Today I came across this great site and want to share it:

http://www.guitarnuts.com

Thanks for the link

It seems to be for those nerds that know how to handle a soldering iron and a chissel. That would exclude me as I would probably burn the house down

Sepheritoh wrote:

Thanks for the link It seems to be for those nerds that know how to handle a soldering iron and a chissel. That would exclude me as I would probably burn the house down

- it's really not that big of a deal - I found this site because I have a big humming-noise problem with one of my fretless-basses but there is also a lot of other great info on the site even if you're not willing to touch a soldering iron only once in your life

jens wrote:

Today I came across this great site and want to share it: http://www.guitarnuts.com

wonderful!! thx a lot! )

Ah... even if I allready know quite some of the tips there (been modifying my own guitars since ages), this site is really useful, so thanks!

Thanks a lot!
I'm a bit struggling with modifying a cheap strat.

This will be very useful.

Henny

Gadzooks.

I really MUST be a guitar nerd! I've known about that one for ages!

Here's my main guitar-nerd site:

Project Guitar

Though I usually go directly to its forum:

Project Guitar Forum

And if anybody cares to see my own guitar-nerd project coming along (slowly), the thread is HERE

Greg

nice links, thx guitar nerds

lates

t-willy

thanks for the link. as a guitar nurd I have been watching the developement of guitars , guitar "fashions" , trends and stuff for a long time and loved the debunking of myths about gear!
thanks again.

I build my own guitars with warmoth bodies and necks, personally right now I'm planning on building a guitar with the upcoming transperformance bridge (lite version) For those who have never heard of this http://www.selftuning.com/index1.html my half brother had one of these Les Pauls, now they're coming out with a version for 1000 dollars, but it only stores 8 tunings. Having played the original transperformance I can tell you if you're like me and use many tunings this rocks, the lite also has a tremolo bar.

I will also be adding a scalloped neck, transperformance does the paint (awesome) so mine will be a tobaco sunburst strat (warmoth) H-S-H EMG 81, stock fender single coil, EMG 89 and my funky wiring. Which is to wire the 5 way switch to Bridge>Bridge+Neck>Neck>Neck+Middle>Middle (same set up as my Warmoth Hardtail Strat) It gives you the ability to use the two humbuckers together, and the 89 has a coil tap so you can run it with the neck and middle both single coil for that cool strat sound...cool site thanx..guess I'm a guitar nerd, the first day I owned my first electric, (an Alamo in 1971, and yes we have joked many a time "remember the Alamo?")I took it apart. I bought a brand new guitar two years ago, came home and took out the pick ups and put in an EMG 81 and an EMG 85, before I played it at home...

Also a guitar builder here, built four so far, I am an old woodworker so I build my own bodies, I buy the necks cause i don't have the time to spend or the proper tools. So thanks for the links. any info is great info even if i have already seen it.

Soniccat wrote:

Also a guitar builder here, built four so far, I am an old woodworker so I build my own bodies, I buy the necks cause i don't have the time to spend or the proper tools. So thanks for the links. any info is great info even if i have already seen it.

just curious, what necks? That's why I use warmoth because I have played a lot of guitars (worked music retail for years) but the sweetest neck ever is the warmoth thin. BTW Warmoth also sells body blanks with many exotic woods...

ah... .craft and science, blended with visceral leanings.
I betrayed the brotherhood and taken up with the infidel Roland VG-8 and the POD XT; theres not a tube in the house . unrepentant and shamelessly I act as if I am playing plug-ins and they are in their own way ....actually .... those EMG 81's could get you crucified if anyone finds out!

The Warmoth necks are real nice, a friend had one on his guitar and it felt real sweet, I have been using carvin necks mostly because the price was what I could afford at the time (they are not bad, fairly wide C shape and thin, they don't have much diversity unless you get the custom shop versions) and on my tele style I got a Stew Mac standard tele shape reminiscent of the sixties models (I think they were made by the same people who build Godin guitars, they don't sell those anymore since Godin has taken off) This is a very nice player with shallow c shape and a maple neck, my fave guitar

default wrote:

ah... .craft and science, blended with visceral leanings. I betrayed the brotherhood and taken up with the infidel Roland VG-8 and the POD XT; theres not a tube in the house . unrepentant and shamelessly I act as if I am playing plug-ins and they are in their own way ....actually .... those EMG 81's could get you crucified if anyone finds out!

I betrayed the brotherhood (atleast for recording) with the sansamp. But my rig is still my Marshall tube preamp, Alesis midiverb4, Aurel Exciter, and a 400 watt poweramp, all pushing a 4x12 split stereo and wired down to 4 ohms. (but I gotta admit I have been putting my pod on top and just using exciter a lot lately)...my emg's rock...I do have a drawer full of duncans. My wife says you can't look anywhere without seeing guitar parts... Oh and yes my amp is quite loud, but I would never play it too loud, and the damn thing gave me a hernia in 99, right after I turned 40...

