Digideus

I sort of begs the question "HOW did it get this bad?"

Im not going to go into a long tirade here of how I disagree with you Drak, as I have no interest in arguing over personal beleifs, but I will say that forgiveness is not just a religious practice. Not that im trying to take anything away from the act itself because, in this particular situation, its a deeply humbling act that deserves respect, but I doubt that 90% of the population of this planet are capable of such selflessnes in the light of recent events, and I dont think I would be any less respectful of the Amish people if they chose not to. In truth, I have no opinion on how they conduct themselves. I think its a shame that the media are packaging the Amish families grief at a time like this to feed their ratings, but thats my own take on the blatently intrusive actions of the media. I had to laugh out loud (more through sheer disbeleif than any amusement) when I discovered that the killer had an arsenal of weaponry on him, yet the only thing in his possession that was illegal was a stun gun. Clearly, this whole situation sucks and why the world is looking on asking how it happened, at least Marilyn Manson can sit at home safe in the knowledge that no-one can blame him this time!

Drak, as a step in teaching the rest of us how you do it, can we have a pic of the stained guitar and then one once your sanded it back? I for one would appreicate it because I have no idea how much sanding is required, and seeing it would explain a lot I think. Anyway, I know you can do as good a job on this finish, so im dying to see how good this is gonna be and a step by step guide? In the words of arnie..."DO IIIITTTT!"

You know, as much as I would HATE to say anything bad about Drak's ability, I have this voice in my head saying "Steve Irwin was good with animals, but look where that got him!". Perhaps this is why Drak WOD's most of his work! Personally, id put Single coils in there for the above reasons, Or id leave it like that and drill it out as a clock Drak is still da man when it comes to finishes tho.

Im Speechless...... When it comes to amazing, you da man!

DAMN! thats is TEH SEX!! call is "Storm On Jupiter" perhaps?

You know, Ive NEVER seen a bass player play anything past the 12th fret, with the exception of Cliff Burton who used to play bass solos a lot, but then he never went past the 19th. I dont see the access really being a problem.

Expect lots of failed spray jobs, they NEVER come out perfect unless you spend an extreme amount of time on them and yu will need to practice a lot. That said, you can get quite creative with spray cans. The first guitar I sprayed was Red and Black stripes on a cheap gibson SG copy. It came out quite well but I learned a lot from doing it, like how not to spray too much. Ive since had successes with Flock spray and laquer, hammerite and all sorts of spray can colours. Gold looks nice on a strat body! Titebond glue is pretty much THE DADDY of glues for guitar bodies. Everyone on this forum uses it.

Wow! Surely one of the finest Superstrats ive seen in years. Do Jackson ever get "funny" about their designs being copied... AND done better than they can do? Fabulous work dude.

Thats exactly what I thought about decresed coupling, as the unsecured wood would naturally want to cup under tension. my neck tenon will be dowel jointed and glued to wood either side to prevent said cuping, plus glued to the top wood. I figure that way tension will be distributed across the whole plane of the wood and will increase tonality. I think its a good idea for set neck technology and I would happily make all my guitars in that way.

I am building a flying V with exactly the same idea you just explained, with a tenon going the full length of the body and under the top wood, but Im using as much glue as I can, and possibly some dowels to hold everything in place. I definately wouldnt attempt to hold it there with just string tension. If the tenon isnt secure, theres no way you can ensure neck stability. Im using glue on 5 surfaces, angled joints to absorb stress and ill proably have a largish retining screw out of sight to keep the neck and body together.

The only thing I do with Floyd Rose's is to lock them down with a block of wood. I HATE HATE HATE Trems. Apart from the tuning & intonation issues, The only thing that transfers the vibration between string and body is 2 piddly pole peices that the floyd pivots against and the springs underneath.

You forgot to mention Minimum safe distance, which would be on the moon Also, if you wrap the guitar in silver foil and move the MDF board closer toeh detonation, the foil would reflect the blast and leave a guitar shape without spoiling the guitar

What about Rustins Plastic Coat? I hear a lot of people rate that product for clear coating.

this is a gibson explorer just flipped in my grahics program. Depending on how may bells and wistles you are talking about, you mat have an isue with weight because youd have to remove a lot of material to route out the necessary electronics cavity, but it sounds interesting. How much stuff you thinking of putting in there?

Looks great so far. what is it, 27" Scale? It looks really long! Whats the weight like?

hehe, one of my sons Pokemon Curtains may end up on a guitar body at this rate!!!

Well, actually, if the neck is a 25.5" scale length neck, the bridge has to be 25.5" away from the nut. Changing the layout of the fretboard will change the scale length. The one constant is that the 12th fret is ALWAYS the centre point between the nut and the bridge. If you place the bridge first, you will have a whole heap o trouble getting the correct placement of the nut, and the danger is that the neck pocket will be too shallow. Dont try and change the convention because I can guarentee you, it will not work! Neck first, the the bridge!

I cant see the original post, but have you looked at Walmouth?? You can buy ready made parts from them. They do Jackson-esque necks, multiple body choices and all the materials and gear you need to finish it how you want. Perhaps thats more what you were asking for?

The simple answer is to wear latex gloves where necessary, wear an inhalation mask where prudent and ALWAYS ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION AROUND POWER TOOLS! It still shocks me that people dont take basic precautions like that when doing anything remotely dangerous. All it takes is one splinter in the eye to prove that you were silly for not using protection.

I thought it was normal to plan out the bridge location based on the scale length of the instrument. Youd be better off doing that because you will get more accurate results, otherwise you wont be able to intonate the instrument. Measure the neck from the nut to the 12th fret, double this to work out the scale length, then work out the bridge location using that measurement. It sounds backwards I know, but its the only way to be accurate.

I Believe Pete Steele from Type O Negative uses guitar pickups in his basses to achieve that exact sound.

A Neckthru angle is a bit different to a bolt on neck angle because you have to take the whole length of the neck thru section into account. Melvyn Hiscocks book goes into a lot of detail about neck angle and how to work it out. Draw a line that is the same measurement as the length between the bridge and the nut. Draw in the height of the bridge and draw a connecting line to establish the neck tilt angle. Another option (One which MANY builders use) it to recess the bridge into the body. This means you dont need to angle the neck because the recess into the body does the same job of lowering the strings closer to the fretboard. At the top of this page you will see a SEARCH function, and I know theres been many posts in the past explaining neck tilt, fretboards and nut measurement, so have a look there and if you dont understand it, do some more reading. Im pretty sure you can find everything you need on this site. The template looks fine from here, Although measurements are everything with any sort of plan. Get yourself a copy of TurboCAD if you havent already and read up about the dimensions toolbar and add measurements to the plan.

Awww no fair, he said it better than me

Shortcuts like that usually lead to sub standard finishes, which will never last and you will be disappointed in thelong run. I think paper would probably detoriate over time unless you sealed it in some way, in shich case, the sealing finish may well do more harm to the playability. Youd be better off doing a proper inlay, which is not a difficult as youd think, but takes time and some skill with a sharp knife, but the posibilities are endless. If I had batteries, I could show you the inlay job I just did to replace a damaged dot inlay with a Wenge block. fairly easy if you take your time and dont rush it, and the results are all the more rewarding.