Prostheta

I use a steel box section I bought from the DIY store. I just made sure it wasn't bent or twisted by sighting down the corners before buying. Same method as Setch. DST and sandpaper.

The heel looks a little weighty! Did you not want to sculpt it back slightly? That is a gorgeous guitar though man. I like it a lot and it gives me guitar hankering you know? The best guitar I owned was alder (ESP Mirage) not that I ever stop kicking myself for letting her go years back. I might have to make an eight or a seven myself in alder to relive the sound of that wood :-\ See what you made me do? Any chance you can post some clean/dirty sounds from the Tone Zone 7? I'm considering a pair of those myself for an extended build. Great work man. Been good to see this one completed.

I wouldnt trust a rip saw like that unless I was just cutting raw lumber. Nice idea, but I wouldn't let a blade like that within 1/8" of the wood I want to keep. Just couldn't trust it man. Would rather bandsaw, same as Rick500 and then rout using a template bit against a tapered neck.

*cough* ...nine-string... *cough* Hope you get this one sorted. I don't suppose the grubs or gears are consistent with any other similar Yamaha (or other) machine heads? You might find a donor set of tuners which could offer themselves up as spare parts. Sorry, Captain Obvious to the rescue here....I think that it will be difficult to source the whole specific piece unless they it is in some way standard, which I presume it's not, although the gear/grubs may be....

Ummm....pop into the thread which usually appears pinned in this part of the board and follow the instructions therein. I think February is still open (without looking). Just post some nice finished shots of the instrument and a potted history, and I would link back to this thread for the build info using this link: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=34154 You've most probably got my vote because I love this one, so watch I don't sneak in through an open window, down your chimney etc :-D

I might add that the dust is particularly noxious unless you've got GOOD extraction. I'd rather work cocobolo than oak.

I take it they're all mounted on the same baseplate. That's going to make it hard :-\ Any chance of a better look at the patients?

I'm tempted to hand-paint a guitar myself at some point. It's been a while since i've had the urge to apply colour to a canvas and you've probably just gone and tipped the scales. How does the 89 sound with the Sustainiac? Interesting combo!

That really is something! Excellent melding of styles there - the Voyager is a nice shape for headless, and the S/JS shapes are very sleek and ergonomic. The two work very nicely. Did you seal the wood before Therese did the artwork? It looked like it was going onto bare wood in the pics. Beautiful concept, and a great build. GOTM?

If you can't locate the tuners, is it feasible to strip the machines down and just replace the gears?

As long as the scarf isn't compromised by the change in grain direction, great. I've seen some shockers of scarfs and ears on old 80s BC Richs. Some real Fender style economising.

Having to plane a pyramid of wood off the face of a neck blank shouldn't be too much of a deal. Trueing everything back up should be part of the work anyway really :-D It's not like it's overcomplicating the job really! Perhaps an inch of wood and jumping in the seat with your plane for a couple of minutes. Easy. I guess i'm a little bored of seeing offset headstock with gluelines. Ears seem better if used for necessity, like LP headstocks etc.

Instead of adding an "ear" onto one side to extend the width of a scarfed headstock to achieve the drop (or lift for reversed!) would it be a better idea to align the grain of the wood in the same direction as the tuners when scarfing an angled headstock? I presume a 13° scarf would be just as strong with a 10°-12° direction change in grain between the two pieces (sorry, 10-12 is an approx as my 3D trig is a bit sleepy right now). I'm 99% sure on this one. I suppose the only downside I can see at the moment is the loss of an inch or so of wood with the join end of the headstock piece being higher/lower either side of the centre point where it meets the neck. I would draw pictures, but I trust that the people who know what i'm on about are more than happy to deal with words as an adequate method of communication.

Agreed with Drak on the fragility of various burls. The camphor burl i'm using for my PRS-ish Vampyre guitar required delicacy and thought when i was jointing it as it's the kind of wood where a bunch of wood might tear out just because of the direction it's going. Even hand carving can do that. Sand all the way, as it's the only way to be sure. I prefer to err rather than kick myself later.

Good work. Cheap ol' bastard file from a hardware shop eh? Burketts here in Lincoln have a box full i'm going to raid for that very purpose!

I would never make a half-mod like that permanent....I would rather dowel and redrill for any degree of permanance!

