Prostheta

Check out Huntindoug's work as he laser cuts acrylic mirror, so it definitely works! It can be brittle when brought to points as I found when I was inlaying a board I commissioned Doug to cut for me. All the gluing and levelling was done by me because I wanted to be more hands on with the actual inlaying :-D It's possible that the mirror backing might not like being laser cut, but I can't see it being an issue for inlaying by any means. Go for it! I've been considering a mirrored inlay for a while myself...

I like the headstock logo idea for sure. Very cool instrument man.

I can't see why it wouldn't be possible, but i'd be concerned about the metallic flake seperating from the paint. Definitely cool if you can find somebody who has the technique down.

Excellent work Simo - hope your sinuses aren't permanantly sensitised from wood dust or anything! I bet you're itching (*no joke intended*) to get it strung up for the first time....what nut material have you settled on?

Totally. I'm considering sorting out the tuners on my son's Stagg flying V. Hell, he's a drummer so he can't tell the difference between a decent guitar and an *ummm* not-decent one. As long as it stay in tune, doesn't buzz and crackle, he won't notice.

UPDATE: (of sorts) I might be going back over things i've already said, but i'm too lazy to read my own posts in the thread so here's where I stand :-D - waiting for some cocobolo binding to be delivered - binding channels cleaned up and realigned with the finish-sanded outline (thanks Wes) - bloodwood fingerboard and veneer in the cloud, ready to be delivered Specs update: - mahogany/bloodwood five-laminate neck - camphor burl headstock cap with slight soft carve and recessed tuners - bloodwood backstrap (good luck, me) - passive pickups (what what what?!?!?!)

IIRC, aren't they based in Hull? That's where I hail from, and i'm nowhere near as nice. Great project! I've considered buying a ***tter off eBay myself to hotrod, but I get all hung up on the wood quality and all that because i'm too much of a snob, much to my loss.

Same here for my wife's semi-hollow Les Paul copy we're in the planning stages of....the body is black walnut with a top and back cap. As long as the Tru-oil is compatible with all of the woods (zebrano, ebony, etc) then that's the way we'll be going.

If it's for tapering the neck from nut to the end of fingerboard, then a calculator, ruler, pencil, clamps, router and a good straight piece of wood does the trick. If it's to achieve the shaping on the back of the neck, then i'm afraid you can't do much other than buying a table router and a LARGE roundover bit, and even then that's just to get you in the ballpark. From thereonin, it's the buttscratcher pictured above!

My main point was that you don't need a pickup ring :-D Ah well!

Whoa there..... *closes the can again* Can we stop butting balls here? If this goes any further, I might have to start up on the Eddie Van vs. Dave Lee Roth discussion just so I can operate on this level :-D Go forth and rout, guys!

Okay, just a peek into the can of worms instead of opening it again (it's open elsewhere I believe) but the strings are stretched across an uneven organic thing which will serve to interfere with the wobbly metal stuff going on via it's strange wooden response, surely? The whole balsa vs. concrete guitar is an extreme example of how the body interacts with the strings...perhaps not HUGELY but there is an interaction nonetheless. Okay, enough of that can. On with the show! Direct mount means no pickup rings. ROCK!

I could bevel them I guess....anyway! We'll see uodates when I move forward on that project. I'm sure Doug'll be way past the finishing post by the time I even get around to binding!

Yeah, the quality of the work is excellent! Did you laser-cut a template for the tailpiece routing, Doug? Very very cool either way. My own build is designed to be through-body and I considered recessing the bridge pretty much the same way - that said, I might not unless I go without pickup rings. I like the "lack of covers" look. That Sapele looks awesome in the neck.... Any more ideas on what you plan to do as far as the pickup is concerned?

I'm still at the stage where I have to balance out "ways" to do jobs against how many fingers I might lose with each method :-D Nothing like a finely tuned plane.

Doug you spoilsport! I'm halfway through making a guitar shaped like that also!! I found that the horns end up looking a little "thick" and "clubby" if the carve isn't tapered off towards the ends. I love the Destroyer/Iceman flip at the back end....you do have a thing for ICs though after all :-D Gold fretwire perchance?

Ha, but those planes are SOOOO good! :-D I agree with Perry's logic, but he does have to work on a different level to most hobbyists who would indeed use a hand plane rather than a long bed planer!

Pukko, your problems with red may be down to several things - one being white balance, the other being the light metering of your camera offsetting or reducing the dynamic range of colours due to light from reflections. This isn't my information as I am not an expert in photography - I just asked a friend who is fairly enthusiastic about this hobby on your behalf. One example he gave me was hot rod photographers - apparently they spritz body panels to reduce glare, and therefore reduce the dynamic range somewhat. I wouldn't recommend spraying your guitars with water however....try using the white balance correction on the camera or in a photo editor, or putting an RGB calibration card in the shot and calibrating your photos that way. If you have a lot of direct lighting (spotlights, sun etc.) then use more diffuse lighting such as bulbs behind paper to soften the light sources. Small holes in the paper still allow white highlights to appear on the glossy surfaces if you want them. Sounds plausible, but lets see how it works in practice. On with the red photos!!

I'm a little fearful of the amount of waste that an angled neck-through would create...I guess when you're working customs, the customers pays for what they get! Thanks for the great illustration of the principle Perry. I agree with Wes' comment. Damn, it IS simple! I really do wish my planer bed was larger though :-(

Awesome. Now I need some wood.

There will be a sealer coat under the paint which will be harder to remove than the paint itself. Why not remove the clearcoat (if there is one) by hand, do your filling and repair work before scuff sanding the lot flat for your finish coats? Most of the work has been done for you after all - no need to go right back to the wood :-D

There just seems a lot of depth to the bits. I'd naturally be cautious when that depth of cut is being used on such a tolerance-sensitive part of an instrument. What are they getting used for then? :-D

Very interesting....what would you do with such radii though? I hope you wouldn't trust a fingerboard to them! Still, a very odd find as i've not seen them before....any chance of a price and source for reference?

I still think Jim is a great name. You can blame your mistakes in playing on your instrument - "damnit Jim i'm playing in not chromatics, not Hungarian Minor!"

"Jim"