Glad to see there's some other guitar nerds around.

I'll be making the neck on mine. I'm actually at quite a hurdle right now because I've done most of the 'easy' bits, and now my next steps are to:

-route the neck pocket
-shape the neck
-put in the inlay
-install the binding

After that, I still have to apply finish to the damn thing, which is no small feat.

SO, I'm a bit screwed. I gotta bite the bullet soon, or it'll never be done.

Greg

so if we're all gi-tar nerds then how many people own a dremel? I couldn't live without mine.

Dremel with the router base attachment, router, nut files and a bandsaw, clamps, screwgun etc.etc. I just wish I had the time.

Soniccat wrote:

Dremel with the router base attachment, router, nut files and a bandsaw, clamps, screwgun etc.etc. I just wish I had the time.

what.. ..no fret files, I got a set of three from warmoth for a good price. A bunch of fret wire too.

Lunch Money wrote:

Glad to see there's some other guitar nerds around. I'll be making the neck on mine. I'm actually at quite a hurdle right now because I've done most of the 'easy' bits, and now my next steps are to: -route the neck pocket -shape the neck -put in the inlay -install the binding After that, I still have to apply finish to the damn thing, which is no small feat. SO, I'm a bit screwed. I gotta bite the bullet soon, or it'll never be done. Greg

I wouldn't attempt my own neck unless I had a Bridgeport milling machine, or perhaps one of those mini (like 8"chuck) lathes that converts to a milling machine....though I really think a bridgport is the only way for me. I would like to be able took keep the spacings of frets to plus or minus .010 (of an inch), .005 is what I would prefer. Plus I tried to replace a finger board once and you need a planer. With a bridgeport you can make a jigg and do even a better job with a fly cutter.

I shaped a neck once by myself... the outcome was... uh... err... yeah well... should be sufficient telling you folks that I've never used that neck.

So much about that. I'm all into electronic modifications, but that should be about it.

I have two guitars with perfect necks: My Anderson (drop top, semi hollow or whatever, Feiten tuning) and a lovely 335 clone from Ibanez (way before they started the Artist series). These are outstanding for me in terms of handling.

Oh, before I forget, that's why I was posting:
My favourite stratstyle PU selector modification is a switch exchanging neck and middle PUs (astonishingly, almost nobody seems to use this).
Standard 5-way switch positions:
1 - bridge
2 - bridge + middle
3 - middle
4 - middle + neck
5 - neck

My modification (as said, that's switchable):
1 - bridge
2 - bridge and neck
3 - neck
4 - middle + neck
5 - middle

Sure, only gives one new option (bridge + neck) but that one alone is worth it (instant tele-kind-ish sounds).
Also, for positions 1-3 you'll have some LesPaul 3way style switching.

All you need is a standard 2-way switch with the hot cables of neck and middle PU being exchanged.
Sure, there's some 6-way switches offering the same (over here: some of those Eyb ones I think), but actually I like my main switch to be 5-way only.

sascha go back a few of my posts I do the exact samething... Just like my favorite tuning is eaeace Am, perfact sense, realitive minor of c maj. But many books and sites don't list it. I got an email from a guy publishing a book telling me he put it in as Hink's tuning....but it's so damn logical, like the wiring...

I'm not doing my own fingerboard; I forgot to mention that. I ordered those suckers (I got 2-- 1 25" scale 15" radius, ebony; and 1 24.75" scale, 12", rosewood [ie. Les Paul]) with matching headplates from Luthier's mercantile.

As for shaping the neck, from what I've seen and read on Project Guitar, it doesn't take much more than shaping the area around the 1st fret, then the area around the heel, and "connecting the dots" by taking out any intervening wood. Most people use a spokeshave, but I'll likely use a MicroPlane rasp and some cheap contour planes ($15 from Lee Valley, they're the poor man's spokeshave).

Pickups... ah, pickups. So many options, so little time.

I have a Duncan Jazz for the neck and a JB for the bridge, which I will be wiring PRS-style (all hum-cancelling positions, but with different coil combinations and series/parallel options) with a blade (rather than a rotary) switch.

To answer the guitar nerd question-- yup, I have a dremel. Just one attachment.. it's actually a drywall cutting kit, but the plastic bit is sturdy enough to function as a mini-router base.

Greg

good luck with the fingerboard, keep me posted because if you can do it I'd love a lesson...

you say ..... how many watts? yikes!

I found an older article reviewing the david gilmore set up by EMG the pickups mounted and the preamp and the other thingy . the reviewer loved it! clean strat, turn the nob; les paul deluxe (the mini humbucker?)

I have had alot of amps and guitars but the gear that I am using now allows me to get a good sound in seconds at any volume , with only the headphones.

I waited so long for this gear to come into being, I think we all knew what was needed ,we just did not have the means.

Has anyone built a fretless guitar (not bass)or torn the frets off a spare guitar? The instrument is very fun and I'm enjoying mine.