zyonsdream

Pretty shameless post for your first post on the PG forum so I don't feel bad for saying this. That's the worst recording I think I've ever heard. I'm assuming this is some sort of joke since the first song was about 2:00 of the same riff which seemed to just continue into the second song. I can appreciate the guts it's taken to put your stuff out there for review (I've put out two CDs myself) but you need to be prepared for people not to like it. I'm not trying to be mean but as we have many superiorly accomplished builders here we have just as many accomplished players and this was basically sub par playing and 4 track quality recording with zero mixing and mastering. I'd personally go back to the drawing board and purchase a tone port or something with a little bit of recording software and hone your skills. Again, I'm not trying to be rude but you obviously spammed this forum simply to get feedback so I figure I'd just be honest with you.

the blood wood I've used turned a reddish brown but looks nice still. Not sure if that's the info you are looking for. It's also like rosewood heavy but if you have it in stock you already know that!

tung oil is my finish of choice for a maple neck. Lasts forever and gives you the same feel as an unfinished maple neck. I also like the amber tint tung gives the neck. It ages well too.

yup, if it's a clear coated maple neck is won't feel any different after you paint and clear it. It will feel slower than an oiled neck will feel. I personally like an oiled neck over a painted one. Besides the fact that a painted fretboard would just look odd, there would be no negative issues with painting the side of the FB. If there is a saw mark you might be able to fill it in with a piece of rosewood and never really tell it was fixed. If its just a saw mark you could fill it using a rosewood and superglue blend.

Thats aweomse, Can't wait to hear how it sounds. Some closer pictures would be nice when it's all together and playing. I got held up on mine due to another build needing to get done ASAP. I should be able to wrap mine up in the next week or so.

Go speak to Neal Moser about running a small shop. He makes pointy guitars in a market that is not big on pointy guitars. How does he do it? He is a good luthier and has a reputation. It takes one famous person holding your guitar on stage to give you a waiting list two years long. If you have that reputation a good business plan will take you a long way. Learn how to save money and still build!

Scottyd: first off, wow! That’s an awesome looking finish on a super awesome looking top! I love deep set necks on basses. I’ve always thought they looked cool. This one is a step up for your entry from last month and the entry from last month was great! I really like the maple board, it sets off the red tones on the cocobolo top. The matching covers really look nice too. I notice that you clear coat the tops but leave the back oil finished. If that’s not a cleared top then it’s the shiniest polish I’ve ever seen. I’d like to see the whole bass with that sheen to it. Canuck Brian: We had a lot of interesting Padauk builds this month. The maple board looks nice but I’m lost on the inlay. Is it Corian like the nut? The zebra top was nice. I’ve used the same wood combos in the past so I’m sure it’s a nice sounding guitar. I also liked the real mounted Strat style jack. I just question the comfort for the player in regards to placement. Zyonsdream: As much as I like this guitar, I would have used a difference center piece for the while limba. It has a bit of color on it that blends with the stringer and it makes the stringer on the back look wonky. Other than that, I was happy with the build. Djhollowman: This was a strong month and I was thinking the same thing as you, “what am I doing” as I saw more of the entries for the month. I really dig this guitar. The finish is nice and all of the lines are exceptionally clean. I even like the headstock. The only thing that I didn’t care for was the strip going up the back of the neck. It seemed too wide for me but this is just personal taste. RFR: this was an exceptional build. The quilted maple binding!!! WoW, I really liked it. The fact that it’sa 12 string limits some of the charm for me but I don’t play 12 string guitars. The finish was great but ultimpately I just didn’t care for the horms. Eveguitars: I bet this guitar would win a weight contest this month! That’s a lot of rosewood. The neck looks like it outshies the body in grain but we really didn’t get any clear shots of the whole guitar to see. I like how it has that ESP look to it. A bit pointy but still curved. I’d be interested in hearing how the choice of woods works with passive pickups. Pukko: This guitar is flat out great. I love the top the design and the execution. The only thing I didn’t care for was the custom rings. They just seemed to builky for me. The attention to detail was excellent on this build. I’d play this one. Jjucius: The 3rd Padauk build for the month and the second tele. I like the semi-hollow with the traditional F hole but the pictures were way to blurry for me to really like the guitar. Competition is tough so it’s important to offer up the best shots you can. Tough month as always. I’m casting a null this month!

Thanks guys, it obviously still has a lot of work to go but it’s been a fun project! It’s fun working with woods with wild grain because they never want to act right. The bevels really do look like different wood which is cool because the option for an oil finish is still on the table and if we do that, it will lose some of the depth that a nice shiny hard coat can give it. Oh, and the boxer, LOL yah Angus is a “great” dog!

This got left on the back burner but now the buyer is in the black with me and ready to go so I've been working on it the last couple of days. Gold Kahler, Ebony neck with 1 pickup and 1 knob with a 20db boost switch, oh and gold frets!

