RAI6

Go for the imaginary (where it would be if you had strings on it) saddle of the high E.

That position, and to the nut, is your scale length.

There is no way you could successfully use that as your actual headstock.

It looks like it pretty much starts right at the nut...

What is a scarf joint?

See here (Under "Standard necks / Angled pegheads") :

http://www.warmoth.com/common/frames/guitarneck.htm

That pic a the top of the page (right under "angled pegheads") shows a perfect example of a scarf joint.

That's just your template for the headstock, right?

If not, how are you planning on attaching the headstock to the neck?

First, is your question about "neon" or "fiber optics"?

Steve's guitar has LED's in the neck, as does Billy Sheehan's bass.

And that has been covered extensively on this board....

When it comes to the rig, there are only really two things to think about, that I can see.

An equalizer that will cover the range that you'll be in, and a speaker cabinet that can handle (and project) those frequencies.

There are certain variations of Mahogany that are starting to become rare.

If I remember it right, Honduran Mahogany is one of them.

Hamer used to make their bodies out of 1-piece Honduran Mahogany, but I'm not sure if they still do...

Nice locking tuners AND a smooth nut that won't catch your strings...

Having a Floyd doesn't guarantee that you'll stay in tune.

It also depends on playing style...

A friend of mine couldn't touch a Floyd without it going out of tune.

I would play the exact same guitar, and just go nuts on the whammy (doing some nice wanna-be Vai moves!), and it would always stay in tune.

Give it back to my buddy, and it would be out of tune within a minute.

I guess I just have that "magic touch"...

Are you doing material on both sides, or front only?

And if front only, what are you doing with the back?

And the sides?

If any answer insolves "solid paint", then you didn't have to sand down to the wood, which it sounds like you already did...

Wouldn't it be alot easier to just add a top instead?

A 1/8" top wouldn't change things too much.

You'll get nice clean pu routes in the top, so the previous route make no difference.

Of course, the trem route has to be filled to hold the new bridge securely.

It sounds like alot of work to fill all the routes with wood...

You would probably have to re-route them first, to clean them up.

(You did mention that they were pretty crappy...)

But what do I know......

Not much, that's for sure!

Personally I've been thinking about this one recently.

I may do EMG's for a friends guitar, which only require a straight route.

But what if he wants to switch to "regular" singlecoils later?

Then the body needs to be re-routed, possibly ruining the finish.

Why not just do the "triangular" route from the beginning???

If you paint the cavities black, you won't really see the gap between pickup and cavity...

i never seen a headstock with for tuners on one side and 2 on other

Ernie Ball, maybe?

It depends on how bad the wood is screwed up.

Have you seen Steve Vai's "Evo" on Vai.com?

That is some major damage!

If it's just a question of the wood being "stripped" then you just have to use the toothpick method.

Put some wood glue on a napkin, and drag your toothpicks through the glue.

You don't need to have glue dripping from them, just a good coating.

Then insert as many as needed to fill the hole.

Cut off the excess and let the glue harden before putting the screws back in.

That should do it.

Now, if you have some major damage, you may have to drill it out, and then plug it with a dowel...

Not pretty, but it's just wire and wood, right?

Not quite the same thing...

If you don't recognize the name "Ultrasonic", you might remember seeing them. They are pretty hard to miss, with the huge, white "U" printed right smack in the middle of the pickup...

I believe they're active, but I'm not sure.

I think I may have to convince him to go with EMG's instead.

Steve Vai did indeed have a Hamer Virtuoso guitar, which had 36 frets.

Washburn also made one, but I cannot recall the model.

They're just standard scale, not extended in any way.

You pretty much have to play with your nails instead of your fingertips when you get to the top...

But it sounds pretty cool.

Like stepping on a Whammy pedal, and kicking everything up one octave!

I have a friend that has requested Ultrasonic pu's in his new guitar.

It's just his favorite pu's in this old guitar he has.

I'm familiar with them, but haven't seen them around in a long time.

Are they still in business, and if so, where can I find them?

I'm pretty sure those guitars are done with tinted clears, and not stained...

I don't know much about building guitars, but I do seem to remember someone on this board asking about using pine for guitars, and the general opinion seemed to be that pine is too soft.

Or am I wrong?

Both Photoshop and Illustrator (manufactured by Adobe...) will cost you several hundred $$$$$$ each.

But it's good stuff.

I guess you pay alot for industry standard...?

If you are concerned about getting the body dimensions right, why don't you try to borrow a guitar from some place like GC (try to convince them that you really want to try it out before you buy it...), take it home and trace the body and take all the necessary measurements, and then return the guitar the next day.

Sounds like a plan to me...

Last time I checked it was $400 to become a Retrofitter.

(i.e. to convert existing guitars to Feiten)

You probably just get a basic set of instructions and plans on how it's done.

To become an Installer is probably (alot) more.

If you want to be a full-on installer, you have to go to Feiten for a week-long class or something like that. You bring your own acoustic guitar (they're harder to convert), and leave a fully licensed Installer.

Now, it doesn't really make any sense to me.

Once you know how to convert a guitar to Feiten, it cannot be that hard to make a guitar from scratch that has the Feiten...

I talked to a guitar tech at a local Washburn dealer about a month ago.

He said the buzz feiten system has to do with the nut, the relief in the neck, intonation and even the angle of the frets are changed. He said if he told me anymore he'd would be forced to kill me.

I guess those guys have to pay a lot of money to learn and use that technique.

Honestly, I can't tell any difference between a regular guitar or a feiten Washburn guitar. It must be fairly subtle.

Yeah it's very subtle.

SO subtle in fact, that the frets are NOT angled differently.

The Feiten system involves relocating the nut, adjusting the intonation (it has to be "off" by a certain amount), and following specific guidelines when tuning the guitar.

Korg makes a tuner that has the settings pre-programmed.

If the Feiten system involved angling the frets, it would probably cost more.

The current price for a retrofit is around $175, and there is no way that could include pulling off the fretboard, installing a new one, a full fret job, as well as moving the nut...

And Mr. Buzz Feiten also gets a little cut of that $175.

Thank God for patents!

And it costs around $400 to become a licensed Feiten retrofitter.

Hamer Virtuoso...

36 frets.

Steve Vai used to have one, and a guy I went to GIT with also had one.

The neck went so far up, that there was only room for one pickup...

When the frets get that close, you're no longer using the tip of your finger to fret the notes.

You have to use your nails, basically.

It sounded pretty cool though.

Right in the middle of a cool arpeggio, you just slide right up ANOTHER octave.

Almost like using a whammy pedal...

Or if you're afraid that the stains are going to "soak into each other" where they meet, you could always lay down a coat of clear first, and then tint your clear and spray it as a regular burst...

ERNIE BALL!

There, I said it.

The pic posted has an EB style headstock.

Unfortunately I deleted the "Newsletter" that I get from Carvin in my e-mail every month...

But if I remember it correctly, the wording they used had a very "groundbreaking" slant to it.

It then linked to the page that was included in the first post on this topic, which is much more humble and correct.

And for those thinking we hate Carvin:

There is no bashing going on here, just some harmless fun...