I'm still in the process of designing a Warmoth V-R. The feedback on my last thread was extremely helpful, and I really appreciate everyone's input. While my last thread was initially about about fixed bridge designs, body and neck wood considerations became the focus - which was great, because I ended up learning a lot. Cagey argued that all else being equal, neck wood dictates much more of the tone and sustain than body wood does. Also, with all else being equal, the stiffer and heavier the instrument, the longer a plucked note will ring out.
Here's what I have at this point:
Neck:
Warmoth Pro Angled
Shaft: Ebony
Fingerboard: Black Ebony
Back Contour: Wizard
Nut: 1 3/4", Earvana
Frets: 24, SS6100
Tuners: Schaller locking
Custom headstock veneered to match body finish
Body:
V-R
Wood: Option 1: Flame maple topped hard maple. Option 2: Mahogany. **If I can get a good tone out of a hard maple body with the ebony neck, I'll use maple. If It will be too bright, I'll use Mahogany. I know my sustain will be longer with a hard maple body, but as Cagey said, the body doesn't have as much of an influence on tone/sustain as the neck does. Has anyone built a solid ebony neck/maple body guitar? What about a solid ebony neck/mahogany body guitar? If so, how is the tone? How's the sustain?**
Finish: Red dye on the flame maple/maple body, or trans red on mahogany.
Pickup Rout: bridge and neck direct mount humbuckers. **I love the sound of an EMG 81 bridge and EMG 85 Neck pickup with high gain through my Mesa Mark V. I don't like how they sound clean, or for any purpose other than metal. If anyone knows of a good set of low output humbuckers that can be split into Strat sounding single coils while yielding EMG 81 tones with high gain, let me know. Chord clarity with high gain is also very important to me, which is another reason I'm leaning towards lower output pickups. Another reason is increased sustain.
Bridge: I'm stuck between two bridge options. If anyone has experience with either of these, let me know. I'm leaning towards this top mount bridge: http://www.allparts.com/SB-0104-010-ABM-Chrome-Non-Tremolo-Bridge_p_3216.html with Graphtech saddles because the only friction points will be the saddles and the nut. I'm also looking at this one: http://www.allparts.com/SB-5110-003-ABM-Non-Tremolo-Bridge-Black_p_3275.html with Graphtech saddles. This is a string through body bridge, which will increase coupling to the body, but will add a contact point for the string behind the saddle that will increase friction during bends and tuning... If only I had the tools to drill an angled string channel through the body so the strings would not hang up on the bridge base plate...
Thanks!
Here's what I have at this point:
Neck:
Warmoth Pro Angled
Shaft: Ebony
Fingerboard: Black Ebony
Back Contour: Wizard
Nut: 1 3/4", Earvana
Frets: 24, SS6100
Tuners: Schaller locking
Custom headstock veneered to match body finish
Body:
V-R
Wood: Option 1: Flame maple topped hard maple. Option 2: Mahogany. **If I can get a good tone out of a hard maple body with the ebony neck, I'll use maple. If It will be too bright, I'll use Mahogany. I know my sustain will be longer with a hard maple body, but as Cagey said, the body doesn't have as much of an influence on tone/sustain as the neck does. Has anyone built a solid ebony neck/maple body guitar? What about a solid ebony neck/mahogany body guitar? If so, how is the tone? How's the sustain?**
Finish: Red dye on the flame maple/maple body, or trans red on mahogany.
Pickup Rout: bridge and neck direct mount humbuckers. **I love the sound of an EMG 81 bridge and EMG 85 Neck pickup with high gain through my Mesa Mark V. I don't like how they sound clean, or for any purpose other than metal. If anyone knows of a good set of low output humbuckers that can be split into Strat sounding single coils while yielding EMG 81 tones with high gain, let me know. Chord clarity with high gain is also very important to me, which is another reason I'm leaning towards lower output pickups. Another reason is increased sustain.
Bridge: I'm stuck between two bridge options. If anyone has experience with either of these, let me know. I'm leaning towards this top mount bridge: http://www.allparts.com/SB-0104-010-ABM-Chrome-Non-Tremolo-Bridge_p_3216.html with Graphtech saddles because the only friction points will be the saddles and the nut. I'm also looking at this one: http://www.allparts.com/SB-5110-003-ABM-Non-Tremolo-Bridge-Black_p_3275.html with Graphtech saddles. This is a string through body bridge, which will increase coupling to the body, but will add a contact point for the string behind the saddle that will increase friction during bends and tuning... If only I had the tools to drill an angled string channel through the body so the strings would not hang up on the bridge base plate...
Thanks!
