Petrol

Yeah, their Super High Z Gl-6 and Gl-7 Pups are aimed at metal. I haven't used them, but will order a GL-6 Medium and High Z pair for my first build in a month or so. The only things I can tell you are what I've heard, being that they are uber sensitive, very unique and the future. Have fun, if you get a pair, please record a sound clip and wallop it up, there's is great, but they don't have an example of what theyr'e like with some distortion. Petrol

Awesome, can't wait to see it when it's finished! How you going to finish it? A nice stain or burst would look sweet IMO.

Humbrol is a UK company, and they actually went into administration last year. Their products are still pretty widely available though, as I believe they were bought up by a model train company. Also, humbrol paints are oil not enamel for future reference. I like your swirls, they aren't bright, but it always depends what look your going for. If you want the green/yellow/pink of Vai's Jem, then theyr'e WAAAAAy too dark, but for a more "metal" swirl, I like it. Maybe a bit more contrast though- check out a colour wheel and colour theory if you haven't already. Also, I think enamel is very difficult to finish as I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that many laquers + enamel = problem. Hope this helps, Petrol

Interesting! I may check it out some time, but as for those thermal sensitive paints, theyr'e something I haven't seen elsewhere- if anyone knows of another brand doing them for about half the price any info would be appreciated!

http://www.alsacorp.com/ Chromeboy finishes aside (although they could do that, and such an awesome job at that) I really am starting to love their eclipse paint... http://alsacorp.com/products/eclipse/video/eclipse_sink.wmv The temperature change is sensative enough that leave your hand on your axe, it would change colour. With their colour concentrates, those sink colourations would be possible, and man, they look sweet! Anyone ever tried to use their stuff before?

Love the build, the alternating woods gives me warm reminders of a kind of antquated chess board. Very nice!

Thanks for the advice! I did a load of searching on my own, but a lot of the info is pretty inconsistent. Seems like I have 3 or 4 ways to go: 1.) Vreeble (If it exsists) or another crackle spray, which their seem to be tons of. 2.) Plastikote's offering: A 2 spray solution, a range of base sprays and top sprays, so you spray your base, let it "tack up" then spray your top colour and it will crack itself. Nice idea, but range of colours id very limited. 3.) It seems that if using an antique milk paint, it's possible to use some kind of white glues (presumably PVA from what I've read, again quite unclear to me) over a base colour of an antique milk paint. Once glue over the top is dry, paint on second paint colour, which will crack. Then seal, seal, seal. The general message I've taken from this is to seal the living <insert expletive of choice here> out of whatever I crack. I want to go ahead and get some crackle stuff and have a play on some scrap wood in a few days, and I'll try sealing it too, see if it's possible for me to achieve a reasonable finish.

This saddens me. I haven't even statrted to make my own guitar yet, I bought a copy of the book a few months ago from amazon and have read it from cover to cover several times, and it further irritates me to all the other piracy going on at the moment. Ou of all the people I know, only about 1 in 20 of us buy our music- and then those that don't wonder why there's such a mainstream shortage of bands they like. Peoples stupidity to pirate stuff and expect people to be interested in supplying them something for nothing infuriates me. It is real crime, and whilst in most cases lowering EMI's turnover isn't gonna hurt most, if it eventually leads to job cuts or less artists of certain genres being signed as some are more heavily pirated than others, then what's the point? Ultimately, people need to think of the consequence before they act and have some moral principles. If I see a link to this "e-book" anywhere I'll PM you on the forum, so that action can be taken. Sorry to hear, I hope things sort themselves out. P.S. On a lighter note, are you able to divulge any details of possible future publications coming out on NBS, or at least whether they will be related to "How to make your own electric guitar?"

Thanks- set neck is what I originally meant, I didn't intend to make a neck thru and I don't now So I'm going with bolt on. Hopefully should be able to pick up a few offcuts to practise cutting with, simply as I want some more experience with routers. Also, I'll then finish my offcuts, to practise that. Thanks a load guys Petrol

Ok, thanks for clarifying that point. As such I'll pribably revise this to bolt on, although I will try a glue on construction at some point. On the fret issues, I probably will fret it now, as I have just had visions of me trying to play chords fretless, it would be possibly the worst sonic attrocity ever commited, so I will probably go for a fretted design now, 22 frets jumbo fretwire, unless some fretless loving guy can change my mind again Hopefully I'll start this build in a few weeks, when I finally leave school (woo!)- If anyone has more advice, please post it, your inputs been great so far and helped clarify some things. Thanks

Yep, it's a 6 string, I was thinking fretless both as I've seen and heard some really nice jazz played on a fretless, and I thought it would look sweet. i play all sorts of stuff, mainly classic rock and blues though, but I am a huge fan of Satch and have never had a tremolo on a guitar before, hence the inclusion here. Good point on the neck, Bolt on would probably be more forgiving- I'd just heard glue on necks have better sustain- is that true, or just black magic guitar talk with absolutely no truth?

16, helping lower the average age ever further

Preparing my first build and I was wondering if it would be possible to use crackle spray to achieve a two layered effect? Was thinking of doing the following: 1.Prepare guitar body for spraying as usual 2.Spray layer of silver 3.Spray red 4.Spray with crackle finish, exposing silver underneath the crackled red, creating call effect. 5.Laquer guitar thouroughly Crackle link! Has anyone tried crackle sprays before, are they durable and fully compatible with laquers etc? Also, anyone any experience on what paints they will and won't work with? I was thinking of also trying this with black on gold, could get some amazing cracked all over effects, and the light catching the cracks in both of these would hopefully look cool and different. Thanks in advance, Pete.

Hey all, I'm new round here, looking to start my first build. I've read the excellent "make your own electric guitar" by Melyvn Hiscock quite a lot now (3 times through ) and as such have come up with specs for my own design: Name: The P1 (Petrol 1) Scale Length: 25.5 Fret Number: 22 Fret- yet fretless Neck thickness: Same as my RG, will measure later. Body Shape: My ergonomic Les Paul, with leg cutaway and carved edge JS style. Neck to Body Join: Glue on neck. Neck angle/Bridge height: Whatever my kahler dictates @{ Body thickness: 1 and ¾ inch thick. Head angle and shape: Angled, prob about 13 degrees, machine heads both sides. Still thinking up shape, something “metal” Wood: Basswood body, maple neck/head, ebony fingerboard (see inlays as well) Pickups and Control: 2 neodynium pickups, tone pot, vol pot, input jack and all internal circuitry, 3 way selector switch for neck/neck bridge/bridge. Neck pickup under 24th fret pos, bridge at 43rd fret pos. Nut Width: Standard “B” Width nut (see book) Truss Rod: Neck adjustment Mounting Controls: Cut out in back, no scratchplate Binding: None, not even on fret board, I just don't like the look of binding. Body Contouring: Rounded all way, leg round, maybe chest indentation and arm as well. Inlay: See below. Fretwire: Fretless Would like to buy ready slotted board though and inlay the slots with contrasting wood, probably purple heart (single dot) , paduak (12th fret) and something more plane like pine for all the other random frets inbetween. I have a few questions though: 1)Is there anything else that needs to be considered making a fretless guitar, the position of frets doesn't shift slightly by a few mm due to the height of the fretwire being different from that of the fingerboard? 2)Anybody else tried using the neodynium q-etuner pickups, the funky looking ones? Just curious as their sound samples aren't any where near similar to the music I'll generally be playing. Any critiscism is appreciated, don't wanna start construction in a few weeks without some of you experienced builders pointing out my retarded mistakes