thrasher!

What about putting the locking nut {Behind} the standard nut? that way it still locks and locking tuners are not an issue.

I know they do it with Kahlers but I'm not sure if it can be done with a floyd.

Hopefully this works as I've got a Kahler trem unit for my project because if it's good enough for Slayer...... In my ordering haste I didn't realise the string lock didn't have a nut, doh! I thought it was like a Floyd locknut, so now I have a graphite nut, and then the string lock will sit behind that. Not convinced it's the best way to go but hey, as long as the thing plays at all I'll be happy

The Jeff Hanneman ESP here looks like it has a Kahler + Floyd-Rose type locknut Jeff Hanneman Signature

No browser is 100% secure but in my experience IE is the worst for security. Not quite so bad now but it wasn't updated for years before Firefox starting nipping at its heels.

Having been the victim of a couple of drive-by ActiveX installs and Java virii I made the switch from IE a couple of years ago. Being a software engineer who deals with security issues on a regular basis I wouldn't recommend IE to anyone - seen to many people with major malware problems.

Now I only do a spyware sweep anually

Of course, not using Windows is the best security of all

Is the Fender Squire a good choice?

One of my guitars is a Squire Strat and it plays absolutely perfectly, nothing wrong with it as a beginner guitar. I use mine for playing any non-thrashy/metal stuff.

I find the pickups can sound a little 'twangy' but maybe thats because all my others instruments have humbuckers? In any case I would gladly have sold some of my internal organs to have learned on a guitar like that 15 years ago instead of the plank I used to play

the k2v dimentiosn are:

end of neck to middle of "V" - 9in

point to point of "V" - 16 3/4in.

length of out side of "V" - 21

body starts at 19th fret

Thanks, just wanted to get a rough idea to make sure mine was on track

That is one nice guitar - can't wait to see it finished. Similar to my first proj !

I'd be interested in the dimensions of the body - I've based mine on the King V but the wings seem to be on the small side, not sure if I've got the right dimensions

Hello all! I just got my Warmoth explorer body in last week and wanted to get some advice from you all.The routing is done for the Kahler's cavity area,but they do not drill the mounting screw holes.So what would be the safest way to do this? I do not have a drill press,which makes it even harder.On a Kahler flatmount tremelo,you screw it in on the front post holes,and it covers the old ones,for a strat vintage tremelo,not fulcrum.How could I determine where these holes should be located?

If I can figure out where these would be,I can use the bridge as a template for the 2 rear screw holes,and it should line up right.I also need to make screw holes for the tuners and my top-mounting floyd locking nut.Those may be easier.Any help greatly appreciated,thanks!

I haven't start building my first guitar yet so I may not be best qualified to answer but here goes (just yesterday my spanking brand new Kahler 2300 was delivered )

Assuming it's the type with the string-rollers, they would need to be positioned at whatever your scale length is e.g. 650mm. As the saddles adjust forward/back for intonation the bridge would need to be positioned so that there is enough room for the necessary adjustment. Once you know that then the unit should just be seated squarely in position and the holes marked & drilled. Some careful drilling with the appropriate sized bit should be enough to correctly install it.

I have the template that came with mine - I could measure the dimensions for you if needed.

Not sure about volume/tone controls, but I wondered about tuning pegs. I noticed you can get left/right handed tuning pegs. As my soon to be started first build is to have an upside down headstock, does it make any difference which way the peg turns???

My feeble brain cannot compute this silly conundrum

Thanks for the input. I'm also an IT person so I'm sitting in front of a computer all day then I go home and do it some more.

Ha ha, me too.....but I was off work for 3 months and had to get extensive physio as I couldn't hold a mouse or use a keyboard for more than about 10 secs without getting excruciating pain shooting up my arm

Funnily enough that was the only thing that triggered it, but scary when your whole livelihood is on the line

Nothing managed to stop the metal though

Hi Everyone: Not only am I a newbie to guitar building, I'm basically a newbie to the guitar as well. I took a half hearted stab at it many years ago in my early twenties but didn't stick with it mainly because I was being a dumb 20 something. I recently picked it up again after my wife gave me an acoustic for our anniversary last year. I'm fast approaching 39 and I was wondering what experiences anyone has with taking up the guitar a bit later on in life. Any tips or issues you've run into along the way? One of the things I've encountered is joint stiffness in my left hand. I think part of it is technique related (applying too much pressure when chording for example) but I'm guessing part of it is being the proud owner of somewhat older joints.

Have you checked your posture, if your left wrist is curled round too much that won't help !

