Prostheta

Okay, not exactly a progress update as such but at least a better idea of my plan of action over the next couple of months. I'm fitting out the new (smaller) workspace and setting up a few new tools for future work. The main tasks still to perform on the body of the Zeta are a deeper forearm contour, yellow side dot markers (still not sourced usable material yet) and the control cavity. The neck needs fully shaping (chair and spokeshave job) and finish sanding. I'm negotiating a deal with a local auto painter to get the body painted black when he next has a job in the booth that colour. End of pot job rather than whole new batch. I may order a single EMG-808 pickup, although it's entirely possible I may be getting passive eights custom wound, after which I can make a custom PCB-based preamp and EQ stack. Work starts again end of March.

not the last, the FIRST! if you cut the last one you will end up with nothing more than a 23 or 21 fret, 30" scale fretboard. Oops! You're correct Hector, I was probably thinking about the fretboard from the wrong direction

I use G12-75s in my Marshall 4x12 being driven by a (re-biased hotter) Mk1 5150. I can't fault the sound for what I use.

Done.

The 808, 707 and 81-7 use the EMG extended range bass pickup soapbar style housings - 40 for the 808 and 35 for the 707 and 81-7. They don't have ears like the 81/85/60 etc. which have pretty much standard humbucker style housings, although with tighter corner radii on the cover. Most guitars with pickup rings will accept an 81/85/60 in a standard humbucker route, but some need a bit of opening up on the corners to accommodate.

Thanks Rich. I don't trust my instincts as they're too biased so I thought i'd raise it to scrutiny. ;-D The piece doesn't look anywhere close to quartersawn to me either. I've not worked with macassar outside of headcap or fingerboard stock so I had to hold judgement on this. I'm not considering buying it however, as my working budget is tied up with flame maple neck blanks. Wasn't too impressed it being billed as "super quartersawn"! Surely "super" implies (if it means anything of course...) a piece cut perpendicular to an especially straight central point, on the outside of a very wide log? That is definitely rift compared to anything quarter, never mind "super".

I like both as each have their qualities. The Seymours in my Ibanez S are a great set, and the sounds are different to what I get from my Explorers. Comparing active to passive is just as relevant as comparing single coil to humbucking. You choose what is right for what you want. I actually get nice clean from the EMG-60, but the 85 and 81 are too high an output to not drive the front end of most amps. The nature of actives is that there is always power on tap, so pulling back on your playing style doesn't end up being as dynamic as on passives. Actives feel "linear" to me, but I wouldn't use the term "sterile". Same as I wouldn't term passives as being "characterful". There are a hell of a lot of sterile passives out there, and actives can be just as characterful, but perhaps not in the same areas. I'm happy to sit on the fence of this one because I use both, and have no need to weigh judgement on either against the other. The only thing that sticks in my craw is the differences between EMG and "common" pickup rout cavities for the soapbar 707, 81-7 and 808. Pshaw.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neck-Blank-Macassar-...ksid=p1638.m122

It's the most readily achievable one considering you have a slotted board already, especially as you've already had it cut to thirty frets. 28 should be more than enough anyway once you remove perhaps two of them. Removing two frets from a 30" scale 30 fret board reduces your scale length to just under 26-3/4". This means that even if you did bang the "neck" pickup straight up against the end of the fretboard, it would still be closer to the bridge than most neck pickups. A Les Paul neck pickup is just over 3/4 of the way from the nut to the bridge. If you're running a board longer than 22 frets you're going to push the "neck" pickup further back. Don't discount the potential for going to a longer scale 29 fret board by removing just the one fret however. This is still an option! Also, if you do cut the board shorter then the width of the fret slot may marginally affect nut position by around 0.5mm. If you cut across the slot and sand off the "shorter" part from inside the fret slot then you may have very very slight intonation problems. How measurable this would be is debatable, and i've probably opened a can of worms by mentioning it. You can probably compensate for this with tilting the contact point of the nut back half the width of a fret slot, but this is precision work which may be overkill in the real world.

Incidentally, whilst i'm on the topic - i'm constructing a longer scale replacement neck for the LTD EXP so it can handle the tunings I use better. I use open C, so I am making a 27.5" scale neck for it. This way I can continue to use the string gauges I prefer with little change apart from the tension.

I believe the ESP offerings in the Steven Carpenter models are the EMG-707s which are (IIRC) based on the EMG-85. The 85 is way too powerful in the bass range for a neck pickup....I really don't like them myself for that same reason! An EMG81-7 would work better as a neck pickup in a seven. My ESP Explorer is set up with two 81s and my LTD EXP has an 81/60 combination. A 707/85 in a mid position is probably as far forward as i'd have one personally. That said, the 85 sounds better when *clean* as opposed to dirty or crunched, but it limits the usage of the pickup because of that.

