Guitar Project numero 5 - General

How difficult do you think it would be to build a Steinberger style set neck guitar? and what tools would be needed?

[QUOTE=bravehat;18818301]How difficult do you think it would be to build a Steinberger style set neck guitar? and what tools would be needed?[/QUOTE] I'd assume it's easier than a normal neck because it's minus the headstock. But it looks like the tuning is done in the bridge (?) so you'd need the right hardware. You'd have to be sure the fretboard is the proper scale, too. So you either have to make your own (which is hard) or you'd have to find a place that sells the correct scale, pre-cut and radiused.

:v: ive got no problem doing a headstock, i just like the idea of having a small bodied guitar the same sorta shape as a stein

[img]http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8189/image586g.jpg[/img] more recent stuff. I've decided to make the neck a set-in with epoxy so I can carve out the heel a bit.. even though there's no special joint, the neck would break before the epoxy could, so It'll be very strong. I'm thinking either a satin lacquer finish, or danish oil finish. Any finish I choose will need to be applied to the entire thing because the neck and body will be permanently attached, which Is why I'd prefer to avoid a high gloss finish.

This is looking really nice, I'd seriously love to see this in faded cherry

Nice!

Once again where is that thermal paint thing that changes color on heat?

I like padauk, but it always looks great so I don't want to paint it. that paint was a cool idea, but i have to buy it from some suspicious site and everything :/ May do it one day.

dont paint it, it looks awesome already ;)

[QUOTE=mynames2long;18965400]This is looking really nice, I'd seriously love to see this in faded cherry[/QUOTE] Well, It'll change to this color once it's oiled or laquered. the oiled color of padauk is a natural faded cherry. Those Gibson SGs look like they are made of padauk because of that finish. The telecaster had the same color as #5 before I put a finish on it. [URL=http://img63.imageshack.us/i/image590.jpg/][IMG]http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4623/image590.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [editline]11:14PM[/editline] [QUOTE=4NGRY MUFF1N;18973412]dont paint it, it looks awesome already ;)[/QUOTE] I'll probably save painting for something made of a more generic wood.

How much did you pay for the fret wire?

fret wire is pretty dirt cheap. Just went out to a local music store and got like 6-7 feet for 15 bucks. Haven't used any of it yet on this one, though.

Wish I could do refrets. I'd really love some stainless steel frets in my RG7620.

I want brass fretwire, fuck. Dulop makes medium brass fretwire, but I'm not sure where I can buy it easily.

It looks awesome but I can't help but feel the white streak in the body ruins it a little

Don't diss the white streak, homie >:( Albeit I do prefer color changes to be on the wings of the guitar, there was no way for me to conserve the white streaks for the outside. It stands out a lot, but it'll look more blended in and mild once I get oil or lacquer on there.

Are you planning becoming a professional guitar-builder?

Depends. You have to build a pretty strong reputation to be successful in that trade. I'll probably start a website at some point when I have the knowhow and the money, and see where it goes from there. If I ever do it's probably take a few years to establish myself.

Could start asking folk on the seven string and ultimate guitar forums if they want any builds done. Just add 50 quid or so on for personal profit, make em so the price is low that way, and you can get more business, then slowly bring prices up.

$50 is slave labor for some odd 25 hours work it requires to build a guitar. That's like $2 and hour :v: $800 was an offer I made to somebody on another forum for this one, and they said they could scrape that up. That's about 300-350 in parts and materials, and about 500 for the work. That comes out to $20 an hour which is one more dollar than I'm paid at work ;) I'm also not working right now (work is slow because of winter and the upcoming winter Olympics) so I need the money.

How much for an 8 string? hipshot bridge and tuners, made of ash with a figured walnut cap?

Can't get the parts for an 8 string so I'm not sure. The same thing in six string would be probably be about 300 - 400 for parts depending on whether or not you use hard ash or swamp ash. swamp ash is surprisingly pricey. Hipshot stuff is pretty pricey for it's quality. Gotoh and Schaller make great stuff and it's usually 20-30 bucks cheaper than hipshot. For tuners, I personally use Grovers.

Hipshot are generally regarded as being pretty top notch, not to mention their hardware looks great.

No, with hipshot you have a bunch of fairly average designs using old tech, With schaller, they incorporate new thing such as roller bridges and with gotoh you get new stuff like locking saddles to secure your tuning. When it comes right down to it, [I]it's a bridge[/I]. There's basically two qualities, which are good, or bad. Unless it has a lot of advanced features; and hipshots don't have any advanced features about them. In the end you're probably spending extra money for an equal, or slightly inferior product. I have to admit, they certainly look cool, but do you want to pay an extra 30-40 dollars for something that looks slightly better?

I dunno, I like the simplicity. Save the locking bridges and tuners/nuts for those with a floating bridge. It's the simplicity that I find attractive about fixed bridge guitars, but I love Floyds for their tuning stability and obviously the ability to dive and whatnot.

Schaller doesn't only make Floyd Rose and tremolos. They make nice hardtails as well. That's actually what I was referring to. Gotoh Makes a lot of hardtail models too Schaller roller bridge [img]http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/images_1lg/0577_1lg.jpg[/img] Gotoh 12 string [img]http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/images_1lg/3039_1lg.jpg[/img] And the tremolos I were referring to were strat style. Though schaller almost makes the best floyd model. Gotoh strat style tremolo. With locking saddles. [img]http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/images_1lg/3533_1lg.jpg[/img]

Semi update. Got a new camera for Christmas, so picture quality won't be garbage anymore. I'm out of town until the 5th. Really edging to work on it soon.

[QUOTE=hypno-toad;18999466]No, with hipshot you have a bunch of fairly average designs using old tech, With schaller, they incorporate new thing such as roller bridges and with gotoh you get new stuff like locking saddles to secure your tuning. When it comes right down to it, [I]it's a bridge[/I]. There's basically two qualities, which are good, or bad. Unless it has a lot of advanced features; and hipshots don't have any advanced features about them. In the end you're probably spending extra money for an equal, or slightly inferior product. I have to admit, they certainly look cool, but do you want to pay an extra 30-40 dollars for something that looks slightly better?[/QUOTE] Well the guitars i've played with hipshot hardware on them have been great, plus they do some perferct bridges for 8 strings.

[QUOTE=bravehat;19361651]Well the guitars i've played with hipshot hardware on them have been great.[/QUOTE] To be fair, if a guitar manufacture makes a crappy guitar they probably aren't going to put an expensive bridge on it. It probably sounds good because the guitar is good. When it comes down to it, a bridge is a bridge. You got a metal baseplate, and saddles. Hipshot uses forged baseplates for their stuff, as appose to stamped, but that's not going to make a difference for sound or tuning stability considering gotoh and schaller usually use forged steel saddles, which is the most important place to have it. The stuff is well crafted, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay and extra 20 dollars when I can buy a Schaller or Gotoh that works better.

Well for a hard tail bridge it was awesome, and [b]felt[/b] perfect for my hand, and that's why I prefer it