Digideus

Kewl bro. Very metal! Now, how about the other side?

Whats different about this guitar thats not hapening on the others? If its just you havent swapped out the pickup, thats understandable. You did earth it right?

8 strings!!! F@!*ing Hell!!!

How about this? This method is FAR less wasteful of blanks, plus I think youll find you can get blanks of this size far easier than the huge 1 piece you were looking for above. Blanks this size are cheaper as well. You may even be able to get offcut boards this size from a sawmill/joinery for next to nothing. I scaled this drawing up to 24" x 10 ", which is a dimension ratio of 2.24(length) to 1(width). adjust it for the accurate dimensions.

Is string height to the nearest .00001 mm really that important? As long as it plays and is intonable, who cares?

Imglad you had a shot in there with a hand holding it. It puts it into perspective. Thats some nice Inlay material. Abalone? Seriously nice wood too. Please tel me you arent gonna paint the back of the neck, it looks too nice with that figuring. Definately an Oil finish if you ask me. Keep it up dude, looking awesome!

I would have said this was personal preference of the person playing it. Thing is, as far as electrics go, I prefer one Vol pot right beneath where I pick so I can control the volume easily No tone control cos I never use it. In that scenario, having a push/pull pot would be ideal, but its not for everyone. I cant say I really like them myself, and I prefer a latching button or switch of some kind away from the Vol Pot, more toward the neck away from the picking area. Like I said, thats me, and I guess that a lot of you disagree, which is why I said personal preference (see what I did there? Clever wasnt it!) In fact thinking about it, why not look into lacthing buttons? you could get a chrome arcade machine style latching button and put a bat logo on it with a chrome plastic surround, and you could wire in one of those annoying MR.T voice Box things so it says "I PITY THE FOOL!!!!!" every time you change the pickup!!!! AWESOME!

Cant wait! Wicked Headstock. LONG LIVE SCALLOPS!

should have guessed by the scalloped neck. Doesnt Yngwie want it back?

L.R.Baggs T-Bridge I saw this and an Idea came to me about using this in a guitar. Thing is im planning to use an EMG81 in the bridge poisition and I was wondering if anyone here had any experience of this bridge and integrating it with other active pickups. L.R.Baggs also make an onboard mixer/preamp (details HERE) but this seems to be for passives and something tells me that I wouldnt be able to use actiuve pickups with this. Anyone have any advice?

The Headstock is reminiscent of Nemesis The Warlocks head! Do you read 2000ad at all?

OK, I took my 1959 Les Paul and cut it half. It doesnt have rings. Did I cut it the wrong way?

Sorry dude, I missed that one. The answer is no, I doubt it at the moment but possibly in future, It all depends on building a prototype at the moment, but Im busy recrafting the design slightly as the full size blow up did show some flaws in my original idea. Back to teh drawing board!

I was gonna say that! the Metal Zone Pedal is the only metal stomp box youll need ever! Not sure about the Wah cos I dont use them but Wahs are usefull for tone boosts and a cheap EQ pedal will give you a level boost as well! The Peavey Bandit 1x12 was a loud sucker as I remember, but if youre gonna go with pedals, anything will do the job without needing the ultra heavy gain some of todays amps offer. My personal faves were Laneys. Id try and get a 2x12 as they sound pretty good mic'ed up through a PA and give you loads of air movement for when you cant mic them. Remember that volume is relative to the space you play in too. bedrooms are often far too small for anything set beyond "2" to get that great tone youre after, but dont be put off, I would quite happily use a 2x12 on stage and maybe add a 4x12 slave cab later when funds allow it

I think he is just real busy. He makes guitars 5 days a week. on the odd occasions I see him , its usually at a gig. I had the pleasure of seeing his mouth drop open when he saw Strapping Young Lad recently (hehe, mind blowing!) I know he has been doing a lot for the summer season. There was talk of him endorsing Meshuggah, and some guitarist by the name "Vai" has been linked to his 8 strings as well. I must have mentioned before, but Doug is helping me build my first one soon.... As soon as I find the money.... Unemployment sucks!

Im really happy that you all like these guys. Ive been plugging Black Machine for a while now, primarily cos Doug is a good friend of mine and ive known him for about 15 years now. Believe me, his guitars are not just pretty. He has spent time developing these instruments over that time to develop the most playable guitars youll ever get your mitts on!

Get some nice Veneer for it. It will look amazing! It wont matter about the back then, cos no-one will see it when youre playing it and you could even paint the back. Nice job tho. Obviously a lot of work went into it. What about the headstock?

The only thing I dont like on them all is the loveheart bit. Still, Matt has done some nice work on this so far. Nice work dude

Youre not talking about Chris Impelitteri are you?

I didnt read the whole thread, but... I demo stuff and write riffs using a preamp with speaker emulation plugged into my sound card and a copy of a program called Audacity, which is freeware. Its easy to learn and very simple to record riffs on. My whole band uses it to do overdubs on top of riffs to come up with melodies and harmonies and like I said, its free! Its also great for editing. like a free version of Cool edit! Audacity homepage

Ive noticed lots of luthiers selling bits on ebay. Inlayed fretboards, necks, bodys, etc.... which is great for the amatuer luthier or for someone who wants to get their hands dirty putting a guitar together. Personally I would put stuff on ebay if I thought it was good enough, simply because you can reach a massive audience for not a lot of work. As to wether amatuers should aspire to it, Id say yes. We all start somewhere. That said however, the comments made in response to the question of selling guitars were extremely relevent and should not be ignored. Theres no point selling your first guitars except to friends cos you need time to develop your skills and actually become comfortable building them.

Carve Top V Go AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNN You know it makes sence!

That is the best quote EVER. Nice guitar as well mate. Glad to see you kept the burl on that top intact. That wood was made for that guitar! cant wait to see the finish.

I like the clamping contraption! man that thing is so kewl! Solves a problem of clamping to the table and using up all the available space. I think ill do something like that if I ever get around to affording some wood!

Outstanding!