bass amp? or regular amp? If its a bass amp id go with a hartke. if its a regular.... thats tough. i have a crate practice amp. its not all that great and as you turn it up it gets worse.
Sorry...regular amp. I should have clarified after commenting on Mike's new rig. Bolt is really pushing this (good low volume tone) in their recent adds.
my brother in law called me yesterday and wondered if i could build a guitar for my brother for his birthday (early September) and it would be a joint gift to him.
i have a bit of experience in the electronics aspect of it and i feel that a fairly simple set up would easily be knocked out in a day (not including the planning part, but worst case on planning is just download a pre-existing wiring diagram and double checking for proper grounding/shielding)
i have plenty of space in my basement that i have built up to specifically to customize guitars.
my biggest concerns...
i have never built a body from scratch. i have had plans to build but never have gone through with it. i have "Frankensteined" a few guitars in the past (taken necks off and re shaped the body a bit used perts from several guitars to build one) and added hardware that was around. but i am worried about the time of designing, shaping and sanding the body
the finish is the one thing that i am EXPECTING to take the most time so i am setting aside well over a month to get that done in my time frame goals.
since i am expecting a learning curve i know i will screw up something. and the advice of "double the expected time and add a third" seems very solid.
the setting of the neck and placement of the bridge are my biggest worries in the "learning curve" area
i am going to buy a semi finished neck. the frets and fretboard will be there but the head will need shape and maybe drilled and then a final finish. this will give me one less thing to mess up. (plus i dont have the right tools to measure and fret)
anyone think that a september first goal is unreasonable?
Uhhh yeah... I mean for first project. And it's a gift so you'll want it to impress. It's a great idea, I just think you might want to give yourself a little more time.
Uhhh yeah... I mean for first project. And it's a gift so you'll want it to impress. It's a great idea, I just think you might want to give yourself a little more time.
+1 if it wasn't a gift, I'd say go for it. If you make one for yourself, you could get your bros feedback on what he likes / doesn't for a future gift without having to go fishing for the info.
Cant play any instruments,cant sing,but like and appreciate all kinds of music!So far i ahve met a guy with a guitar and a guy with a piano who can play any song i tell them! From rap to classical to what not!i respect this kind of things!
Nope, that's some serious hardware though. Don't think you can go "wrong". I notice the setups are a bit different, is that making it easier or harder to chose? Probably go to the double cut myself those EMGs are nice! You could also get a D-tuna for that axe.
Does anyone have any of the PRS SE series? I'm looking at picking up one of these two.
Bad ass looking ax! Old friend of mine "Clay Evans" was president of PRS back in the 90's. *** wouldn't give a coworker/friend deal! He's long left the company...good ridence!
Well the Torero is obviously a bit more pricey, but honestly I'd go with the Tremonti. The dual vol/tone stacks will give you a bit more versatility in tone, and quite honestly the Floyd is more of a pain in the ass than it is a useful tool. Hardtail will give you more stability in downtuning if you do. Plus you'll save a bit of cash for anything else you might want to pile on.
Well the Torero is obviously a bit more pricey, but honestly I'd go with the Tremonti. The dual vol/tone stacks will give you a bit more versatility in tone, and quite honestly the Floyd is more of a pain in the ass than it is a useful tool. Hardtail will give you more stability in downtuning if you do. Plus you'll save a bit of cash for anything else you might want to pile on.
Seems funny, but pillow is right on. I know what my previous post said, I'd still go with the Torero. But this is exactly what I meant about different set ups. I notice that the switches are opposite positions too. Still like those EMGs. I'll be hella jealous if you get either of these...
bass amp? or regular amp? If its a bass amp id go with a hartke. if its a regular.... thats tough. i have a crate practice amp. its not all that great and as you turn it up it gets worse.
10-4, I have the same issue with my fender 110. Just no good tones in it...
Well the Torero is obviously a bit more pricey, but honestly I'd go with the Tremonti. The dual vol/tone stacks will give you a bit more versatility in tone, and quite honestly the Floyd is more of a pain in the ass than it is a useful tool. Hardtail will give you more stability in downtuning if you do. Plus you'll save a bit of cash for anything else you might want to pile on.
if you are good with wiring you can wire in stacked tone/volume knobs in just about any guitar. personally i like to take the standard gibson set up (tone and volume for each pickup) and add on each knob a push/pull knob. then i can have in/out of phase, coil taps, series/parallel, etc switches. the wiring can get quite complex but in my opinion the payout is great. it is also fairly easy to switch out to EMG Pickups as long as you are using passive ones the active ones requite a bit more BS.
i agree with the floyd rose. was too much of a pain for very little usefulness. i will never build/mod another guitar with one ever again. one was enough. hard tail forever.
