Lets look at our guitars thread

Lets look at our guitars thread

Author
Discussion

smn159

12,449 posts

216 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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dromong said:
Well I recommend more people build their own guitar, that way you can have it exactly how you want it, neck profile, weight, wood, fret size ,scale length, finish etc etc etc, then when you string it up for the first time and hear it sing you will get the biggest grin and sense of acheivement ever, and save a fortune into the bargain.

Im a guitar fanatic and i have not bought a single mass produced factory guitar since 1988, built everything i ever wanted, Soloists,SG's, Les Pauls, Teles, Rhoads v, even a Glenn Tipton Hamer custom GT, frickin mad guitar!.
Here's a recent tele i built playing Gary Moore's "Shapes of things" lead guitar solo.. https://youtu.be/wQ4gu0oFy-4

Edited by dromong on Thursday 24th November 09:51
Nice Tele, I'm after something similar

Mind me asking - What's the spec list?

dromong

689 posts

219 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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Spec list so unique its probably the only guitar on earth with it!, Ash one piece body, maple neck (which ive had as a blank since the early 90's), a mid 90's strat pickup in the bridge, nothing special but it sounds good to me, medium heavy guage nickel silver fretwire, nut made from red deer antler from Wester Ross moorland!, scratchplate made from a 1950's Singer sewing machine case, volume plate and pickup plate made from a custom stainless steel heatshield from an Escort RS Turbo!, Ballachuilish slate sanded into perfect little fret markers, and Cuprinol Fir green fence stain which was applied then dragged round the garden to give that vintage Rossi tele patina, plus some other nefarious cheap as chips parts, that one was an excersise in making a guitar for virtually nowt, sounds as nice as any other guitar Iv'e built that I had to spend a fortune on high end parts. https://youtu.be/wQ4gu0oFy-4


Edited by dromong on Thursday 24th November 16:56

Don1

15,936 posts

207 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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Matt Novak said:
I'll get round to posting some pics, didn't realise there was a guitar thread on here as I have been most active in the regional forums and supercars.

Off the top of my head:

''Proper Guitars''
Gibson non-reverse Firebird 2011 (sunburst)
Gibson ES-335 Memphis 2014 (cherry red)
Gibson Les Paul Junior 2015 (cherry red)
Zemaitis (Greco built) LP-style 2012 like Ronnie Wood played (flame maple with inlays)
Greco Les Paul DC Junior 1986 (cheery red)
Fender Strat 2008 ala Ritchie Blackmore
Ibanez RG505 (1993) in midnight wine
Ibanez PGM500CA (1992) Paul Gilbert sig in Candy Apple Red
Ibanez IC500 Iceman (1991) Jap market only reissue
Charvel model 1(?) Jap, 80's I guess

Copies / unknowns / partscasters
Unknown Flying V copy (white with block inlays, gold hardware - gift from Mrs Novak)
Les Paul Standard copy, 1970's (sunburst)
Superstrat - Kramer neck on unknown body
Superstrat - scalloped maple neck on sunburst body

Probably a few others dotted around...
Yep - pictures please!

smn159

12,449 posts

216 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
quotequote all
dromong said:
Spec list so unique its probably the only guitar on earth with it!, Ash one piece body, maple neck (which ive had as a blank since the early 90's), a mid 90's strat pickup in the bridge, nothing special but it sounds good to me, medium heavy guage nickel silver fretwire, nut made from red deer antler from Wester Ross moorland!, scratchplate made from a 1950's Singer sewing machine case, volume plate and pickup plate made from a custom stainless steel heatshield from an Escort RS Turbo!, Ballachuilish slate sanded into perfect little fret markers, and Cuprinol Fir green fence stain which was applied then dragged round the garden to give that vintage Rossi tele patina, plus some other nefarious cheap as chips parts, that one was an excersise in making a guitar for virtually nowt, sounds as nice as any other guitar Iv'e built that I had to spend a fortune on high end parts. https://youtu.be/wQ4gu0oFy-4


