mattharris75

I think just his newer guitar is Koa, the older one is maple. Regardless, it sounds like you'd be fine just following standard fender convention as far as the woods go and throwing in a nice set of humbuckers like what Trey uses. I'm not sure anyone will be able to give you anything more specific than that with regards to a particular 'sound' you are looking for. But, I wouldn't stress too much about the body wood.

Trey Anastasio uses a guitar more akin to a small bodied hollow-body jazz guitar than a strat. That's a big part of his sound. Here's the website for the luthier that built his guitar: Paul Languedoc I believe that if you dig around on that website it will tell you what pickups he uses in Trey's guitars. That should help you achieve a sound somewhat similar to his. Also, Languedoc's guitars are made entirely of curly maple for the most part, so you may want to go with a wood combination that may mimic that somewhat in a solid body configuration. But, I wouldn't stress over the body wood to much.

After gluing up a second blank with these clamps I can safely say that I really like them. I corrected my technique mistake (turned the cranks around so they were on the correct side) and was more comfortable working with them the second time around and managed to use them easily without a second set of hands for help. The blanks came out great, very well aligned, and I was able to easily get plenty of clamping pressure with them.

Good idea on using a couple of spacer boards, Rich. I've got another ash body blank ready to glue up right after this, I'll definitely give that a try. Glad to hear you had such success with them!

Here it is: Woodcraft Clamping System

I saw these on sale on Woodcraft's website several months ago and decided they'd be perfect for gluing up tops and whatnot. I like the idea of having a 4 way pressure clamp to provide alignment of the boards. The clamps come as kits and require that you rip some 2x4's and drill holes in them and assemble the clamps. I used them for the first time tonight when gluing up the ash body blank for my new bass project. my impressions so far are that they seem to fairly effectively provide clamping pressure in each direction, but are a bit unwieldy when trying to get everything fit together and tightened before the glue begins to set. It's a good idea to have a second set of hands available to help. Has anybody else tried these clamps? If not, i'll let everyone know how effective they really were once I pull them off the blank tomorrow night. I plan on using them to join my 5/16" thick spalted maple and burled redwood bottom and top plates as well, assuming this test run on the ash goes well. *Edit* I do realize that the cranks are on the wrong side. I didn't realize it until I started tightening them down, then it dawned on me that I was completely brain dead. Nevertheless, they worked.

Just thought I'd chime in on this thread. I've been slowly putting together a basic home recording setup. Got a Shure PG58 mic, a Line6 Toneport UX2, and Cakewalk Sonar 6. I plan on buying a Shure SM57 sometime in the not too distant future for instrument mic'ing. I think this setup should be good enough to have some fun with. I played around with it some last night, and once everything gets set up the basics are fairly straightforward. Now I just need to learn the art of getting a good recorded sound and mixing down and whatnot. I was thinking about picking up the 'For Dummies' book on home recording. Anybody got any other good book recommendations for learning the tricks?

Looking forward to seeing how you do your hidden controls. I'll be doing the same on the bass I'm getting ready to start up on. Post pics when you get that part done.

Here are a couple of thumbnail links to pictures. The first shows the redwood burl, along with some of the other woods that I will be using, and the second shows the spalted maple.

Sounds like a lot of good advice. I'll use a sanding board, just to be safe, since this is my first time working with either of these types of woods. This should be valuable experience. I imagine that as I get further along in the process I'll get a better feel for what I can and can't do with this particular wood. I've got plenty of patience, just didn't want to go through any unnecessary steps. Thanks for everyone's advice!

So, do you think that if I'm conservative enough with the jointer I should be OK? I don't mind taking 20 passes to remove a small amount of material. Sounds like I basically just need to be very careful and take it slow.

Wez, wouldn't using the router be essentially the same as using a jointer, since it uses cutting blades? I know that you've successfully used spalted maple before, and if you've used a router and straight edge on it, then I'm tempted to carefully try the jointer.

I'm about to begin a project with a redwood burl top plate and a spalted maple back plate. I understand the relative fragility of these woods, and plan on doing as much work as possible with sanding tools rather than cutting tools. (It's one of the reasons I purchased an oscillating spindle sander) However, one thing I didn't consider is joining the bookmatched halves. Is it excessively risky to use a jointer, taking off a very small amount of material with each pass? I would certainly prefer this convenience to having to rig a sanding jig for them. For you guys that are fond of working with these types of woods, what kind of methods have you used for this particular task?

Wow...Awesome. Can't wait to see it finished!

I think I like the slimline jewel case better in this instance, but i'm sure either one would look nice. Who is doing your graphic design? This cover as well as your website have a neat 'rough' or 'loose' feel to it.

The pics look great in the GOTM thread. I really like the size of this bass. Looks like it would be very comfortable to play, and yet is very striking aesthetically. What finish did you use, and what was your finishing schedule?

That inlay is sweet. I love it. Can't wait to see the finished neck.

Very nice. I like the matching wooden pickguard and how it contrasts with the solid finish on the body. I look forward to seeing it progress.

This pretty much lays out all the details: Wiki page for lacquer

Or better yet, go find a 7 string guitar you like and copy it's measurements. True, true...but chances are he's already got a 6 string. I was just going with the most accessible approach. With a little leg work one could probably find a 7 string that they really liked the feel of, but if you've got a 6 string laying around and a good ruler, then you're set.

If I were you i'd take the pragmatic approach. Find a 6 string guitar whose string spacing you like, divide into the overall spacing to find the spacing between each string, then simply add an extra string's worth of spacing to it. That should be a good starting point. You can do this for both the spacing at the nut and the bridge. For the nut you'll have more flexibility because you can cut the string spacing yourself. For the bridge, you'll have to find one to match, but once you have determined the string spacing using the method I mentioned above, you should be able to find something pretty close.

That's way too broad to be answered acurately. It varies from person to person. I've seen some spectacular first builds pop up over the last year. I'm to the finishing stages on my first build and I feel that it's quite good. Not perfect, but they never will be. The bottom line is that even with woodworking experience, it's a learning process, so be prepared to make mistakes. But with time, care, the right attitude, and a little creative problem solving, you can turn out a really solid guitar.

I believe this is the one: Warwick Style Bass

Cool, I'm only 3 hours from Atlanta. I could pay your cousin to mail me one over.

Make sure to let us know when your CD becomes available. Do you ship to the states?