Bass player trying to build first guitar...swamp ash/bloodwood VIP...help! Pics!

[Malta]

I'm a bass player, but I've been throwing around the idea of building my older brother a guitar for his 30th birthday (his ex-wife had put a stop to his playing looong ago)...and so now I come to you guys for help, advice, and insight. Keep in mind I'm a bass player and as such, some of these questions may very well be obvious/silly/stupid/etc. (Thanks in advance!)

He's always loved PRS guitars, so I was thinking I'd go with a VIP body...then I just happened to find a guy on ebay who made this heavily chambered PRS/VIP style body in swamp ash with 1/2" bloodwood cap:

I fell in love and had to have it for my brother...so $120.50 later it's mine. Now here's what I need some help with:
Bridge: the seller stated that the body is routed for a Fender/Wilkinson style bridge....so logic leads me to believe the Gotoh Wilkinson Tremolo VS100 bridge should work fine, right? Any tips on installing the posts? Are there any other bridges that would work? Maybe something really cool I don't even know about? Also, do I need a particular style of nut and/or tuners to work properly with the Wilkinson?

Neck: 25.5" scale, angled Warmoth Pro neck, still trying to decide on what neck/fretboard wood combo to go with but it will be a showcase neck.

Finish: I could use some recommendations/opinions on how to finish this thing. I was thinking of first dying the swamp ash back and sides black or dark red, followed by either tung-oil or tru-oil, but I'm open to any suggestions. I still have plenty of pure tung-oil left over after 7 or 8 coats on my walnut jazz body...

Electronics: no clue on electronics yet, other then dual humbuckers.

Anything I should know before I dive into this project? The body should be here in 5-7 days, everything else is pretty liquid right now, so please throw out any suggestions you may have.

PS. I know this isn't actually a Warmoth body, but everything else will be coming from W so I hope nobody minds! :toothy10:

 

[dbw]

Oh god, that's so cool.  And CHEAP!!!! 

 

[Malta]

Oh god, that's so cool.  And CHEAP!!!!   

Yeah, it sat at $75 for 6 days with only 1 bid...I would have missed out on it if it weren't for the auction sniper site I use.  :evil4:

 

[tfarny]

Wow, way to start out in guitar building! You need to have a talk with my little brother about presents for older brothers...very cool.

Couple of obvious points: You'll need access to a good drill press because you need to drill bolt holes to attach the neck and also studs for the wilkinson trem. That trem ought to work just fine, there are probably loads of others you could use as well since you get to drill your own stud holes.

A simple way to finish would involve taping off the swamp ash, spraying clear nitro over the bloodwood, then taping the other direction, filling the swamp ash, maybe spraying a quick vintage tint, clean up and spray the whole thing in clear nitro. I don't know how well bloodwood would take tung oil and you definitely don't want a black back. That's nice looking wood.

Electronics - what is there to know? dual hbs, couple of 500k pots and a gibson switch and you're good to go, seems to me. The PRS setup is simple and is only three holes to drill. Let us know what your brother likes to play and I'm sure you'll get pup suggestions up the wazoo.

 

[Malta]

Thanks for the input Tfarney. The main reason I was thinking of black back and sides is because there is a small blemish on the side, near where the jack is usually placed. Seller said the router took a chunk out of the swamp ash, and was filled with putty:

As for the type of music he'll be playing on it...well he listens to everything from country to classic rock to oldies to top 40 to heavy rock.

 

[Orpheo]

I'd use a hipshot: NOT the wilkinson! the hipshot looks nicer, is cheaper, more solid, and sound better. and, it doesnt have knife edges to dull out; its got smooth bearings as balancepoints.

for the neck and fingerboard...  I think its kind-off tradition to yell out WENGE AND EBONY here, right? but I SO agree, most of the times. with ash and bloodwood, I'm not sure. if its dead heavy ash, i might go with wenge, cause heavy ash will most of the time be bright-sounding , and the bloodwood will only emphesise that. Rosewood is a much better choice, for an allround sound with evenly distributed highs mids and lows. ebony as fretboard, ofcourse.

but, if the ash is lighter, I'd go with wenge, to boost up the mids and highs.

but my neck of choice in this case, absolutely, would be canary. it 'sounds' like maple, absolutely. sure. but if you take a FAT canary neck, really chunky, it wont sound like a bumblebee in a tin can, but like a bunch of german Tiger tanks during world war 2, on the roll, trying to emulate the opening scene of die Walkure (opera by wagner; yeah, wagner was a composer too, not just a pizzamanufacturer!)

the fatness will give you, literally, a fat, howling tone with great mids, articulation, tight bass, and enough punch and attack to pierce through the mix without sounding harsh.

if you like to mellow the sound a bit, use a ziricote fretboard. but I prefer a macassar board, because of the sound, feel and looks, ziricote is smooth, but coarser than ebony. ebony is slick as hell! thats why I dig ebony.

that guitar, with the canary/ebony neck, will be a bit like my main axe right now. hard(er) wood on the back, medium hard/soft wood on top (not as hard as maple, not as soft as mahogany), and a neck like that. just awesome.

about the electronics: prails with 1 meg ohm pots. no, it wont sound harsh or trebly! it will sound full, punchy, mellow, smooth, whatever you want, but NOT harsh. and articulated. prails just go with 1 megs, not with 500k, for me, that is.

 

[blue313]

What tunes did your brother play before he stopped and what kind of guitars did he have?  He may be a little rusty and need something familiar.

