Building a Custom Ax
A friend or mine has just picked up his spanking new Suhr guitar 8) and I have to say its just gorgeous! And he's proud as punch about it too so I'm pretty envious of course. Trouble is, A Suhr here is a huge amount of money and this guy has pretty much shelled out his left kidney and a third of his right testicle to pay for this guitar. He rattled off a figure somewhere a bit north of $8000 :shock: so even though its nice, I'm somewhat finding it hard to justify this sort of money for it. In fact, I believe I can put together a guitar with custom parts for under a 1/4 of what he paid and it would be finished as well as his Suhr. :shock: So we thought it would be a good exercise/project to see just what I can put together. Not that I want him to feel bad about his Suhr at all - I'll never change his mind about it and thats a good thing. But this project should be a stack of fun. I know a lot of people criticise others for building their own guitars because they say it could sound like crap, it'll have no value if you want to trade it blah blah blah. But thats not the point of it really is it? Its all about choosing the timbers you want, finish/colour, pickups, hardware etc.
I've been looking at the Warmoth site lately and I think the finish on their work is really good. For example, the guitar shown here from the Warmoth site is quite similiar to my friends Suhr:
http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?Body=2&Shape=10&Path=Body,Soloist&i=SLP94
I think the finish on this Warmoth body is every bit as good as his Suhr so maybe this will be a good place to start. Does anyone have any experience with Warmoth products at all or any comments about their stuff in general??? Also, if anyone can suggest another company that does better work for similiar money please let me know.
I've been looking at the Warmoth site lately and I think the finish on their work is really good. For example, the guitar shown here from the Warmoth site is quite similiar to my friends Suhr:
http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?Body=2&Shape=10&Path=Body,Soloist&i=SLP94
I think the finish on this Warmoth body is every bit as good as his Suhr so maybe this will be a good place to start. Does anyone have any experience with Warmoth products at all or any comments about their stuff in general??? Also, if anyone can suggest another company that does better work for similiar money please let me know.
Comments
That’s alot for a paint job. I have a Warmouth Telecaster neck that’s really nice. Haven’t got it on anything rite now but I did try it out on my Telecaster for awhile. I don’t have any complaints with it. Lets see I can
However tell you what I’m into my strat for as the only original thing on it is the pickguard.
Guitar new was $600
65 Fender Maple Telecaster neck. $100
Floyd Rose Trem $125
Locking Sperzal Tuners $90
3- Joe Barden Pickups $475
Costs for Routing and installing the Floyd, Setting the neck, Installing Graphite nut, Tuners,
Painting the peghead, action and intonation $300
I installed the pickups and did the wiring myself.
So for $1700 I have a pretty awesome strat.
I could get one hell of a paint job for $6300.00
I've seen a lot of guys with these lately. Not too many taking Suhr customs to clubs
Yep those Carvins are sure nice, especially that CT6. There are some others there that have some nice tops too. Of all the guitars I've seen over the years, I can't recall ever trying a Carvin, probably haven't even seen one in a shop either. I've heard some good things about them though but probably not enough to order a custom shop. Do you own one G3456?
But I can say that it had the smoothest ebony fretboard I've ever played.
A friend of mine purch a newer custom Carvin CS6 which is another very nice guitar! he considered a Fender custom shop and went with carvin since he wanted the LP shape like a Tremonti with a nice ebony board.
I know quite a few others that built custom bodies and used Carvin necks or have replaced worn Strat necks with the Carvin necks and love the profile and neck build better than the Warmouth. Another built a Bolt Kit a couple years ago and that guitar is one of the best kits I have seen as far as simplicity and assembly.
