WezV

it wont work - i had to make a plate from scratch original DS1 and a DS2 (essentially a mustang without trem) notice the waist is offset on the second version

action at nut and bridge and anywhere in between will also affect intonation. sure, you can adjust for a high action - but its all a balancing act when you say 'measures out right' - what do you mean?

fender had a great idea on the duo-sonics. essentially they came in 22.5 and 24" scale lengths and the necks were interchangeable at least up till about the 70's. it meant the bodied could be identically machined so was probably done to save costs sadly the reissues don't use either of these scale lengths so it will involve moving the bridge. iirc the bridge needs to be about 3/8" further back for a 24" scale, obviously measure to confirm exact dimensions just about to spray a duo-sonic style build myself essentially its DS2 body shape with DS1 styling... and a 24" neck

yeah, the point in using titebond is not to glue the wood to the fret. its a waterbased glue so will soak in and slightly swell the surrounding area before setting pretty hard. this helps the fret do what frets should - which is hold themselves in but i also use CA sometimes, usually on the ends. if you are doing a normal fret job (wont work for semi hemi) then leave a slight overhang on a bit longer. put the neck on its side when done and put a small drop of CA on the corner created by the overhanging fret and the fretboard. it will wick down the end just fine, even with bound fretboards. and if you get it right there wont be anything on the face of the board to clean up, just a little on the sides when you clip and file the fret down. You can do the same after the overhang is cut off but it has a much greater chance of running where you dont want it that old epoxy method does work well, but went massively out of fashion

pretty much. in acoustics its bad and harder to control, but the feedback loop you describe is awesomely musical in electrics... most players standing facing a full 100w stack on full seem very happy with it! Good Feedback the problems all occur in that "causes additional resonance in the guitar" bit. when things like pickup windings/covers or any other metal part which will be in the pickups magnetic field start vibrating you can get the non musical screech of Bad Feedback Something like a 335 (pretty much hollow except for a centre block) works quite well when trying to get a nice feedback from standing in front of the amp - but as soon as you loose that centre block and go a bit more hollow it can get nasty

add a free 3-6 month set up. Its good practice anyway

i would also practice inserting/pulling frets on some scrap the slight bevel and a bit of heat can stop the chips - but the only real way to prevent them is technique, and even then its going to chip a bit on flat sawn boards i heat the fret with a soldering gun modified to heat the fret quickly this makes the fret part of the circuit and guarantees heat transfer. once a little warm i get a sharp blade under an end then i use fret cutters to walk the fret out with a gentle wiggle. the flat surface of the flush ground cutters and the slight wiggle motion helps prevent large chips

just keeps getting better - best build thread for quite a while. i guess it does help that it is one of my favourite guitars

nothing wrong with a slight splay to the strings it doesn't look like anything in particular - just a rather generic 3-aside. slightly more modern version of a gretsch or john birch headstock

my only problem with the dunlop recessed strap buttons is the bulky bit you have to attach to the strap. it would put me off mounting it on the back of the guitar - although i know it shouldnt really be in the way on the heel

maybe the lightest 20% of them are ok - they are certainly not the comfiest design and can get pretty backbreaking at the heavier end of the scale so really i would say if it feels heavy now it will be when completed. thinning it down or hollowing it out will save back cracker bills later on down the line and give you a guitar you still play a fdew years down the line. i say that as someone who has made the mistake of leaving things a little heavy thinking it doesnt matter too much if its just for me!

who says he is using the ibanez logo?

also, on the truss rod cover. i would have one as normal sure, the access looks really good - but that could be a really nice surprise for someone further down the line. i love it when i find little construction details like that when working on a guitar

bubinga?

may as well elave it there - and if you dont like the tone or its not as full as expected pull it out and see if it helps. but if your humbucker sized p-90s have a metal baseplate and metal cover then its really not needed in the cavity as well

shielding the control cavity is fine - but i am not a fan of shielding pickup cavities. they have metal baseplates and sometimes covers which do the same thing anyway, and shielding in the cavity can change the tone of humbuckers quite a bit (it actually sounds more boxed in!). dont know why but its generally ok with single coils and if anyone things it doesnt make a tonal difference, well fair enough - but either way it shouldn't be needed with humbuckers

could be a few years now - the first i brought (about 9 years ago now) was a traditional gents saw that cut on the push. second was on the pull stroke but this one is more recent http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Saws_and_slots/Japanese_Fret_Saw_System.html

i prefer to have the longer bits of binding extending past the fretboard and just make a short bit to fit in between them on the end. - looks pretty clean and much easier than getting the mitre right

the stew-mac has got better since they changed it to cut on the pull stroke - and i think more recently they changed it to a japanese saw anyway

yeah, if its fretboard edges then its a really easy fix that wont harm value if done well If its the bound front of the body, the job wont be easy without finish work. You say you wont ever sell it so value doesnt matter, but already you are not getting on with it so maybe its just not for you. or are you talking about adding a gut cut around back - still a big job with refinish work, value will still be greatly reduced... but i dont think that is as bad an idea as rounding off all the body edges i am guessing that after doing the mod the guitar may still feel uncomfortable as les pauls are inherently bulky things. which will either lead to you chasing further mods to try and make a les paul something its not, or you will realise you find other guitars much more suited to you and be stuck with a LP you never play and cant sell dont worry about tone - it wont be any change you can hear unless you carve a significant proportion of the body away

yeah, the sound tubes. basically they are the bolts that hold the bridge on... the tubes from the bridge only go halfway into the guitar. this is a neat solution to the problem of mounting a bridge on balsa wood, no screws to strip out! as for the neck - i thing an oversized plug in each hole is the way i would go. the yamaha's also have quite a thick layer of bomb proof paint

i refer to my colour choice in the first post... well over a year ago! but i was told to make it a bit more like this - so a deeper blue on the edges and a bit more green in the centre... got it pretty close, but maybe not as green in the middle

yeah, i think it would look weird with those bits left natural. at this stage i am quite liking the natural back and side with blue top look - but it will get blue all over

well, after some deliberating i decided this should be finished by my cousin. he used to do all my spraying before he started a plumbing course - now that is done and he has had his business set up for a year or two he is ready for some spraying again. i was going to get mike to do this ( he has done much of my stuff for the last few years), and i know he would have done a great job - but i was a bit concerned about transporting it to scotland due to its size and me being slack in getting a flight case sorted anyway - the good news is now that nath is back in the game, and i can finally drive myself around, i have somewhere i can go to do my own spraying - and get nath's help with the tricky stuff! so today we did the burst on the double neck sorry for the crappy phone pics, they dont show the nice royal blue-turquoise ocean burst as well as i would like... its a lot nicer in the flesh - but you get the idea next stage it to mask off the burst and spray the rest a nice translucent royal blue

simple, watch this: