GuitarMaestro

I finished my neck with several layers of satin two component polyurethane. It feels nearly the same as my gunstock oil finished necks. If it still doesn't feel woody enough I make it a little rougher with fine grit steel wool.

Hi! I am going to build my first Alder body guitar. So far I only used Korina, but I love the sound of my Fender Alder Strat which is a Standard made in USA guitar from 96. I have the choice between American and European Alder. As I never worked with Alder so far I have some questions: 1. Is there a difference between Alder from America and Europe? 2. I guess Fender uses American Alder only.....right? 3. Is there anything special to look for in Alder? Like Age, Humidity, quatersawn, figure or weight? Or will any common Alder blank give me a nice Jackson Rhoads / Fender Strat Alder sound? Thanks in advance, Marcel Knapp!

Hmm....you can never be 100% sure but I would bet alot that there is no Ibanez Guitar with a tung oil finish on the neck. They shoot poly, polyurethane and other real paints on their necks. Usually a satin finish. I never saw an Ibanez with a tung oil finish. The only big company selling necks that are not finished with paint but with oils is Music Man.

Sounds interesting! Anyone tried that?

Wow....THANKS ALOT for that hands-on info!!!!!!!!!! That soundclip was interesting as well! Thanks again, MK!

I second that!!!! What did you do to my poor thread???? Please Kevan delete all this nonsense and move the important posts about the rules that you made in a new thread under announcements or something like that. That would be cool!

I guess you want to finish the body in a solid color then?

Agreed 100% concerning the Bondo!

No....I am not talking about these stupid reviews in magazines, etc. I know someone who quit writing reviews for gitarre & bass here in Germany, because they forced him to take out any negative points from his reviews. I would never believe that crap. What I am talking about are people in forums, etc. writing excellent stuff about the guitar. Granted mainly about the sound when plugged in though.... Thats interesting. As I cannot get access to the Ibanez EP7 I'll have to look arround for another guitar with a maple top. Unfortunately no luck until now.... We'll see.... Anyway, Thanks alot for the info!

Depends on how you use it really. For grain filling it is fine. But for everything else it is a dirty solution in my opinion. Every good luthier can plane a flat surface without using cheats like that and I would not want a guitar where this stuff was used to hide obvious flaws in workmanship. But as I understand your post you think that way too....

And a great idea Drak....I'll have too look into that! Interesting thing is: I read some reviews on that Vai acoustic....they all claim that it is a solid maple top and rave about the clear and treble-heavy sound of the guitar. Maybe I would like it too? Anyone played a all maple guitar so far?

Simply use a hand plane for making the headstock flat instead of using something like bondo which works but is a quite nasty and unproffessional solution in my opinion.

Sad to hear about the messed up truss rod channel. Depending on how bad it is I would start over. I did that with the first neck I wanted to build for my 7-string and I am very happy I did. I know it would have worked perfectly otherwise and would have been invisible, but I would hate o always think of the messed up channel if I take that axe in my hands....

Thanks alot to all of you for the great info!!!! As always PG rox!!!!

Hehe....always funny if a 1-year old thread gets resurrected. I first thought "huh....is there another guitarmaestro who started this topic????"

Interesting! I think about using sitka spruce with bearcla figure for the top, lacewood for back & sides. What do you think? Is that a good idea? Thanks, MK!

Thanks alot for your answers. Exactly what I wanted to know. I know that very well, but that will not stop me. The Infinity guitar I won the gotm with was my first build ever, so I will definately not shy away from a difficult task. I am sure with enough patience I can get an acoustic together as well, although I know very well that this is much more difficult then a solidbody. Dude....I just asked some question. I don't want to defend that guitar. It's just that I do not believe everything without some more detailed questions. But you definately are right. Steve Vai only plays this guitar on stage and for recording, which means he only uses the piezo output and as long as that sounds good it doesn't matter to him. As I want a good sounding acoustic that sounds great unplugged as well, I will go with sitka spruce with bearclaw figure. Thanks for stopping me from using maple guys!!!!

Thanks for your help. Seems maple is no good choice at all. Several things: Maple is much denser and harder then spruce for example. What do you mean with smaller & tighter? Interesting. I only wonder why Ibanez would post the following specs on their site: - GREEN PEARL VINE Inlay - RESONANT FOREST GREEN Finish - QUILTED MAPLE Top - QUILTED MAPLE Back/Sides - GROVER SATIN (G) Tuners - B-BAND UST PICKUP w/ A-5 EQ And this quite from their site: If they would have used a expensive spruce top wouldn't they advertise it? Why should they keep silent about it? They could advertise the new "ibanez veneer top giving you brilliant acoustics and looks" or something like that.... Another question: I have access to a veneer press, so I could do the same thing. But I wonder: Won't gluing a veneer on the top of the guitar dampen the top and make it sound less brilliant? Isn't it nearly the same as putting a super thick finish on an acoustic top which is no good idea? Thanks, MK!

Hi! I only built solidbody guitars so far and am completely new in acoustic guitars. I would like to build an acoustic steelstring with piezo-bridge. As I love quilted maple as a topwood for solidbodies, I would like to use that as the topwood for the acoustic too. So far I never heard about acoustics with quilted maple top Until I saw the Steve Vai signature acoustic: Is there anything bad about using maple as a topwood? I know it's common for back and sides but not for tops. Whats the bad thing about it? Does it sound worse then spruce or other common woods? Thanks in advance, Marcel!

I got a new Ibanez Low Pro Edge 7 for 225€ at my local musich store anthats an okay price I think....maybe look arround a bit more....

Hi! Several things: 1. Seems you are quite well prepared concerning the carve of the top....I am really looking forward to seeing your results. 2. DO NOT use the original Ibanez countrol layout. In my opinion it is just stupid. You have two to THREE(!) cavities in the back on Ibanez guitars. One for the trem, one for the pots and sometimes one more for the jack. Every single one of them is way oversized. Look at the pictures of my 7-string. I did much smaller cavities and only two of them. Additionally I only routed them full depth where needed. The pot cavity has three deep holes for the two pots and the switch the rest is only 15mm deep. That allowed me to keep alot more of the good tonewood. I think it's a shame how much wood Ibanez decided to waste for their cavities. 3. If you don't want a Low Pro Trem then buy the Floyd unit. It's way cheaper then the Edge Pro unit and about the same quality. I had to go with the expensive Ibanez Low Pro Edge trem, because I HATE all floyds that are not low pro. But if you don't need a low-pro why pay 299€ for the Ibanez unit? Just my opinions, Marcel! P.s.: Thanks for calling my 7 awesome

Wow....great design & exectution! I am impressed!!!! The finish will be a hard one to decide on though. But I would NOT let the mahagony show through. I would do something really sparkly and falme-like....A Little like Satrianis new axe with the fire finish....

Looks good so far. Nice to hear that lmii does care about their customers as always. I like the JS guitar alot and think about building one after I have completed my current projects. Therefore I wonder how you are going to carve the top. You wrote you will do it by hand. But will you carve it by feel or did you take exact measurements? Would be quite difficult for a non-mathematical shape like that. Lemme know how you plan to get that right.... P.s.: Nice Ass

Thank you dudes! Thanks ALOT for that detailed post Jeremy! Very informative! I guess I will ask my usual guitar finishing company if they can do a chrome finish and not mess with it myself if it is that difficult.

What necks do you have? Is a Jackson neck among them?