Xanthus

Any goatee that one can band into sections or braid is enviable, and takes time and dedication that I don't know if I possess. Cheers to your beard!

Face dots... that would explain it Must've been a wee bit sleepy. I agree about maple and walnut, the two are so beautiful together! I hope I find a good shade of mahogany to go with it, when I finally get around to picking out a body blank.

I want to play!!! Me, circa May 2007 http://photos-b.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-..._83617_5473.jpg Me, circa this last November http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2...932524_8750.jpg And it's even shorter now...... I dunno what's happening to me! I keep cutting it! And Juze, note the band shirt and Urban Camo pants

http://public.fotki.com/xanthus/misc/scarfcuts.html

Oooh, dig it! The colors of the woods are quite nice to look at. I was thinking about trying the dot trick that you did, thinking of places to get thin pipe last night, actually. Isn't 7mm diameter a bit large for side dots?

Maybe I'm just not catching why you need a 3D model. The body shape is there, the body is just 1-3/4" thick all the way around. It should be pretty easy to make a 3D version, seeing as you've already expressed your capabilities in AutoCAD, Inventor, and the like. Are you trying to fabricate a body on a CNC machine?

The John Petrucci body is just an RG body, same as the JEM. I'm sure there's a model of an RG floating around somewhere.

Sanding down the inlays to match the fretboard is tough with the frets on. My suggestion would be to make a sandpaper block that is thin enough not to bump into any of the frets, and go very carefully over the inlay, trying to hit the inlay as much as possible with the sandpaper, and the wood as little as possible. You don't want to flatten out the fretboard every few frets!! And as was said before, don't worry about not getting an overwhelming number of replies. I've grown accustomed to it, at least

Only in a case, in a car, back and forth to school. Safe enough, methinks. I think I'll go with you on the glue-in.

I'm pretty set on the 6-inline headstock. I was debating the Jackson 3x3 for a while, but I like all my tuners on the same side, really Also, I cut out a bit slice from the headstock that would follow the top edge of a 6il, so I don't think I have any room to change my plans anymore... On a different note, I found myself strangely debating bolt-on versus set neck. Without opening a can of this method better than that method, what do people think about these? http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts....On+Neck+Inserts The website says that two screws/inserts is enough for one neck. I don't really know if I buy that, not having even seen a bolt-on with less than 4 screws. It would be nice for convenience's sake in the event of a guitar tragedy, to have a bolt-on neck. Then again, I don't gig any more ( ) and take good care of my instruments. With the way I'm doing the heel, I would be extending the tenon under the neck pickup. I don't think the inserts/screw setup would work under the neck pickup, because I would route out a bit of the neck to put the pickup in. Also, gotta keep those metal parts from affecting the magnetic field of my neck pickup No wonder bolt-ons sound terrible! Also, not getting the inserts, I would save myself $10. Not much, but every bit counts. This is a recession guitar. Also, I seem to have run into a truss rod issue. I'm thinking of a way to use my taper jig to cut a truss channel, but all the methods I can think of will make a straight cut through the headstock, which will be much longer than it needs to be, and would necessitate a fairly large truss rod cover. Are there any easy methods of doing this with a router table? I'm thinking I might have to make a router stand and do it that way... ::EDIT:: Whipped up a quick price guide for the build, and before shipping, my total cost BARELY breaks $400. This will be kick-ass.

Update! Spent all day down the basement, as well as the past couple days. Here's what I've done: -chopped off headstock -cut a new scarf joint -glued on a piece of walnut for the headstock, a la scarf option #2 -sanded the walnut down to match the fretboard surface. -made aneck taper template with 42mm-53mm taper -used the template attached to the neck blank to run against the router bit -shaved down the neck/tenon with the router -cut off the bulk of the headstock shape. I've decided on a traditional 6il Ibanez-styled headstock, like my other two The walnut looks pretty snazzy as part of the neck, as well as the headstock. The walnut piece continues for about 3" under the fretboard/nut. I hope the walnut will help to tame some of the highs on those first few frets when I play open chords The taper goes the whole length of the tenon, which is about 3" longer than the fretboard. By having an angled tenon, I'm hoping to add some strength to the join as well as make it easier to pass the Perry-approved neck joint test I'm devising a plan to use the template/jig for cutting the neck taper template, and work it into a jig that would cut my truss rod channel on the router table. I think I've almost got it figured out... Next on the list is get out the spindle sander and take down the headstock to thickness, then cut and sand it to shape. Or maybe just cut it to rough dimensions, in case it gets a bump along the creative process way. I took pics, but don't have the adaptor to get them off my cell phone. Will rectify next week when I get back to the dorm.

