humbuckr

A-hem! I realize that i have stuck my foot in my mouth although i'm not sure how. i take it you think everything with strings could use a pickguard? i'm planning on a carve top so i would need some kind of les paul-ish raised pick guard. a hem? I have no clue how to make a pickguard and am trying not to bite off more than i can chew on my first build... any ideas?

nice catch. my design is very much like these guitars. OK - now you've inspired me to push to push the tel-les-caster design a bit further. Any thoughts about a pick guard/no pick guard?

I called the store and its kiln dried and is less than 6% moisture content. Question - Should I leave the wood in my garage since that's where I take the stuff to cut it or is it best to leave it inside my house and then haul it out there to cut? -- cj

Thanks for the pics - super helpful. I was able to get 95% of the twist out using this techinque and a 16" drum sander. my friend with the sander have never heard of this so i was grateful to teach him something in exchange. I am a couple of weeks away from gluing the birdseye top on so I will take the advice on this thread and NOT matchbook it until I'm ready to glue it down. thanks -- cj

thanks for the feedback and the advice that sounds as if it comes from real world experience. I will go over this and make sure I understand what you're describing and then ask a few clarifying questions. -- cj

I am trying to matchbook a piece of birdseye maple (6" x 20" x 1"). After it was cut from a longer board it has developed a slight twist and won't line up on the bandsaw to split down the middle. any ideas - Drum sander, clamps, stand on it? -- twisted

Let me start by saying I'm grateful to have stumbled into this forum. more guitar know-how than I can fathom. Here's the skinny on why I am designing-building this damn guitar. Any and all feedback welcome. - Carl Background: Played a 71' strat my whole life. Always had Les Paul envy. Bought a epi Les Paul and satisfied my need to growl and sustain a bit but learned to love the subtleties of my strat in the process. So I'm one of those I want one guitar to do A LOT (not interested in a Variax just yet) kind of players. Tone: I'm seeking a guitar with a broad dymamic range with a lot of punch and sustain. growling distorted sound but not overly mid-rangy. capable of strat-like ringing on clean. Woods: Honduran Mahogany back (1 1/4") + Birdseye maple top (1/2") Neck: Mahagony with Ebony fretboard - 25 1"2 scale Warmoth Pro. White Corian nut with mini Sperzel locking tuners. Body: Carve top - blend of tele, PRS and Les Paul. Chambered for weight and that hollow kind of sound that I really can't describe but know when I hear it. Adding F-hole like the tele thin-line. adds some distinction. Bridge: Tonepro with thru body ferrels for sustain... Pickups: my head is swimming on this one as my heritage is off the shelf. Something to fulfill my tone quest. looking at Seymour Duncan options as their site is very informative for a newbie like me. Control Knobs: 1 voume, 1 tone, 1 3 way switch. Wiring: Looking at push/pull single/double coil. Doing this for tone options. Pickup positioning: Probably avoiding the 24th fret position for neck pickup (I've read the debate) and don't want the bridge pickup too close to sound too thin. Color:I love the amber dyed look. there is a beautiful tele by Jean-Francois Cyr on the warmoth site. I'm aiming for that look although using average maple rather than drop dead Koa. $$$ Finish:lots of handwringing on this front. I live in Oregon. Springtime weather is all over the map and I don't have access/desire to build some kind of spray booth with the right fans etc. So I am thinking of going the el naturel water based route and see what I can do with a lot lof sanding, polishing rather than donning a space suit and spraying some nasty nitro or poly clear coats. Amps: One thing I don't usually see on these threads is what these projects will be played through which I believe is HUGE. I had a spiritual experience with a marshall triple super lead once and if I rob a bank successfully I will head in that direction or VHT..

I went through the same debate as you and figured if I am going to build something from scratch why re-invent a perfectly good wheel. I've designed a tele-prs/lespaul fusion design. you're welcome to use my drawings and mod them any way you like. I use a program called inkscape (open source vector drawing program). you can check out a bitmap of my current design at: http://humbuckr.blogspot.com/ if you want the vector file let me know.

Here's what mine looks like. http://209.56.91.10/TeacherPages/Ward/Guit.../GuitarPics.htm

I read the re-ranch 101 article on finishing and have a more questions than when i started. Any good posts or how to's for dyeing a maple carve top. I've heard that applying black dye and sanding the wood down can bring out the grain more. i have a very average piece of maple that i want to use to brighten up the tone of a custom build i am doing using a mahagony body and i am debating whether its worth the trouble to do the dyeing if the maple is nothing special. my original plan was to do a gold top. thanks in advance. btw - if anyone can point me to the 'donate' link i would be happy to pay for the free advice and throw in some of my own

Great idea about the router to achieve a consistent depth. thanks. After printing out a full scale version of the shape i expanded the waist on the left side to be a bit more tele-esque. very happy with it now. will crank up the bandsaw next week and post some pics on the blog if anyone is interested. btw- that is one creepy looking dude in your image

Nice carve top! what tools did you use to shape it. looks like I wasn't the first to want to blend these two guitars. I actually used a lot of les paul for the bottom of the guitar. What do you suggest. lose the string thru or add the tremolo? I have a strat with the tremelo and it has been nothing but trouble, do you see the les paul in there as well. I staggered the cuts like a strat a bit. a bit of a bastard guitar if i do say so! hit the wrong reply button. nice carve. I've never done this, any suggestions on tools to get that great countour? thanks

the neck angle for the tune-a-matics is 1.5 to 3 degrees. Warmoth uses 1.5. i asked them. simply slant your neck pocket jig up at the back with some shims. you'll have to do a bit of match to figure out the right height to get the 1.5 degree angle.

Newbie here building a custom tele-prs inspired guitar. I'd like to know if anyone has opinions about what is the best bridge option for doing a thru body stringing setup. also what kind of distance is optimal after the bridge. I've mocked up an image if anyone is curious. thanks humbuckr blog

Bozman - i hear great things about warmoth.com -- Carl Who do you recommend - what would you use?

long time guitar player, first time guitar builder. some local luthiers in Portland told me this is a great forum so here's my question. I am building a hollow-body tele/PRS inspired body and am looking at the Gotoh 510 as a bridge option. all the lit says I must angle the neck pocket 1.5 - 3 degrees to accommodate the bridge. e.g. wamoth bridge link so I am looking for tips and tricks for routing out a neck pocket with the right angle or other ideas for perhaps recessing the bridge into the body. Whatever is simple as this is hopefully the first of many custom designed guitars. thanks