ihocky2

If you go to Warmoth's webite and go under the paint header, you can pick through the different paint styles. You can get a good idea of the difference between metallic, solid, transparent and candy. As you'll see the candy red has a deeper richer look than the others. If you look at the red version of a Jackson Phil Collen model, it is tranparent red with gold hardware, but gives a good idea of the look of red with gold. You can also check out the custom shop generator link below from Jackson to get an idea of how some colors will look together. You might not get an exact color you're looking for, but you'll get good ideas. http://www.jcfonline.com/resources/csgen/JCFCustomShop.htm

Great tip on the hard drive magnets Southpa. I just upgraded my computer and have an old hard drive I was about to destroy before I threw it out. Now I can actually get some mroe use out of it once I rip it apart.

First thing you would want to do is check out Dimarzio's website, I think they list Vai's pickups. If I remember right, he uses a Breed and an Evolution. I would also do a web search and check the Dimarzio site to see if he has any special wiring. The one thing you have to remember with guys like Vai and Satch and so on, is that the majority of their tone is in their fingers. I've seen Chris Caffery play through 3 different amps that all have different voicings, and sound almost the same. But his tone like many others is in his hands, not his rig.

You can definitely get magnets that are strong enough to hold the top on securely, but I think you'll run into a few problems. With a magnet that strong, what is it going to do to your electronics? Will throw off the signal in the wiring, will it affect the pickups. For that matter, what will it do to the strings vibrations. I think a pick gaurd is doable, since you'll need less magnets, and they won't need to be as stong.

+1 for the red with gold hardware. To go a little further I would go with a silver metallic base and a red candy to give it that nice deep bright red.

Unless you already have your mind set that you are going to use MDF, I would go with Mattia's suggestion and use basswood. Cost will be the same or less. You'll actually get a useable tone, and won't be nearly as heavy. Plus basswood works very easily and is very easy on your tools.

I have found that the 6" throat is a lot of times not enough if your drilling a string through. Dependingon your design it may be fine, but your next design, may be a little larger and just enough that the 6" won't work.

I've never tried it, but my guess would be that it would not work. Latex is a rubber type of product, meaning that it is a rubber based paint. I would think that the latex base would either react very poorly with the solvents in any of the laquers or the lacquer just won't adhere at all.

I am not sure about the laws in that type of case, but that has more to do with endorsements. Criss Oliva had an ESP that he had to have the headstock painted and the Charvel logo put on when he signed with Charvel. I would guess it is some type of loop hole about endorsements. I know in the NHL players will sign an endorsement deal with a stick manufaturer and if they decide to use a different brand of stick, they are required to paint the enitre stick black. So why it is not like that with the guitars, I am not sure.

What brand is it? Read everything on the can, sometimes you'll get lucky and find the type of paint. Or check the companies website and look at the technical documents and everything else you can find.

The paint shop can do them, but will they get all of the sand or glass or whatever grit out of the tuners? Will the put the tuners back together properly if they even take them apart? Will they gaurantee the paint job? Metal is not any easy medium to get paint to stick to. If not done 100% properly, the paint will flake real easily. If you're spending $50 on the paint job, spend the %60 on quality tuners that are annodized black and won't chip and do it properly.

Well since it was already mentioned, I want to pick Perry's brain a little. Who does own the sharkfin trademark? Have they ever persued anyone about using the design? How much of a change would negate the trademark? Would reversing them or placing them upside down or both be enough, or would you need to make a change to the shape. I've seen a number of companies sell the sharkfins in pre-cut inlays, so I would imagine that design is not one that is an issue.

Do a search for oak on the forum. It has been covered before. If I remember, it is not very highly regarded for guitars. I think the tone is not very good, and it is way heavy for the reduced tone. There are usually a lot better choices.

If I would have found this forum before college, I very well may have gone into law to study up on patent, copyright, and trademark law. There is definetly a huge market for it. Heck I could have made a fortune by offering services on this board and the MIMF board alone.

A T-O-M bridge should have the bass side set back about 1/8" further than the treble to accomodate for the less travel in the saddles. Since you are still having problems with the capo on, I would check the saddles on the bridge. Like someone mentioned earlier, make sure the flat edge of the saddle is facing the neck, this will allow you a little more travel for intonation. How hard are you pressing on the strings, do they end up touching the fretboard. That will pull them out of tune as well.