I have a Mexican Fender starburst fat strat, double humbuckers, maple fretboard and a Fender Deluxe tube amp.
I'm into mostly 60's and 70's rock and pop, The Beatles, Doors, CCR, Roy Orbison, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, John C. Mellencamp, Skynyrd, Bad Company, Bob Seger, Foghat, Eagles, Jackson Browne. Don't mind some funky old C&W tunes, Jerry Jeff Walker, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Delbert McLinton, Roger Miller, Waylon, Willie....
Wish I had the skilz to play Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque or Kenny Wayne Shepard, but alas, those are beyond my reach.
I have a Mexican Fender starburst fat strat, double humbuckers, maple fretboard and a Fender Deluxe tube amp.
I'm into mostly 60's and 70's rock and pop, The Beatles, Doors, CCR, Roy Orbison, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, John C. Mellencamp, Skynyrd, Bad Company, Bob Seger, Foghat, Eagles, Jackson Browne. Don't mind some funky old C&W tunes, Jerry Jeff Walker, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Delbert McLinton, Roger Miller, Waylon, Willie....
Wish I had the skilz to play Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque or Kenny Wayne Shepard, but alas, those are beyond my reach.
Dude those are some surprisingly amazing sounding guitars... my friend has the same model color everything. I was really impressed with tone it gives right out of the box.
Dude those are some surprisingly amazing sounding guitars... my friend has the same model color everything. I was really impressed with tone it gives right out of the box.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. Stands up good to American standard tele IMHO.
Is luthier becoming a dying art? I ask this based on some recent projects that I have been undertaking. I like to get as much input as I can before I start in on something new. I've gotten some good advice hear (you know who you are), but that's about it. There are 3 shops that are local, figured I would try each to see what the guitar docs there had to say. 1st shop -Ma and Pa joint, clearly the guy knows some things, honestly I'm braver than he is. Basically there are certain things he just won't try (even though he's been at it for 30+ years and is surrounded by cheapo guitars that people have traded in to his shop). 2nd shop - The evil empire of GC. Guy's probably awesome at string changes and set ups - has an unreal amount of parts/gear at disposal, maybe taps in to it once in a while. At least he seems like he tries stuff with his own guitars. 3rd shop - Boutique, this guy has got to know what's up- and does. Really nice and some good insight. Tells me that based on my questions I know more than most about what I want to do. Says he would love to help me out, but if I walk my guitar in to his shop - it will cost $ since his boss (the owner) is real uptight about how he spends his time. Offers some OK advice, clearly needs to keep nose to the grindstone.
Hey, even tried a forum for it! Want to be told what everyone else would do with your guitar - it's good for that. Actually had a guy go off on me that I was ruining a guitar if I did it the way I wanted. Then he offered a shining example of a guy that does it right. 2mins of googling later I realize the "example" did what I want to do...
I'm really loving the hobby so far, so I won't be distracted by all this. Still makes me appreciate the great forum we have here.
I have an Ibanez as103 . Got it for cheap on ebay...for half of the retail rate. Has a fat tone. It's this exact model. The link is from photobucket...not mine.
what forum have you tried? i know one that i likes quite a bit. i havent posted then in probably over a year but its still interesting to read.
TDPRI, probably the folks there were more than a little defensive about "heavily modified" teles... Some good info to browse, probably not going to be making too many posts.
Any suggestions you have I'd check it out. Mostly - just chewing the fat on subjects like this helps me to keep the interest level up.
on the tele above did you end up with the 3 way or 5 way switch? and what about the knobs? push/pull? either way it sure looks nice.
Right now it's been together once and is back apart. I did the 5 way switch and went to 500k pots with a push/pull on the tone. Ultimately this set up just gave me more options. This did everything I wanted, now I'm messing with caps to tweak the tone a bit more.
The look is vintage for sure. I like it. It also has a high gloss neck - other tele's I've had did not. That's pretty cool too.
I have an Ibanez as103 . Got it for cheap on ebay...for half of the retail rate. Has a fat tone. It's this exact model. The link is from photobucket...not mine.
Not usually a big fan of all the brass hardware, this is beautiful guitar though!
