GuitarMaestro

That is very true. I can understand people not wanting to hear the American national anthem due to the way the USA treated several countries since Bush became President, BUT supporting Bin Laden is exactly as wrong. He was born in Sweden and moved to the USA at the age of 20, because he was unable to get a record deal in Sweden.

To all people thinking he acts immature or does not change his style of playing enough, etc. read these interviews and build yourself an objective opinion. You will see that he admits he behaved stupid as he started out and that he thinks alot about changing his style, etc.....

I buy most guitar tops from ebay sellers located in the USA and Canada and I live in Germany. I NEVER got a cupped top or one that started cupping after some time....

I can only stress again how good Ed Roman's site is. He may be a wiseass and I myself was already upset by him as I contacted him conerning some tone wood, but that does not change the fact that his website is a great ressource for guitar info. Not only does he have pictures of most any guitars, but he describes most concepts in guitar building in great detail. Additionally he has inside stories on many interesting things. I know his tech articles and all his other stories are written in a biased fashion and are not always correct, but if you read the articles with that in mind you can still get much valuable info from them.

Definately not true. I have several live videos and attended a show and he definately plays at least as good and clean live as on the studio tracks. He was able to pull of that speed at the age of 20 already. Do you think with 45+ he will be stopped by a higher action or that he still has to prove how fast he can play? Yes it as a great song. On of my favorites on this album.

I definately had to vote for Rhoads. Zakk is the riffmaster though. The intensity, tightness and mean sound of his riffplaying is really special. I think Rhoads was the better solo/lead player though. Zakk's solos are so similar to each other and often sound very uninspired to me. Always the same old pentatonic wanking.... I cannot deny that he played some great solos, but many of them fall in that category of sounding uninspired to me.....

As I remember from the interviews his main reason for the high action is sound. It is considered a fact that a higher action gives more sustain and a fuller tone. The trade-off is playablitly. The shredders put the action low to be able to play as fast and with as less effort as possible. They don't play a low action because of the sound. As Yngwie is in my opinion still among the best if not the best player in terms of technique he can easily compensate for higher action.

The best oil to use is "paraphine oil" in my opinion. You can buy it in medical stores(don't know the proper word in english). It is quite cheap and has no smell.

The Attack album is great. Great production and songs....it really is one of his best albums ever so far. Baroque and Roll is so cool. Concerning the action I bet he has it that high. I read several interviews about his gear and he always stresses that he has the action very high on his guitars because he thinks it sounds better. He plays his insane runs on bass as well, so I suspect higher action on a guitar is no problem for him.

Yes....paint it in a solid color. I don't only dislike the pickguard....the body wood looks quite ugly too.....sry.....

Hanging guitars is nothing to think about at all in my opinion. The strings have a tension of about 100lbs in standard tuning. The guitar has a weight of about 6 lbs. That means if you hang the guitar the pull on the neck is reduced by 6 lbs only. I really cannot imagine that that could make a difference.

A mediocre guitar through a good amp sounds way better then a great guitar through a mediocre amp. If you use good pickups the wood, etc. is not that important. I would say that pu's and amp make about 80% of the sound coming out of the amp. Anything else like tonewood and construction, etc. have a way more subtle influence on the final sound. But if playing through an amp is not that important to you and you like to play your guitar unplugged as well, then the quality of the guitar is more important.

Lol....I am not Wes....otherwise I would have a house full of new bought tempting guitars that I consider flawed..... BTW. I really wonder why he buys half decent guitars when he can build quality stuff himself?

Great body design. The body looks really perfect and the lines flow very nice. I hate the cliche and ugly inlay though.....sry. And maybe you can come up with a headstock that matches the body shape better?

You can't go wrong with a good Ampeq. They sound amazing and you will have no trouble selling it if you quit playing or are no longer happy with it, as Ampeq is a brand with great reputation.

That neck looks really good for the price. How good was the fretting and inlaying done? Usually even on cheaper original ibanez/jackson necks you can see that the inlay cavities were cut very unprecisely and alot of filler was used.

Wow!!!! DON'T change that guitar. I never saw a Jackson like that and I bet that it is very rare and will go up in price and become a sought after guitar in some time. Additionally it looks so special and uncommon I would NEVER change it. Build a new guitar with a stained top, etc. but PLEASE let that rare guitar as it is. I bet you will regret it otherwise....