Well as I haven’t used DiMarzio’s or Duncans I couldn’t really give you an honest comparison. What I can tell you is first, Changing the neck on my Strat to the Maple Tele neck gave me the Low midrange more classic Strat tones I was looking for. The original neck had a rosewood fingerboard and it sounded like glass. The stock Fender pickups enhanced this quite abit although at the time it worked OK for what I was doing. I picked up a Custom Shop Danny Gatton Telecaster that came with Barden pickups and was floored with the tone. I decided to put some in my Strat. The neck and middle are S-Style and the bridge is a HB-Two/Tone. They are very well balanced in that they retain great clarity in the lower midrange frequencies without being harsh in the upper midrange. They can be very Smooth or they can Twang depending on amp settings. I don’t use my tone control much switching between pickups and a little goes along way. The blade design makes for a very even bending of notes and great sustain. With the dirtiest of amp settings the notes still sit on top of the sound. As all coils can be tapped, they can be wired any way you would want. Highly dynamic and responsive. May be abit to clear for metal or grunge but people like Joe Perry And Brad Whitford have used them for years and James Hetfield is listed on Bardens website. The T-Style pickups were developed for Danny Gatton. The combination of the maple neck and the Barden pickups gave me what I was looking for without the noise. Extremely versatile pickups. The S-Style in the neck position can give you Blues to drool by. In the middle position and in combination with the HB in single coil mode, You get very clear low midrange. The HB in full mode has lots of meat. For me it’s what a Strat should do and sound like. With all the options for pickups now the choices are overwhelming as with most things. But if you are looking to upgrade a Strat or a Tele and retain the basic Fender sound Bardens would be a good choice. I got lucky in that I didn’t have to try out a bunch of options to get what I wanted. Once I heard the Bardens on the Tele it was a no brainer that they would work for me on the Strat. Check out Bardens website. http://www.joebarden.com
Good luck with your project.
Great thread...I can almost smell the sawdust.
Constantines--- http://www.constantines.com/
Luthiers Mercantile--- http://www.lmii.com/
Stewart Macdonald Co.--- http://www.stewmac.com/
Warmoth--- http://www.warmoth.com/
Carvin--- http://www.carvinguitars.com/
WD Music Products--- http://www.wdmusic.com/
:shock:
Hey hang on tou! I didn't actually say I will 'hand build' a guitar and have it looking as good a Suhr! I'm not exactly a luthier - I was more thinking I will source all the bits and pieces (finished body and neck, hardware etc) and put it together myself. However....now that I've looked at those sites you posted and seen what people are making you have planted the seed my friend and given me all sorts of brainwaves!
Anyhow, getting back to reality, this is what I want to put together:
http://www.suhrguitars.com/artistModels.aspx?series=gg
http://www.suhrguitars.com/downloads/pdf/artistModels/Guthrie_Govan_Model_Specs.pdf
Am I being too optimistic here??
These are a sensational guitar no arguments there. I've sent these specs to Warmoth and they say they can do a finished body and neck for a bit over $1100 bucks, though I'm not sure what quality they are talking. If I can get the same quality woods and finish I'm well on my way to winning this bet! :twisted:
You might have to look abit more, but it's doable. My honest opinion,
3k max, and thats stretching it. Let's see, Warmouth said $1100.00 for the body and the neck painted. Pickups will run a max of $500.00, A FloydRose would cost say, $125.00, What's left? Pickguard,pots and wiring
and setup. Is it becoming clear? It's a bolt on F
ing neck with no binding. No inlay, No ingraving. Just a real nice fancy standard honey burst finish. Give me a break. The word Boutique has become a word for spending a hole lot more than it's worth in my honest opinion. Bah. I'm not saying they are'nt nice guitars But........., And this isn't aimed at you as a sour note, as you are asking the q's. But again I think for 3k max,
you can do just as good as a Suhr.
There really is no mystery to luthier work. You will be surprised to see how simple the work is, and requiring mostly basic tools, many which you probably already have. Other tools or supplies, you can scrounge up as necessary. Some stuff you can even make yourself, like clamps, or jigs. (also many examples online search) Once you do alittle research, I really believe you will be more encouraged to do a more hands on project...and that is where you not only will win your bet, but the satisfaction of making a personal, customized ax will amaze yourself. The more hands on the project you are willing to dig into, the more sheckles you will save.
