Summer Project!

Hey all, just thought I'd share my summer project plans. I know this will get funny remarks, but I'm embarking on a quest for my own 'brown sound' (google it, those that don't know) and I am starting with the guitar.

I've played handfuls of guitars this spring looking for something I like and I found a lot of it, but not in one guitar. Basically I was set on a 25.5" scale, double locking trem, cool body shape, and H-H or H-S-H pickups. After a lot of research, deliberation, planning, and a few scale paper models, I am FINALLY drawing up the final full scale SolidWorks plans. Here's the run down:

-Explorer/Destroyer style body - mostly Explorer, but borrowed some of the Destroyer's dimensions
-Basswood body - Originally wanted mahogany, but after reading about tone woods I found mahogany to be 'nasal' which is something I don't want. Alder and basswood are my other two choices, but knife edge trem's have a reputation to sound tinny and kill tone... basswood is said to warm it up and take out the tin, plus it has a very equal tonal response. Exactly what I am looking for, not to mention being ~30% of the price of mahogany
-Maple neck - going one piece on this one, just for simplicity. The next guitar I think is going to be a neck through Flying V, which will have a 5 piece. It wont be uber skinny either, the Wizard II neck on the S520 was nice, but I could see it being too thin... going for something more along the lines of Satriani's neck profile, fill up my big hands better. Also bolt on for ease, and incase I realize the neck (or body) sucks and need to build new ones.
-Ebony fretboard - radiused to 12". Mine is 9.5" I believe, which is niece enough for comfort, but I fret out easy. 16-17" like the Ibanez's is too flat, so 12" is a happy medium. 24 frets would be ideal, but the cut away looks too much like the uber gay Epiphone Prophecy or whatever that dumb shit is, so I went 22. Not like I'd use the 23 an 24th anyway.
-Floyd Rose Speedloader Trem - 'nuff said.
-H-S-H pickup - Dimarzio's, Mo Joe bridge, HS2 middle, PAF Joe neck.
-Controls - Not sure here yet, I think 1 volume, 2 tone, 5 way selector, and coil tap with pickup selections similar to the E-Gen.
-White body and headstock with faux black body binding, black knobs and trem, and black/white pickups.

So yeah, thats it! I haven't decided on what to do about an amp though, originally I wanted an Epiphone Valve Junior, 5W all tube is perfect for me plus they are super upgradeable, but those are $250 and for $400 you can get a Peavey Windsor 100W tube half stack. Might just do that. I am going to probably build pedals too, but I just don't know which ones yet. We'll see. More later, I should be finishing my solidworks and ordering body/neck wood on Thursday!

I would say about 75% of that went over my head. Sounds fun and good luck though!

I would say about 75% of that went over my head. Sounds fun and good luck though!

lol agreed wtf? haha

-Explorer/Destroyer style body - mostly Explorer, but borrowed some of the Destroyer's dimensions
Not a big fan of them. To each their own though. Too thick, but with the right wood you can get a pretty full sound with just this body itself.

-Basswood body - Originally wanted mahogany, but after reading about tone woods I found mahogany to be 'nasal' which is something I don't want. Alder and basswood are my other two choices, but knife edge trem's have a reputation to sound tinny and kill tone... basswood is said to warm it up and take out the tin, plus it has a very equal tonal response. Exactly what I am looking for, not to mention being ~30% of the price of mahogany
Haven't really ever done my research on the wood.


-Maple neck - going one piece on this one, just for simplicity. The next guitar I think is going to be a neck through Flying V, which will have a 5 piece. It wont be uber skinny either, the Wizard II neck on the S520 was nice, but I could see it being too thin... going for something more along the lines of Satriani's neck profile, fill up my big hands better. Also bolt on for ease, and incase I realize the neck (or body) sucks and need to build new ones.

Wizard necks are the best IMO. Love them with a passion. Doesn't Satriani use the Wizards?

-Ebony fretboard - radiused to 12". Mine is 9.5" I believe, which is niece enough for comfort, but I fret out easy. 16-17" like the Ibanez's is too flat, so 12" is a happy medium. 24 frets would be ideal, but the cut away looks too much like the uber gay Epiphone Prophecy or whatever that dumb shit is, so I went 22. Not like I'd use the 23 an 24th anyway.
My Ibanezs only go to 23 IIRC. Full 24 is flame though because then you have two full octaves to work with which can provide some very awesome soloing scales (can also be done with less frets but use bends in place of the additonal frets)

-Floyd Rose Speedloader Trem - 'nuff said.[/quote
Make sure this comes with the locking nut. And if you don't know how to use it READ DIRECTIONS FIRST. Seen so many people screw it up because they don't read first. Make sure it comes with the 5 back springs... not 3.

