MikeB

my mate made one. it finishes very well in its defence! i would make sure that both gluing surfaces are very clean, glue with titebond, put a plastic sheet over it, and use sandbags to maintain equal pressure over it. make sure the mdf doesn't get ANY water on it, or you might as well bin it. good luck

thankyou all for the suggestions and comments! cheers for the offer of the slotting, but i will manage fine - plus im a UK boy, lol! i see you are in texas! Have a nice day Mike

Many thanks for the measurements!! I have ordered most of the parts: Black bridge from Hipshot Black tuners, 4x4 layout - wilkinsons EMG 45DC 2 truss rods wooden knobs black locking strap pins jack plate ash wings for the body wenge laminates between the body and the neck 4" wide maple neck it is going to be neck through I haven't quite decided on scale length, probably 27" ish. Not sure on the number of frets, maybe 27. tilt back headstock, 12/13 degrees. Thats it for now, just awaiting my stuff Mike

The Lundgren looks awesome! But its hella pricey! Can anyone give me a measurement across the 24th fret of an 8 stringer... is it about 79mm? Anyone know where I could find out the "norm" - helps when you decide to make things! Thanks! Mike

Thanks for the replies! I am thinking that the 45DC is the only way to go, although a little pricey! I might try to get one of the tone controls EMG make for it, that might help, or wire a stompbox into the guitar, lol! Would a 70 work for the low f# (yes, this is the one a 7th beneath the E of a 6 stringer)? Otherwise I feel the need to use bass strings, and probably drill out the machineheads to accomodate! Thanks for the replies, Mike

Hi guys, Been dead here for a while, still reading. Anyway, I am building an 8 string tuned to low F# or E. I have the bridge on order, and the body roughed out. Looking at pickups currently. I love LACE, will their J-bass pickup serve me well? I know the EMG is recognised as the way to go, but EMGs are too dead for me. Will the J-Bass pickup be wide enough? Is 27" a fair scale length for this considered I'm not going to do a fanned fret system? 2 truss rods or 1? Thanks guys, hope to keep you updated Mike

Hey guys, I know I ain't on here alot anymore, but I do read the odd bit, just dont post as much. Anyhow I know how us musicians are creative so I thought I would mention that I am selling my Nikon 18-55 lens. It is a great lens in fab condition, and I am sad to see her go! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250109140925 Have a gander I love to see the standard of craftmanship has rocketed over the last year or so! Amazing! Mike

hey matt, its been a while mate! I really like that design by the way! Definately go for it The clear top is class, any more thoughts on it? Consider using 2 pickups? Mike

Its a kit guitar I made with my dad years back. Still serves me as a good axe, but time for change. Weight isnt an issue, its more a sound thing. It would be a nice mod, but the metaller in me is saying - leave it! Aww well, I have several metal axes, gonna jazz this baby up a touch! Mike PS Bigsby is ordered, as is a roller bridge. This was super bad news for the bank account.... Remember the Red Dwarf episode with Queeg?? Where Rimmer or Lister said to Queeg "I thought Holly was meant to have an IQ of 6,000" and Queeg replies "there was a six in it". Well, its a fair comparison, except perhaps replace 6000 with 60. Man I talk rubbish when im tired!

Im planning to chamber my LP kit, and add an F hole. Its a thinline body, so I'm gonna laminate a mahogany back onto it to add to the depth. I will probably do a black to tobacco colour burst. Im adding a small Bigsby style trem too. My questions: Does it matter what size the chambers are? Obviously I know where I shouldnt put them due to strength reasons. Has this been done before? Best way to get all the paint off - its acrylic. I would like to have a clear-ish finish, so I wouldn't wanna see any colour. Thanks for any help, Mike PS sorry for the incorrect grammar in the title, I type a touch too fast. It probably annoys me more than it annoys you!

I got that once, but not with this stuff... I think Plasticote did this to me. I had a body done (for myself), laquered with that stuff, and I gave it 1 day to dry before assembling (totally not what I would do, but I was in a rush and didnt care what happened) - It was fine, left it on that stand, grand. Turns out assembling it soo soon did it no harm, but I will leave this one a week or so when I have the final coats on. Thanks for the heads up though. Right now there is one coat of clear on, unfortunately some dust got onto the top coat which is annoying since I spent soo long making sure it was dust free. Ill sand this down. This is a pic of it pre-clear coats. It looks lighter than it is because I sanded it, and the flash lightened it somewhat. Cheers, Mike

tell me about it! I might try it again... maybe.... on something completely rubbish and inexpensive. they do have rediculously bright colours which is cool.

