Xanthus

sexiest guitar ever!

Check out my photo album under the V build I did. I took enough pictures that you should get a sense of how I did mine. And start beveling the back first Just in case.

Nice one, Jon! A few questions, though. -How do you get away with no knobs on the piezo system? Any crackle on plugging/unplugging? Volume swells? Tonal difference? -What's the bar parallel to the low B? The padauk ramp? What's that?

http://public.fotki.com/xanthus/build-2/0626071917.html Check out these, and the following few pictures. Iron, steam, towel, putty knife.

Woah woah woah woah.... hold up a sec. You didn't just paint over that mahogany. "I keel you!" Jeff Dunham fans? Yes? No? Moving on. Let's get a full frontal (and back-al and side-al) for this paint job! It looks like an amazing swirl, great color choice! It looks like a big hunk of rock. Methods/tips/tuts?

Aw man, I want a goblin head in my quilted maple! Lucky guy, you. Man, now I'm itchin' to play some D&D.......

Always a fan of a bookmatched non-maple top! Nice work

I dig. It almost has the Parker Fly vibe going on, especially in the lower horn. This should be a fun build to watch. With all that Maple/Walnut, you're looking at quite the punchy tone machine!

Your sound clip is *Me Approved* I'm especially fond of the neck pickup. I didn't know what to really expect, since I don't play Fenders, but it was a smooth sound! They's some weird sounds in there man. I think you've got all the bases covered, minus perhaps some shredding. Man, the things you can do with a sustainer..... I'm so tempted to put one into my next build.

Pete, I was using Jazz picks for some time, green Dunlop ones. I like the feel of being "in touch" with the instrument, closer to the wood, the strings, whatnot. I especially liked the sharp point of the Jazz picks, and how easily techniques like harmonics jump out. Well, after moving back from college and getting into some more technical playing exercises with my guitar lessons, I realized that I was fumbling too much with the tiny pick. So I've moved back to regular green Dunlops and changed my technique a bit to suit. So yeah, that's my story. Also, playing with a quarter can be fun! though not string-beneficial.

They are more than likely standard sizes, but don't expect the holes drilled in the Saga body to be accurate

http://public.fotki.com/xanthus/build-2/biscuit.html I did biscuits for my V, and they worked fine. Of course, I found out one of mine was smack in the middle of the pickup cavity, but that's why you buy a pickup!

That doesn't look too bad. The pinstriping on the V always looks pretty classy, to me. My friend took his white V and just used pinstriping tape to do his. It looked great, but I wouldn't see myself putting tape on any of my guitars, haha.

http://public.fotki.com/xanthus/misc/bodymasurements.html Those are off of my own build, if they help at all.

I'm in the same boat. JEMs aren't bad guitars. Not my cup of tea, but not bad besides.

Oh man what a nice board! I'm surprised the dots stayed in when you scalloped. When I hacked apart my Ibanez, the scalloping removed most of the dots. ::EDIT:: That looks like a ton of space between the angle of the headstock and the fretboard. Even more than needed for a locking nut. Is it camera trickery?

I like the look of this build. The scalloping looks very textured because of the grain of the wood. It's a nice effect. Genius on the magnet placement, btw What kind of pickups are in it?

They's lookin' purdy! I'm digging the extra wood around the neck pocket; it'll definitely make for a stable join. Now I know why I don't play 7-strings Ibanez bodies aren't all that hard to do. Are you perhaps thinking of doing a run of replacement bodies?

I like it better in red, but hey I'll survive. That's funny, because every time I bring my guitars into GC the guy looks at the headstock first and then gives me crap about it not having a logo or serial number :D What was the desire behind relicing this build, Daniel? It's such a nice guitar!

I'd take more out of the neck pocket. You could get shorter screws (rather, you SHOULD) and use them for the neck pocket, so you don't pop out of your fretboard. As a guideline, I like there to be about 1/8" of neck/wood/body/whathaveyou above the body, before putting on my 1/4" or so fretboard (no neck angle, of course). That gives me a good string height above the body. Less than a TOM, but not as shallow as a recessed Floyd.

I actually used a different method for doing mine on the second build: -I drilled 1/16" holes at the end points of the switch. -I exacto'd the dots together with a straightedge, keep going over the line until you break through to the other side. a thin cavity wall helps -Take a thin file (I used a nail file) and widen the slot. -Wrap the file in sandpaper to get to thickness I was more confident using this method because I didn't have to worry about any bits slipping, any straightedge wavering, the Dremel chipping..... stuff like that. ::EDIT:: I didn't even realize that Todd posted basically the same thing as I did. And Wez too. That's a sure sign I need me some sleeps.

Just giving everyone a head's up on the status of this project from hell. We're done I took it to the wiring guy at GC today and he wired it up exactly like I showed, sans killswitch. We plugged it into an amp, and bam, hum virtually eliminated. So now I'm confused. I don't THINK I had a ground loop or anything wonky going on, but ok, now I have a professional wiring job for $30. So I go home, wire up the killswitch, take it upstairs, plug in, and the hum is back. Not as bad, but still there. So now I'm very confused. I decided to A/B the new guitar with my Explorer, in the same position, setup, levels, everything. I laid the V flat down on the ground, face up, with a shirt over the strings for dampening, 3 feet away from the amp. Turned on, starts humming. Turn off, unplug V, plug Explorer, turn on amp. I've got hum. Not as bad, because of the active pickups, but still there. So the conclusion, and what may have been the issue all along: 1) I'm probably playing too close to the amp, and I have a tendency to face the amp when I play, and my halogen track lights above my desk probably don't help. 2) My amp is just noisy. So #1 I realize is a stupid, amateurish mistake. One that I'm prone to making to begin with, but ESPECIALLY prone to making when I'm vehement about there being something wrong with the guitar, and ignoring everything else going on around me. #2 I'm not sure if there's a problem. I just tried it with my noise suppressor and the guitar hum goes away, but there's still some white noise which I'm chalking up to the amp. Maybe a tube is going? I'm not sure what's a symptom of tube ills. But hey, we'll play it as it comes. Super pumped!

I think you'll be fine with yours Pete, but there's no shame in cutting your control cavity a bit larger than you did

I'm dropping off the thing at Guitar Center tomorrow, with multiple diagrams, and having a long talk with the guy while I'm there. Problem solved! I hope.

I uh, I like a 2 humbucker combination. Wired in series. Maybe a coil split or Strat quack option. Master vol/tone, nothing fancy Concentric pots, if I'm feeling adventurous. Opposite sides of the electronics pond, Pete. Sometimes I don't even know what to say to your schemes. But making your own switch to throw that hidden mini-switch is pretty awesome. What I want to see here is a simple drum/bass groove backing track, and then a sample of all the bazillion wiring combos on this guitar. With a text walkthrough of where in the song each combination comes in. That's your project, lemme know how it goes