mistermikev

when you said true to original above I thought like you were going to make a deluxe (or something) with the pickguard pickups and all. Sounds like a cool variation. I have a babicz FCH on one of my parts casters... it is pretty impressive. the cam height adjustment is really a great idea albeit a little cumbersome. rock on.

ooh ee... walnut binding eh? ambitious... I like it. so with that headstock are you doing tele deluxe then? looking like a lot of cool stuff going on here - good on ya.

right on... thank you for the reply. I see a few issues with that. one - I have a few acoustic guitars with undersaddle piezo. I have had to replace the piezo on one of them as twice yearly I have to put in my summer/winter saddle... and I'm pretty gentle with it. that's not really an issue on an acoustic as you have room to get inside there... but on a thinline electric that would be impossible unless you had some sort of access hatch on the backside... and that hatch would have to be in an area I'd prefer not to have it... right under the bridge. two - the under saddle types tend to be very bright. I can't help but think (esp on a bass) it'd be nice to capture more of the center of the guitar. I know that part of the guitar is exactly what I'm after when I mic it. three - I'd really like to be able to adjust action/intonation. four - just not sure the look would be right for the guitar in mind. it's def a good fallback point... and if my testing doesn't go well I can always revert to that... but I've done more than my share of playing with piezos for elec drums and I think there might be some potential there that is unexplored. If that doesn't work... an electret mic in the body might be pretty cool for getting closer to that 'upright' sound from a semi-hollow-body bass.

will have to give this a listen at lunch. I assume it's a cover of john h? he's written so many knock outs for so many great artists.

for a guy who's put out about as many as the greatful dead... I can't think of one that isn't great! or doesn't have LOTS of mandolin -esp on 'crossing muddy waters'

sounds good. some nice playing. man, I love the mandolin. actually john hiatt cry love playing in the background right now (has a prominent mando part).

so... I'm thinking ahead... perhaps dreaming. at some point I'm going to build a fretless bass. I'd like to do it almost fully hollow but probably only 1.5" thick. don't really want to spend the money on ghost saddles because it is really a one trick pony for me. something I'll probably only occasionally use. could do a ribbon/rope under saddle... but then you almost have to have a removable piece behind it as you are eventually going to mess with the saddle and potentially break the piezo. mic inside the body? I've built a few mics... the pimped alice for instance, and it is a fantastic sounding mic. def compared well to several commercial mics I have. Sounds fantastic on acoustic altho shock mounting in a guitar might be problematic. there are lots of schems on the net for electret capsules which would handle the shock mount issue. I suspect the gain would have to be jacked way up to get any decent sound so...perhaps it'll be noisy. obviously this would be something where I'd want to do a proof of concept... and I think at some point I'll probably build something and stuff it inside a semihollow guitar to see but was just looking for a thumbs up/down - feasible? any experience with how it might sound? I know frank zappa def toyed with piezo disks in a guitar... no idea how that sounded. what about a ribbon/rope piezo epoxied into the top of a semihollow - close to the neck so it'd get max string vibration?

thing just grabs your eye. really looking fwd to hearing it so hope that's on the todo list. rock on.

congratulations! couldn't happen to a nicer guy, or a better build. earned every oz imo.

wow, nice job matching that.

+1 lovely finish.

jeez, I'd like to have your 'problems'!

wow, this is a really cool build and I think I'm in love with your birch!

did they bind the banding or band the binding? I'm confused. on this note: binding... I've seen a lot of guys do binding on the board prior to attaching to the neck stock. I'm going to try this on my les flawes but for me it looks so much nicer to have a consistent thickness of binding all they way down the neck. long story short... you binding looks good!

good to know. have not tried indian but it is now on my list. thanks for that (or curse you for that... one more thing on my 'must try' list!)

wow, that is some beauty ebony. is it dyed or naturally that black? if dyed... what did you use? love it.

sounds about right to me. I don't think danish oil will seal off well enough for faux binding - might want to use lacquer. Maybe if you did many coats it would work, but I doubt it. I did my first build with danish... and after 3 days I put on the shielding paint. got some on the finish... and it sort of mixed in with it as I tried to get it off. was very difficult to get back off... in fact never did get it completely off as it left a little dark spot. beautiful finish tho. also, my experience with danish is that is take a long time to dry too. true oil dries much faster and that's what I was used to.

I hit a similar phase recently. when I started my recent project I cut the neck angle a little deep on a blank and it was too short of r a 25.5scale guitar. then later, accidentally bought a 24.75 sl fretboard and realized it wasn't 25.5 once I had the inlays in. ok, I go back to the shorter blank. got the truss in, fretboard glued on and mounted it on the guitar to realize I forgot to cut the heel shorter. back and forth, back and forth. oh well. I think sometimes you just need to step away and get yer mind right. Here's to better days for you and me both!

ah... also I've found that for some reason... in the cold finish/wood somehow seems to get softer or is otherwise more likely to dent. I don't know if there is any science to back that up... but I seem to recall when living in WI if I took a guitar out to my car and dinged it in the winter I was guaranteed to see damage later.

you must have a weird soft alder up there. the alder I've seen nearby is not hard... but about the hardness of ash or a little harder.

sounds like a perfect candidate for a 1/4" top!

right on... well that actually sounds nice: torrefied alder - could def make a nice strat if you get a big 'nuff piece. at my hardware store they've actually started carrying walnut - you can get 3/4 x 7" x 2' for around $8. I always look to see if there is any figure in there but nothing yet. they also sell 3/4" mahog by the bdft. there have been challenges over at tdpri to build an entire guitar out of things you find at home depot. obviously frets and hardware would be sourced elsewhere but I admire the creativity of those guys. There's a gent over there that built a tele bridge entirely from scrap... and it was easily one of the nicest I've seen... but man what lot of work that would be!

nicely done.

right on. I hear ya on the language barrier... I am really good at finding ambiguity in things people say so that is my own language barrier within my own language! In theory it could be done with my planer but I'd have to raise the neck off the bed and it would leave 1/2" round edges... so I thought a little jig might make the whole job a lot less cumbersome. the wood - we are lucky in the us but I am esp lucky here in phoenix. there are probably 10 stores I can get any kind of figured wood I want - but I try to find the deals. every time I go to the hardware store I always take a walk thru the wood section - can't help myself. figured oak is not that desireable for guitar, as it is super heavy... and hard as hell. that said I just have a weak spot for it. each board is 3/4" x 11.25" x 24". $30 well spent. something for a project to dream about anyway.

interesting idea for sure. I could actually do that on my router sled... the reason I needed this jig is that I couldn't do the sides w/o moving things. stop coming up with ideas bizman - I'm def NOT going back to the hardware store! (jk) look what happened the first time: going to have a carved top figured red oak build in my future!