[quote=Thor06;5968961]-H-S-H pickup - Dimarzio's, Mo Joe bridge, HS2 middle, PAF Joe neck.
Never used any of these pick ups so really can't comment on them. It all depends on the sound you're going for.

-Controls - Not sure here yet, I think 1 volume, 2 tone, 5 way selector, and coil tap with pickup selections similar to the E-Gen.
1 volume and 2 tone are good if you actually play with them. I have everything from 1 volume/1 tone to 2 volume/2 tone. I like having the awesome control of being able to set the volume on the bridge down with alittle lower tone, while having the trem full volume at max tone and just throwing the switch and instantly have 2 totally different tones. Again, all depends on what you've played and how much you want to be in control. My brother works good with just a volume control, no tone.

-White body and headstock with faux black body binding, black knobs and trem, and black/white pickups.
Custom painting yourself?

So yeah, thats it! I haven't decided on what to do about an amp though, originally I wanted an Epiphone Valve Junior, 5W all tube is perfect for me plus they are super upgradeable, but those are $250 and for $400 you can get a Peavey Windsor 100W tube half stack. Might just do that. I am going to probably build pedals too, but I just don't know which ones yet. We'll see. More later, I should be finishing my solidworks and ordering body/neck wood on Thursday!

We've talked about amps before so I won't get into it again. Not familiar with the Valve Junior at all. But anything that says Junior I'm pretty sure is going to suck out the box.

You forgot string info.

Good luck.

The body is surprisingly comfortable, the second most comfortable that I tried. The S520 felt like it was an extension, but I just plain don't like double cutaway strat shaped guitars. I'm a bit vain though too, I love the Explorer body shape.

At first I was set on mahogany, but after reading about it I changed my mind. Mahogany is heavy, and that big of a guitar would be heavy as fuck, but the tonal character isn't what I want either. Mahogany is great for sustain and warmth, but also a tick nasally and for frequency response they rated it a 8 for bass, 6 for mids, and 5 for highs. I can deal with heavy low end and mildly scooped mids, but I really don't like the low highs. The basswood on the other hand is light, slightly warm, and has a even (bass = 5, mids = 6, and highs = 6) tonal character. It also is said to take some tinniness away from knife edged trem guitars, which would be nice. Also, I believe the quote was, "basswood was popular with 80's shredders for its ability to cut through a mix." Always a good thing.

Nah, all those guys have their own necks. The Wizard II is 19mm thick at the first fret and 21mm at 12 (same as Vai's) compared to Satriani's 20 and 22.3, or Herman Li's 18 and 20, or even Paul Gilbert's 17 and 19. I can't remember off hand what mine is at home, but I'd take it just a tick down from where it is, to what I envision is the Satch range.

The Speedloaders are all actual Floyd Rose's, so it'll come with what I need. :)

The Joe in the neck is along the lines of the old parafin wax sealed buckers with a little more output, which sounds good to me. I don't want to be metal as hell, but I want a little more 'hair' too. The Mo' Joe has a little more output still, but nothing like a Evolution or a (gasp) active pickup. The HS-2 just said it would balance with them, so great! Ha ha.

I thought of going with just the single master volume, but you know, I actually do play with the tone controls on the mid and neck pickup on my stat copy so I figured fuck it, I'll stick them on the new guitar too.

I will actually be painting it, yes. Depending on money I might get a HVLP gun and do it right, but it might be rattle canned too. The rattle canning might be a bit ghetto, but I half expect to have to redo this body again so I am not too worried. Besides, I have a rattle can job on my bass and it looks good as hell! :icon16:

As for the strings, I don't really have an option. The speedloader requires strings with bullets on both ends and the only ones that make them are Dean Markley. I'll stay with the 9's for a while til I can bend reasonably, then go to 10's.

The valve juniors aren't too much special out of the box. 5W class A tube power, separate 12" speaker cab, and only a volume control. They can be, however, easily and fairly cheaply modded to be tone-fucking-monsters. I want to do some more innovative things too, like an active 5 band EQ and maybe toss in a tube reverb too. :D We'll see though.

Go with 10s. Not going to get stronger with 9s. And you're going to put in all this work to make a nice sounding guitar, and ruin it with them 9s. No tone at all with 9s.

This is true, but I can play faster easier now that I went back to 9's with a minimal degradation of tone. I'll get back eventually, but I have to learn to walk before I can run. ;)

This is true, but I can play faster easier now that I went back to 9's with a minimal degradation of tone. I'll get back eventually, but I have to learn to walk before I can run. ;)

Screw walking/running... TURBO!