 

[Malta]

The only 2 guitars he has owned have been a Peavey Predator strat copy w/ single coils and dual hb Johnson(?) strat copy, but he always goes straight to either LPs or PRS whenever he's got a free minute and he's near a guitar shop. He loves just jamming to whatever happens to be in his head at that moment...blues, country, rock, metal, etc.

 

[Mor Paul]

Well, if he's a Gibby and PRS fan, maybe a 24.75" scale would be a bit nicer for him.

And I'd go for PAF style pickups. Get the gibby sounds, and they're used for virtually every genre.

 

[Malta]

The bridge is spaced for a 22-fret neck with a scale length of 25.5".

 

[Mor Paul]

If you get a conversion neck, it will work fine with the 25.5 bridge position, but with a 24.75 inch scale.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Malta]

Is that so? I learned something new today.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The Guys from Warmoth warn about Bloodwood and finishes having a hard time sticking to them.  It behaves close to ebony if I remember correctly.  It might not be too much trouble, but I'd spend some time finding out about how the wood behaves.  I think that they said they wouldn't finish a Satine (Bloodwood) neck because the finish doesn't stick.  Looks great, good luck.
Patrick

 

[tfarny]

Max is right, that's why it's called a conversion neck - you can convert a strat into 24.75 scale just be swapping the neck and not moving the bridge.
I've seen bloodwood in the gallery with a clear gloss finish. But I would call them up about this for sure, could save you a huge mess.

 

[stubhead]

if you take a FAT canary neck, really chunky, it won't sound like a bumblebee in a tin can, but like a bunch of german Tiger tanks during world war 2, on the roll, trying to emulate the opening scene of die Walkure (opera by wagner; yeah, wagner was a composer too, not just a pizzamanufacturer!)

This has got to take the prize for the most hallucinogenic wood description ever.... are the TIger tanks camo, or desert sand?  :laughing3:

There's a useful principle of manufacturing odd things, maybe call it "measure with what you're making.... you're NOT Henry Ford." In other words, being an off-the-wall body, I wouldn't sink the bridge posts until I had the neck in hand, situated and maybe even mounted (once). You'll want the high E string saddle to be about 1/16" back from the scale length point, be it 24.75" or 25.5". The low E string saddle should be a little less than 1/4" back. Realistically, if you push all the saddles all the way forward, the exact scale length should actually allow plenty of adjustment.... he may or may not have cut the neck pocket at an certain angle, so you may have to shim a "standard" neck - no big deal, really. It looks like he knows what he's doing, but he may have had some funny idea up his sleeve... again, if you just take it one step (and part) at a time it'll explain itself.

 

[Orpheo]

if you take a FAT canary neck, really chunky, it won't sound like a bumblebee in a tin can, but like a bunch of german Tiger tanks during world war 2, on the roll, trying to emulate the opening scene of die Walkure (opera by wagner; yeah, wagner was a composer too, not just a pizzamanufacturer!)

This has got to take the prize for the most hallucinogenic wood description ever.... are the TIger tanks camo, or desert sand?  :laughing3:

There's a useful principle of manufacturing odd things, maybe call it "measure with what you're making.... you're NOT Henry Ford." In other words, being an off-the-wall body, I wouldn't sink the bridge posts until I had the neck in hand, situated and maybe even mounted (once). You'll want the high E string saddle to be about 1/16" back from the scale length point, be it 24.75" or 25.5". The low E string saddle should be a little less than 1/4" back. Realistically, if you push all the saddles all the way forward, the exact scale length should actually allow plenty of adjustment.... he may or may not have cut the neck pocket at an certain angle, so you may have to shim a "standard" neck - no big deal, really. It looks like he knows what he's doing, but he may have had some funny idea up his sleeve... again, if you just take it one step (and part) at a time it'll explain itself.

well.. thinking of wood describtions keeps you off the street huh....

 

[Malta]

Thanks for all the input guys, gives me much to think about.

I hadn't even considered a conversion neck, but I'll look into it for sure.

Regarding the bridge, what are the major differences between the Wilkinson style trem with the mounting posts vs. the Vintage 6-hole style? I noticed that PRS uses what appears to be vintage 6-hole style trem on the Custom 22 & 24 models, correct?

As for the body, I originally thought I'd just use either tung-oil (for ease of application and because I have quite a bit left over) or tru-oil but now it sounds like that may be an issue on the bloodwood? Sprayed finish would be a little difficult as don't really have much space to do a the spraying. Ideally I'd like to find a finish that would be (relatively) easy to apply and look good on both the swamp ash and bloodwood. Perhaps either spray-on or wipe-on poly?

 

[lafromla1]

Put Gibson Burstbucker Pro's in my VIP and it sounds downright nasty.....intense growl with no muddiness whatsoever.

 

[DangerousR6]

That's gonna be pretty cool, you brother ought to proud of that... :icon_thumright:

Did the guy you got it from have any more guitar bodies?

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Tung Oil would work just fine.  Oils like each other and you will get that great look of fine antiques.  I am unsure of Tru Oil, it is a varnish I believe.  The problem with Satine is that it has a lot of natural oil that keeps the finishes from sticking.  But the oil finishes, Linseed or Tung, should work just great on an oily wood.  Be sure to get, "Pure Tung Oil," if you decide on that route.  Behlens is the brand that has been tried before on the boards and it works well.  If you want the Tung oil to look shiney-er you can add some wax over the top of it and polish for a bit more gloss.  I cannot remember who did that on the board recently, but it came out excellent.
Patrick