540R Project underway! - Fun, fun!

[darren wilson]

It's taken a while to get all the various pieces, but things are gradually coming together, and i should be ready to do a pre-assembly in the next few weeks, and then i'll be tearing it down again and working on the finish.

Here's the quick rundown:

• Basswood 540R LTD body (thanks, Chris)
• Carvin Bolt neck (22 frets, ebony on maple with graphite reinforcements) custom-ordered with no face inlays
• Chrome Edge trem (thanks, Rich), graphite nut and Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners
• Tom Anderson H2/SD1/SD1R pickups and a Sustainiac Stealth unit in the neck position

More photos and updates will be posted at http://darrenwilson.com/guitar in the coming weeks and months as various phases of the project are undertaken.

[Scott 74]

Very nice! I love those Radius bodies. How much did you pay for the neck?

[darren wilson]

Thanks, Scott... i've loved the Radius bodies for years, as well. When i sit down with it, i can't believe how comfortable it is.

The neck was US$119.95 plus $10 for the "no top inlay" option. It's a really beautiful neck... one solid piece of maple (no scarf joint on the tilted-back headstock) with a nice ebony board. I haven't strung it up yet to play on it, but it has a thin, fast feel, but not as thin as a Wizard. I really like it.

The Bolt necks come unfinished from the factory, which is nice. I'll have the face finished to match the body, and the back will be tung oiled.

[Scott 74]

Nice Darren! Reminds me of my JS. My friend has an old Radius and I love it! Any ideas on what color your going to paint it? I've had the idea to stain this RG I'm working on blue but not sure if they make blue woodstain.

[darren wilson]

I've got some practice to do, but my plan is to gild the body and headstock face with genuine silver leaf, and then have it clearcoated.

If that fails, i might experiment with Krylon chrome paint.

[Scott 74]

Gild? Silver leaf sounds cool! I always thought a chromeboy finish would look awesome if it was blue. Thats my dream but have no idea how'd you pull that one off???? Good luck with the Radius. You should put your own custom logo on the headstock.

[darren wilson]

If the silver leaf looks bad, i may consider having a blue-tinted clearcoat sprayed over it to make a really deep candy-apple kind of finish. Either that or i'll strip it down and stain/burn it a nice rich "tiger eye" colour.

One thing i'm worried about with the silver leaf is that it will tarnish very quickly when exposed to the elements. That means i'll have to work quickly (with cotton gloves) and get it clearcoated right away. I could have gone with imitation silver leaf (which is aluminum foil, basically), but i wanted the real deal.

I'll likely just sign the headstock with a black pen prior to having it clearcoated.

If it works out, which i'm hoping it will, i'm going to consider offering it as a service... with various grades of imitation gold and silver, or genuine gold, silver or copper at varying price points. A gold-top Les Paul finished in genuine 24k gold would be cool. A 540R or JS done in copper would be pretty sweet, as well.

[Scott 74]

Thats a great idea! I hope it works out. I'm not to big on Les Pauls but I'd love to see one in gold! Same with the JS. I'm sure it'd make the tone interesting! Minus the finish how much is it running you total so far for the bridge, pups, tuners etc....? Just curious. I have two RG's I'm working on and want to get an idea on some things. Oh by the way do the Radius bodies have the tilt jack? Thx....

[robochimp]

Darren,
* * Thanks for the idea! I got this import jackson soloist for cheap, because it was beat to h***.I bought it specificly to refinish.I painsakingly HAND sanded the whole thing down.
* * * *Trouble is, *it has a veneer sloppily(is that a word?)
put on,and its butt ugly two different mismatched woods sitting haphazardly(THAT'S a word, and a big one, too.impressive, eh?). So much for my transclusent finish.
* * * * *What You have planned sounds like a great idea.
* * * * * * * *Where do You get silverleaf, anyway?

[darren wilson]

Heh... i'm trying not to tally up the total bill until then end... and i might even skip out on doing that. I'm really just trying to build a guitar that i'm going to really want to play and the decisions i'm making are geared towards getting some of the sounds i hear in my head.

