keithb

Right now:

Ibanez 540S

Synsonics Strat-alike

Washburn Oscar Schmidt acoustic

Line6 Spider 210

Pignose

Crybaby wah

I wish I had:

Mesa Mark IV combo

American Standard Strat

Ibanez JEM (maybe, the S is sooo nice tho)

A decent 7-string

Celloblaster

A decent baritone

Warwick Thumb bass

Ampeg bass combo

Some sorta volume pedal

(Living on a student's budget is hard on the guitar collection )

I'd say be careful with low-end Jacksons. Everyone I know who's had one has been disappointed. I'll agree with everyone else and say look for a used Ibanez RG or S. Try to stay away from model numbers less than 450

I used a jigsaw to cut the body for my project bass. Be prepared to go through a blade or two, but it worked fine for me.

Today I sanded the majority of the body, and cut out the headstock shape. I still have some sanding to do in the cutout areas. I also ordered a router from Harbor Freight to cut my neck pocket and pickup cavities.

Sanded body:

Headstock:

(looks weird at that angle )

Two bored college kids with no class on Friday gets us this:

I'm surprised with the good quality results possible with just a jigsaw and some time.

MzI - I live in Narragansett and go to URI.

MKGBass - I'm going to keep the body until I get the neck pocket routed correctly, after that I'll definately sell it to ya - PM me...

I think I'll just go for the Harbor Freight router - $35 shipped is too cheap to do otherwise. I'm sure it's not the highest quality, but it'll have to do...

Update:

Today the Saga kit I'll be using for neck, bridge, pickup, etc arrived. The cost of ordering everything seperately was well over the $110 or so I paid for the kit...

Whoops, thought I had my location set - they're in Coventry, Rhode Island, USA

As for cost, it's 3 pieces that they milled and glued up for me (I don't have a jointer or a planer!) - total cost was around $70

I figure that's a pretty good price for 3 bodies

If you tell us a bit about what kind of music you play, and what you want out of an amp, I'm sure that you'll get lots of recommendations

Today I picked up the wood for my first project - a bass in a modified Warwick Thumb shape.

From Coventry Millwork comes a 1 3/4" x 15" x 62" piece of oak:

(sorry about pic quality)

I hope to start cutting on Friday...I'll post updates here!

That was my plan, StonesCreed, but I'm concerned about getting a flat bottom, especially in the pickup cavities. Maybe I'll just have to buy a router....

I'm faced with the prospect of either buying a router and making or buying templates to route my neck pocket and pickup cavities. I'd like to avoid buying a router just yet, if I can.

Should I just just bite the bullet and buy a router? I do have a dremel, but I don't think it will be too much use here, especially without the router base.

Advice please!

How do you prevent strings from ringing out unintentionally when using the whammy bar? I'll usually try to lay a free left-hand finger across the strings I'm not playing before reaching for the bar, but that's not always easy.

What do you guys do?

The volume control on my Ibanez 540S has always been a bit stiff feeling, it kills any possibility of using it for volume swells, etc. Does anyone know a way to loosen it up?

Looking at the sustainer schematic:

How is the piezo supposed to affect vibration of the strings from underneath the pickup? Maybe I'm missing something, but piezos don't produce any magnetic field (if I remember correctly) and I seriously doubt that it would be loud enough to provide feedback via sound, especially from under the pickup.

Enlighten me!

Yesterday I went looking for wood to start a bass body. Locally, I can easily find hardwood in 10" x 1" (or so). I would need to use four pieces of this size to get the width and thickness that I need. Is this a good idea, or should I look at ordering some wood online? Keep in mind that this is my first guitar, so I'm not worried about finding incredibly figured wood

Thanks!

On fretboard removal:

I recently took the FB off an old Washburn bass to see if there was anything that could be done to fix the broken truss rod and warped neck (no way....not worth the effort).

The fretboard came off no problem with my clothes iron on the second-highest steam setting, with some careful application of a razor blade, sharp pocket knife, and about 2.5 hours of time.

Best riffs:

Beginning of Amberdawn - Malmsteen

Beginning of Welcome to the Jungle - GnR

Beginning of Right Now - Van Halen

Main theme of Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson

Solo in Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

Dunlop Jazz III

Guitars:

Ibanez 540S (main axe)

Synsonics strat clone

Washburn/Oscar Schmidt acoustic

Amps:

Line6 Spider 210

Kustom 10-watt solid state

Pedals:

Dunlop wah

Danelectro 'Pastrami' overdrive

Anyone know where I can buy one of these? Ebay has proved frustrating...

daveq, where did you find the screws and ferrules? I'm considering doing something like this with my project strat - I hate the huge feel of 'standard' strat heels.

I don't know what functionality of the flooboard you're interested in, but it's possible to build your own. I hope to get going on mine next week.

Check out http://www.harmonicappliances.com/floorboa...floorboard.html - this guy reverse engineered a good bit of the floorboard. Should be enough to build something workable. I'll let everyone know in a week or two

The Edge trems are generally regarded as Ibanez's best. The TRS trems were on cheaper models and can be a real pain to keep in tune (although some would argue that they're fine). Ibanez recently released the Edge 2, which is said to be as good as the Edge (I haven't played one) and an interesting one they call 'ZR' or 'Zero Resistance' which are supposed to be very nice. Again, I haven't played one, but from what I an see they seem to be like a Wilkinson without the locking.

Check out Jemsite, especially the forums, for lots of info on Ibanez guitars.

I must say that the Edge on my 540S is the best FR-like bridge I've ever played. Dead on tune every time.

Sorry if I came off as "giving you ****ing attitude" as you put it - it was unintended.

My apologies.