Building a SICK Jem Mod

[snorkthesick]

I have loved jems for a while now. especially the floral print. but what i dont like about tem is the woods used like basswood and alder. Plus the lame bolt on necks. love the trems, wizard-esque necks. Great guitars for the money. So my guitar is basically like this, in the stages of building now.
BODY:
ok my guitar that i'm dreamin' bout is a cross between a JEM and a strat. i love the monkey grip on the jem. however i think that the Jem does not have enough countours. so i like the strats horns better. I also enjoy a thicker heavier body. I like to feel substance. So i dont like how thin the strat is. so i got a 7/8" quilted maple top. And am getting a one inch thick mahogany bottom. I also feel that every top and back should be carved because i just dont like seeing flat surfaces one a guitar and girls chest and back so i figure WHY on mine? so i want a carved back and front. I can definately dig the PRS indented style knobs. So i like that idea, i much prefer them to the strat 3 knob style. I don't think I'm going to round the edges of the guitar as i mentioned earlier. because i think it would look too much like the satch's guitar which i find a lil' too "nubby" near the horn area. I'll also be putting in a Jem styled jack in.
Neck: I'll be using a deep tenon 24 fret neck. With 2 mahogany pieces and 1 birdseye maple piece with ebony outlines. I'll also be putting a volute on the neck. its like wearing a condom. you may drop the guitar and if the headstock breaks off your life will change like getting an std. (dont ya love the analogies here?) I'll be carving the neck style to play as a "fast wider neck" with rounded frets "balled off" at the edges. So that for mah supah bends my strings dont go off the edge of the fretboard.
Touches: I will be using the acrylic lighting theory as i mentioned earlier to do my inlays and my traditional strat styled pick guard.
Electronics: Ideally i would put in 2 holy grail single coils (neck and middle) and 1 hot gold dually 1500 for the bridge. I think 500k pots are better for tone. not sure though. But i can only afford the basic 3 single coil holy grail setup right now. (god i love those quacks)
Finish: I will most likely be doing a multi burst stain. maybe not as intricate as a carriburst but a dandy stain none the less.
Thats all for now. more to come soon.

OH crap i almost forgot. all p/us are directly coupled and fretboard is ebony

Oh yeah. and for the acrylic lighting theory (this post was taken from project guitar earlier this month)
It is the fact that acrylic dispirses light evenly throughout which makes it an awesome inlay material because when lit the "skin" on the top of the guitar clouds the light very interestingly and when you cut it for like fine details and such the light EXPLODES out. its really great. So anyway basically im putting Blue LEDS behind the inlay and for my custom acrylic pickguard.
Its gonna be a GREAT jem. I'll put a hum in there later.

[VENOMOUS]

i might be reading that post wrong but a pick-guard on a guitar with a carved top? how is that going to work?

[Dead Roman]

make a mould of the top of the guitar out of plaster, then a fiberglass mold of that. cut the pickguard to the shape you want it, heat it up and press it into the mold.
BAM carved top pickguard.


not exactly a custom jem though is it?

[snorkthesick]

you guys are sp00ts. (sigh) you newb builders. lol. ya lay the acrylic on the guitar the way ya want it. ya apply a lil heat. BOOM the acrylic conforms ya screw it in. its like finito fina!

[littlegreenman]

Um, I don't recall seeing any pictures of guitars you've finished yet. And for what it's worth, you heat acrylic it stretches, shrinks, dulls, and looks crappy. Which is why you don't see pickguards on carved top guitars.

[darren wilson]

Sounds more like a Les Paul with Strat horns and a monkey grip than any kind of "JEM mod" i've ever seen.

If you ask me – and i know you didn't – i think a carved top with rounded body edges is going to look like a puddle of ill-defined guitar-like goo. And frankly, i can't see how having a volute at the base of the headstock is ANYTHING like wearing a condom.

It's great to dream up your own dream guitar with all of the features you've ever wanted. Sometimes the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach doesn't work.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress! It sounds like it's going to be quite a monster guitar!

[Dead Roman]

Originally Posted by littlegreenman

Um, I don't recall seeing any pictures of guitars you've finished yet. And for what it's worth, you heat acrylic it stretches, shrinks, dulls, and looks crappy. Which is why you don't see pickguards on carved top guitars.

now the heating the acrylic was a suggestion, there are other materials out there.

ease up snork


i didnt bash or say anything negative about his guitar. it may be jem inspired custom. But like darren said, it's more like a les paul with strat horns.

I respect your work because you are way talented.
and on that note

[littlegreenman]

Dead Roman, my comment wasn't pointed at you. Your idea of creating a fiberglass mold is much more plausable than trying to just heat the acrylic. Now, if the acrylic was heated and vacuum formed to the body that would be fine.
But heating and hoping the screws will hold it to that shape as snork suggested, well, I think that's just a little to much of a dream rather than reality

[snorkthesick]

whatever you guys say. however it is going to be a jem with a carve. and its going to be great. and no heat does NOT mess with the acrylic. a light amount of heat will only cause it to bend. i've been working with acrylic for 4 years now. and i've even put it in the oven and it doesnt mess up

[littlegreenman]

It's kewl, I just read your posts on Project guitar, I forgot that you are a 15 year old self proclaimed expert and that this is your first guitar, so you must be a pro at all of it

What I'm curious to know is, this is a public forum, surely you must realize that, why post and ask opinions, or even questions, if you are so dead set in all your ways, and are only going to bad mouth everyone else. You call everyone else "Newb builders" when this is your FIRST guitar you've built. So what does that make you?

Like I suggested on Project Guitar, take an astronomy course in school and learn that contrary to your belief, the Universe does NOT revolve around you.

[kennydoe]

hey...no offense, but it sounds to me like you're building a big plastic lump of sh!t with a handle and an angled jack. As a Jem owner and player, i think i may be offended by your calling it a Jem.

WHy don't you call it a sp00t-888 and market it? I'll bet you'll sell 0,000,000

~K

PS: another negative post from kennydoe.

[darren wilson]

Kenny, you really need to learn how to express yourself. Bottling up your feelings will only prolong your negativity.

Now, tell us how you really feel!

[davester1234]

I'm very close to starting a kennydoe appreciation thread

[sniperfrommars1]

Originally Posted by davester1234

I'm very close to starting a kennydoe appreciation thread

Ill second that *USELESS POST*

[VENOMOUS]

Originally Posted by snorkthesick

you guys are sp00ts. (sigh) you newb builders. lol.

i've only built 7 guitars (none were repli-tars , well one was a kit that i put togeather for a friend so i dont count that one) so am i a new-b builder?