GuitarMaestro

Design flaws Les Paul: 1. Way to havy for my taste 2. Uncomfortable arm rest without contour 3. Not very stable headstock 4. Bad upper fret access Design flaws Strat: 1. The heel is very blocky and hinders comfortable access to the upper frets, although you can accustom to that 2. The original Tremolo can be tuned in order to be quite tuning stable, but not enough for heavy whammy bar (ab)use

Warmoth or Stewmac sell affordable bodies and their shipping costs are not that high either.

Stewmac sells several strat-style non-tremolo bridges and they are cheap too. HTH, Marcel Knapp!

Ibanez build a see-through plexi-glass Joe Satriani guitar for quite some time if I remeber correctly....

@Page Master: I just want to thank very much you for looking arround for lacewood or silky oak suppliers in Australia. Luckily you didn't find one, because then you could get angry that I ordered from tdog in the meantime....

Thank you very much Vendelcrow. Luckily tdog already sold me a very great looking bookmatched lacewood top. Concerning your links: I already knew Cropp & Woodland, but the "IHB" was unknown to me and it seems very handy, so thank you for that link.

Sorry for the stupid question, but what is a "Ouija JEM"?

Or you could cut one yourself....shouldn't be too difficult. But if I would build Strat without the blocky heel I would do it more extreme and without a plate at all. More like the Ibanez all access neck joint.

I agree with you. The post thread gets out of hand this way....

@Alex: Please reread your whole post and ask yourself if it makes sense at all. I have no problem with correct critique, but if someone does not even read my post or think about what it could have ment and posts a follow up which is more of an stupid rant then a mindfull answer then I get really angry. I still stand to that statement. The Strat is by far the solidbody guitar with the most sales and the most copied design. It is 50 years old and still played by a big percentage of players worldwide. No guitar was sold more often. This should be evidence enough of the quality of the design. If you think otherwise please tell me which guitar is more popular. Please reread my post. I wrote that they are not neccessary. I never wrote that a Fender trem is very tuning stable nor did I say that Humbuckers have no use. Surely a Floyd is better for tuning stability and humbuckers have their advatages, but both are in no way crucial to playing electric guitar and have the same amount of disadvantages then advantages. That said I play Floyds myself and like them very much. But in the whole picture the way an electric guitar works was outlined by the Strat and the things that came since then are really minor improvements. Another stupid rant by you. I never said that I think that way. I play many different guitars and in no way do I say that I think a Strat is the best guitar ever. I just stated that it was the greatest invention in electric guitars and the biggest step forward. A design that passes the test of time for 50 years without major modifications simply is a great design. Additionally the Strat was NOT the first electric guitar.... I won't do that. The Strat was the first guitar which was sold in big numbers and the guitar that made playing electric guitar as popular as it is today. Thats true, but if they were that bad you could not sell them.

thanks

Think twice before you post such a nonsense. The Strat is the greatest guitar design EVER. It was invented 50 years ago and it is still a great guitar. The only important improvements to e-guitars since Leo invented the Strat are Humbuckers and Floyds. Both are in no way neccessary and most of them are simply a matter of taste. Whats the reason that the biggest portion of guitars sold are strats and strat copies? Because they are a piece of crap? Why do you think so many great players play them? The Strat is the most important and influential guitar of this century. And if you don't like Strats thats another thing, but that does not make them crap.

Why don't you simply copy the nut of a guitar you like?

blackmore scalloped first....

@Wes: LOL....don't take my post to serious.... But if you really count Hammet among the guitar greats then please name me one reason why. What can he that your local guitar hero cannot play?

Why do you guys want to change a Strat? It's still my favorite guitar and I don't have a problem with the heel at all. You dont have 24 frets anyway....

That makes sense....

Where did you get tha picture? Fender's 50th birthday was in 1996. I know that because I have a 50 years Fender anniversary strat with a gold plate on the back confirming that fact. Therefore I think this plate is definately NOT made by Fender and it seems to give little improvement in terms of reducing the bulky heel anyway.

Certainly not. James Hetfield is one of the best singers arround and composed countless masterpieces like Master of Puppets, Nothing else matters, Unforgiven, etc. which will always be classics in the history of rock. The riffs Hetfield composed dramatically influenced the way every metal guitar player plays. To the contrary Kirk Hammet invented absolutely nothing. What did he bring to guitar playing and music in general what wasn't there before? Do you think he would have gotten famous without joining Metallica? He plays mindless pentatonic wanking solos like every average guitar student can and plays his stuff so untight live that it's ridiculous. Simply an average player....

thanks as well....

If I already had a JEM as my favorite guitar I wouldn't be happy to get another one at all, because I would not have a use for it. A 7-string JEM would be great though because it is a guitar she likes but which is different enough from the JEM she already owns to justify it. P.s.: Dont talk about Kirk Hammet in my presence....he should rather learn to play guitar first....I think James Hatfield is a far superiour musician and he should get a really good lead player....Kirk Hammet is average at best.

Thank you very very much!!!! One further question: Is there a little space between the end of the fingerboard and the neck pu or not?

Jammy you could answer my question number 3). That would be really cool. Thanks in advance, Marcel Knapp!

This might help you....

I am very interested in buying a lacewood set from you. The one picture you posted looks great. Do you have pictures of the other sets as well? If yes please send them to me so that I can choose the one I like best. I would prefer to do the deal outside of ebay though, because I want the top as soon as possible. If you are concerned about the price, I'll pay you a very good price if I find the figure I want among the tops you have. I could pay you via paypal. Please send me a email to hanskrempl@gmx.de which is a backup email address, as I dont want to post my main email address here in fear of spammers. Thanks in advance, Marcel Knapp!