Digideus

OK, so what about these two? Surely the Xiphos is a copy of the Jackson Warrior

You CAN get Ebony necks. I dunno about ebony body slabs! Would look pretty amazing tho, with an Ebony bridge block, ebony knobs, Ebony Fretboard, Ebony Bobbins on the pickups, Ebony tuning keys, an Ebony Nut... Id imagine it *IS* possible to do it all in one species, but expensive and a hell of a lot of work! I guess you would have to choose the species of wood specifically. Ash springs to mind and a possible wood for Neck and Body. Maple is another....

hehe, I only posted this poll as a joke. I really dont care about the BC Rich design, although I *MAY* (purely for humour) send them an e-mail and ask them to pay me 1 custom built guitar as payment for my design. Clearly, I DID design this first and, clearly, there are *simularities* between them (they are both a Flying V and have scalloped edges!) However, it does raise the question of wether posting a design online constitutes giving up the rights to it. Surely the original designer has the copyright/patent on their design and (IF PROVABLE) can demand recompense for it should someone breech that copyright or patent. I know this is a very grey area in guitar design and one that most companies (Jackson and Fender aside) dont really sue you for copying (except for headstock designs I notice) it as you can claim design changes simply by using different angles in the design edges. As long as you arent making money from it. Metal Matt was definately the inspiration for that design. His Impaler is awesome inspiration. Im sure he would see the funny side of this

The Evidence.... My Design BC Rich's Design Well? Is this a worthy case for a legal case for design copyright?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headroom Try that

I actually sacked my entire band a few weeks back because of this. Basically, I wrote the music, they other guys were just doin it for a laugh. We had a keys player who didnt know the songs after 18 months, A drummer who didnt like anything we were coming up with, a bass player who said "You write It, Ill play it!" and a singer who couldnt sing that well (although I will give him credit for his attitude and dedication, which were top notch!) Our other guitarist left because it wasnt what he wanted to do. That I can understand, but it got me thinking that I was wasting my time, and since I jacked the band in, two of my friends (including the ex-guitarist) have nabbed me for their new project! I guess you need to think of where YOU want to be and if youre not there, make the change. If the drummer proves to be a let down, lose him. Harsh I know, but with that lack of dedication, he will only hold you back. I understand he has bought a new cymbal, and thats great. I hope this means he's taking it as seriously as he needs to, but in all honesty, if ANYONE in your band is hindering you, have a word and take the appropriate action. I hope it works out for you. I know how hard Bands can be. Its expensive and often an uphill struggle, but the first time you walk out on stage, thats all gone. Just be honest with him (sounds like you have already) and keep that honesty. Its too easy to fall out with people in this business, and as Ozzy Osbourne once said.... "You meet a lot of people on the way up. DONT MESS WITH THEM cos you meet them on the way down as well!"

All in all not bad. If I had to pick holes, I would say MORE DOWN STROKES! The original was recorded using Down Strokes, not alternate picking! The Slides in the rhythm part of the main riff need to be razor sharp. Hetfield is great at that sort of thing. More down stroke practice and co-ordination. Theres a bum note in the acoustic bit in the bridge! Still, not bad. Now, try learning something by Divine Heresy! www.myspace.com/divineheresyband

Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups. Cheap, Active and very very good at its job.

My advice... JUST DO IT! Acrylic spray paint is cheap and readily available from Car Spares shops. Some paints are nitro-celulose based and they react badly with acrylic based paints. Ask for assistance in store. they *SHOULD* be able to tell you which is which. With any finishing job, the end result will depend on the work you put in during the preparation stage. Fill holes and dents, Sand with varying degrees of sandpaper, clean the whole job with a scotch cloth and some prepaint wipe, then apply / sand / apply / sand. etc... , leave to dry (a week at least!), apply many many coats of lacquer or plasticote and allow them to dry. Perhaps you prefer the idea of gluing veneer to your instrument and dying it, or a material finish.... The choices are endless. Take your time, read the posts by others to get some idea of how to approach each stage. Dont rush it, enjoy it and learn. Most importantly, dont expect amazing results on your first go. Its easy to try something and make silly mistakes the first time (we all do it!). It took me 4 or 5 attempts to get myself happy with the quality of the finishes I get now, but thats because I made mistakes and learned from them. I know I sound quite pessamistic, but since this will be the first one, you should concentrate on getting your technique right at first. Dont spray too much paint on one area as it will run and cause an orange peel effect. Put several thin coats on and *LIGHTLY* sand between coats to give your paint a key to grab onto (it will just peel straight off a base that is too smooth). Keep the work as clean as you can (One fingerprint will show up light a light bulb on a freshly painted surface). Think about where you are going to store the piece once its wet. Wet paint smells quite strongly, so a shed or garage is better than indoors, and then you need to rig up some way of hanging it up. I use a bent wire coat hanger over a joist or beam in my shed, and that seems to work ok for me, but even then, bugs can sometimes want to explore my work too closely and it has the same effect as fly paper! All in all, I advise you try it and see how it turns out. best of luck