Carvin ftw. Well-priced, impeccable quality, endless neck options, and zero headstock decals

Don't know about a D-Tuna, honestly. Conceivably, you could route a space into the top for the D-Tuna when you plan the recess route... I don't think it'd look too bad.

Liking that logo style, though I personally think it might fit better were it parallel to the tuner holes, not the centerline. Did Tele's really always have a flat part for the jack insert? haha wow. In my defense, I think my dislike of Fender instruments must be very ingrained. I don't think I've ever played a Tele.

If you already have an RG, you could be really careful and use a Robosander, something with a template bearing. Make sure eeeeeeverything is aligned perfectly, because when I did it, there were a few spots the Robosander nicked because either the body wasn't 100% straight or the sander wasn't 100% perpendicular.

Hey KP, you could do what I did and buy a cheapo RG body off Ebay to make a template out of. Also you end up with a cheap body to experiment with! Or you've already solved your issue some way. Just passing it along!

Depends on how far you like your strings from the surface of the guitar. I play guitars with no neck angle, so I'm partial to recessed TOM's or Strat-style bridges. HOWEVER, I can't stand a recessed Floyd, it puts the strings far too close to the guitar surface for me. Choosing which route (no pun inten... well, yeah, pun intended) to go with affects a lot of specs for the rest of your build. You ARE planning on building one, correct? *stern glare*

I would most definitely consider that an extreme bevel. A carve, to me, requires a smooth-ish flow from the center of the guitar to the edges. The nature of beasts like the Explorer and V is that their sharp edges don't lend themselves well to a smoothly graduating face height like an LP does. They fight one another, round peg in sharp, pointy hole-style. Beveling on a shape like an Explorer is cool, though. XXTREME BEVELZZ are great too. That Rhoads looks stylin'! I've apparently gotten in the habit of putting bevels on everything. Can't wait to get a block of nicely figured mahog to chip into!

Sperzels. Although, in comparing them to the Wilkinson, I bought a pair of open-back Sperzels to use with my Flying V project. They're similarly set up as the Wilkinson, but only require about 1/3 rotation around the post to get to the other hole, and no funky wrapping. Just over the top, turn 1/3 rotation, down through the hole and out the back of the tuner. Removing the strings is pretty easy as well, and the exposed gears look great. I've had Sperzels for a while, but I'm willing to try the Grovers. Anyone know if they come in black?

The reason you don't see any Explorer archtop pictures is simply because I bet there aren't any. I haven't seen one archtop guitar that didn't have a curved, flowing body outline. You're asking about putting an archtop on a body that is basically all straight lines. I'm with Wez here. It's possible to do, but the aesthetics will be way off. There is a reason why archtops are put on guitars with curved body lines, and also those that are at least a BIT symmetrical. A hollowbody/chambered Explorer? Definitely doable. F-holes on an Explorer? Absolutely. I'm sure Paul Gilbert has a few examples. But archtop is the only point of contention I see here.

Nice looking tele! Half of my grainfill question has been answered, so here's the second half. How long do you leave the grainfill on to really soak in there? I also noticed the jack area was slightly flatted out. I like the effect, it subtly breaks the smooth lines of the body. What type of jack are you planning on putting in there, that you need it flatted out? Neutrik? Barrel jack? That is quite the cool color, by the way.

A+ advice, Erik! Though it sounds like you've got quite the experience over there. My younger brother (17) started the swim team in September, and has brought nothing but grief to the fridge.

Welcome, Trey! That is quite the story on this Stein. Very impressive what you did to it, a testament to perseverance that it came off as well as it did. If you have any "before" pics, the transformation would be all the more stunning. Hope you enjoy the stay on the boards!

Those are some nice looking woods. Can you give us any more info on the build? I'm always a fan of flamed maple (the top one in your pic). It's not as common, I feel. the wood combination should sound nice and ballsy like a Les Paul

Awesome! I'm excited for ya. Yes, baby-sized guitars are in order. When I have kids (a good 10 years down the road, unless I'm like my own parents), I can't wait to chain them to the piano bench! Maybe you could post pictures of your wife's belly and put them up in the Work In Progress section Sorry, had to!