Baritone Neck is Here!! (was re: Touching up)

[swarfrat]

Baritone neck is on the truck to be delivered tomorrow. Figured I better take a look at the body and make sure all was in order. Took the Ghost saddles off. I might put generic piezo disc on some place in the future for my "not fauxcoustic passive sustainiac mid knock booster", but I don't need 6 saddles to do it. Sanded and put another coat of tung oil on the body. Plan to take the buffer to this one.

 

[fdesalvo]

That is just stunning, brotha.

 

[swarfrat]

Thanks. Yeah, it's easy to forget sometimes.  My 13 pin jack, battery compartment and internals didn't look so hot. Screwed up one of the threaded inserts on the neck I had.  Had me really really discouraged.  At one point I was so discouraged by some of those that I was thinking 'how the heck can I salvage this', and it's sat on a shelf disassembled for the last or 3 years. (Disclaimer... My kid is 2.5. TTC, pregnancy and most of the 1st  18 months was pure hell.  Not a lot of free time for projects.)

But none of that really shows when it's all buttoned up, and it's still a dang hot piece of BK, (Flame broiled you might say)  And I just got my notice that it's ready to pick up, ironically next to a local burger joint. (But not BK).  Just in time for my birthday! Yipee

 

[fdesalvo]

Well, here he both of you are seemingly unscathed!  Gotta love a guitar with a history.

Looking forward to some pics!!

BTW, why did you remove the Ghost system?  Did you find the graphtech saddles changed the tone of the guitar in a negative way?

 

[swarfrat]

My MIDI converter only works with magnetic pickups. I thought about keeping the ghosts but I can sell the saddles along with the rest of the stuff. they're not bad I actually like them blended in with magnetics. it makes the guitar responds at medium levels as if you were playing much much louder. but I don't need 6 saddles to do that. I  can use a single 50 cent piezo disc and a preamp tailored to electric guitar tones.

I am thinking about dumping the mean 90's for a pair of GFS Memphis, as I love the snarl  and snap. And they are humbucking. but I figured I owed the mean 90's a fair shake.

 

[swarfrat]

Lovely. I left the ebony to chance.  Would have preferred black, but hey you don't your kid back when you wanted the other gender do you? Nope, you forget all about such silly preferences. (And teach your little girl to ride dirt bikes and hunt deer. JK)

 

[fdesalvo]

I get it. 

It's still very nice!  You could always die the fb black if the look wears on you!

 

[bagman67]

BEAUTY!

 

[swarfrat]

That sounded sarcastic, but I was typing on my phone. I meant:

Lovely!! It's gorgeous. No - the only thing likely to bug me is the 11th fret marker nature put in there. That might throw me off after growing accustomed to looking for fret markers. at the 12th fret. Luck of the draw can be a beautiful thing. Anticipation, then, it's beautiful in ways you didn't expect.

 

[bagman67]

Side dots will keep you on track.  That's a lovely fingerboard.  Total score.

 

[rgand]

That's really spectacular with the black pickguard. The neck is really a good match for it. Thumbs up!

 

[Fat Pete]

Very nice. I'd take that board over plain black any day. Good to see that flame BK up close too - gorgeous.

 

[swarfrat]

Not Massachar either. I guess thanks to Bob Taylor's policy, we should expect this to be more the norm in the future. No complaints from me there, it's gorgeous. 

 

[erogenousjones17]

That sounded sarcastic, but I was typing on my phone. I meant:

Lovely!! It's gorgeous. No - the only thing likely to bug me is the 11th fret marker nature put in there. That might throw me off after growing accustomed to looking for fret markers. at the 12th fret. Luck of the draw can be a beautiful thing. Anticipation, then, it's beautiful in ways you didn't expect.

I've an old beater guitar with a ding on the side of the neck at right about the sixth fret. To make things worse, there are no side markers. You'll get used to it.

A small price to pay for such a great looking neck.  :icon_thumright:

 

[BigSteve22]

That neck is gonna kick ass on that body! I don't think you could have ordered a better match using select choice.

 

[swarfrat]

Yup - pure sex (IIRC)

 

[rgand]

Absolutely beautiful!  :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

 

[swarfrat]

Thanks. A couple more with better light on the fingerboard. Wow wow wow, I love the flames shooting out the neck now. I thought this guitar was HOT before, but this is a whole nother level of beauty.

And of course the neckplate Doug made for me:

Took me a while but I found the tremolo claw. Still looking for the springs. I think my best bet 13-pin electronics wize is to sell the Ghost Saddles and Acoustiphonic,  Keep the Hexpander and 13 pin jack (which I carved into the side years ago. At the very least I'll need to make a cable. At worst I'll need a small board, but the Hexpander already buffers and provides S1/S2, Mix signals.  I'd LOVE to inlay the 13 pin jack plate flush, but I'm not about to screw something like that up. It'd need a proper jig to do it right.

 

[swarfrat]

Oh yeah. The GK3 pickup itself appears that I could solder the cable to the board from below. Will probably screw it to the pickguard rather than further.mangle the body.

 

[stratamania]

Looks very good, the parts do indeed blend well together. Well done.