Vade

PROSTHETA I gotta tell ya, I did my best to avoid going into Fox's too often, or the one whose name I can never remember. I just called it "Ugly-Pink-Music-Store-across-from-the-Bus-Station." Since you married one of Fox's managerial staff, I'm sorta ashamed to admit that when I went to Lincoln to GO to an instrument monger, it was usually "Pink & Ugly" but nevermind. Me in a music shop is a dangerous thing, especially when I've been in the market for an acoustic bass and a good acoustic 12-string for several years. So I try my best to fight the temptation which will only lead to A ) disappointment or B ) financial ruin. Hmmm... well as of now "plan A" is "scalloping frets resulting in an awesome dig area at the high register and having it look sweeter than an 18-year old virgin dusted with powdered sugar." Sadly my "plan B" is currently something along the lines of "having three ugly, scored-out sharkfin/tooth inlays that play well but have the visual appeal of a plumber's ass cleavage." The only other thing I can think of is to go over the scalloped areas with a very dark stain that will adhere even to the filed finish of the ruined inlays, masking my little flub. I don't suppose you have a better recommendation that doesn't include the purchase/install of a new fret board or neck?

Wow, Knowles! That look a rilly nass! (dat's a "really nice" if'n ya didn't git dat.) Come to THINK of it... I have an unfinished oak pickguard for a J-P Bass that should be hangin' round here somewhere. Not like I have the slightest inkling what to DO with the damn thing. I sold the Fender I was making it for a long time ago and now that I've played Ibanez, Alembic, Spectre, Warwick and Ken Smith basses I'll never even pick up another Fender "chopping block" style. <just my opinion and fitting for my particular style. I know a Mr Sheehan and a Mr. Pastorius that would definitely disagree with me and I'm not about to argue with THEM so... chalk it up to personal preferences.> I'm gonna dash off and find topics on the best way to remove paint from inside routed cavities... I'm guessing a heatgun but am not certain and THAT'S why I'ma gonna look for it! But before I do that, allow me to acknowledge Prostheta, ToneMonkey and The Royal Consort who, along with the first "respondier's" to my initial post here have made me feel welcome here and put a smile on my face and filled my heart with blood. And here's your official acknowledgment: "You guys do not suck... like, at all." And as a follow-up... PROSTHETA! You're from LINCOLN?!?!?!? I just moved back to the states from Blankney Fen, just down the road! What a small frikkin' world, eh? I used to hit up Lincoln at least 3 times a week! Heh heh... "The Glory Hole."

Wow... a reply from EDDIE himself! Thanks, Maiden. That was actually an UBER-useful tip. I had figured on going a lot deeper than that, but now that I think of it... I have no idea WHY I was figuring on that. So I picked up my 2nd copy of the "Guitar Player Repair Guide" today. Been hunting for it for nearly 2 weeks and finally snagged a copy at what was like the 15th book store I hit. I'd bought this book when it was first released but it has gone missing. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen it since college and considering how many other musicians I was running with, the most likely thing is that I lent it and forgot it with someone else. It was a REALLY tough call though, let me tell you. There were a number of quality luthier books that would have covered a lot of things I'm sure I won't find in a repair guide but this particular tome always was a great help to me and I've been hurting without it. Nos I have an excuse to pick up the other books later. Well, lots of pots on the fire tonight. I've got a number of commissioned illustrations that are demanding my attention. I hope I have the willpower to leave the Repair Guide in the bag and do the work I'm SUPPOSED to be doing! TWO MINUTES LATER... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::picks up Guitar Player Repair Guide and starts flipping:: ...dammit. *sigh*

*Sigh* You read my mind, Des. I'm a little afraid of just that, but at the same time I kinda like the idea. I have found it very hard NOT to think about guitar modding since I got this thing and did the required adjustments/part replacements to make it a playable instrument. I thought to myself, "SELF... that is step one of becoming a semi-competant guitar tech!" At which point, self said something about wasting my time on creative and technical endevours when we could have been looking up internet porn but... ya gotta make a few sacrifices, I guess. I've been digging deep into the old forum posts and hauling out links to others who have reshaped exsisting instruments, though nothing quite like what I have in mind. All the same, it IS inspirational! As a side note... (prepare for n00b follow-up barrage question #A) I'm considering scalloping the highest frets (4-6 of them) as I've seen on a number of necks here at PG. Do Sharktooth inlays typically go far enough into the material to allow for that simple mod or am I likely to file away the centers on the lowest 2 or 3 teeth?

Hmmmm. Good point, Bilious. I'm not yet sure what I want exactly, if anything, as the guitar as purchased has no guard at all. Haven't made up my mind at the moment what to use or what color but whether I make one or not, the question has been itching at the back of my head for DAYS now! I had ta' axe, y'know? Still no links to heavy bodymods I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed of course. I'm thinking that I'll have to bear in mind the neck join and pre-exisiting routing, but that aside I'm not seeing anything to look out for. Just how much does reducing the amount of material affect the sound?

