Prostheta

...unless the classic acoustic busker's trick of a strap which is tied to the headstock instead of the heel It would definitely be a nightmare to watch out for on the balance side of things. I'm worried about my Iceman, and that's only a sixer with a walnut body and mahogany neck!! MacGyver says: "Balancing that monster would require an ebony body and a basswood neck with nickel/helium frets polyalloy and a lead weight in the control cavity!"

The exact question was in regards to covers degrading the sound per se, which I don't think they do in the slightest. Modifying perhaps, but not worsening it! A squillions Tele's can't be wrong when it comes to magnetically-inclined stuff in the pickups field of vision :-) As you say Robert, the physical impact of something between the pup and the strings MAY do, but not in the way of degradation.

I think that's the general consensus on most "semi-natural" finishes such as oils. It's more like conditioning as opposed to finishing I guess. I've just stocked up on a load of Tru-oil for finishing guitars - I might stick to oils in general for a while! (till I have bad chipout from the router when I'll go solid)

As I said - go for it! The money is great for the immediate convenience of it just as you said :-) I happened to have the right tools to modify common stuff.

Plastics on the whole tend to be non-conductive so will be magnetically and electrically transparent. In theory, you could mount pickups from the rear of an instrument and have them hidden under the top wood as long as the strings were in the magnetic field. I'm curious like you though - would the marginal water content of wood affect tone if used as covers? I suspect not, as the water content of air should be almost the same as stable wood anyway :-) This might deserve a different thread a la the sustainers, but would this "shorted turn" stuff mean mean you could also manipulate the magnetic field and tonality of a pickup using a wire coil wound around a cover and electrical signals?

They're great for the "out of the box" experience of being to do a job quickly and easily, but experienced people will be able to do the same job as well and probably better using simpler and cheaper tools. I love the Stewmac tools like the tang nippers etc. purely because I don't have that experience and I'm not patient enough to gain it! My good friend (and local folk blues hero) Karl Svarc does all his setups and general work using traditional simple tools and a LOT of patience. Despite Karl's modesty, he can set up and dress "manageable" instruments and make them play as though they are much more "upscale in worth". Despite being more than capable of doing it myself, I would rather Karl set up and dress my builds (and teach me as well!) than me doing a halfway decent job and learning moderately little. I'd say buy them if you can afford them. You get quick and predictable results, but it's worth learning, understanding and trying your hand at using traditional techniques. As with anything, you develop your own style of working that way :-) Oh yes, I have to point out that the majority of Stewmac's tools aren't actually custom from the ground up, a lot of them are simple and easily available tools (if you know where to look) which have been modified to suit a specific purpose. The tang nippers are available elsewhere for much less, but just need a groove milled into the seat. The fretwire nippers which cut flush to the board can be made using some end cutters with the top face of the cutters milled flat instead of bevelled. Two minutes on the spindle sander grinding them sorted them out!

Nice! Now there's ingenuity for you.

Not sure about the tone being altered, but the last walnut I tried soaked paint up like crazy. I'd grain fill with something like black. Why not oil finish the body or use Tru-oil?

I would hazard a guess at steel wool if the decal is sitting on top of the "finish". It may be too thin to go at it using acetone (which may well mar the headstock) or coarse sandpaper (which may wear through the sealer). I would wait until somebody else replies before attempting this though. My gut says 0000 wool or 800/1200 wet and dry paper. Can you "prick off" or scratch a tiny bit of the decal using a sewing needle without having to dig through any kind of finish? That would give us a good clue as to whether it's under or over the sealer.

Thanks Will - you've got even more sentiment to pour out once you make with the Padauk! I used to work in a job where I'd advise customers on a product for their home that I'd never see in use, and which is a MAJOR long-term purchase. The few times I ever got to see the product in the home was kind of a bit spooky when you mostly deal with it as words and a sample. Pretty crazy. Well, you're more than welcome to a testimony quote or whatever and some completion pics for your eBay store. Most sellers of exotics at GOOD prices would tell you where to get off when you request specific sizes! I think the "before and after" would look awesome.

Question - how can a passive circuit provide treble boost when it can only attenuate?

Update! More shaping on the neck and headstock. Just need to decide whether to have a volute or not despite me not scarf-jointing the neck. I do like the look of laminates going across a volute....