I got a martin dx-1 I fell in love with the way martins sound as a child when my aunt and uncle used to play folk music and such. But my first was an ibanez gax70 electric still great just needs a lil tlc just like anything.
now I'm messing with caps to tweak the tone a bit more.
again, im not sure you wanna mess up the look of the guitar (with a classic look like that, i wouldnt wanna change the look either) but check out THIS out. this will give you a ton of options in caps. again, im not sure how to keep the guitar looking as good as it does now while incorporating the varitone mod.
the only thing i can think of is get a custom made switch plate that has a third hole for a knob. it would be in the spirit of a tele but would not be strictly classic. it would be a ton of work, and probably ton of money, and that may be a drawback to this modification.
fortunately for you the caps are the easy part. they are easy to install. they are cheap to buy. they yield results that you can actually hear. my ONLY problem with caps is finding them. radio shack has a few but not enough variation. the internet has TONS of caps but you need to buy them in bulk. you can get in the neighborhood of twenty 0.039 µF caps for $5 online. the problems here are twofold: 1) i dont need 20 of them ...plus shipping.
if you have a good electronics as a hobby store in your area go there.
i would not recommend going to a luthier to get electronic supplies. they tend to push you to "vintage" caps and parts that are supposed to imitate the ones used back in the day and cost you up to $50 a pop. i also find that the selection is very limited. if you wanna stray outside of the "norm" (the entire reason to mod your axe) it is generally shunned by these people.
Comments
i have a bit of experience in the electronics aspect of it and i feel that a fairly simple set up would easily be knocked out in a day (not including the planning part, but worst case on planning is just download a pre-existing wiring diagram and double checking for proper grounding/shielding) i have plenty of space in my basement that i have built up to specifically to customize guitars.
my biggest concerns...
i have never built a body from scratch. i have had plans to build but never have gone through with it. i have "Frankensteined" a few guitars in the past (taken necks off and re shaped the body a bit used perts from several guitars to build one) and added hardware that was around. but i am worried about the time of designing, shaping and sanding the body
the finish is the one thing that i am EXPECTING to take the most time so i am setting aside well over a month to get that done in my time frame goals.
since i am expecting a learning curve i know i will screw up something. and the advice of "double the expected time and add a third" seems very solid.
the setting of the neck and placement of the bridge are my biggest worries in the "learning curve" area
i am going to buy a semi finished neck. the frets and fretboard will be there but the head will need shape and maybe drilled and then a final finish. this will give me one less thing to mess up. (plus i dont have the right tools to measure and fret)
anyone think that a september first goal is unreasonable?
+1 if it wasn't a gift, I'd say go for it. If you make one for yourself, you could get your bros feedback on what he likes / doesn't for a future gift without having to go fishing for the info.
Seems funny, but pillow is right on. I know what my previous post said, I'd still go with the Torero. But this is exactly what I meant about different set ups. I notice that the switches are opposite positions too. Still like those EMGs. I'll be hella jealous if you get either of these...
10-4, I have the same issue with my fender 110. Just no good tones in it...
it is also fairly easy to switch out to EMG Pickups as long as you are using passive ones the active ones requite a bit more BS.
i agree with the floyd rose. was too much of a pain for very little usefulness. i will never build/mod another guitar with one ever again. one was enough. hard tail forever.
my friend has the same model color everything. I was really impressed with tone it gives right out of the box.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. Stands up good to American standard tele IMHO.
Hey, even tried a forum for it! Want to be told what everyone else would do with your guitar - it's good for that. Actually had a guy go off on me that I was ruining a guitar if I did it the way I wanted. Then he offered a shining example of a guy that does it right. 2mins of googling later I realize the "example" did what I want to do...
I'm really loving the hobby so far, so I won't be distracted by all this. Still makes me appreciate the great forum we have here.
either way it sure looks nice.
I have an Epiphone "SG" thats about 4 years old.
TDPRI, probably the folks there were more than a little defensive about "heavily modified" teles... Some good info to browse, probably not going to be making too many posts.
Any suggestions you have I'd check it out. Mostly - just chewing the fat on subjects like this helps me to keep the interest level up.
Right now it's been together once and is back apart. I did the 5 way switch and went to 500k pots with a push/pull on the tone. Ultimately this set up just gave me more options. This did everything I wanted, now I'm messing with caps to tweak the tone a bit more.
The look is vintage for sure. I like it. It also has a high gloss neck - other tele's I've had did not. That's pretty cool too.
Not usually a big fan of all the brass hardware, this is beautiful guitar though!
the only thing i can think of is get a custom made switch plate that has a third hole for a knob. it would be in the spirit of a tele but would not be strictly classic. it would be a ton of work, and probably ton of money, and that may be a drawback to this modification.
fortunately for you the caps are the easy part. they are easy to install. they are cheap to buy. they yield results that you can actually hear.
my ONLY problem with caps is finding them. radio shack has a few but not enough variation. the internet has TONS of caps but you need to buy them in bulk. you can get in the neighborhood of twenty 0.039 µF caps for $5 online. the problems here are twofold:
1) i dont need 20 of them
if you have a good electronics as a hobby store in your area go there.
i would not recommend going to a luthier to get electronic supplies. they tend to push you to "vintage" caps and parts that are supposed to imitate the ones used back in the day and cost you up to $50 a pop. i also find that the selection is very limited. if you wanna stray outside of the "norm" (the entire reason to mod your axe) it is generally shunned by these people.