The pickups and the Sustainer are going to make up the bulk of the cost... i could have got less expensive pickups, but i've already got a guitar with DiMarzios (my Parker) and Duncans (my other custom that i built when i was 17), so i really wanted to try something different. I have no desire to have a collection of guitars that more or less sound and look the same.

The professional clearcoat job will probably set me back about CAD$300, too.

To tell you the truth, i don't think the metal leaf will affect the sound at all. It's literally only microns thick. In fact, if anything, it will allow the sound of the wood to come through more, because it's so thin. And when i have the clearcoat applied, i'm taking it to guys that finish acoustic guitars, so it will only be as thick as necessary to protect the finish and be deep and glossy. I saw a dented-up JEM7RB a couple of weeks ago and couldn't believe how thick the clearcoat was on it. I kinda want the wood to be able to resonate.

The 540R doesn't have the tilt jack, but i'm thinking that might be a modification to make. However, i do like the ability to stand the guitar on its butt end without having to unplug it, so i may not.

[Scott 74]

Yeah I'm kinda stuck on pups for the two RG's. You make a good point cause I was thinking of using Dimarzios only but just different models, but after what you said I think I'm going to mix it up and throw some Seymour Duncans in at least one of the RG's! Have you ever tried the "Screamin Demon" or the "Cool Rails"?

Also I'm toying with the idea of actually using my bonus next year and swirling this one RG but have no idea what colors to use. It'd be cool if there was tool people could use to try out different color combinations. Of course the sample swirls would come out completely different when it was actually swirled but it'd still be cool to try. Anyway I'm dreaming again

Good luck I look forward to seeing it finished :thumbsup:

[darren wilson]

Robochimp: You can get gold and silver leaf at most good art/craft supply shops. There are also a few books on the subject that will show you how to apply it. I'm going to do some experimentation and partly wing it.

Scott: I think variety makes things so much more interesting! There are so many woods, so many different pickup manufacturers, different pickup layouts and control schemes, that it just makes sense to me to have as many colours in one's palette as possible. (Now i just have to get around to putting some of those colours down on a canvas!)

I considered a lot of different pickups... my old fallback, Seymour Duncans, were my first choice. (JB or Duncan Custom, and either a set of Vintage Rails or Duckbuckers) I also looked at DiMarzios (PAF Pro, Choppers), EMG (85, SA), Lace sensors, and of course, Andersons. There are even more "boutique" pickups than you can shake a stick at these days as well.

The only Duncan pickup i have extensive experience with is the JB, which is a killer pickup. I haven't tried the Screamin' Demon, but i've been interested in it because i've always loved George Lynch's tone and playing. I've read many mixed reviews of it, however, so i *don't think it's for everyone. Lynch also plays mostly maple-bodied guitars, so it may be voiced to better suit a really dense body material. But it's worth a try... Duncan have a guarantee on their pickups, so if you don't like it, you can send it back and try another!

Ultimately, I opted for the Andersons because the people there were very helpful (Tom Anderson himself e-mailed me back with pickup recommendations, based on my description of the guitar's woods, the tone i was after and that i planned to use it for dropped tunings) and i keep hearing great things about their wide-open tone. I'm really looking forward to hearing them in the guitar.

[one less than none]

darren the only thing i would recommend is a three way switch for the sustainiac mode so you can have 'mix' mode as well

apart from that it sounds a sweet axe, espically in 'shiny metal' finish :biggrin: make sure you post pics when its done

[darren wilson]

Hm. Weird. I posted a reply to this, but it's disappeared.

1<0: I've been mulling over how i want the controls set up, and i'm still not sure i want or need the mix mode. And i don't really want to put a mini-switch on the face of the guitar. I wish somebody would develop a three-position push/pull pot.

I've tried a Fernandes that had the three-way mode switch, and i found that the harmonics didn't come on fast enough for me. I dunno... i'm still wrestling with whether i want that versatility which i'm not sure i'll use at the expense of drilling another hole in the face of the guitar.

(EDIT: proofread!)

(Edited by darren wilson at 8:23 pm on Oct. 4, 2001)

[Spiral Acid]

Congrats dude! Hope it turns out well!!! I'm still waiting for mine from the shop (they botched the logo this time...)