WezV

yeah, its mainly preference but still worth considering

a neck angle will bring the nut end closer to the body. for some this ends up feeling cramped, but for shorter players it can mean less of a stretch

i was once told by a guy that he preferred guitars with neck angles as it felt like the guitar was hugging him. think that was an exaggeration but the idea of a guitar fitting around you for ergonomic benefit way was taken a bit further with the vox virage

right, on the plastic cup issue - we now think it was just a dodgy gun

we tried everything with that gun and it never performed the way it should. it got stripped and cleaned so many times it was getting daft. it kinda worked with other finishes but not as good as it should

In the end i just picked up another gun, that also had a plastic cup - and it works absolutely fine

The good gun was a Devilbiss starting line - half the price of the shitty one and works absolutely perfectly. I am liking RPC a lot again at the moment. I sware the shitty one had contamination from the shop, even though it got stripped and cleaned as good as possible before use

Awesome, this is a fillertron pickup?

no, its an original 70's rickenbacker toaster p-up - jangly!

My problems are as follows:

1. They are rather difficult to find, even online

2. When you do find one, they either cost a considerable amount of money, or are suspiciously cheap

3. When they're that cheap, you can never be sure of their origins, or their build quality

1. because its a niche market

2. because its a niche market

3. because its a niche market

redesigning them wont change that

the trems you mention seem to have it sorted. they are all a bit on the pricey side, but they do work well. Myab eif you start by identifying the issues you have with those systems you may get some peoples brains ticking over

I guess I would be happy if someone could come up with something like this but more affordable.

Whilst i wont go all HC on you and tell you that you are wasting your time, i would point out this is a very niche market and most guitarists wont share your passion for an improved headless trem system.

I've been jonesing for a mandolin for a while too. I'd have to re-tune it like a guitar so I could play it. At that point, I might as well add 2 more strings and just make it an octave guitar.

my octave 12 SG did sound very mandolin like

but since building that i got a mandolin and realised that mandolin chords &tuning is pretty easy - easier than squeezing full guitar chords onto a half scale fret spacing

i had a similar idea (minus the snake skin) a couple of years ago

i would never order a gibson or a fender, i would have to hold it in my undeserving hands first. its sounds sdtrange but the consistancy just doesnt seem to be there im not sure if thats a bad thing or not.

fender are getting pretty damn good - i would be happy buying one unseen. they pretty much do exactly what they say on the tin - even the squiers are really consistently good for the price, at least on anything above the cheapo affinity level (the new squier offsets are very tempting)

but gibson's do vary a lot - there are very nice ones out there but a lot have issues that need sorting. I would never buy a gibson without trying it first and doing some shopping around

PRS put them all to shame

so a double bound esquire/cabronita - i think it needs a lighter guard - i would consider the gretsch influence of the cabronita and go for a clear guard with either silver, white or cream sprayed on the back - it really looks quite different to solid plastic and would fit the vibe

who says you cant play guitar with a chain saw!!

Lastly: not ready for the 24.75 scale with the rule of 18 spacing yet ?

has that been verified - i understand how it probably worked just fine on medieval lutes but i cant quite get my head around gibson still using it in the 50's

if so i still wouldn't expect it to be better than the way the rest of the modern world (in the post industrial revolution sense) does it - potentially it has better intonation in some positions, but without going down the wonky fret/nut route it will always just move the dodgy intonation problem to another area of the fretboard

nah, 24.6" of 24 5/8" will do just fine for me

and a vintage correct replica would be whatever they did on the 200 they made in the 80's - but i was more thinking period correct for the 50's

if i had you would all know about it by now

probably 24 5/8" for a traditional gibson feel

although part of me thinks the introduction of modern tuners would look daft if everything else was pure vintage - so is it worth going for a modern adjustable bridge

but then my last firebird build had the steiny tuners, pigtail bridge and tru-oil finish but still had a strong vintage vibe without being an accurate replica

yeah, gibson have done it both ways. following the top carve and showing the little bit of maple is traditional and less wasteful, it is considered the 'correct' way by the purists

obviously it makes absolutely no difference in any real sense

this looks good to me

as does this

but this always looks like an afterthought

i think i nearly have a plan

the body has already been cut out - its mahogany for this one

done some more photoshopping - i am liking the bound blacktop idea

7

the moderne doesnt have to be a total loss

that is pretty awful Tim

prostheta - why mention zachary!!! O.K, that may have helped put me off the idea of making a more modern styled one

How about a Moderne Custom Black Beauty?

Black finish, 5 ply binding, gold plate, block inlays...

but this has seriously got me considering a gold or black top version

black finish on top only, cream binding, Cream P-90's and wraparound bridge, trapezoid inlays

i did have a quick mock up of the way i would probably go - not with this fretboard though, but you get the idea

not perfect yet and i would want to do something more with the electrics - but i do think the idea of making it fanned fret has potential

Or a copy, there are some of those about

The 50's ones are the myth. Joe's would be the 80's "reissue"- they did about 200 of them. Apparently there are 400 of the new reissues

its a standard strat scratchplate shape. the horn is strat shaped so the plate fits fine. - its just the bass side of the body that is tele shaped

So i am going to be building a Moderne. some random ebaying has led to templates and a precut body blank winging their way towards me

the first question you may have is "Why?" simply because i want to - i have a fondness for ugly duckling oddball guitar designs

initially i was thinking of making a fairly accurate replica of the guitar that never existed - but i just noticed gibson have actually done another run of "reissues"

This has led me to rethink and maybe do a Modernised Moderne

first thought was headless, but i will save that for the corvus when i eventually build one - and john has already done that idea, twice!!

if i do go for an up to date version i certainly wont be using any of the original headstock designs - well, possibly a slim flying v one

i am contemplating a fanned fret version ???

speaking of headstocks, gibson did manage to do an almost passable version of the original

sadly they put it on this

i will take a load of pics when actually finished - do we need progress pics for a couple of fender types ???

.... you take ages to finish anything - then two come together at the same time!!!

Been a bit difficult to get anything done for the last year or so due to 2 changes in career and a new baby being born

It has literally been over a year since i finished my last guitar build (although i have done a few resto's in that time) - now i have 2 fender style hybrids entering their final lap at roughly the same time

The Wezo-Sonic

This one is a mix of the different duo-sonic designs. So its the mustang/duo-sonic2 offset body shape with a pick guard modelled after the duo-sonic1, control layout spaced out a bit more for strat style volume swellability - but its all ended up a bit more like a late 70's Music Master - although i would say its a fair bit cooler than that

Stratele

i have been waiting to use this bit of english walnut for a while - there was some debate about covering it with a black scratchplate, but i think it works better than it would without. * Its mostly a strat body shape, about 1/4" shorter and with tele upper bout. Allparts strat neck veneered with walnut on the headstock and recarved to a V into C profile - cut down tele bridge, TSS pickup and custom control layout

and an awesome oil and wax finish!!!