Digideus

Is it a Tuneomatic bridge? as a stab in the dark, check to see if its really worn. I had one that cracked and the tone of the string went really bright where the string was vibrating against the edges of the string groove Sounds like a perfect fixer upper!

I think TONE is quite subjective because tonewoods have certain tonal qualities that appeal to the individual. Start by thinking what sound you want to achieve. Once you have that in mind, ask questions. Compare the tonal qualities of each wood to your tastes. Les Pauls are mostly mahogany with a Maple Cap. Fenders are mostly maple (ill probably get crucified for saying that), Play a few of these in guitar shops and pick out the differences in tone for yourself. As for the 27" question, buy the book!!! Until you understand basic constants like that, youre gonna be going in blindly!

Hi there and welcome. I remember when I first considered building a guitar. I havent actually done it yet because I dont have the tools I need, but I do build full size models from MDF and Plywood. Good experience as I have pointed out below. I advise you to just learn as much as you can. there is always a learning curve with anything that is worthwhile. Ask questions and take on board what the more experienced people here have to say. You mentioned Muhammed Suicmez from Necrophagist. I found a pic of him with a guitar... looks like a Moser/BC Rich to me, but someone here may know more. Anyone? (Metal Matt should know ! :lol ) Melvyn Hiscox book is essential reading, as are the various posts on here that detail each step of a build. you can learn a lot from other peoples efforts. Wood is ALWAYS the hard bit for new guys (and Gals!) as are the terminology used when describing stuff (3 part laminate neck thru strings thru compund radius 27" shread machine is the technical way to say "nice guitar!") Stick to what the experts use and dont try something too advanced for your first guitar. Maple, Mahogany and Ash are good places to start because most production guitars are made from these species of wood in my expeience. Exotic woods are really the realm of the self builder and the custom guitars they make. Id say the place to start is to sketch the guitar out in full size. Then you will have measurements to plan what woods you need. Thats where the Melvyn Hiscox book will come in because it will explain about scale lengths, how the neck and body come together, Neck tilt, etc... I dont expect you to understand all those terms yet but it never hurts to start. After you have a full size drawing, you should make a plywood or MDF template of your chosen instrument. It will give you a lot of experience on what to look for when it comes to build the real thing, AND you will have a full scale model to use as a template on the expensive woods. Good luck. Remember to take photos of your progress, dont rush and most importantly, learn from your mistakes, but dont be discouraged if it goes wrong. EVERYONE makes mistakes!!!!

The following was taken from the BC Rich website. Its nt my intention to paste this up as my own work, and if a Mod feels this isnt an acceptable post, be all means remove it with my full apologies. I just thought the number of newbies that ask wood related questions could be directed here (or maybe they will use the search function first..... NAHHHHH!) It's a nice idea, but IMO it's better practice to link to the relevant section of the website instead of cutting and pasting the text. BC Rich Custom Shop guitar wood guide

Are you sure about a 27" scale 8 string? What tuning are you going to use?

MAN, Thats Deep!!

Graphite?

Maplins! www.maplins.co.uk

This was on ebay... http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fancy-Nancy-Fabrics

Kewl Inlay Kewl Name! You should design a few in turbo cad or something. I think that designs like that are an area that a lot of guitar builders dont touch because of the complexity of the work. Perhaps you should do a few more and then offer your services to the whole luthier community. Im sure a lot of builders would send work your way. Fantastic work! Keep it up!

The cheap and cheerful option is to use a coat hanger.... (excuse the rubbish images - took me 30 secs to draw!) 1. Take a wire coat hanger 2. Pull it downwards to make it long 3. Turn it over 4. Bend the end over to make a hook You now have a simple hanging thing that you can hang on a washing line. that will hold a body while you spray it. Just put the hook end through a neck screw hole and use the bent end to hang on the washing line, Then away you go.

Yeah, I agree with the last 2 posts. Youll probably find the neck tilt is wrong. If youve played with guitars, youll probably know that some guitars have a bit of material, tape or something in the neck pocket. That is there to push the neck pocket up so the headstock drops, reducing the height of the strings across the neck. Putting a shim under the neck in the neck pocket will most probably correct it. youll need to experiment a little with it to get the right angle, but dont overdo it. Youll be surprised how little material you need to correct the neck tilt. Does anyone know of a tutorial about this?