Sorry, getting money up to rewire my shop

Yah like I said, I wasn’t sure about the 3rd wood. I’ve never used it and my wood bible only alluded to it and they seemed to class it wrong. Common names can be really tricky to determine the botanical name. When I worked with Beach it tended to tear more than maple did. Shallow cuts work better than slower speeds. I have a bit of ambrosia beach I’ve been waiting to use for the right occasion but so far nothing has come up. I agree about the oak. A piece thick enough to build a guitar or a neck from is expensive and very heavy. It can make a beautiful guitar but it wouldn’t be my first choice for wood. This is an Oak Neck made by Neal Moser!

you'd have to fight my 3 year old for it LOL - t's still up for grabs; the router that is!

A lot of people use Oak (makes one hell of a neck) but it can be heavy. Neal Moser has used oak and it looked awesome. A lot of people use Beach as well. I've used it myself a couple of times. It's got a lot of the same properties as maple but doesn't machine as easily. Meranti is likely a common term for myrtle which is also a relation to beach (so says my wood bible) but other than that I don't know much about it.

dude, that's a killer neck! You can still find bocote in rough luumber form at a reasonable price. I paid $8.00 for the board I made bocote fretboard from YOu are paying for the warmoth services as well as the lumber. Warmoth is overly expensive on most things. Go on evilbay and find a chunk and build your own. http://www.hardwoodlumberagent.com/ I buy a lot from this guy, he might have some for you.

I use a fine tuned jointer and planer to get solid joint and two types of glue Good ol' fashion'd Elmer's woodworking glue for wings, tops and fretboards And good ol' Crazy Glue for gluing frets into slots. Both have always worked well for me.

Correction 2 1/2 HP router I purchased this router thinking “bigger is better” and unfortunately since I hold my routers and use templates this router is just too much power for me. It seems it’s best suited for table mounted use. I guess a person with more expertise would be able to handle the router better free hand but I found it to be too heavy for my tastes. I keep going back to my lighter 1 ¼ HP router. This thing really is a monster though. I used it two or three times and cut like butter. It has a ½ cullet and a ¼ adapter cullet and has more horsepower than most cars! It comes with the base plate extender and the edge guide (never used) http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5890 Like I said, I used it two or three times and it hasn’t even cut the profile of a full guitar. It’s in clean “as new” shape. $135 plus $10.00 shipping to US only- paypal only. I’ve not have had good luck shipping overseas, sorry. Contact me at zyon@zdguitars.com or message me here.

improved sustain??? Make sure your springs are string enough to prevent too much wobble on the cavity. A small piece of foam under the pickup is a good fix. My guess is, the pickups are not the best quality and there is more noise coming from the pickup it'self and not from the mounting of the pickup. Are your pickups wax potted?

It comes down to traffic and page rank. Google (and other places) give each website a page rank and smaller forums (I have one too) rarely get hit because your page rank is really low. This site has a higher page rank therefore it gets more attention from the bots. After all, the same bots that Google uses to determine page validity are the same bots spammers use to flood forums and blogs with their links. This would explain how you use the same methods to activate users and why you don’t get spammed much.

Bondo is some amazing stuff I’ve used Bondo before to skin over pickup cavity plugs and I wasn’t happy. Bondo doesn’t seem to expand and contrast with the wood so it cracks around the seams. Elmer’s wood filler seems to have very little shrinkage once dried and never seems to crack. This might just be my experience but I’ve used Bondo on both wood and metal and it reacts “long term” differently on wood. As for my project, I’ve decided to go with a 24.75” mahogany set neck with a rosewood board. I’m trying to keep my specs similar to an ES335 since the guitar is a semi-hollow and I’ll likely be comparing it to a semi-hollow ES335 for tone. I chose mahogany over maple because it was cheaper and is just as common a neck wood as maple is. Besides, the other Guitar I made like this was made with a maple top and walnut back/sides and it was very bright sounding and after researching more about the plywood I’m using it’s made mostly with Burch which tends to respond a bit like maple so I’m trying to combat some of the brightness of the tonal response by adding a little bit of warmer wood to it. I decided not to use construction grade plywood for the neck due to the voids between plys but I’d assume that furniture grade plywood would work well as a laminated neck with the plys running vertical through the neck. I was just not willing to try it since this build is coming out my pocket and money doesn’t grow on trees. Should have the neck done later this week, Then, I’ll route my cavities and then it’s off to paint.

Well Eddie, you know I love it. Then again, any Max era warlock is a winner in my book. maybe someday we will see a return to BCR for Max because his new sig is just UGLY!

That's what I use to rough my necks and yes, I've done a bevel or two with one as well. Makes quick work even quicker but be careful, it's easier to take wood off than it is to put it back on!

The whole point of these two projects is to prove or disprove the possibility of getting a world class axe out of plywood so why not see if a professional finish is posisble with plywood (although his plywood is a better grade than mine.)

I have no problems sitting and playing a V. It's all in how you hold it. The middle part of the V straddles my right leg. No issues. I love the zebra but then again, it's one of my favorite woods to work with.

I do most of mine with a hand files and not spokeshaves.I use a half round for the belly cut and a flat bastard for bevels on the face of the guitar. I've also been known to emply my random orbital sander too. I love belly cuts on Teles but the strat style arm rest on a tele looks off to me but that's just my opnion.

that was my biggest fear for the first few guitars: going through the truss rod channel. Nice guitar BTW, Nice traditional Tele with a little twist!