Ok....now I get the idea! Nice!

@Wes: I basically agree with you. As I wrote I think it's not Bob Rock's fault that Metallica developed the way they did. It was and is still their decision. Just wanted to state that what you finally hear on cd was definately influenced by the producer and the label.

Peghead veeners are more than common. Nothing to add to Drak's post. Simply go for it, BUT beware....the guitar might sound comepletely different afterwards....

Wow....great design. I would like it more if the lower body horn(the spike that is below the neck) would have a stright shape though instead. Would make the design more clear and pleasing to me at least. Oherwise it's great!

Hehe....and I don't really need the PU....but I would buy it if the price is right....

Although I am no fan of acoustic guitars I simply HAD to vote for CGHBuilder's acoustic. What a beautiful guitar. It simply looks perfect and it has that tempting look of a guitar that you just HAVE to play if you see it. Additionally building a proper acoustic is alot more difficult than a electric, so vote for that guitar. Without the acoustic in the mix I had voted for rhoads. Impressive axe as well. I love the choice of woods and the workmanship looks soo clean.

[quote]the microphone and the mixing process doesnt make the sound, its just supposed to make it sound better and more equal.[/quote] I hate it if someone with obviously no expierence tosses arreound statements like that. Ever recorded in a major studio? Ever mixed/produced a serious production? I gues no.... The mixing stage changes the sound of what is on tape so to speak dramatically especially for rock/metal productions. No drumset or guitar amp in real live sounds even close to what it sounds on a properly mixed/mastered cd. And that is only the mixing. The mic placement and the recording room and the gear used have an even bigger influence on the end product. And who do you think makes all these decisions? Right....the producer/audio engineer. Ever heard the master tapes of a major recording in comparison to the final mix? The differences are huge and many times you cannot even hear much similarities in sound of single tracks(i.e. bass drum). A metal bass drum for example is mixed to have an insane spike at about 5 to 7 KHZ which is not audible when playing a real bass drum. This gives the clicking sound needed for double bass parts. [quote]And even if they used the best equipment available just because its original it doesnt make it sound nice... [/quote] Which is exactly what I wrote. I just wanted to state that Bob Rock and Metallica had the best audio engineers/equipment available to do the job. It sounds the way it does because that is what they wanted it to sound like. Not because they were not able to make it sound better or because they are ignorant. If you like the result is another thing....which I don't want to discuss because it is a matter of taste. @Wes: [quote]no.the band is ultimately responsible for the music,not the producer [/quote] Hmm I doubt that. They don't have to write as the producer orders or put out music they don't like, but the producer/management has still a big influence. If you watched the some kind of monster video there is a part where Hetfield has a very cool song and fights with Lars about it, because Lars is unable to find a good drum groove for it. Anyway in the end the song and several others were canned by the label because the label did not like it. Additonally if you work with a producer you trust, you follow his suggestions/ideas. Otherwise you would choose someone else. I bet Metallica respects Bob Rock very much and he has a serious influence on their sound. That said I still think it's Metallica's decision to make the music they make today.

I want to clear up a misconception about the sound of the St. Anger album, especially the drum sound. All this stuff like "didn't they realize how bad the snare sounds, etc." is total nonsense. The album was produced and recorded by Bob Rock. I do alot of studio/mixing work and the black album is still one of the most famous productions in terms of sound and money spent that was ever released. It is still a benchmark for the sound/production of most heavy albums and thousands of audio engineers in the heavy rock field take it as their reference when mixing. This album was produced/mixed by Bob Rock the same guy who did the production/recording of St.Anger. St. Anger sounds exactly as it does because that's exactly what Bob Rock & Metallica wanted it to sound like. It's not because they did not knew how to mix it better. It was recorded with expensive gear and mixed by the best people in the industry. That said I am not a big fan of it's sound but the sound is VERY good for what they wanted to achieve. In the whole sonic picture this mix is excellent although the individual instruments sound very uncommon. The snare for example is called as sounding like a trash can by most people. Still the sound of the snare on this recording is very special and you can hear with which attention to detail it was mixed/recorded. I bet you would have a VERY hard time reproducing exactly that sound.