J366

My all time favorite pedal, is the Boss metalzone MT-2. Simply amazing. I have the bass and distortion cranked up all the way, and the bass up on my amp all the way. Hell, sometimes i play through a trace elliot bass amp, i guess i just love bass. It has a pretty good range of tones, from low end crunch, to a trebly kind of lead distortion. Great for metal, also, its build very tough. My only knock against it is it can be a little hard to find a great sound, or it was for me anyway, it takes some messing with. I have a digitech rp80, which is okay for the price, nothing great, i use it primarily for wah. And i also have a danelectro overdrive, which is surprisingly good for the price ($20) US. It gives me a nice bluesy sound and its my main pedal for blues, and classic rock. my current rig: Epi LP custom Boss Metalzone MT-2 distortion Digitech rp80 multifx (which i generally bypass, or take out all together) Fender Stage Lead II (i dunno if they discontinued these or something, i havent heard anything on them) or Trace Elliot Boxer 30 Bass amp

Hey everybody. I was wondering if i could get some help with building my first neck. I've read up some on the subject, but im still fairly confused about a few things. ok, heres the plan so far Gibson Flying V style guitar TOM bridge 22 or 24 frets bolt on neck (so i can swap it out if there is a problem with it and build a new one) Currently choosing between 3 tuners on a side (gibson style, with a traditional "v" headstock) or 6 on a side (like jacksons,) either would work. Buying a pre-slotted/radiused fretboard from stewmac is an option i havent counted out yet, but id like to save that as a last resort if possible. So, id appreciate if anybody could give me some info about any or all of the following: How to calculate scale length, and what is better/worse/different about the different standard (or commonly used) scale lengths? How scale length relates to fret position? (i have a means of calculating fret spacing) How should i determine the string spacing? How can i calculate a suitable neck angle? How do i determine a proper headstock angle? How to determine pickup and bridge placement? And finally, whats the proper bridge height? Just a bunch of standard questions. Better to be safe than sorry. As always, help is much appreciated. Thanks- Jesse

well, fortunately, i already have a router (dad's), a file (i need more) and sand paper, so maybe i'll give it a shot. Would it be difficult to build a neck out of salvaged materials (old furnitiure etc,) or would it be better to buy/obtain wood specifically for building a neck? Would cherry be a good neck wood? it seems a little heavy, especially cause my body weighs about 3lbs, but i have a peice i could try using. I just have to check if its long enough. haha, sorry about all the questions, i'm still a bit new to this. Thanks for all the info about the pickups and hardware, i think ive made up my mind about them. And, i'll keep my eye on ebay just in case a good deal comes up. -Jesse

Awesome, thats exactly the kind of thing i was looking for. Thanks a lot.

alright, so, ive started to become addicted to this whole guitar thing...haha. The other night when cleaning out my basement, i found my dads old guitar. Its an old Silvertone 6 string acoustic, circa 1964. He pretty much told me thats its a peice. Its fairly battered, but it still has a wonderful sound (for what it is anyway). The only problem, (aside from some decent sized cracks on the edge of the facing, nothing too too serious) is that the nut was made of some kind of wood, and during all those years of playing, the first fret has essentially become the nut, thats how much its been worn down. So while fretted notes sound fine, any chord involving open notes sounds absolutely terrible. So, i have decided to replace the nut. In my constant search for cheap or free materials, a strange thought came to me; would it be possible to make a nut from some kind of stone, or metal (other than what is commonly used)? (marble is what i had in mind, becuase of all the tile scraps around, but id use anything i could get my hands on) Also, it there any particular method to removing the nut, or is it a standard, pop it off and out with a chisel affair? I figured i might as well ask because it seemed simple, but i really dont want to mess anything up if i can help it. thanks for entertaining my strange ideas, -Jesse

Okay, so, a few weeks ago, i started my first build, a california redwood flying v style guitar thats slightly thinner, but a bit wider than usual (due to the fact that i wanted to make sure i had plenty of room for everything cause i free handed, then flipped the design, but i decided to keep it regardless because it looks really cool.) I acquired the wood as payment for the demolition of a millionaires house the our crew stripped the wood from. Its very light, the body is only about 3 lbs, and its beautiful wood. I cut out the shape, sanded the whole thing down and made it fairly even. I'm going to buy a les paul style bridge and hardware for it, and boutique style pickups off of guitar fetish. So as im waiting here, trying to plan my next move, i ran into a fairly big problem. The neck that i wanted, a fairly plain one, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, jackson style headstock, is around $300 on warmoth. While this is no sweat for some of you builders, im a 16 year old on a budget, with no job. However, despite the fact that im a little nervous about making a neck, making one from scratch, or putting together parts for a preassembled one is quickly becoming an option (although i'd rather not unless i have to at this point.) My questions are, would putting together a fingerboard, trussrod, neckblank type setup from stew mac be worth it? would it be better to wait until i could get the money for an expensive warmoth setup? should i try doing it myself from scratch? or is there some other low cost alternative, or some other manufacturer that doesnt charge an arm and a leg for a neck...god, that sounded like a bad joke... also, how is the quality of guitar fetish parts and pickups? any input is appreciated -Jesse

On second thought, I think I'll take it easy and start with something simple. I was kind of wrapped up in the coolness and possibility of the idea. I wasn't thinking about tackling something big or complicated, I was just trying to figure out if it was something i could try with any degree of sucess, and I think its a pretty clear no at this point in time. Maybe I'll try something on a headstock, or a dot or block inlay. Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Hey, I'm fairly new to this site as well as guitar making in general. I am going to build my first guitar (hopefully) soon and I'm in the process of designing it. After coming across a picture of a double-neck guitar that had an intricate dragon inlay running up wth body and onto the fretboard (it was a PRS in a sweetwater catalog), ive decided to explore that idea a bit. If not when i build my first, when i refinish my strat. Since I don't have much experience, I'm not expecting it to come out great, but I'd like to give it a shot. I was wondering if anyone had tried to do this sort of thing before and what were the results. I'd also like to know if it is necessary to take any special precautions when inlaying a guitar body as opposed to a fretboard. Thanks In Advance. -Jesse