my builds aren't progressing, at all

ORCRiST said:
Orpheo said:
I'll be ordering these bridges:

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in gold, ofcourse. they cost me like 700$ a POP! but... they look better on a les paul than the dreaded floyd. Also, they are JUST 115 grams each. a regular floyd is at least trice the weight!

What do you expect from a bridge made of aluminum (weight)? For $700 a pop I hope its real gold, Holy Ripoff for aluminum anything Batman!. Maybe you should put a sustain block on it? There's a reason Floyd's have steel baseplates. :laughing7: Interesting design though, I do like the horizontal micro-tuners.

Uhm... they're really 700$. it's because the design is so well worked out. Why would you want a sustain block? the tremblock is already, of course, installed (and aluminium, which I will swap for titanium).

the reason floyds have a steel baseplate is because the knife edges are milled out of said baseplate, and only steel will hold up to the rigorous usage and vicissitudes of guitar playing.

the 'microtuners' have actually full range, so you can use this trem in a headless design. Really neat, I have to admit.

so, please enlighten me, why is a fully handmade, unique, gold anodised trem, without any precedent, a ripoff? I want a tremolo, but I don't want a floyd on my precious les pauls. I don't like the look. This trem will work just as fine, maybe even better. the tone is much more like a fixed bridge (i.e.: having the mids a fixed bridge has, not the midscoop of a floyd) yet retaining the sparkle, jangle and quack of a trem. best of both worlds without compromise, imho. and the sustain is incredible.

so... why is it a rip off? because you can't afford it ;)

@kboman: its 400 euro's for the black, 570 for the gold, thats somewhere like 550 and 800 dollars, respectively.

I decided to forgo with the pure handwound zhangbuckers. I want zhangbuckers, but having them pure handwound is just ridiculous since my addiction really kills the added sparkle, 3D and thus all the benefits. my addiction is ofcourse gold hardware. its very convenient, though. If I want to swap pickups, I don't have to change covers or rings; they're all the same color  :laughing7:
 
I made some pics yesterday of my main custommade-collection. The fretboards and headstocks of the 2 warmoths will be inlayed, though. With a star trek-themed inlay :) (on the koa it will be all the insignias and on the purplemistburst it will be all the starship enterprises, with on the headstocks Orpheo in Star Trek-font (TNG on one, and TOS on the other) and the 12th fret inlay will be engraved with the birthdate of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett and also the day of their death, as a homage :) Maybe I'll even go so far as having a headstock-inlay, besides the logo. Don't know yet. A friend of mine will do that, he's great with inlay.

I also have a little nifty thing to block the trem for dive only, but I also want a device that can lock the bridge down completely. I don't want the tremelno cause that thing just doesn't work that well for me. I'm thinking of a thumbweel recessed in the cavity (in the direction of the strings, on the right side of the block, so thats the other side of the springs :p ) so I can use those 2 things to completely block the trem if I wanted to.

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These guitars are in their final stages. I ordered all the hardware (I'll come to that in a minute) and I polished the first guitar.

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I'm not tonar, agreed. But I think I did a neat job for my first finishing job! I wanted a compromise between little laquer for the tone and high glossy looks. And, never a filler. So the korina isn't as glossy as the maple top, but maybe I'll put in a bit mOre elbow grease.

Yeah I'm doing it by hand. No machines!

The strandbergers were a bit of a pickle. The up charge cOmpared to a floyd is exactly what I have to pay for a trip to new York, next summer. So... I went with gotoh floyds. I just couldn't justify 700€ per trem no more, to myself no less. If I don't believe in something anymore, how can I convince others  doing the right thing?

Same with the pickups. I had a bad feeling about getting stuff I don't know that well, or trust the end result. I chose to make a set of Seymour Duncan hybrids. Custom/pearly in the bridge and jazz/'59 in neck with phat cat in middle. Cts pots, switchcraft jack and switch, and a fender s1 500k pot to switch the middle pickup and it's wiring. In the up position, it's a stock les Paul wiring. 2 tone 2 volume for neck and bridge.

And the down position is independent volumes for each pickup and a master tone. That way I can blend the middle in whenever I want.

Graphtech nut, sperzel aluminium gold anodised tuners, to keep the head lightweight. Oh, and I bought 4 ebony and 4 rosewood tophat knobs for the pots! In one of each I'll drill a hole for a little stick with a piece of abalone on top. That part will be the switch of the s1!

So... That's how it will be done. Any questions?
 
No Q's here ... Looks great to me ..... Nice pup choice  :icon_thumright:

$ 700 for a trem ...... Holy crap !!
Yeah I'd scrap that idea too ...
 
Updown said:
No Q's here ... Looks great to me ..... Nice pup choice  :icon_thumright:

$ 700 for a trem ...... Holy crap !!
Yeah I'd scrap that idea too ...

Not even 700 dollars, but euros even.
 
Being generous to the Euro, it's €385 for the basic model. That's quite a markup for gold hardware! :tard:


The guitar looks great Orpheo!
 
I think it's a good idea to at least start with pickups you know to see what it all does together. I read this part, from before you changed:
I'm in contact with zhangbucker to make me 2 sets of pickups, pure handwounds, to my specs. can't wait! the pickups will be like PAF's, with a bit more power, more open, more clear, more transparant, 3D, better harmonics. the neckpickup will sing, with flutey overtones and a bell-chime. the bridgepickup will be very open, clear, articulated and 3D; broad and dynamic! lots of mids. crunchy and punchy in the mids, singing in the highs, solid in the lows but not boomy in any way.
- and I though it was insane, there's absolutely no way to know that kind of detail about the sound of a guitar and the contribution of wood & parts - till you do.
 
Hey Orpheo,

looks like you're in love.................................. with LP's [Mr. Les Paul addict].
Hope it's not just an addiction though..... :eek:ccasion14: :icon_biggrin:

:rock-on:
JULIA
 
We're 2 months after my last post and the current status is that I have ALL THE HARDWARE IN HOUSE!!!!! It seemed like a neverending story, but finally, everything's here. Some parts are conservative, such as the switchcraft switch and jack and the CTS pots, some stuff is a bit unique, like the graphtech nut and sperzel tuners, and some other stuff is just plain COOL (gotoh floyd; what a beautiful piece of kit!!!!!! I love that tremarm, I really do) and some stuff is just plain akward, such as the fender S1 switch, the wenge and rosewood knobs, and the duncan custom hybrid pickups.

It took me 2 hours to install the tuners, just because I hate installing sperzels. The holes for the gotoh LOCKING STUDS are a bit too narrow so I have to drill them out. And I have to mod 2 knobs for the s1 switch (drill a tiny hole, and glue in a little stick to switch the switch inside).

and the part I really don't wanna do, but have to do cause I promised it to myself is cutting out the backplates and using a dremel to recess them in the cavities. Don't wanna, but have to. No ugly plastics on this puppy.

edit. Reminds me. I have to buy metal surrounds, but the surrounds I know can't fit trembuckers so I have to file them down, which takes an awful lot of time with just so so results.

maybe I'll go plastic after all  :doh:
 
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