malhavok

Actually I thought his name was Darrell Abbott? At any rate, when I open my "Cowboys from Hell" cd and look at the credits, it does indeed say "Diamond Darrell" as his nickname in there. I know that in his attempts to become more 'metal' and less 'hair' he started wearing a razorblade and changed it to "Dimebag", but I always thought changing it to Dimebag was cheesier than just having it be Diamond in the first place, or better yet, just having people call him Darrell. No matter how you slice it or what you call him though, one thing is for certian, the man absolutely RIPS on guitar and chunks out some serious metal carnage!

Well, I see the string dampeners as a viable way of playing. However, Diamond Darrell's use of foam is for something completely different. He uses the foam BEHIND the nut, not in front of it, to damp the nut-to-tuner pling pling sympathy vibrations. The foam in the trem cavity is the for the same thing, to get rid of the vibrations in the springs. I've been stuffing the trem cavities of my Universes with foam since about 1991 for the same reason though I don't have any problem with the headstock string noise.

No way, I wanna make one of them to play in church! Seriously...

I use a VERY light and thin piece of foam under the strings. The foam is just the right size so it fills up the whole first fret. The foam is so light that it will only stop strings from ringing 'on their own' but if you pick an open string it will still ring. This way, if I have to use it in a situation where I do both two handed stuff and 'regular' playing, I don't have to worry about turning it 'on' and 'off' during the piece. Just play away, take it off when the song is done. The foam is about 1/2" wider than the neck and the thickness pretty much matches the distance from fretboard to the TOP of the strings at the first fret.

Play'em til they break, that's my motto. I know it's pretty unconventional, but I really do enjoy the dark tone of dead strings.

First off, thanks for all the replies guys! Yeah, the Carvin neck + platinum beast thing involves cutting the body in 'half' meaning, there would be a two inch or so strip taken out of the center of the body and the wings attached to the neck. I'm concerned about building the neck myself. I think a body is something that is within my skills and the tools I have available to me. I'm worried about a custom neck because it just seems like a hassle to buy all the parts and shape them correctly and make sure I get it straight. Being that this will be my first guitar project from 'scratch', I'm kind of timid about the neck. I figured doing a neck through with a premade neck kind of at least guarantees that the alignment of everything from bridge to nut will be proper. Plus, it allows me to just build a body and do electronics and 'fun stuff' where a scratch built neck seems more like 'work' to me where I would just pull my hair out. Added bonus is I could probably finish the project in many months less if I don't build the neck myself. I might be brave enough to attempt some inlay work though, or would that be suicidal with a premade neck with frets still on? If the local GC has some Beasts or Mockingbirds in stock I wouldn't be too afraid to walk in there with 'supplies' and trace one out. I'd ask them before bringing it all in but I know who to talk to to get the go ahead. I want a chance to actually hold the body style and see how it fits me anyway. After thirteen years of playing nicely contoured Ibanez bodies I am a bit concerned about 'bulking up' to something like a BC Rich where there doesn't seem to be much opportunity for contouring without destroying the lines of the body, and I don't want to build a guitar that I never play because it's uncomfortable. Anybody have any experience or comments about playing the Beast or Mockingbird shapes?

New here, I want to build myself a custom (duh, why else would I be here? I know...). Thinking I'd like to do a nice BC Rich style neck through 7 string with either a Beast or Mockingbird body and maybe styling and finish like the NJ Classic Series. There were two different ways I thought about going about this because I'm concerned about getting the body shape/size 'right'. 1. Get something like a Carvin 7 string bolt on neck and custom build the body halves getting the exact woods and finish I want. 2. Get the Carvin neck and pick up a BC Rich platinum series guitar of the model I decide on, cut the body in 'half' and use those to finish it out. Any comments on especially idea #2 whether it just sounds stupid/suicidal or a viable way to do things? Or tips on getting the body right for method #1 which I would think would be the more 'traditional' way to go about things. I've got three Iby Uni's and figured I ought to get something a little more unique and personal for the next 'aquisition'. Thanks for any ideas or feedback.