... AND occasionally stick it in a bucket and spray some oil on it to stop it rusting.

well, thats you and me in dumbass corner then! Thinking about it, its habit to place your finger behind the fret you are playing. With a fretless guitar, your brain would interpret the fret markers in the same way and I can forsee a player fretting the string so its slightly flat because you aim to place your finger behind the fret, and in my mind, that would be slightly off key. You may need to adjust the position of any markers to compensate for the lack of frets, but then again, it may need a few attempts to get it right :$ Does that make sence?

A friend of mine bullt an Iroko/Maple body and he said the Iroko just soaked up the laquer he put on it. Apart from that I believe its tonal properties are much like Mahogany.

Go listen to Death's "Human" and "Individual Thought Patterns", particularly a song called "The Philosopher" as it has a fretless bass solo at the end of the song which is pretty radical. I suppose you could put fret markers on the top of the neck to indicate where the frets are supposed to be. That may help with finding the fret positions.

99.9% of the electric necks ive seen and repaired taper to accomodate the difference in size between the nut to the bridge, as youll find most bridges are far wider than the nut, and you want to have a uniform feel to the strings all the way along the neck. Ill admit ive never seen a straight neck apart from on acoustics. Im sure if you look on most guitar manufacturers websites, the necks taper. I could be wrong, but then I could also be the next james bond! That has nothing to do with anything else I said above, I just felt the need to say it

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Private-Stock-Mega-Q...1QQcmdZViewItem

www.blackmachine.co.uk the defacto reference for 8 strings!!! Email doug@blackmachine.co.uk The 884 fanned fret guitar he has n his site was built using 8 individual graphite saddles. The 8 string Hipshot bridge The Novax guitars Individual Bridge system i'm sure you can google a few other terms for 9 string bridges. Good luck

Bro, an 8 string would be awesome. The problem is that you REALLY need to get the headstock right. Im sure you read Doug's blog about his 8 strings over at blackmachine, so you know the drill regarding getting that many tuners on a headstock as well as the fact that the headstock will be huge anyway! Have you considered steinberger tuners? Then you could do a real flamy headstock with bevels and a real f&$ked up nasty look to them, but you could keep the strings fairly straight. Just a thought.... Nice work tho. What did you use to do the 3d image?

Heh, youll be knitting guitar covers next Im sure your friend knows this already, but hanging a weighty guitar on clothing leather will probably streach it. You need untreated hide that hasnt been softened for clothing. The stuff you get from clothing suppliers will probably be thinner and softer and will not like having a lump of wood hanging off it. Best talk to a few leather shops or the like and get some advice. Good luck anyway

go to a market! Uk Markets have Habidasher stalls that sell material by the yard. Im sure you can find something of interest there

I made one out of some fashion belts I found at a market. They were 4 inch wide and made of double layered denim with hole studs in them. They looked pretty girly as belts, but I put 2 of them together, attached some strap locks and I had a pretty interesting strap with a buckle adjustment half way. If not, look into getting some chain mail rings from a re-enactment or live role playing supplier and make one from that! Whatever you end up doing, show us some pics dude!

Im no expert, but ive seen AAA tops that look as nice as that, tho the figuring pattern is completely random. Thing is, if youre not happy, complain! If you cant get your money back, I guess you could always sell it on via ebay or something.

Go with the seat belt method! It never tears!!!! Go to a car breakers yard or scrap yard and find a beat up shitheap of a car that has seatbelts. Take the seatbelts out and remove the casing and metal parts on the strap. Next, buy some strap locks, the sort with the pullout pin. Work out the size you need, apply one of them to the seatbelt material at one end, then measure, measure again and then cut the belt to size and use a lighter to seal the ends of the material. Apply the 2nd strap lock There you go. A new strap built from the toughest material you can get and with the strap locks, your guitar will never take a dive unless you drop it or the straplock fails and snaps! It may not be adjustable like a nylon or leather strap, but if you cut it to size correctly, it will always be in the ideal position.