Here are the first pictures of the raw body and neck.
2 piece Indian Rosewood Stratocaster body, rear routed
Indian Rosewood neck, Ebony fingerboard, pearloid Celtic Cross inlays
I went with chrome Planet Waves auto trim tuners, the LSR roller nut, black metal mounting rings for all three pickups (all low profile metal), a Schaller 475 flat bridge, chrome flat top knobs (dome type are providing the general feel until I can find flat tops that will accommodate a 1/4" solid shaft), and flatted chrome on on on switches (series/single coil/parallel).
Pickups are white with black rails/polepieces:
DiMarzio D Activator Neck
DiMarzio Chopper Middle
DiMarzio D Activator Bridge
I'm thinking of an oil finish (Liberon Finishing Oil, is what my luthier suggested) on both body and neck. Going to try to get it to the luthier within the week for the extra drilling and some of the hardware installation (tuning machines, nut, and bridge); I'm hoping he can do the finish and the installation in a reasonably short period of time. Will post progress pics when I have more.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
I found, much to my frustration, that the mounting ring for the middle pickup has screw holes much too close to the inner edge; the result is that the head of the mounting screw scrapes the side of the pickup. Going to have to find screws with smaller heads and order a new cover...
The other annoying detail is that the body and neck were smoothed with steel wool and there's little bits of it everywhere in the grain. No idea how I'm going to get it out.
All grips aside, the raw wood feels so nice. I'm tempted to leave it unfinished but I'm going to get the opinion of my luthier on that first. My understanding is that rosewood is completely stable raw and a periodic (twice weekly, I think) once over with lemon oil to clean and moisturize the wood is all that is required. Any woodworkers here care to weigh in with what they know?
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
I'd been considering taking it up just to add another random skill to my RL character sheet.
Do you have musical background or play other instruments?
quote:
Rodent King wrote this then went back to looking for porn:
How's the learning of the guitar coming?I'd been considering taking it up just to add another random skill to my RL character sheet.
Do you have musical background or play other instruments?
It feels slow to me but I don't have a good frame of reference because I'm studying alone via Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar. I'll be taking Classical guitar lessons starting next semester. I've got about a month of steady practice at this point (started 4 months ago but stopped for two of those) and what I have to show at this point is 2 chords (C and G7), notes on the first four frets of the highest two strings, and enough callousing on my right and left fingertips (I don't care for picks, though I use them part of the time for familiarity) to play comfortably. I've gained enough sensitivity to get harmonics at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets (can get them at intervals up to the bridge as well but I can't remember which frets they're at) and I'm able to accurately fret without buzzing or death-gripping the neck.
As for musical background, I have none besides osmosis from the last two and half years living with an actively performing harpist/opera singer. I started a pile of music classes (theory I, beginning piano, music history, vocal ensemble, and home audio recording) in August, through which I have garnered some ability to sight read and understand the basic structure of music. I dropped ensemble because my lack of vocal technique was leading to a lot of tension and pain in my throat; I was actually leaving that class with so much neck tension that talking would be rough for a couple hours.
I think the biggest boon so far has been the music theory and piano classes as they've taught the reading and counting that is necessary for all music. Until we got to the point in the semester where the pattern of whole and half steps that constitute a major scale were described (whole whole half whole whole whole half), I had absolutely no idea how I could play one on the guitar. That music theory background combined with some general guitar knowledge (what tuning I'm in and the fact that every fret is a half step are sufficient) is seriously helpful. Damnati fucked around with this message on 10-27-2011 at 12:30 PM.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
quote:
nem-x had this to say about Tron:
How much anime are you going to paint on it
Over negative nine thousand. 
Really, Nem? Seriously?
I haven't watched anime in a few years, save for the stuff my step-kids have on while I'm making dinner. Damnati fucked around with this message on 10-28-2011 at 12:01 PM.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
quote:
Damnati stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
my step-kids
nem-x fucked around with this message on 10-28-2011 at 07:23 PM.
Party on, singles! 
(But seriously, keep having kids. I work in child care)
quote:
Ryuujin said:
Everyone grew up.
Speak for yourself.
I'm still 17.
quote:
Ryuujin stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Everyone grew up.
I prefer Jimmy Buffett's take on it: Growing older, but not up.