I'm a relatively young 31 (playing since 16 but with a 5 year break until 18 months ago), and I still get a sore left hand sometimes trying to pull funny chords that I'm not used to, I guess it happens to everyone at some point. (Not to mention a sore right arm from playing too much Slayer )

However as a sufferer from RSI (tendonitis in right[mouse] hand, I work in IT) I have to be careful, but luckily it doesn't seem to have affected my playing.

Anyway back to the point, I use the sprung hand-grips you would get from any sports shop (or a tennis ball would do) to increase my grip strength and get the tendons working. Any slack time i.e. sitting in traffic, watching TV is time to get the grips out. Not only does this help me keep myself in my chosen occupation but I reckon it increases 'playing stamina' too.

Obviously if it starts to hurt you should stop playing - tendons are a lot more delicate than you might think

Hope this helps !

If and when I start my first project though, there will be no middle pickup.

My thoughts exactly !

hmmm... see if you can post those sketches, i'm having a hard time picturing this guitar in my head.

I don't have a scanner for posting sketches, but here is the real mccoy:

Jackson King V

Mine will have a different trem unit/pickups

This sounds like one of those question with a really obvious answer, but I'll ask it anyway

When I'm playing, I tend to hit the middle pickup with my pick. It doesn't affect my playing but it doesn't do pickup surrounds much good. I play a Jackson PS-1 and a couple of Strats and they're all the same. The Jackson is now 12 years old and the pickup cover is a mess ! To be honest I only noticed recently because of the amount of chips and dents in the plastic.

As I only use the middle pickup very rarely I adjust the height as far into the body as it will go i.e. flush, to keep it out the way, but it suggests I'm doing something wrong.

Any ideas?

Hey guys,

I'm about to embark on my first guitar build, and just wanted to set out my plans, in case I've not thought anything through fully. It's called project 'Flying G' (G being my first initial, it was either that or the 'G-String' ). Some parts are already on order so hopefully it will commence in a week or two

The design is based loosely on the original Jackson King V, but with a few mods.

Neck through design - single piece of Rock Maple 650mm scale length (25.5")

22 frets (never seem to use the other 2 ), inverted headstock with Gotoh mini-tuners (keep the weight down), simple MOP dot inlays. The body is Mahogany.

The bridge will be the cam-based Kahler 2300 tremolo unit - haven't actually used one before but they get good reviews, and also it's less wood to hack out (1/2" deep route) as one of my concerns of a 'V' is balance.

(One of my friends had a BC Rich Warlock but the neck had to be supported due to the weight distribution making it unpleasant to play, and I wouldn't want to suffer the same problems)

Pickups are EMG-81/85 for bridge/neck and their PA2 20dB gain booster. I'm also thinking about an unobtrusive on/off switch to kill the power as I'm lazy & don't usually unplug the cable after playing.

There are no full scale drawings yet, just preliminary sketches & measurements as I need to wait for the trem unit to arrive before the neck angle etc. can be calculated.

I'd value any constructive feedback at this point....before the first bit wood gets cut

Once it's underway I'll keep regular piccies posted with progress.

Kahler do a floating trem that will fit onto a carve top

Note I've never used a Kahler but have one on order for my project - I hope they're as good as the hype!

Fellow newbie here with a similar design

I've started planning a guitar based loosely on the neck-through Jackson King-V, but with an inverted headstock. I already play a Jackson PS-1 so I can get some good measurements from that. I'm going for 22-frets, as I don't want to run into problems with the front pickup cavity being too close the end of the fingerboard. Even though I play a lot of things like Slayer/Metallica solos (badly) I hardly ever use 23rd/24th frets anyway !

For hardware I've ordered the EMG-KFK set (EMG-81/85 with pre-amp), and for the bridge a Kahler tremolo system & locking nut. So I suppose it's a cross-between a Dave Mustaine / Kerry King type of rig

As far as inlays are concerned I'm sticking with dots as I don't want to screw up with anything more complicated, I might be wrong but I think the shark-fin inlays require neck binding which for me is too much for a first project - check the Inlays section. I sincerely hope you mean the Iron Cross for inlays rather than the Swastika - I recommend you do some research to find out what each symbol means, rather than using something because it looks cool.

I call it Project 'Flying-G' (G my first initial)

Anyway good luck with your design, I know I'll need it for mine

Hey all,

Been keepin an eye on this site for a while now, getting ideas for building my first guitar

The amount of info and experience on here is fantastic, I've got a couple of books which I've been studying but there's nothing like speaking to the folks who heve been there & done it!

I've just started ordering the parts for my project, so expect to see a lot more of me round here