Edited by dromong on Thursday 24th November 16:56
Thanks thumbup

HarryFlatters

4,203 posts

211 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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dromong said:
HarryFlatters said:
I'm think that I'm going to have to go down this route and build (well, bolt together) my own Telecaster.
Cant go wrong building a Tele, they are by far the simplest electric guitar to build you will ever find. I know of companies that build things like a "Rossi replica" similar to the one i posted in the link above, and charge in the region of 12 - 1400 quid, thats a staggering profit margin!, the one in the video cost me around 120 quid all in and was made in a weekend, plays as well as any Fender or copy ive had in my hands.
Nice one fella thumbup

Top shedding in that video too smokin

JaymzDead

1,216 posts

199 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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HarryFlatters said:
I'm think that I'm going to have to go down this route and build (well, bolt together) my own Telecaster.
Me too, I have all the parts assembled to build my ultimate superstrat. I bought an old Ferrari red Charvel body for quite an embarrassing price off eBay last year, then bought an unfinished reverse headstock maple Jackson/Charvel style neck. Spec will be: Floyd Rose Special bridge and nut in black, Gotoh tuners, Iron Gear Steam Hammer and Pig Iron Overwound HSS pickup set. Looking forward to bolting it all together Thought I was just going to need to get the body routed for the Floyd and the neck heel machined to fit the pocket on the body, I have now found out that Charvel fitted straight sided pickups to the body and the Iron Gears have the traditional angle on the back edge so more routing required. I am useless at woodworking, luckily my Uncle has a workshop in his garage and has agreed to do all the fiddly bits for me, I will then do all the soldering and bolting together. I'm hoping that it will be a beast, I'll post pics when it's finished.

Tom_C76

1,923 posts

187 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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JaymzDead said:
Me too, I have all the parts assembled to build my ultimate superstrat. I bought an old Ferrari red Charvel body for quite an embarrassing price off eBay last year, then bought an unfinished reverse headstock maple Jackson/Charvel style neck. Spec will be: Floyd Rose Special bridge and nut in black, Gotoh tuners, Iron Gear Steam Hammer and Pig Iron Overwound HSS pickup set. Looking forward to bolting it all together Thought I was just going to need to get the body routed for the Floyd and the neck heel machined to fit the pocket on the body, I have now found out that Charvel fitted straight sided pickups to the body and the Iron Gears have the traditional angle on the back edge so more routing required. I am useless at woodworking, luckily my Uncle has a workshop in his garage and has agreed to do all the fiddly bits for me, I will then do all the soldering and bolting together. I'm hoping that it will be a beast, I'll post pics when it's finished.
Alternative for the pickups is to swap to EMGs, which are a straight drop in to the Charvel body. I have a pair of SA and an 89 in mine, with a pull pot to tap the 89, and a mid boost too. Sounds much better than the stock Jackson stacked HBs.

JaymzDead

1,216 posts

199 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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Tom_C76 said:
Alternative for the pickups is to swap to EMGs, which are a straight drop in to the Charvel body. I have a pair of SA and an 89 in mine, with a pull pot to tap the 89, and a mid boost too. Sounds much better than the stock Jackson stacked HBs.
Sounds good, unfortunately the Iron Gears have already been purchased so woodwork it is!

BRISTOL86

1,097 posts

104 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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Been playing acoustic for just over a year but picked up my first electric, a good old Pacifica. I remember playing my friend's back when I was in primary school....I'm 30 now!

About 10 years old but in lovely condition and fitted with a new pickguard and Duncan pickups. What more could you want for £100?!


Loyly

17,990 posts

158 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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Sheetmaself said:


Ordered me this, Mark Knopfler 58 les paul. One of 75 standard historic spec released, i have placed a standby order ( but i do not believe i have a good chance) for one of the 50 hand signed true historic spec versions which is the one i really wanted. these true historic spec ones are apparently aged and played by Mark himself although to what extent i dont know.

No idea on when to expect yet, but i do know that a, it wont come soon enough and b, it will be a very good day.

Thought i best add as only one per shop and don't want to worry anyone on here who may of bought theirs from guitarguitar, this is t where i got it from but it was the only place i could find a proper picture.