They are particularly nice if you have gold hardware

Yeah, I forgot about roundwound strings having the core exposed. my bad! Dont forget that you often need to retune the floyd 2 or 3 times due to string streaching. I like to tune them up half a turn over pitch overnight, then detune and retune again before clamping the nut. Sometimes you find the nut is actually cut to low as well, and clamping them will change the pitch slightly anyway. I find Floyds are just too cumbersome. Unless you are dive bombing and pulling up vigorously while soloing in every song, I dont think the cost and sacrifices of a floyd are worthwhile. just my 2 cents worth, and thats worth about 0.95 of a penny here in the uk

My thoughts exactly. I can pick up a £15 ($28-30) grinder in my local high street. its only 550 watt but as you say, carving wood is far easier than metalwork so it would be a cheap way to do it, plus I can always upgrade later. Ive used flap sanders using a power drill. those things are awesome!

Heres a free bit of advice regarding floyds... dont use them! actually, in all seriousness, Floyds are a NIGHTMARE to maintain. I find it easier to put the strings in backwards (so the ball end is at the tuner end) it saves a lot of messing about cutting the ball ends off the strings before you clamp them into the saddles. Just string up, tune up, then cut off the excess string with the ball end attached. Im sure this is common practice for most people, but someone out there may not know this one

What sort of disc do you use for sculpting body contours? Ive been looking for a few days but cant see anything specific. Drak? You should be the man for this one

Thirsty, Nice guitar. As long as Connor likes it and will play it, I think the minor niggles like epoxy filling around the inlays are a minor thing. Take the valid criticsums on board but dont be detracted from carrying on and DO keep making guitars and posting them here. Rhodes56, Wes, Prostheta and the rest of the old guard (hehe) are right in what they say because they are interested in making you a better builder by pointing out these things. A lot of the comments by others are pointless, however this place is just like the real world and ou should never forget that opinions are like backsides... everyone has one, they all stink and you can tolerate the smell of your own! When you finishing the guitar?

Ive always wondered exactly how you would put a neck angle on a neck thru. does anyone have a jig made up for this? How difficult is it to cut a 3 degree plane across that large an area?

Euros and the Pound are very positive in the exchange rate with the dollar right now. strike while the iron is hot!

cut a lump of wood and put it behind the retainer block in the cavity. It wont work as a trem any longer, but you wont have any tuning problems ever again Seriously tho, Batfink is on the right track. My experience of Floyd Rose trems is that they require you to pretty much adjust every part of the trem setup to get it to work right. To me it sounds like the tension of the trem is wrong, which is governed by the springs in the trem cavity and the string tension of the particular tuning you are using. Is the trem sitting flush to the body in its cavity? if its raised up or depressed toward the back end of the trem, the problem is that it isnt set up correctly, probably due to string tension. Relax the strings, and adjust the spring claw screws half a turn, then retune and check it. Its a long process but once you get it set up youll notice the difference immediately. bear in mind that heavier string gauges will require additional set up work, and you also want to check the neck in case you need a truss rod adjustment changing the tension like you are. I bet that lump of wood solution is looking quite appealing right about now!

HA! I was going to be clever and say "Ones that work" but I realised that you meant solos and not guitar leads that you use to plug them in! DOH! Mad Axe Attack - Aaron Jellum & Phil Kettner (Laaz Rockit) has always been a bit special, cos they were the first band I saw live many many years ago. Apart from that, anything by Gary Holt/Rick Hunolt from Exodus, Jeff Loomis of Nevermore, Chuck Schuldiner of Death and Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost. plus of course, Joe Satriani.

I found this (which is a public domain freely re-distributable) list of wood densities and properties which may help to thr light on particular species qualities.. http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/chemdata/woods.htm hope some of this info helps you choose what woods you require

I was thinking the same thing as I read this post. dowels would prevent the acrylic from moving and would secure it to the body laminates for sure. How about CA though? I know Drak uses it for securing his tops so its plenty tough enough. Perhaps a layer of CA onto the Acrylic and then let that dry to create a barrier between the acrylic and wood, then try the lumpy butter method with dowels through the acrylic to prevent any movement once the glue has started to set? Should be as tough as Mr.T

I like it a lot, I just dont like the fact its an Ibanez :D

measure a point on the guitar you know the size of (such as the neck pocket or the nut size) and scale the guitar to that measurement. Its a bit hit or miss, but it will get the guitar to the correct size and then you can plot the bridge location correctly

I would have thought that once its glued to a neck, it should be stable enough to be usuable, but if you need to do a lot of truss rod adjustment, I can forsee you running into troubles. Any sort of pressure on the board may allow it to weaken and split open again.

Im with Winger above me. To me, Soulfly are always going to be Sepultura Mk2. Beneath the Remains is still my favourite album by the Seps, but Roots is a groundbreaking album in ways that not a lot of other albums have ever come close to. I dont listen to either band now. Far more interesting things out there these days