You can buy a body and neck w/fretboard already carved, if you feel you must. But these guitar kits come with patterns you cut from, and step-by-step instructions. What you need to do, is just be willing to go slow, and spend time on the details, and just follow instruction, or ask if you don't know. First time project is not going to be your best work, but only you will see the difference. On the other hand, some of my first work was truly nice, probably because I went slow, and tediously applied myself to the details. As in any crafts, the more you do it, the better you will get. But again, I want to tell you...there is NO MYSTERY. All of these skills are easy to learn and do. Setting frets is so easy a caveman could do it. Laminating a book-matched flame or curly maple sheet to a top is easy, and finishing the edges. Doing most guitar finishes, outside of outrageous airbrush artwork is also easy. Setting inlay work...again...for most it's easy, requiring basic tools. (outside of the laser cut fancy-schmancy inlays)
Go for it, Boo!
Manitou's Luthier Question Service. 5 cents (cheap) :P
I also got a price and availability of Suhr pickups today just as a matter of interest and they weren't as expensive as what I thought they might be. Probably fairly comparable with most SD's I think. So I might even give them a try perhaps.
Tou, I'm gonna have a go with this guitar building business but not this particular guitar. At the moment I'd be flat out making a surfboard!
Oh yeah, check this clip out. Guthrie Govan with his guitar:
Just excuse the idiot doin the interview..... :roll:
http://www.seoconsultants.com/charts/inches-decimal/
Machinist rulers are divided into decimal measurements. These rulers will still be marked in inches and centimeters, but the increments will be marked at 1/10, 1/50, or even 1/100 or 1/1000 of each inch or centimeter.
The number of increments between inches or centimeters allow it to be read with a much higher degree of accuracy than standard rulers which don't feature as many increments.
I never made a guitar from scratch. Guess I've never felt the urge, but I've loved resurrecting old or damaged guitars. My favorite is to do inlay work, or add new features like binding, rosettes, using mother of pearl, abalone, and other stuff at times. I've done some turquoise and even opal gem inlay, or nickel and silver work too. I learned to reset necks, do frets, pull the backs off, and replace braces, install new bridges, and most finishes too. Some guitars didn't need major rework, some needed to be completely gutted, and new parts made to replace something.
I just bought another old guitar. It's inroute to me, scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It's a 1970 Harmony H165, I bought from the original owner. All solid book-matched mahogany, with an adjustable neck truss rod. I'm willing to make this guitar with sweet action and perfect intonation, and keep this one to my grave. It's major rework will be to change out the ladder bracing, and do an X brace job, and set a new pin-style bridge. (these have a string through bridge) This is similar to the very first guitar I bought in 1964. The Harmony I had at that time was from the 50's. Those had a non-adjustable truss rod. I was only 12 years old, but that was my first luthier work. I remember sanding down the whole guitar, and doing a new lacquer finish, and sanding down the saddle to make it more playable.
These old Harmony H165 are very sought after by old delta blues players.
This will be my project. I'm going to keep the plain jane look to it. Nothing fancy at all...but maybe a little nicer position inlays, and something inlaid on the head stock to personalize it.
(I just have these crappy photos for now)
It is described as dense. (probably heavy too) It is great looking. But considering dense wood for solid body electrics, I'd say bright sounding. In Camphor Burl, I'd choose a small body, a mahogany neck, with a rosewood fretboard, and mellow pickups, larger bridge, with a small combo amp, when selecting a hard, dense , heavy body wood. Better yet..I'd choose the Camphor Burl in a laminated top piece, over a solid slab. (especially if you like a maple neck and hot pickups) I base that on these thoughts and opinions;
Guitar body tone wood matters more in Acoustic guitars. In solid body guitars, your pickups will make more difference. The kind of pickup can influence how much change the wood will have in your overall sound. You have to take in account the other parts too, like the nut, frets and bridge, as well as proper pickup height adjustment. All these things can really affect the sound of a solid body electric. If a fret is not solidly seated, energy is lost. The bridge and nut, if not set up right, can alter the tone. Lousy intonation on a $5,000 guitar will make it sound like a $500 guitar.
Maple necks are brighter tone than mahogany. Most popular choice is maple. But then there are the Gibsons...and their tone is unmistakable. Just matters most what kind of tone you want. The neck choice is where I look first, because I feel the neck has the most influence on the tone of the guitar, over the body, or fretboard...the other two most significant pieces of wood on your guitar. Some of the tone woods used on the body of the guitar, will sound like crap, if used on the neck. Maple is going to be the easiest neck for tuning. Brighter the neck, easier to tune. But again, if your set up isn't near perfect, it won't matter how much you try to tune.