Problem with that is what Pariah mentioned - the bit will more likely than as not walk out during the drilling through which will possibly misalign the outer holes. You're perfectly correct in using the bridge as a template (it's perfect) although you'll need to open the holes out to seat the ferrules. Those counterbore pieces mentioned in a previous thread would be perfect for doing the job this way.... If you drill the two outer holes all the way through, you'll find that they will no longer align with the holes on the bridge when you pop it on the back.

Keep posting your progress!

I use clear acrylic, and am about to upgrade my templates to 10mm instead of the 6mm i'm currently using. It's easy to score the surface if acrylic with a blade corner against a straightedge - grab some acrylic (Perspex) scrap or a sheet from somewhere. It's awesomely useful stuff. Incidentally, put the scored guidelines on the bottom edge to line it all up....! Hope you get good results.

Untrue. The angle of the headstock has nothing to do with the neck angle at the body/neck join. A string is still a straight line no matter how it breaks over the nut. You would perhaps need an angled neck depending on what bridge you want to use. Higher bridges sometimes need angles. Simple as. Research Les Paul neck angles for an example of this. Angled headstocks mean you don't have to use string guides/tree like strats, and increase the tension over the nut.

I use an acrylic template for that purpose. Thing is, you need to drill that accurately so it's chicken and egg. Or is that egg and egg in this situation? :-D You can line them up if you score the horizontal line where they all line up with a blade to make a thin line. I do this, but I wouldn't recommend anyone else doing it because you have to sand that back out.... Use a lip and spur bit to drill the holes - do you have a pillar drill? If so, made sure the workpiece is securely held on the platen, and bring the spur down so it nips into the centre of the point you measure for the ferrule. Then turn the drill on and drill it. Make sure your platen, workpiece and drill head haven't or cannot move! Measure measure measure and don't drill if you're not 100%! This is why I opted to make a ferrule template which I can clamp to the body. Can't take chances at the best of times! This is just how I get away with it. There are plenty of other people with different methods - you just have to use what tools you have available and find your own way. You do have a pillar drill, right? :-D

Those brown trousers are quick to put on, and slow to get off aren't they? I've had a few choice moments like those, and they're really not pleasant.

Ferrules make the holes nice and clean looking however. Those string have to enter from under the bridge somewhere! Plus the wrapping on the ball end shouldn't be stressed by it being bent over the edge of the bridge through hole. You could lose a lot of strings that way, and the ball end may not seat securely like it would in a ferrule.

I can testify to 30" being *very* long! Yes, you may want to consider reducing the scale by removing the first fret or two. This would make your new scale something more sensible like 28.3" (if you remove one) or 26.7" (if you remove two). You should be able to use any bridge as long as the seating in the saddle provides good contact. You may need to fettle the lower saddles, or even the stringing-through holes. Same applies to your tuner posts. Intonation will be sufficient if you position your saddles all the way forward, and have the contact point marginally behind or straight on that point. The lower strings will be the ones that will need the saddles yoinking all the way back (look at the Les Paul TOM bridge angle for example). Measure the adjustment travel your hardtail gives and calculate it from there. You probably have more than enough. Oh, what that's Mattia said also! Silly me.

I made this neck almost exactly as per your picture, except that the 2 outer lams' were scarfed, but the opposite way from the centre lam. It's not much more work than a standard laminated neck, and it allowed me to squeeze two necks out of the blank. Practical and economical to the last eh Setch? Good call on the usage.

What was your finishing technique for the neck? I may oil my eight-string's wenge/zebrano neck soon.

Untrue. If you use one-piece then you have the issue of grain runout with angled headstocks. The strongest neck possible would be the impractical combination of scarfing and single pieces laminated to the point of it being plywood! :-D That would be plain crazy however. Little gain for too much work. In theory, sound. But theory isn't what's keeping the millions of operating scarfed headstocks out there in the world together. I digress.

The back looks awesome....very smooth like my Ibanez S....that's some severe contouring too Hoogle! Very very nice. As you said - very very blue!!

Hahaha....this is about as fast as anyone should get before it sounds poop: Incidentally, this vid is from Dev's sarcastic endorsement vid with D'Addario/Mesa etc. Heee-larious. Oh yes, second shred second at 4:40!

I think an air nailer would be cumbersome whilst working however. Perhaps a driveway full of rakes? We don't have racoons in this country, although chavs are equally as annoying, destructive, smelly and are usually rooting through the garbage. They usually wear striped garb too.