guitman32

How do the screws look? Did you ever get those edges to square up properly?

Personally, I like the string ferrules on the front. Smaller ones would have also looked nice, but these are fine also. Nice Job!!!!

Worked extra late tonight, so no work on the volute. Thanks for the advice Maiden...bike ramp it is! As far as the headstock, I kinda like the small radius curve on the top of the headstock. Your advice is noted, however, and changes are not entirely out of the question. I was searching through old threads in the In Progress section, and noticed one of the first ones about Draks bubinga veneered Rhoads V. That, along with the "Beautiful Bubinga" post a few days ago motivated me to purchase some veneer. Since bubinga is one of my favorite woods, I went with that, and have now received it. Very beautiful wood indeed!!! Not to my question...in your opinions, is it work risking the possibility of screwing up this project for the sake of an awesome bubinga veneer on the top and headstock??? EDIT: Pic of Bubinga Veneer:

HOLY BALLS!! That is.....one.....METAL....guitar! Very classy, yet still agressive. Great job on the beveled edges.

Very nice bass! I especially like all the control recesses. Did you do it all the recessing by hand?

Totally METAL - I LOVE IT!!!!!!! I think the upper horn looks good, if not better now. You did shorten it after the drop, right? Again, love the body!

Update: Bridge and OBL on body Side of Fretboard Side/Top of Fretboard Commentary to come asap...work calls.

I remember back in the day, I paid $140 for an 81 and an 89. I think $100 per pup is too much. Here is one auction with a $160 buy it now. With shipping, it comes out to around $170. I think you should wire them yourself. If you study the diagram and read up a little bit on soldering, you can save some good money, and invest in the future. This way, you can wire any pickup you want for the rest of your life. Even if they only charge $50, buying a soldering iron will be cheaper. My $.02. Cheerz

Thanks alot GregP!! With regards to an earlier question, I check the fit of the pickups with the pickup ring, and the neck pup w/ring DOES in fact fit with the neck in place. This means that if I so choose, I can use a pup ring if I want. I think I will, because I used a standard pickup cavity, as opposed to one with smaller ears (like ibanez uses).

Check this sucker out. Warmoth sells that Strat-Precision double body. If they sell it, it must be at least somewhat common I imagine. Cheerio

UPDATE! Say hello to Uncle Bill everyone: My order for 3 Bill Larence Pickups came in today. I ordered one L-500R and two L-500XL's. I plan on using one XL and one R for this project. I shaped most of the neck yesterday, and hope to finish it tonight, but am having problems with the volute. In an earlier post I mentioned that I cut the headstock a little thin, and now the problem is transitioning from the thinner-than-normal headstock to the neck/volute. Can you all please give me ideas for shaping it from here?

Picture Update! I finally found some time to snap pic of the routed control cavity and finished tummy contour. To route the control cavity, I made 2 templates. The first was used to rout the cavity itself, which I did first. For this I used a 1/4in piece of plywood, drew the inner cavity dimensions on it, and took out the excess with a forstner bit. I then cleaned the inside edges with a file, and taped it to the body. This template can be clean, but doesnt need to be perfect, as its going to be covered by the control cover. Also, the template can be somewhat thin, as you are going to take the router deep into the wood. After clearing the hole with a forstner, I cleaned the cavity with multiple router passes. Even though the template was thin, my 1" router bit still wouldnt reach the propler cavity depth, so I just removed the template and used the existing rout as a guide for the bearing. This brought the cavity to the perfect depth. Next, I made the template for the cavity cover recess. I did this using the same process as outlined above, only I tranferred the shape onto two 3/4in pieces of 6" wide scrap I had lying around and screwed them together. This template needs to be thick, as you are only going to be taking a small amount of wood out for the cavity cover recess. The reason I did this after the main cavity rout was so I could visially place the recess in the best area...no fancy see through acrylic templates here

F-spaced pickups have more space between each pole piece to accomodate for wider string spreads. Although not the 7-string expert, like Sambo, I have not seen any seven string f-spaced pickups. Since you are using a standard 7-string bridge, I would imagine the string spacing to be pretty similar to other 7-string bridges (ie Ibanez bridges). Even then, the pole pieces do not need to be perfectly aligned with the strings anyway, as the pickups magnetic field is not limited to the space directly above the pole. I would say those pickups are a go! Now, whether or not they are good for prog rock, I dont know, as I do not play seven strings.

Nice bodies bigdguitars!! Its amazing how fast your turn out these bodies!

The control cavity has been routed without issue. Now I need to decide on the control layout and drill the holes, finish contouring the neck, and drill the tuner holes. Then its final sanding and paint. A little update on the paint situation...Turns out I know someone who knows someone who does custom auto finishes. I have yet to speak to him, but I am undecided if I want to deny myself that ever-so-valuable finishing experience.

AHAHAHA! Looks like we've got a talented poet on our hands!! Now Im torn, who gets more credit, Maiden69, or marksound? EDIT: For the poem, i mean

Ohhh, in that case, of course you will be able to...shouldnt be a problem at all. Take a look at Warmoth - they make 13 deg. explorer headstocks, which are designed to accept 6 inline tuners.

I cant really see what you mean about the glue joint being sloppy...the pic doesnt really illustrate this. But, seeing as even from the blurry pic the seams look clean, I think the joint should be fine. Dont forget, youre going to be gluing a FB on that baby, which will add even more strength! In summary, I do not think the neck will split at all. What do you mean by "angling six on a side back?"

I have sketched out the control cavity and the jack position, following Maiden69's suggestion. Let me know if this looks ok, please.

Welcome and very beautiful guitars!! Its a shame about the white one though. I have never seen a tele with a floyd, but that doesnt mean that I wouldnt like to! Im sure youve got some purists red in the face... :-) Finally, I think your solution with the bone nut in between the locking nut is fine, so long as it works for you. If you want to go a different route, you might try some locking tuners. Some common brands are Schaller, Spertzel and Planet Waves. All three are quality pieces, and once locked, will keep your guitar in tune. I personally use schalller locking tuners, and they work like a charm...that said, however, you will probably still have some tuning issues as the nut friction when doing big dives on the floyd will keep the strings from getting back to full pitch. Im sure others will give you some more input on the matter.

Maiden69: You are THE MAN!!!!!!!!! Done and done! I assume I will first drill hole large enough to fit the jack, then use a forstner bit and drill press to make the larger recession? Also, do you direct mount the jack itself, or do you use an endpin style jack? Again, thanks for that amazing suggesiton!!

Hahaha

When I said football style, I didnt mean that big ugly LP thing. As used on Jackson style guitars, these are the kind I was referring to. I do like the endpin style jacks, so I might go with those.

I have been thinking about the control layout/jack style I want to use. I am going to go with a more conventional football style jack on the side of the body rather than a Jem style jack (think typical Jackson layout). From what it looks like, a Jem style jack would butt up against your thigh when playing with the guitar in between your legs (ie the lower body curve rests on the leg of your fretting hand, and the jack hits your other thigh). As I have never played guitar with a Jem style jack (ahh the plight of the lefty guitarist), is my thinking correct here?

We use routers of some sort or another to route body cavities. If you have a CNC router and know how to use it, great. Draw yourself up some plans and get-a-routin. Also, try the search function on this forum. It will answer most of your questions with ease!