Fretboard is my next consideration in tone. Rosewood is warm sounding, and the maple and ebony are brighter. The higher end guitars have a higher degree of care fitting and detailing of the fretboard. Any flaws or weakness here, and you loose tone. Pays to reason how much quality and care is put into the fret job too.
The body can influence the color of the tone, to some degree. Body woods range from plywood to rare and exotic like that Camphor Burl. The body will effect the sound in a wide spectrum, but here is where we get back to the hardware and pickups. Your body wood will have less to do with sound if you have hot wound pickups. Weaker pickups will include more of the characteristics of the body wood used. The bridge also is a bigger concern. More bridge mass, the less your wood tone will come through. Less bridge mass, and the quality of your frets will increase your sustain. More bridge mass decreases vibration into the wood. That's why the tune-o-matic is preferred for higher sustain. Maybe here is where body mass also takes on some consideration. I believe my LP sustains more than my SG. Both same neck, bridge, hot pickups, etc. But the body mass of that LP I think helps transfer more vibration.(you pay a price in overall weight though) The shape of the body doesn't really matter as much, I don't think. It's just my opinion, your body wood is the least concern in your tone, on a solid body electric. Also the finish really doesn't matter much here either. But I do look for the best quality in construction, like tight joints, and Hyde glue over epoxy. (epoxy is a tone robber) Finish also doesn't matter, but some will argue a Nitro lacquer over a Poly. ..........meh....I like Poly. Holds up to scratches and dings better.
The body wood/shape/color/finish etc. is what gives your appeal to a particular guitar, and how a guitar looks isn't as important as how it sounds, but more guitars are chosen by the appearance. I do think basswood, alder, ash, and mahogany are good choices for the body. I like solid, yet lightweight! Those dense hard, heavier woods may look nice, but they must kill your back after an hour. I'd choose a lightweight body w/ a sweet laminated top (burls, flame, curly, exotic)...for appeal plus lightweight. Lots of guitarist shrug at lamination's...like it's just a plywood guitar. I don't argue with perception or preference. Each to their own...but I too get excited over a gorgeous solid slab of wood.
You will notice people with certain style of music, gravitate to certain guitars. I guess what style of music you play is where your choice begins. Maybe also the choice of amp you like. If you like a stack...do not choose a maple body guitar, (or any dense hard wood) unless it's a thin lam on a softer, lighter body.
I'm a Joe Walsh fan, and just needed to get a fix, and came across this video
of Joe on Carvin stuff. He points out some nice things about the Carvin guitar.
I'm a Carvin amp man, myself. I think the best speakers in the world are the Vintage 30's.
But seriously- nice looking and sounding axe. Joe not so much! One of my very first albums was a James Gang live album. \"Tend My Garden\" is still one of my favorite songs and I've always enjoyed Joe's antics. Anyone remember when he was on Drew Carey for a few episodes?
Back OT: I haven't pulled the trigger yet but there's a warmoth thinline tele project in my near future. I'm thinking about skipping the tele pickups and trying out some Duncan P-Rails. I love humbucker warmth and I love P-90 squawk and the P-Rails \"should\" give both. Anybody tried 'em?
-Rf.
...hic
Man, check it out,,,yer gonna dig this. he-heeeeeeeee
8)
Any pics or vid yet with that ax in his hands on stage?
LMAO
But what I really want to ask is. Do endorsments work. LoL Has anyone ever ran out and bought some gear just cuz so an so was praising it? I know I haven't. perhaps the Q should be would anyone admit to buy a piece of gear cuz.....?
Hey Boo! When ya finish your project Or you too Tou, for the right $$ myself or shredd (I'm sure) will be happy to make a vid proclaiming this is the greatest ax since Fiskars re-envented the cutting edge!
Do any of you tight shirts... know how hard it is to never miss a party? :?
.....seems to me, you don't wanna talk about it,
.... seems to me you just turn your pretty head and walk away!
I'm fine to talk about it. & not ashamed to say I got out of that stuff LONG before I ever sounded like that. Thank God! thru his son Jesus 8)