That's the stuff, perhaps it's a little *too* thin? It's 3.5x thinner than the poplar I used!

Pop Satanists crack me up every time. "So you believe in Satan?" "Grooorrrr...yus!" "Ergo there must be a god then?" "Urrrrrrrrrrrr" In which case you take the pizzas, give them the money and they scamper off on their mopeds to the next drop. I mean pur-lease! Satan does NOT exist is any way shape or form. Kerry King put pay to that and scared him off mid-eighties.

Thanks - both on the counts of my avatar and the music :-) The avatar is Rags from The Exorcist who I have tattooed on my right arm. I had her eyes coloured white and they stand out nicely! +1 on Steve Harris, and a side-prop to Cliff and the old skool drunken Het also!

I agree, in that a lot of metal bands look like complete goons doing it to look hard, pose or whatever. I do it because it's an extension of the music we play, and audiences cue off that. If we're having a good time, they have a good time. If music doesn't make you move and groove or feel something then there's something wrong :-) Hell, I can jig whilst playing bass Les Claypool style but that's just a mood thing man. The left leg must be let loose!! <edit: oops, page timed out on me when i posted that so I didn't think it had been posted and I rewrote it! sorry!>

Each to their own man. I do it because it's an expression of the music we play. If music can't make you move and groove or raise an emotion or two then it certainly isn't music! Our music makes people jump, mosh, dance, whatever, so cool. Being one of the focal points of the band "front of house" as bassist (in my case) you're an ambassador for the groove and people cue off you. You groove, they groove. I agree with you in a lot of ways Komodo in that a lot of metal bands do it because it's "expected" and it then looks cheesy and makes me cringe, whereas I find that when it's appropriate it becomes a further extension of the music. I can't think of what else a metaller could do onstage. Morris dancing or Scotch jigs would kind of kill the mood y'know? McGyver says "music is evil, boyo"

To be honest, it's the first time I've come across veneers that thin Chris. I was originally going to go for ebony but the relative expense and the fact it doesn't *like* being think put pay to that one. I believe woods like sycamore and poplar tend to be easier to make into wafer thin veneer if that helps. Blackwood, kingwood and ebony just seem too brittle to hold their own. Google says.....

I would have bound the fretboard. That would highlight the end of it and made sense of the blank area a little. Or a little inlaying.

I kind of wish I'd tapered the rock maple from 10mm down to 5mm at the headstock now, but to misphrase something, "there's plenty more wood in the sea". I think I'll glue up the top this week and do the carving. Since the top is going to be glued straight onto the cut back tenon (only showing on the rear) I can glue it up, true the back, rout the pickup cavities and start working on the violin-style curves on the sides. Thanks for the positive feedback - this forum should get equal thanks for the project :-)

UPDATE: Laid the raw tenon on the bench today and marked out the nut position, bridge position and headstock angle on the side. I chickened out of the scarf joint as I don't have tools which will reliably mitre a 10° angle so I opted for a one-piece. After marking the nut position, I measured the width of the nut (45mm) and marked up the width of the neck at the 12th fret. Drawing these lines all the way up to the back of the tenon, I clamped a straight planed piece of wood to the top of the neck and used the router with a guided follower bit to remove most of the sides of the tenon and finished off by bobbin sanding the headstock to shape. Viola!!

Excellent stuff - good to hear you got the results you wanted! Now, let's see that LP take shape :-)

£130, but yeah €200! Very expensive.

Subject to being seconded on this, I think EMGs would be cheaper than custom or expensive boutique pups. Did I mention Lundgren? They supply the 8-string pickups for Meshuggah's crazy 8-strings.

Verhoevenc: The thin veneers are dyed black poplar and it comes something like 10-12" wide and 3' to 4' long. It's cheaper than ebony and comes in larger (and cheaper) sheets:-) David Dyke supplied those! Erikbojerik: I'm not planning on compromising on anything. I've planned jigs to help true the carves on the top, and I think I'm going to step back rather than jump in if I'm not sure about anything. Shredgtrfan: I'm leaving all of the flame maple natural apart from an oiling to keep the wood clean and to pop the flame a bit. Sanding to 1200 and scraping seems to bring out the figure nicely and isn't difficult work. I'll be sure to photograph every step of the process.