Edited by Sheetmaself on Monday 14th November 11:17
I would imagine for these sort of gimmick products, the pro player will play each one for about a minute. Judging by the beautiful arch top Suhrs he has been playing for years, I doubt Knopfler would want to spend too long playing a Les Paul...

Sheetmaself

5,665 posts

197 months

Friday 25th November 2016
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He spends an awful lot of time playing les pauls, some of his most celebrated songs were recorded using either his 58 or 59 les paul and they still go on tour with him to this day.

If your talking about the wear it was established by another ph'er that it is bad wording in the advert and that they are hand signed by MK but worn by the factory to replicate the wear on his personal 58

Don1

15,936 posts

207 months

Saturday 26th November 2016
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Well I finally broke my 'black Friday' duck..... Pics etc should be Monday! It's a brand I haven't seen on here I don't think - Chapman. All hail the Monkey Lord!

The Nur

9,168 posts

184 months

Saturday 26th November 2016
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Oooh, intriguing!

*crosses fingers and hopes you've bought a ghost fret*

gbbird

5,186 posts

243 months

Sunday 27th November 2016
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I succumbed to Black Friday and treated myself to this little beauty. Brand new, an absolute steal with nearly £300 off list. Needless to say, I'm loving it.










Evangelion

7,642 posts

177 months

Sunday 27th November 2016
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Newly arrived at the Fenderosa, set of parts for the next project:

Pine body by Guitarbuild, in red nitro
Mighty Mite bound neck
US Standard Strat pickups
Genuine celluloid torty scratchplate
Wilkinson trem with steel block



Few other parts on order such as Wilkinson vintage style tuners, pots, caps etc. Then I can break out the screwdriver set and soldering iron and get going.

dromong

689 posts

219 months

Monday 28th November 2016
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Evangelion said:
Newly arrived at the Fenderosa, set of parts for the next project:

Pine body by Guitarbuild
Not wanting to put a dampener on your build mate but Pine, ( a softwood ) is not something I would recommend for an electric guitar body, in the early days when I started out building way back in 88 I used pine in a few guitars as experiments and they all sounded dead tonally, even with good hardware /pickups / neck etc they sounded awful, no sustain, extremely dull sounding things, changed a couple of them to Ash and they were transformed. Ok wood for Acoustics but if you are seriously out to make something half decent you will enjoy playing I would recommend getting another body made from Hardwood, a one or 2 piece body in something like Ash / Alder /Poplar /Mahogany , I have used Cherry many times and it is a fantastic tonewood, easy to work and ages to a lovely shade if left natural, even strips of Hardwood glued together (which is how most mass produced electrics are made) is superior to Pine in my experience, of course pine is very variable in its hardness some being extremely soft, asides from the tone they dent very easily, you may be lucky and have something that sounds ok,that is more likely if its multi pieces glued together, if its a one piece body made from a fairly soft pine like Spruce I would doubt it will sound great, im sure others may disagree but that's been my experience anyway. I wish you luck.

bga

8,134 posts

250 months

Monday 28th November 2016
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Without getting into the whole tonewood debate, there are plenty of pine bodied guitars out there that sound great. IIRC the move away from pine for Teles was not one based upon how it sounded. There is also a great deal of variation between the pine species - it's not all like B&Q's "finest".

Evangelion

7,642 posts

177 months

Monday 28th November 2016
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dromong said:
Evangelion said:
Newly arrived at the Fenderosa, set of parts for the next project:

Pine body by Guitarbuild
Not wanting to put a dampener on your build mate .. [stuff about wood] ...
It'll be fine, I don't subscribe to all that tonewood bks.

dromong

689 posts

219 months

Monday 28th November 2016
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Evangelion said:
It'll be fine, I don't subscribe to all that tonewood bks.
Aye, fair enough.

Escapegoat

5,135 posts

134 months

Monday 28th November 2016
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Evangelion said:
It'll be fine, I don't subscribe to all that tonewood bks.
Well, it's certainly true that if you heap compression/distortion on to a guitar signal, material differences are blurred.

But I don't think anyone genuinely thinks that materials make no difference.