It was last year, I'm still recovering (hehe) Basically I used it as I usually did, but this time it wouldnt harden, It was very soft and I couldnt get a shine on it, it stuck to things, had to strip it completely back. This happened to a mate of mine - he was going to do a build from parts, painted the body, and the paint thing happened and he gave up right there. Mike

I have used it a couple of times and it has come out well, but one bad experience was enough to deter me, I cant be going through that again. Cheers, your project looks class by the way Mike

I was fairly confident it was, its certainly not Plasticote. I will never use that stuff again! Its he Halfords grey spray tin paint. I was almost sure it was Nitro perhaps I am wrong, but they work very well. They have a great gloss from them and the clear laquer is a great one. Mike

I have a photo as of a few hours ago of the basic blue coat. Thats about 5 colour coats on, I have another one on drying as we speak. A note on spraying: Use a respirator, dont fart with cheapo masks. Your lungs are too important. Heat the cans in warm water so that they feel warm on your hand, make sure to shake very well. If you shake it and it feels cold again it means the paint inside isnt warmed up yet and needs more time. Heating the paint is THE most important tip I have ever learnt in terms of spraying. Jeremy I thank you - it is such a brilliant tip! I spray about 4-6" from the surface (i dont measure, im guessing here) and i spray at an angle, maybe 60 / 40 degrees, I find this helps the paint to evenly spread and not to leave lines. Many thin coats. Patience. I repeat. Patience. I cannot stress this enough. I have learnt the hard way, patience pays off. I sand inbetween every coat with blunt ish 1200 grade to take any pips of roughnesses off, I would say this is important. Cheers Mike

Im not up with the terminology, im a Jackson guy to be honest. Its looking well so far, tomorrow will see more blues going down, I will endeavour to post a pic. Mike

thanks guys, Ill post a pic of the blue, its moderately dark. I have 3 coats down. The guitar is an RG550R, the trem is an Lo-trs trem like you would find on a RG320 etc... Cheers Mike

I am re-finishing this RG550, so since I have been away for a long time I decided I would keep you posted with updates. The final colour will be a blue to black burst. This is the guitar as it was a couple of hours ago: There is a wee ding on the front which I repaired with Metalik, a car body filler. Its good stuff, IMO better than wood filler by a long shot. I then sanded to 600 grade paper. This took the belt rash our nicely. I used a bit of oak to act as a neck of sorts so that I have something to hold when its wet etc... common sense really. The red tape is just holding some foam over protruding screws - no slashed arteries today I use low tack masking tape to cover anything i dont want painted such as the foam in the trem cavity, the spring claw in the rear trem cavity, and between the false neck and the body. The problem with the low tack tape is just that. Low tack = pain in the ass, barely sticks to anything. At least it wont mark or damage. I am using Nitro sprays from Halfords. These have worked well for me in the past. I will post more when I have more. I have 1 coat of blue down, it is looking good. Cheers, Mike

scott, thankyou for the replies! This has helped alot, I will put the original selector in, give it a good cleaning to try get rid of the slight scratchyness. contact cleaner time! Mike

Thankyou scott, I thought I was being a complete moron! I think the ibanez switching can be done on a 2 pole switch, am I correct? Mike

The colour code could be the problem, but I did try alot of combinations. Ill go on a hunt to see how they correspond. Anyone have any clues as to how Ibanez pickups are coded? Cheers Mike So far I know that on the Ibanez bridge pickup model bare is ground, white is the coil tap and red is ground, this might help. I found a cool site with a good few listed, but I dont see the Ibanez 4 wire pickups... Are these DiMarzio or Seymore Clones?? Thanks http://www.guitar-repairs.co.uk/guitar_pic...olour_codes.htm Mike To add more the switch poles described like: 1 2 3 0 | 0 1 2 3 The middle pole was "sleeper" joined by a bit of pole piece, I removed this.

I have thanks, that caused pos 2 to be dead

Hi guys, aint been on here in a while but anyways: I replaced the stock 5 way on an Ibanez 1527 and the stock pups with dimarzios (4 conductor) PAF7 and TONE ZONE 7. Wiring the new switch in (its a single pole 5 way switch) I have had terrible trouble, following the Ibanez wiring diagrams for the 1527 and many other models I get a dead position 2, and the rest are mucked up. Am I being a cretin or has something gone badly wrong? I followed the diagrams fine, but I have had zero luck. I bodged some wiring together and I got this: Position 1 is fine a little bit noisy but ok Position 2 and 3 are really noisy Position 4 is quiet, similar to position 1 in terms of noise Position 5 is noisy just like position 2/3 Im totally out of all ideas, and to be quite frank, im pissed off. I just want the standard Ibanez switching, can anyone show me or help me how to do this with my switch? Thanks in advance, Mike

hitone, excellent. i notmally am no fan of those guitars, but thats lovely. i would have had less debating had there been 2 pickups but your call. hows the tone? you took my vote that acoustic WOW beauty. the figure is insane! 8 string bass, well made, very nice. very deep!!! the laminated neck put me off slightly, it to me looks out of place, too sharp a contrast, but hey conklin do it why shouldnt you!! fantastic construction. nice heel on the tele, a nice change. great finish! jehle, you amaze me still!!! never a boring guitar. dare i ask about tone and playability! thats weird!! well done, im impressed $15 well spent! Dr Fre, nice work. great finish! jammy, nice instrument, very clean construction, impressive! Mike