zyonsdream

When it comes to personal builds I generally like 1 humbucker (active or passive) with 1 tone knob. No binding and no inlay. Those are my personal likes. So my personal ones have more of a stripped down shredder appeal to them. If I'm going to keep it for myself I rarely go to the 9's on it. So going all out with this build might be the way to go. I like the TVJ pickups idea but I agree that going with a kahler would look off. Do you think the viper would look good with a flat mount Bigsby and the TVJ pickups? I could also go with a Nashville bridge and a custom tail piece like on the Guild S100 I guess in the back of my mind I'm worried about making this guitar look to busy which wouldn’t be hard to do with that grain pattern.

I completely agree with this rebuttal. Simple block or trapezoid MOP inlays would be great. They wouldn't detract from the body at all. If you don't like that idea, plain dots would look great as well. Since you're going with the Viper, TVJ pups would be out of place. The Khaler returns to being "right". So... are you planning on going with a hot-rod set, or some basic PAF clones? Ebony FBs aren't so expensive they can't be used. Why go through the effort of dying one black when you can have the real thing? Most ebony boards aren't uniformly black and most have dye on them. I'd just want to make sure this one was uniform in it's color. I'm not sure what to do with pickups. I've made severa guitars with solid zebra wood wings and they tend to be vary warm. I might go with Live Wires for this one but I'll have to think about it. Do I want to go extreme with everything- wood choice, inlay, electronics or go classic with it? The wood choice seems like it could go either way.

I really like the Roswell guitar. I always thought it would be cool to build one. Can you get LSR tuners where you are? Those would look cool on there.

Well with that wood for a body and a neck I personally feel I'd be doing the guitar a injustice if I didn't go with a nicely dyed black as could be ebony board. Might do a custom inlay job but nothing to busy. The body will be busy enough and making an elaborate inlay might detract from the guitar altogether. I might even go with zero inlays and give the neck a clean look.

Yep, better get to the books but thank you. I'm positive this build just became a viper! Just have to hammer out the details now.

It’s very dry; it was wetted with Naphtha in the picture and sitting in the shade. It’s actually so dry that it didn’t give off much of that “zebra” smell when I cut it and thickness planed it. I’m not sure how the TVJ pickups would look next to a Kahler. I think it depends on the rest of the look of the guitar but the more drastic bevels of the Viper would enhance the look of the Kahler. However, a Kahler doesn’t really hearken back to the days of TVJ pickups so I may have to give or take a bit. I might end up having a buyer for this guitar so I might need to go with what they have in mind. If that’s the case I can guarantee it will have a gold Kahler hybrid if he doesn’t take it, then it will get a Black Kahler. I’m taking my time with this one and really deciding on what I’d like to do. I’m really leaning to the side of an amber tinted clear coat. Neal Moser did a zebra guitar like that a few years ago and it really looked awesome. But then again, that all depends on if this guy decides he wants it.

I'm not but my mother is in the medical field and she suffers from environmental allergies so I’ve become accustomed to the things to look for when suffering from a severe allergy. By no means should anyone take what I have to say on the topic as fact. Heck, I’m the guy who never wears a mask or glasses! I’m never going to be one to teach a course in health and safety.

Most wood dust will make your nose run. That doesn't mean you have an allergy to it. It's the body's natural way of getting it out of your sinuses. Regular ol' maple will make my nose run like it stole something. I look for rashes, constricted breathing, dizziness, drastically sore throat, things like that.

I gt tired of feeling like I was going to have a heart attack every time I tried to cut the slots in a piece of ebony so I got the table saw blade from stewmac and set up a shoot for the table. You can pick up a cost effective B&D Firestorm table saw at lows for around $80.00. I got one and now it's a dedicated slotter.

my experience is that it is the same as just about any other ebony out there (except for the fact that it usually has a grain pattern similar to Brazilian Rosewood. It's isn't super hard to work with if you take your time and use the right tools (just like most other ebony woods)

I really love the wenge fretboard and the grain pattern on the body looks nice too. A trans finish would be really cool.