Why not make the Tele with a Strat style heel on the neck. There is not hard and fast rule to say that you have to have the sqaured end on the neck. It's you're build so make it the way you see fit.

You don't need grain filler with alder. Alder is a closed grained wood. As for your finish, what type of paint did you buy? Acrylic lacquer, nitrocellulose lacquer, enamel, poly based? Depending on what it is, will determine what type of finish to use. And alwayd use test pieces to make sure it is compatable.

If you are using those dimensions for a ground up build STOP NOW, DO NOT USE THEM. While I believe triple fan did a good job with his dimensions, that is not how you determine bridge and neck placement. First thing first, learn about scale length and it's relation to everything on the guitar. If you are building the neck, your dimensions may end up different. The scale length will determine the bridge placement based on the nuts position. The neck pocket dimensions look right, but cut your neck pocket, then clamp the neck in place, then measure the scale length from the nut and mark it on the body. That is where your saddles should be, then place your bridge based on that mark. Absolutely buy Melvin Hiscocks book. Search this forum, read the tutorials, read articles and books. There is a lot more critical dimensions than you would think and where you need to get those measurements, is just as important as the dimensions themselves. With that information, you wil learn how everything relates to each other. And you will realize that you should not base you bridge placement on the end of the fretboard. If you neck end up being different it will throw everything off. If your neck pocket ends up being deeper or shallower, it will throw everything off.

Sealer is a fast build clear coat. It is softer and has a higher solids content. It is softer so that it is easier to sand level, hence the usual name Sanding Sealer. The high solids is so you can get a fast build with it. With opened grained woods, you have 2 choices, use your clear coat or sanding sealer as a filler, in which case you need to spray A LOT of coats, with cure time in between (in the range of weeks of curing) and a lot of sanding back until the grain is filled. You will need to let it fully cure for a long time to make sure it doesn't shrink back anymore, which it probably will. Or you can use either oil based or water based grain filler or epoxy. This will fill in the open pores and give you a flat surface to begin working on. I would recomend absolutely going with the grain filler route. Ash has very open pores and will soak up paint, primer, sealer and finish coats like sponge. To get a flat smooth mirror finish, you want to sand it back to bare wood and use grain filler on it. Check out the finishing schedule on the Stew Mac website.

Since moving, I haven't had a chance to get any building done because I don't have my shop set up. It is going to end up being in the garage, which right now needs major cleaning and organizing. Once I get that done, my plan is to put a dehumidifier in there and try to keep it around 50% humidity. Unfortunately I can't use the basement for my shop, so I just have to make due with the garage. And since I don't have as much time in the spring or fall to build, most of it will get done in the summer. So I pretty much have to control the environment in the garage as best I can and try and keep everything stable. Any advice from guys who have garage shops would be a great help.

The place you would really notice the difference with the inserts vs wood screws is on guitars that have body end truss rod adjustments. Depending where you live, you may have to adjust the relief a few times a year and have to take the neck off 2 or 3 times to get it set right.

I'll add a vote for the reconditioned Hitachi. I have one of those exact ones and love it. The plunge base feels nice and smooth to me, adjustable speed, and an induction motor so you don't get the twisting and kicking at start up and shut down. Cuts very nicely. I don't have a dial gauge yet, so I haven't been able to check the run out, but it seems to have very little. Great deal for the money. And as an added bonus I actually like the colors.

I am planning on using those on my builds from now on. While the standard wood screw does a nice job holding the neck tight, these allow you to add more torque and get the neck tighter against the body for sound wave transfer. I will definitely use the threaded inserts for the neck, but I am thinking about using the press in inserts for plastic to surface mount pickups. That way you don't have to drill as large of a hole for the insert, and it's not like the pickup is getting yanked on to pull out the insert.

Very nice new shop. How do you like that radial arm drill press? I am considering the bench version of it. How hard is it to keep it plumb when moving the head back and forth.

I'm not an electronics guru, but I think it may have been able to. Electricity will follow the path of least resistance and a direct path from wire to cable plug has less reisistance than through a solder joint.