Custom Guitar

[bobwiramuzzy01]

Hi All,

Anyone ever construct a guitar from scratch? I mean, buying every single parts, etc body, neck, nut, pegs, bridge, electronics and assemble till it becomes a guitar?

If anyone ever do that, appreciate feedback on what kind of body (what material), neck & prices of such parts.Thinking of a strat like body with 2 humbuckers, vol & tone with 3 way switch....

Thank You All.......

 

[Everdying]

i've always been thinkin of making a single humbucker only superstrat shape mahogany body with a 24.75" scale neck w/ ebony board, all ordered from warmoth.

 

[ShredCow]

Yeap...

This is mine:

Total cost, everything in, around $2.5k.

Custom making does not mean cost savings, but it does mean quality parts and a much better chance to make a GREAT guitar. Of course, the assembly is important and I had one of the best put it together - Malcolm - so that's a big plus to why this is the best sounding (note: not feeling, since I've customed it, it SHOULD feel right) floyd-equipped guitar I've ever played.

 

[bobwiramuzzy01]

Yeap...

This is mine:

Total cost, everything in, around $2.5k.

Custom making does not mean cost savings, but it does mean quality parts and a much better chance to make a GREAT guitar. Of course, the assembly is important and I had one of the best put it together - Malcolm - so that's a big plus to why this is the best sounding (note: not feeling, since I've customed it, it SHOULD feel right) floyd-equipped guitar I've ever played.

Awesome!!! Cool.... Where did you buy the body & NEck? What wood is the body made of? What pups you using?

 

[ShredCow]

Awesome!!! Cool.... Where did you buy the body & NEck? What wood is the body made of? What pups you using?

Go to www.usacustomguitars.com

I got the Body from the Web Specials - its a blem body but that made it 50% off... 1 piece mahogany back with carved quilted wild maple top... ivoroid binding... the routes I wanted. Heck, at USD300, it was a no-brainer...

The neck is also from USACG.. about USD320? Maple neck with Pau Ferro fretboard, no inlays and the carve is asymmetrical (ala EBMM) but 20mm (I think) at 1st fret. 22 Dunlop 6105 frets.

Pickups are currently 2 x Dimarzio Area 58s and a hand-wound HAS Sound (www.has-sound.com) Legacy Vintage (7.8k DC).

 

[keithC]

whoa shred. i remember you saying elsewhere you play everything on a h-s-s guitar..
this must be it man!! the one workhorse.
but sadly there are just too many purists around..

 

[edder]

shreddy i'm surprised you've dropped the BLs for Dimarzio!

 

[celahircelebrindal]

Very nice ShredCow , what tuners are you using?Looks like those Kluson type from what i see....btw how's the Dunlop 6105 fretwire feel?I was thinking of refretting my guitar but still undecided what fretwire to use.Tot of settling for the Dunlop 6000...

 

[ShredCow]

shreddy i'm surprised you've dropped the BLs for Dimarzio!

The BLs (L200 series) don't have as much sparkle as the Dimarzio Area 58s...

While I'm not looking for like an authentic vintage vibe, I was looking for a nice hollow-ish kind of single coil vibe - the BLs just didn't deliver it in the way I liked. I kind of found it duller and fatter than teh Area 58s.

I'm actually thinking of Area 61s or the Virtual Heavy Blues II (which is based on Area 58 tech) now because the 58s are really THAT low output... together with the way it sounds, just doesn't seem to fit my playing style.

 

[ShredCow]

Very nice ShredCow , what tuners are you using?Looks like those Kluson type from what i see....btw how's the Dunlop 6105 fretwire feel?I was thinking of refretting my guitar but still undecided what fretwire to use.Tot of settling for the Dunlop 6000...

Well, its just standard Gotoh sealed tuners... 14:1 tuning ratio I think. I don't need high end tuners because I am using a floyd - the fine tuners are more than enough.

The 6105s feel GREAT. I believe one of the main attributes when it comes to FEEL is the height of the fret, not the width/thickness. I think Jumbo frets feel progressively worse as they wear, as more and more fret comes into contact with the string due to the WIDE base... And 6105s are almost as tall as your 6000 option. 6105's are .090" x .055" while 6000s are .118" x .058".

As for the intonation thing - you know, jumbos = wide base so as they wear, the intonation gets out of wack since the string contacts the fret before the intended, properly intonated position? I think... its hard to tell when you play lower position... but you go high on the neck and it becomes more apparent.

 

[Dime]

nice reverse headstock.the neck is even nicer.wood grain parallel to neck.this is killer man.is it like EVH's relic?can only dive?seems like the cavity is quite small.

 

[ShredCow]

Well, USACG does a good job - what can I say?

The floyd is fully floating. The Cavity is actually cut for a Schaller FR hence it looks shorter than normal but careful measuring and finally just getting the Gotoh showed that the Gotoh fit and the string locks behind can fit.

 

[celahircelebrindal]

The 6105s feel GREAT. I believe one of the main attributes when it comes to FEEL is the height of the fret, not the width/thickness. I think Jumbo frets feel progressively worse as they wear, as more and more fret comes into contact with the string due to the WIDE base... And 6105s are almost as tall as your 6000 option. 6105's are .090" x .055" while 6000s are .118" x .058".

Hmmm....you are spot on there ShredCow!I didnt look into it...now i have another option.Thanks!

....the string contacts the fret before the intended, properly intonated position? I think... its hard to tell when you play lower position... but you go high on the neck and it becomes more apparent.

I read this over and over again....but i dont really understand what you're saying except forthe part that when the jumbos wear off the intonation is gonna be whack...after that kinda blur to me.
If you dont mind could you explain again to me....sounds pretty interesting from your point of view.

 

[ShredCow]

you got a guitar neck... the frets are slotted where you have your notes right? Thing is you gotta divide up the fretboard - cut the frets - where the notes lie.

Imagine your 2nd fret is pushed 2 cm down towards the 1st fret. What happens? You get all your notes on the 2nd fret go FLAT.

So on a MUCH smaller scale... look at a fret.

Jumbos have a WIDE base right? So you got a jumbo fret... rounded top. Brand new. Say the luthier properly crowned it so its a nice round top. String touches fret... the string should contact the fret at the top of its.. well, top. Intonation is spot on.

Now, the jumbo wears down... the rounded top becomes flatten... note that now the string contacts the fret at an area which is closer to the nut? There you go - slightly flat.

Intonation on the lower frets tend to be sort of... amendable in my experience. If a note in a chord is flat, instinctively just press harder and the note returns to correct pitch. Talking about electric guitar primarily here. But I'm not as used to playing high up the neck ... so I tend to just not respond fast enough. Anyway, the 6105s have improved the intonation thing compared to when I used my Ibanez Saber's original jumbo frets.

 

[Gr3y]

shredcow,

seems to me you have a bridge that's not so well aligned? or are your photos playing tricks on my eyes?

 

[ShredCow]

Yes, the key was getting the Schaller route - that came with trem post holes pre-drilled - to accommodate the Gotoh Floyd without (a) getting stuck in the route, (b) getting strings off aligned from the neck.

As you can see, the strings align almost perfectly with the neck.

The trem is actually (from the pic) more to the right but its perfectly parallel to the bridge humbucker which looks off in the pic.

 

[fgl]

Shreads - luv that quilted maple top ...

I'm doin my own custom guitar based on my needs but the project is on kiv till I complete my current signature series projects.