I saw on Stew Mac that TV Jones makes a hot over wound PAF that looks just like the TV'tron so the vintage style pickups might work (damn expensive though) They are similar to the ones used on my 76' Guild S100 so that would be cool. I was researching the SG shape and it doesn't seem like they make them with a 25.5 scale length so the bridge would look out of place or I'd have to elongate the body. So, I'm thinking I might just go with the viper since it's essentially a stretched out SG This is a Viper. I'm horrible with phontoshop mockups but if anyone would like to take the Zebrak pattern and put it on this it would be cool to see what it might look like.

This is why I love building guitars, so many combinations with the slightest change making a big change in tone. Strings, scale length! All fun stuff to think about. A spalted top for a first build is a challenge but it really depends on how spalted it is. An extreme spalt can be a bugger to work with. ...and yes, some people even like pointy guitars BTW, I've never experienced any reaction to cocobolo (and a dusk mask is no existent in my shop-no flaming please)but lacewood really bugs the crap out of my sinuses! Only thing I've noticed about cocobolo is the fact that it smells fishy after a while.

that was one of the coolest videos! That one he cranked was really cool

it all depends on what you want to tune to. I play Grunge-stoner metal and I tuned to drop D across the board. I favor Ernie Ball power slinky and 25.5 board. Gives nice string tension and a good feel. That sort of stuff is very personal though and everyone is different.

The choices you mentioned; mahogany, maple top and ebony board are pretty common wood combination choice. The debate will rage on forever about guitar tone and you'll eventually make your own decision on what works for you. With the choices you have suggested you should have no problem getting a tone akin to what you are looking for. Most stoner rock is usually tuned down so scale length should be more of a concern for you. I'd suggest at least a 25.5" scale. Also, pickups will pay a big part in the overall tone you get when it's done. It all depends on if you are looking for "sludge" for tone or if you want a crisp tone with definition

I don't have enough lumber to make an ML, I'd need more than tips for that. Although, I'd like to build an ML someday. The SG is an option though

I actually thought the same thing. Maybe using a TOM style could limit the amount that is covered but a traditional Tele bridge could really fudge things up it seems

So I purchased this zebrawood a long time ago just because of the unusual cut. I finally got around to gluing up a blank and I really don't know what to do with it. The blank is obviously a neck through and there is enough space to do a: Les Paul S shape Viper or I could glue tips on and make a V shape It's a non-commissioned build so I'm open to suggestions on what would look best with this lumber! The only concrete decisions I've made is : 25.5 ebony board and a Kahler bridge, I'm thinking I might leave the rest of the build up to your suggestions!

looks really nice, the photo came out really nice.

That's how I do mine. I draw them in photoshop or use a picture and then blow it up until the neck width is correct at the heel. This brings it all into ratio. I then print it cut it out and then transfer it to template board. I've made several templates like that However, for this build, if yu want Gibby then I'd shell out the $60.00 to save time and get the templates here http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/58Explorer.htm

how about two contests 1 amateur builder GOTM 2: pro builder GOTM This works in two ways 1: More amateur builders will post submissions because their work will be judged amongst peers that are working within the same general skill level and to be honest, a lot of amateur builders don't post because they feel that they are at a disadvantage to the pro builders. 2: More pro builders will post submissions because it allows them to showcase and compete against only professional builders. A pro builder should beat an amateur builder every time so there isn't much to be gained but there is a bit more pride to be had if you beat a field of pro builders (and we have the best pr builders in the world on this forum.) Having a pro and amateur GOTM seems to be a win-win situation for everyone and maybe just doing a trial month would yield more submissions.

Jimi didn't just play an Olympic white strat his whole life and in fact, he played a lot of Gibson's over time.

I'm also one who favors pointy guitars and I liked the original but I liked the photoshop one better. In a lot of cases I see radical shapes that sacrifice symmetrical for the sake of adding pointy horns. A well designed guitar is going to be balanced and have flow and this goes for a classic design or a radical design. It's easier to modify a classic shape and have success with it but it's really hard to make a pointy guitar and be successful with it so balance is key. I really like the finish and I'd agree that the craftsmanship is top of the line!

I never noticed any ill affects when using it. The dust is very heavy and grainy like sand. It might be poisonous to sharp edges because it pretty much killed my router bits, drill bits and elbow from all the sanding I had to do on it.