Heh... thanks, Mickguard! I do what I can. I popped back, just in case but I didn't really expect that anyone would have replied this quickly. I'm very glad to be proven wrong! Thanks much for the breakneck speed of your answer! I HAD considered that, actually... cutting a new body blank or using the one from high school that I never got to finish but for some reason I'm really jazzed on this modding concept. Go fig, right? I think it has lots to do with the fact that I'm not all that crazy about the sharkfin fret inlays. Don't get me wrong, they're allright but if I were designing a guitbox from the ground up, I'd either go with something truly unique (perhaps lucky charms or a steaming pile of... er. Nevermind) or nothing at all when it comes to fret inlays. So cutting a new body would force me to make a new neck or at least a new fretboard and you know what? I'm just way too much of a slackarse to finish that job. Wrecking a finished body is one thing... starting at the beginning is a whole new ball o' earwax. Being that this is the case, I don't want to set up a whole new bod from scratch considering that the RG270 is getting really close to the bottom of the Ibanez Barrel (or at least the bottom region of the "Liscensed F.R. Trem-equipped" Ibby Barrel) and therefore not worth much in the aftermarket I'd warrant. Moreover, I won't need to line up routes for three pickups, two pots and a selector switch PLUS a floyd rose or measure all sorts of stuff. ::shudders:: Ick. Measuring involves math and math tends to turn me into "Sloth" from the Goonies. I've always been "the art guy" amongst my friends. Others figure out the specifics required to make something work and then they call me in to make it LOOK good. Sometimes I'm in on the design and they build to suit my ideas... other times they give me a big sheet of plywood and say "Make that look like a dramatic medieval gate." Ummmmm.... O-kayyyy. I'm an artist, not a technician. I suppose that, with a complete list of all the measurements I would need, jigs galore and all the tools and equipment I guess I could probably... ah, who the hell am I kidding? I'd look at the pile of goodies and opt to play my Gretch instead. <lol> But when you think about it, a recarve mod SHOULD be really simple. Take your subtractive tools of choice and start hacking. When the shape is about what you want... start sanding. Then stain or paint, re-assemble and booyah. Done. The only thing that I'm planning on doing beyond creative alteration is to shield the pickups but that's not hard either. I'm just worried that I won't be able to resist the urge to hide additional creative flair beneath the pickups and other guts in the form of celtic interlace cut out of aluminum sheet adhered to the copper shielding. Sometimes I take things way too far.

So I've been studying links online for DAYS now and decided that if I were SMART, I'd join PG and get to know people... pick a few brains. y'know. "Stuff." First off: I'm Vade. It's like "Darth Vader" minus the "R"... and the "Darth." So... yeah. "Hey." So here's a PAIR of questions. "That's right folks... not one, but TWO questions! And if you act now, I'll throw in the "n00b followup barrage" absolutely free of charge!" (PA residents add 6% sales tax) Question the 1st: --------------------------- I HAVE to ask... why does anyone pay for a custom pickguard? On a recent blog I was reading (which was pretty good, btw) the highest cost of the whole reworked project was 80 bucks for a pickguard. Couldn't we just cut any shape we wanted out of any material we wanted with a jigsaw? I mean, plastic, aluminum, steel, wood, celluloid... you name it! I always thought this would be the cheapest part of guitar modding but I've seen a LOT of people sock out some serious buckage for these! Is it just that most people find it's worth it to not have to cut the shape and drill the holes? Question the second (of the 1st part) --------------------------------------------------- I began my serious forum-hunting on an Ibanez group cause I'm looking to customize a low-end RG from 2001. When I didn't find what I was looking for there, (and realizing I might very well be flamed off the face of the internet for my plans by the Ibby fans) I hunted and picked via Google but STILL didn't find exactly what I was looking for so here we go: I am HOPING to re-carve the very flat body of the RG to add dimension and character. I was hoping for an archtop effect with additional reductions at the lowest spots of the horns. In my spare time in highschool woodshop, I whipped out a solid walnut guitar body with the usual cutaways on the belly and arm. Though time-consuming, I wouldn't consider it "difficult" and would like to play with the shape of the RG to make it less flat (read: less RG-ish.) Please don't misunderstand me. I LOVE Ibanez's but for my own personal gweeter, I like the look of a sculpted body. But with all the various "Mods" I've found (routing for new pickups, filling old pickup routes, cutting a Jem monkey grip, installing an FR floating trem, reversing FROM a trem to a hardtail, applying flame veneer tops, repaints, material finishes...) I haven't seen anyone modding a flat top electric to a re-carved body, archtop or otherwise. Are these things floating around online or on the forum and I'm just missing them? Is this a cardinal sin even on a $50 RG270DX? Am I going to hell for wanting to do this? Okay, I know... there were a number of questions sub categorized underneath Question #2 but obviously a number of them aren't really serious. But I KNOW I can't be the first person who wants to carve up a perfectly decent guitar body to make a far more individual instrument. Who has done this? I would like to see other people's work to know what to be careful of and what to keep in mind before I go hitting the routing table and various sanders! Thanks in advance for any thoughts, ideas, criticisms of my mental state and patience with my over-use of smilies. ~~Vade