the truss rod forward to eliminate that results in the action being so high it defeats the purpose. It does have the PRS trem but I have it blocked against the body VH style as I don't use the trem and this arrangement noticebly improves the sustain and tone.

At the risk of getting off topic I have often wondered the same thing while browsing their sight. If they are all about customizing their inventory for each individual buyer ie; custom pick up, tuning peg, trem cavity and input jack routs, why compromise your inventory by cutting the routs until you have a buyer for each piece, finished or not? As for the refinishing point that keeps coming up...no refinishing would be needed. The plug would only be visible when the trem cavity cover is off. Granted i would would spray the exposed portion with a clear nitro just to be safe and prevent swelling/cracking but there is no need to refinish. Aesthetically the only thing off about this guitar would be that the back would have a trem cavity cover for a guitar with ABM bridges.

Thanks all for the great advice and yes thats the body I am considering using. I had guesstimated the savings to be about $200 but its actually $121 (which I still think is significant because I should be able to put this together for about $800). While this is better characterized as a "parts guitar" it is a prototype to a more ergonomically shaped design I have drawn up. As such it is intended as a (inexpensive and recoupable) learning experience. I want to try out this combination of parts for playability and tone particuarly the 10-16" compound radius fingerboard in order to decide whether those features are necessary and desirable on my actual build design.

No refinishing would be needed. The entire modification would be contained in the trem cavity and hidden by the back cover plate. I think I might have misinformed you, the areas that have been routed in the back have only been routed about 1 3/4" out of lets say 2" total thickness so the top is completely in tact (they have not even routed for pick ups yet).

I am nearly ready to begin my first project and seeing as it is my first build I have decided to buy the neck and the body from Warmoth. Basically its gonna be a San Dimas style super strat with a Limba body, Maple compound radius neck, EMG 81 in the bridge, EMG SA in the neck, les paul style wiring and the single string style bridges. While browsing warmoth site I have found a few nice pre-finished bursts that have the look I want, unfortunately most of these are rear routed for trems. I could buy one of these at significant savings (about $200 less) over ordering a custom one. I would then plug the area of the rout where the trem block goes in order to have plenty of material with which to anchor the bridges. Has anyone done this? I assume if a limba plug fits snug, is glued and sealed the body should react like a single piece of wood. Am I missing something here?

I came across a copy of Dan Erlewine's "Make Your Guitar Play Great" and learned the following: The more severe the angle between the stop tail-piece and the bridge the more sustain the instrument will have at the expense of losing some of the harmonic richness (loss of upper harmonics in the tonal spectrum). Additionally a very severe angle can cause the tune-o-matic bridge to collapse (based on the photos, I would tend to decribe this as a bend) which among other things hoses your bridge radius but at the same time could be devastating to the value of a vintage instrument. Anyhow I gonna take the man's word for it but come to your own conclusions, I just thought you folks might find this useful.

Still pondering my design and thought I would throw this out for discussion. I am wondering how important the angle of the strings on the bridge is. Meaning up from the ferrule/tailpiece area to the back of the bridge. Most string-thru-body guitars have pretty severe angles (between 35-45 degrees). In a bridge/tailpiece situation you seem to have control over this angle but is it important? Does it create more downward pressure which could (or could not) add to sustain, potential for string breakage at the bridge ect?

That idea wont do stuff all to assist the intonation, any more than any other type of bridge/nut will. ← I was meaning intonation in the general sense or in other words being in tune, not the luthier specific meaning of having precisely adjusted scale length and fret placement ie: bridge positioning, Earvana, Buzz Feiten, fanned fretting, ect. Specifically the tuning that comes from elimination binding at the nut and slippage at the tuner post. BTW thanks all, I think you have helped with my planning, currently I am considering the whole locking tuner route (the ones w/o cam or wheel).

Wow! That TK site is pretty sweet...I don't know if I necessary agree with all his rationale but certainly admire his creativity and entreprenureal spirit.

Damn! I just looked at the prices for the Schallers. Can anyone tell me why a 3+ 3+ set up would be nearly double that of the 6 in a row. Jeez I would be better to by 2 full 6 in line sets and piece-meal the two sets for the same price.

My discomfort came from locking and unlocking the spertzels as the wheel has a fairly narrow edge and is textured (serrated or whatever) to provide a grip. Unfortunately I would have to torgue down fairly tightly to lock and unlock the tuners on the G & L Legacy, consquently the edge of the wheel dug into my finger tips...If I go the locking tuner route I will probably use the Schallers instead as the locking wheel has more surface area and is more lightly textured. To better understand you can take a close look via Stew Mac by clicking on the pictures tab of the respective brands. Also thanks for the tip...coincidently I am on Tesla's e-mail list (yes I like a few hair metal bands) next time i get on their site I will look for pics.