Ditto, previous posts. Sticker-type is easier to apply than paper with CA though :-D 25/64" bit? Man, i've only got one of these 6400/16384" bits. Will it work?!

I believe in overkill. If you've got exacting standards then you don't want your workpiece ruined by the tool you are using making it's own decisions and going off-kilter. Standard brad point bits can lay holes next to each other within 0.1mm with a trained eye and hand. No problem. Countersinking is best done with a tool designed for the purpose. Every tool is designed for a purpose, although it is assumed too much that they can be adequately used for purposes outside of that design. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. If you're short on the dough, then you gain the experience in making do with what is around you, and you either learn from mistakes or gain skills and knowledge from creative thinking. If you need to hit a target with a guarantee, you need to cheat or tip the balance in your favour. Being good is not a guarantee. I am sure John Page would not want to potentially make an imperfect workpiece for a client just by having to use brad point bits. Counterboring bits are created for the exact reason he is using them, which is why he is using them. No stretch of the imagination there. Killemall8 - you're 18, making guitars on next to no money and managing it. All power to you man. You'll gain good skills on how to use broad use tools to acheive what you need. Not a bad thing. You will of course be working without the safety net that professional luthiers require in order to produce perfect work. This is the zen of perfection man. Making guitars for yourself has a different satisfaction to sending guitars out into the client wild, where the game is different. Neither approach is wrong. Just different.

BLEGH. Bounty bars. Disgusting. Where did you install it anyway? I can't see it anywhere. Well, however well you install them they always fall out after 24-48 hours anyway, sans coconut. By the way Byron - before you go spending loads on tools from Stewmac (and probably getting screwed on VAT and import via DHL who automatically declare everything) you should do a bit of asking around as the tools aren't that special you know? I got a hard nylon/soft face hammer from B&Q for a few quid which does the job of a fret hammer admirably. Pull saws for fretting you can score from Axminster who are normally expensive but are cheaper than buying from the US. Fret nippers can be made from some end-cutters ground flat-to-almost-concave on the face. I use a pair of Stanleys for this. This is looking a very nice build man. I like it a lot. In fact, I like your bench a lot too. Good luck with the Bounty bar tomorrow.

Tight Matt, tight. I hogged out a pretty rough channel for the quick connect and almost brought it too close to the pickup screw mounting. Duh! Keep it up man.

Cheers Chris - couldnt find your thread though, despite skimming seven pages of topics you spawnded.

I hear you on that one....it would be an awesome neck wood to use if it was kinder on tools and stayed purple! I have a slab big enough for a neck blank myself but daren't use it :-D I love my tools...

What tone? :-D That's a pretty straight tone....i'd say more technique than instrument on that one as far as the character goes.... 1:00 through 1:07 is a very nice slap/pop/thump sound, but I would say that as i'm a Claypool fan also.

I'm sure that it's not a voodoo-wood though. I've heard nothing but good things about the use of ovangkol, but then again the same applies to bubinga, wenge, rosewoods.... I believe that Warwick use solid building fundamentals and don't skimp or cut corners. You don't find a low-end Warwick which is a basswood body and "xxx Designed" pickups. You get good wood, good design, good electronics and purpose-built hardware. Even the most basic of Warwicks (say, Vampyre SN?) has better build features than most off-the-shelf name brand instruments. Manufacturers that don't pander to the amateur market are few and far between. I was surprised when Warwick introduced the "Rockbass" line. That said, the real deal Warwicks are still the real deal. On the subject of grind, I was fascinated by the Thunderbird voodoo for a while till I built my own with a few basic common sense improvements. Old growth mahogany central laminate, two wenge laminates and mahogany outers and wings. Plenty of weight on the headstock and a three-point bridge with EMG35-DCs. Man, does that bass grind. I would have to say that I subscribe to the school of tone being as good as your weakest link. Factor them out and you raise the bar.

I think there's a great deal of difference in opinion as to what the "Warwick sound" is, and there probably isn't one. Maybe voodoo. To me, the "Warwick sound" is this: 0:57 through to 1:27 - an Infinity played through a Warwick (Pro IX?) valve head and cab setup. So WHAT is that grind? Is it the instrument, amp, outboard, good EQing or just (wait for it) a bassist chunking into the strings HARD? I think the latter more than anything.