Sand Paper

It's caused by the trem not returning to dead center. Filing the knife edges sharp again sometimes helps, as well as a little lube there probably. You could also try replacing the springs. Sometimes my trems get weird like that so I do this. Tune up, do a big dive down and let it return, then tune again. This way if you pull up and it goes sharp all you have to do is push down and let it return and you're pretty much back in tune.

I favor heavier strings for faster speed picking and such. Tuned down a whole step to D-standard I use 11's. When in half step down or standard I use 10's. The guitar I mostly ignore is tuned down two whole steps to C-standard and it has 12 half-rounds on it with a wound G. I do not like the wound G for bending but it gives a nice sound. As for the brand's I use, I have two right now, DR and D'Addario. D'Addario makes a decent string cheaply, I like their feel and sound so I use them as general workhorse strings. For shows I only use the coated black beauties from DR. DR's really do seem to break in faster and last a little bit longer, and I pick really hard.

I'd go with one of these two. Use a heat gun on medium to high heat and a flat putty knife to peel off the finish. You can play with the heat and sometimes get the stuff to peel up like a sheet of plastic. After that I would clean up with a strong stripper and follow its wash instructions for the final clean up. The other method is to buy a good paint stripper and go at it with just that. Flo-Strip 1826 is what we use at work. This will remove pretty much anything, however it isn't a paste so you'd need something to wash the guitar in while you work with it. If that's not your cup of tea then there are a ton of strippers at hardware stores. Always buy the strongest one you can find, usually called Paint Stripper or something like that.

Seymour Duncan Blackouts and the Dave Mustaine Livewire signature actives are killer. I'd go with those over EMG's any day. They seem a lot more transparent sounding and can actually deliver some good attack and nuance that I find EMG's do not have. I'd definitely give them a listen and a try. As for thin necks, I have a 1995 Ibanez S with the Wizard (I or II, I can't remember) neck and I hate it for metal. A few people on here, as well as myself, find that it tires out your hand and it sometimes gives me cramps. Super thick necks feel cumbersome to me, but awesome to others. I like the ESP/LTD "Thin U" profile, it's a nice feeling no frills easy design that's fast yet comfortable. When I started looking into building I took a whole day and went to a guitar store and tried a ton of stuff. I started noticing that a lot of guitars have some pretty bad flaws. Not just in the finishes either, but their inherent designs. Just pick your favorite features from a bunch of models and make them into one thing.

Anthracite coal was cut and polished like gem stones back in the olden days. It was called Jet, which is where "Jet Black" comes from. I found a pic of a necklace on wikipedia with jet stones cut and polished and that looked amazing. You might look into that as well. Plus it's free if you live by railroad tracks, which is a bonus.

There's some haters on this one. I think it came out fine for a first try. As long as it plays then whatever. There's always some improvements to be had, but that should discourage no one. I want to hear this guitar just because it's oak and i have not heard an oak guitar before.

1. Not a whole lot 2. A few 3. It will say on the can 4. It will say on the can.

After reading the comment about the Fullerplast stuff, I kind of want to strip a body that has been filled with it. We get the industrial paint stripper in 55gal drums at work, plus we have heat guns. We've yet to have something come in that couldn't be stripped in one way or another.

The fill on the post hole looks like a knot, well done. You can always bust out some stain and glaze that during finishing and no one but you and us would know.

As stated, the fretboard is unique and awesome. However, I wouldn't want to have that on a stage, that would be confusing as all out. Sometimes you can't see the side markers in certain (or no) lights. None the less, that design is sweet.

Dude, you have to make the truss rod cover look like the lower spike (if you do decide it needs one)... Seriously

New peterson strobo tuners do not use Strobes. It is a computer program and an LCD display. The difference is its made by peterson and is accurate enough to set up guitars and not just tune up a guitar to play. For than any old $30 tuner will do. Try looking at their web site. +1 My strobo-stomp is awesome.

That stewmac copper tape says it accepts solder, so i'd go with that.

What stripper are you using? Chemical strippers sometimes have a hard time with that thick plastic-like surfacer that companies use. I'd take the majority of that off with heat and then use the stripper as a final cleanup. As my idiotic general rule, if the stripper doesn't burn like crazy when it gets on you, it's too weak.

I'd strip the whole body and go from there. I did a floyd to kahler fill and rerout job a while back. I didn't strip the paint but I wish I had, it would have made it a whole lot easier.