Project Guitar Ideas - Opinions wanted on project

[jem7vwh]

OK-I believe I'm going to work on a monster guitar. *Here are my ideas so far..
(starting from an Ibanez RG5xx body and wizard neck)
* *I'm going to scallop frets 21-24
* *DiMarzio Evolution at Bridge, PAF Pro at Neck
* *No middle pickup
* *5 way switch with coil taps in notch positions and both in middle
* *kill switch

I've also toyed with the idea of adding a sustainer...
any other cool suggestions?

[tommy west]

Have you considered any inlay work or finish for the body? Electronically it sounds pretty killer.

I would beef up the neck pickup a little to come closer to the EVO. Maybe an Air Norton or Air Zone. Good luck!!!

[jeffrey]

Question: why scallop 21-24? Is it just for asthetics? Because in all honesty, it won't make an iota of difference that high up on the neck as far as playability.

But I know some people that just like the way it looks.

(just curious) *

[MrGreenGenes]

Off with the Evo, get a Breed, Fred, Tone Zone or something from the Duncan catalog instead. Oh and a Wilkinson trem, locking tuners and an Earvana nut.
The 5-way switch is a good idea. Got one guitar with similar pu setup.

(Edited by MrGreenGenes at 12:38 pm on Dec. 16, 2000)

[tommy west]

I believe Vai did the scallop thing for tonal integrity on the high frets. I personally like it for the ease of control when playing that high on the neck. Easier to bend I guess.

[jem7vwh]

nope- sorry the Evolution is definately staying. *I'm not thrilled with the Breed and I really dislike Seymour Duncans.

I'm doing the scalloping for a number of reasons. *Primarily because I do a tremendous amount of right hand hammering (tapping). *If you've ever heard the solo from "Big Trouble" this is what I'm talking about. *The scallops just make it easier to get a solid note out of those cramped spaces for me. *I know Vai has stopped requesting them on the newer JEMs but I have it on my JEM7VWH and I have really come to appreciate it. *

In terms of possible finishes, I've been toying with the idea of using a Diffraction Grating Film. *Diffraction Gratings (in this case a plastic sheet) are materials which have been cut by lasers in such a way that they diffract or split white light into the electromagnetic spectrum. *I would overlay the grating over a mirrored top (either a pickguard material or alumnium) and then whenever I moved the guitar would throw off rainbows...sounds cool on paper, but it's even nicer in person

[jono]

maybe, if you are feeling confident, you could replace the dot inlays with some of that refraction grating stuff too? Just an idea

Oh and I like the Scalloping too, and "Big Trouble" has IMHO one of the best solo's EVER :biggrin:

If you're going for neat electronics you could maybe also consider a "blower" switch that gives the bridge pickup on full output bypassing the tone and vol pots, like some Tom Andersons?

[jem7vwh]

Jono, I like those ideas. *The deal with this grating stuff is that it's supposed to be a filter so theoretically you're supposed to be on the other side of the grating from the light source, but since I'm putting a mirror behind it, it should bounce the light back through the filter. *If I can cut it in circles it would be very cool

I like the blower switch idea too, something I could toggle on during solos *
Now if I could just screw a fan onto the body to blow my hair back like Steve's

[darren wilson]

Heh. Gotta have that guitar-mounted wind machine. Maybe you could control it with one of those new Morley volume pedals!

I like the idea of having dots that are painted the same colour as the body (if you have to have dots at all).

[bammbamm]

I hafta disagree with Jeff on the issue that the scallops don't make any difference up that high on the neck, I had scallops done on my 550's along with 6100 fretwire, HUGE difference. I can play the notes much more cleanly than I could pevious to the mod.

now as far as what else to do to the guitar, I have ( not using currently) a chandler Tone-X control, basically a wah in a tone pot's space and some minor mods to the wiring. (oh yeah, you need to find a place for a 9v battery) anyway, its kinda kewl for using the wah stuck in one position tone for leads, its' a pull pot and then you rotate the knob for the wah effect, adds about 3Db of boost to your signal. kewl mod.
Keep us aprised of what you do.

Bamm

[tommy west]

Hey Bamm, how is your custom 555 coming *along?

[bammbamm]

Its going as slow as molasses in...what month is this?

I havent had time to even practice 1 time this MONTH.
I took a 2nd job so no time at all... 16+ hours a day working... *sniff*