Iceman complete-almost

[ice man]

Hey guys,
  Good to see a forum here.  Lots of great info.  My Iceman is done and I have been playing it quite a bit.  A few things I will share with everyone.
http://www.warmoth.com/gallery/images/misc_guitar/P6010663.JPG

It's done in Tru oil, which was really friendly to work with.  4 coats, 0000 steel wool between coats.  I didn't fill the grain, I wanted to go with an open grain look.  I like it.  Next one will be grain filled, to keep things different. 

The neck is not stained, just mahogany with Tru oil.  I should have filled the grain on this, I can feel the grain, even after fine sanding, in a few spots.  Most wouldn't notice it, but it's starting to bug me so I may pull it off and strip it down and fill it.  Not a big deal but food for thought for anyone planning a similar finish on a neck.

Like a dumb-a_s I scarred the back side with the soldering iron.  Steel wooled it just a tad and wiped some Tru oil on it, can't even tell.  Repairs well.
Set-up-  I have a recessed Tonespro string thru body.  I love the feel, but I am a little concerned about the saddle pressure.  There isn't much angle there from the ferules to the saddles, and when I wipe my strings down after playing, I can pull the strings off the saddles really easy.  I use 9's usually, but I am thinking about 10's.

Relief- I have enough relief to keep things from rattling, but the truss rod is barely tight.  Again, 10's might be the ticket here.  I like it low, so with a touch more relief I can drop the bridge down just a hair and not fret out on bends on the high frets.

Planet waves tuner - love them. 

Pickups - Duncan Pearly Gates bridge, A2pro neck.  Awesome classic/hard rock tones.  This guitar sounds amazing.  And with parallel, splitting, and out of phase, it does it all.  My wife said it is "the most beautifull sounding guitar I have ever heard".  And I have a few, so that says alot.

The standard thin conversion neck is awesome.  Feels like an old friend.  Not so with my ESP Viper 1000- wide and flat on the back side - I cramp up after awile.  This one is really comfortable.  OK, enough babble from me.  :headbang1:

 

[juliancs]

Hot damn! That looks fantastic. Can we get a whole body shot? What a wonderful colour you got out of the wood - very similar to James Hetfield's Ken Lawrence explorer. Congrats! :guitarplayer2:

 

[ice man]

Thanks!! I'm at work now, but when I get home I'll post more pics.  That one is from the gallery.  Appreciate the kind words.  I must say in person, in good light, the graining is almost irradescent.  And the neck, without stain (which can't be seen in this pic) is 3 piece with the center being darker than the sides.  Beautifull wood.

 

[SrDeMaFp]

Looks great! I actually think I literally just saw this on project guitar less than 10 minutes ago... :laughing7: Nice build, man! Can you illustrate the "feel" differences with the recessed vs. non-recessed?

 

[ice man]

As far a feel goes, if you do a lot of palm muting, it's awesome.  My '79 Iceman has the factory Ibanez bridge/tailpiece and it feels kinda, well like you are resting your palm on a sharp, steel bar that is raised off the body.  The recessed Tonespro is so low, rounded and physically smaller than the Ibanez setup you don't even feel it.  String control is great.  It actually has a similar feel to my Floyd equipped Washburn V.  As far as the flat, low feel under your right palm.  It just feels "right" to me.

 

[ocguy106]

I got the tonespro too. The low e would pop right off with even the lightest finger picking, you just need to file the saddles a little bit. This was with 9's as well.

 

[ice man]

So you think it is an issue of the string grooves in the saddles being too shallow?  That kinda sucks if that's the case, but if so then i'll have to make them alittle deeper. :dontknow:

 

[dbw]

Yep I had that problem too, especially on the low E.  File the saddles very slightly, and raise the bridge very slightly to compensate.

 

[kboman]

I have the same issue with the TP bridge on my Schecter - low E keeps leaving the saddle in intense moments. Especially on stage, mid-song.

Lovely guitar! Grainfilling has always struck me as very very pointless.

 

[jimh]

Great guitar.

I'm looking forward to seeing a few more pics.  :kewlpics:

Nice one centurion..... :glasses9:

'Grats.

Jim

 

[DocNrock]

Very cool!  Nice concept and build.

 

[Ted]

NICE!!!! :hello2:

 

[ice man]

Ok, I sanded the neck down a little more, 400, 600, 1500.  Not to bare wood, but much of the tru oil.  Re- Tru oiled it, and it feels much better.  I actually don't mind the gloss neck on this one.  It doesn't feel like paint or poly, so I think I'll leave it without steel wooling.  A definate improvement! :hello2:

 

[GoDrex]

with parallel, splitting, and out of phase, it does it all.

how are you working that with two vols and 1 tone - just curious.

 

[ice man]

I am using 3 push/push 500k pots.  2 vol, 1 tone, 3 way.  I got the diagram off of the Seymour Duncan forum, from one of the wiring dudes on there.  I am having some problems with it, but once I get it ironed out, it will be awesome.  Here is the diagram:

It does a lot of stuff, splits inside and outside coils, parallel with out of phase, out of phase, etc.  This thing is a classic/southern rock/blues machine!!  With bugs, unfortunatly. :icon_scratch:

 

[DangerousR6]

I am using 3 push/push 500k pots.  2 vol, 1 tone, 3 way.  I got the diagram off of the Seymour Duncan forum, from one of the wiring dudes on there.  I am having some problems with it, but once I get it ironed out, it will be awesome.  Here is the diagram:

It does a lot of stuff, splits inside and outside coils, parallel with out of phase, out of phase, etc.  This thing is a classic/southern rock/blues machine!!  With bugs, unfortunatly. :icon_scratch:

Here this should help with those pesky bugs.......