kings_x

With humbuckers I've found I don't need to shield the electronics cavity. Proper grounding is a must, however. Make sure all pots and switches are tied to ground and make sure the bridge is as well.

If you want to shield the cavity, get some metalic paint or copper tape. Cover the cavity and the back of the cover. Make sure there is good metal to metal contact between the cover and the cavity.

I got a question. I'm looking at some cunstock blanks, but most of them say the they're like 4 anglin to 7.5 inches wide. How did you get a body out of that?

Laminate two 7.5 pieces together and you have a 15 inch body.

I'm using leopardwood as a top on my current project. From what I understand, its a more dense and darker version of lacewood.

My experience with leopardwood is:

1) It is very "spliter-ey". The grain between the leopard spots looks almost like fabric threads and it splinters when you rub your hand over it.

2) It is hard to sand. Like I said, it is dense. I would guess somewhere between ebony and hard maple.

As for use in a neck... Lacewood is softer than leopardwood so I don't know how stable it would be.

Stain... I've seen guitars with lacewood tops that have been dyed and they look great.

Has anyone used Custom Shop Parts pickups? They have good prices but I was wondering about the quality. I'm looking at getting either P-90s or PAFs.

The good news is you should be able to cut and or steam the body wing off of the purple heart without loosing too much wood.

not sure I agree with the headstock shape

I don't like it either. I'm building two of these guitars at the same time and my friend is buying one (basically paying for the materials). He designed the peghead. Mine will be more like a standard ES peghead.

BTW, as you can see in the picture, I still have to glue another piece of wood at the top of the peghead to extend it out a little more. The last tuning machine will go through that piece. I plan on putting an ebony veneer (as thick as I can get away with) over the whole thing. Should it be structurally sound?

As a general rule, use 500k pots for humbuckers and 250k pots for single coils.

I have never built a bass but I believe the neck needs to be stronger. Most bass necks have multiple laminates and use strong wood such as hard maple.

Added the fretboard to the neck. Its a Stewmac radiused maple fretboard. I discovered that it is better to glue the fretboard before shaping the back. I had a hard time getting everything clamped down the way I wanted.

I didn't realize my son was in the picture until after I uploaded it. Everyone say hi to Isaiah.

Rickenbacker meets PRS. Cool!

mdr

Here's some info on single action truss rods. I used this info to make mine.

http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/Making%20neck%204.htm

When I did mine that way I just marked of the flat area which included the pickups and bridge and did the "topographical" thing around them.

The body shape doesn't do much for me but it sounds great.

Doug's road tech was a guy that played in a friends band Yonderboy. He used the 8 and 12's live. He crossed them over between a marshal 1/2 stack and a bass rig.

You mean Splat or his new tech? I'm sure he's got all of Doug's sound secrets. His live sound with his four string is out of this world. He mimics a 12 string sound with 4. It thumps you right in the chest.

Check them out live this spring. You will not be disappointed:

Wed 04/21/04 Baton Rouge, LA @ Click's

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Fri 04/23/04 Springfield, MO @ Nathan P Murphy's

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Sat 04/24/04 Little Rock, AR @ Juanita's

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Sun 04/25/04 Atlanta, GA @ Smith's Olde Bar

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Tue 04/27/04 Birmingham, AL @ The Nick

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Wed 04/28/04 Nashville, TN @ Exit / In

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Thu 04/29/04 Charlotte, NC @ Amos' Southend

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Fri 04/30/04 Springfield, VA @ Jaxx

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Sat 05/01/04 Farmingdale, NY @ The Downtown

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Mon 05/03/04 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place

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Tue 05/04/04 Pittsburgh, PA @ Hard Rock Cafe

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Thu 05/06/04 Seaside, NJ @ The Green Room At Sawmill

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Fri 05/07/04 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights

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Sat 05/08/04 Attleboro, MA @ Jarrod's

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Sun 05/09/04 Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar

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Mon 05/10/04 New York, NY @ B.B. King's Blues Club

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Wed 05/12/04 Toronto, ON @ Club Rockit

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Thu 05/13/04 Ferndale, MI @ The Magic Bag

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Fri 05/14/04 East Dubuque, IL @ Arena

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Sat 05/15/04 Chicago Heights, IL @ Oasis One Sixty

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Sun 05/16/04 Saint Paul, MN @ The Rock

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Tue 05/18/04 Sioux Falls, SD @ The Oaks Convention Center

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Fri 05/21/04 Santa Ana, CA @ The Galaxy Theatre

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Sat 05/22/04 Phoenix, AZ @ The Mason Jar

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Sun 05/23/04 West Hollywood, CA @ The House Of Blues

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Mon 05/24/04 Porterville, CA @ Charlie's

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Tue 05/25/04 San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge

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Thu 05/27/04 Tucson, AZ @ The Rock

Doug Pinnick from King's X uses them as well.

Rock on JohnJohn! You beat me to it. The twelve string bass is a central component of their first four albums. It has a very metallic sound. From what I understand, it is a pretty hard beast to tame live and in the studio because it covers such a wide range of frequencies. I think Doug splits the signal to two amps one for the lower range and one for the upper. King's X is a three piece and they used the 12 string to fill in almost as a second guitar.

I'll try to track down some live audio that demonstrates the 12-string sound. If you ever heard "It's Love" by King's X (one of the few songs of theirs that got good radio play) it features the 12 string.

And about Pearl Jam. They are buddies with King's X and credit King's X with influencing their sound. Doug turned Jeff Ament on to the 12 string.

Working on the neck:

I drive my wife nuts, always pointing out wood grain.

"Check out the curl on that chair back."

what does drop top mean?

You know how a Strat body had the bevel on the top, back of the body, where your arm rests? Well, doing a "drop top" is a technique in which the underlying body already has the bevel cut and the top is bent to match the bevel.

Like this:

Where do I get wood? I won't share the details but it usually involves my wife.

I bought some leopardwood and mahogany here: http://www.northwestlumberco.com/

It only has to go half way.

now that my wood has arrived

Our little boy is growing up.

Man, that's alot of reading. Looks like you have gathered most of the info you need and have spent hours and hours planning. I'm sure it will turn out great.

Keep in mind, the final shaping will not happen until it is on the guitar.

Thanks for hosting it, Drak. I am running low on credits at easypic.

Fixed the links.

Here's the top

top after I sanded it. Leaopardwood aint the easiest wood to sand, plus it makes me itch. That can't be good.

Close up of the grain.

Mike

More progress this weekend.

It took me 2 hours to make an edge guide for my router so I could cut the truss rod channel and 10 minutes to make the cut.

Necks

Here is the start of carving the top. I used a router to do the rough cut work

Routed top

and a chisel and sander to smooth it out. Smoothing it out

Mike