New guitar idea, rosewood/ebony soloist 24 3/4 neck .

[Archie Macfarlane]

Hi all I'm a new member  here i've been lurking for a short period of time, i dig the partscaster recipe and have one but it's not perfect so here i am        

i want to build a strat/soloist mahogany body mahogany top  not sure on hardtail or a flush mount floyd
strat conversion neck  rosewood neck back ebony board ss frets either boatneck/59 profile. contoured heel

i guess i want to "get the balance of brightness" right,  as opposed to "nailing a tone exactly" and i'm kind of getting sick of maples tonality  :dontknow:

mahogany just sounds a bit more like a guitar to me??? rosewood doesn't need finishing, and ebony could add back some life to the single coil tones without getting to dominant like maple necked strats  <my theory

the lf unbuckers have a bit of a single coil bite/tone even when in full hb mode which is ok i guess but i figured the woods would rein this in appropriately in humbucking mode so to mimic a less unbalanced paf (not that that's bad) i just want decent Gibsony hb sounds mahogany rw and ebony seem better for this than a maple necked strat

how does a rw neck combine with a mahogany body? should i just get a hog neck? will the scale make a huge difference? or could i just deal with it??

getting this "ballance of brightness" right could be done a few ways and i like the sounds of mahogany strats and rosewood fenders but for this pickup set going in between the hb and sc tones it might need a little more clarity.

any advice on pot values? or even a 250k resistor in place of a tone pot which gets turned off in split coil mode??? just ideas..  ebony fretboard ss frets and the shorter scale guess i want it to all work together "Convincingly"          brass/titanium/mix of both string saddles??

Cheers for any help guys.

 

[Day-mun]

Welcome to the 'boards!

You gotta lotta great questions, to which there are many great answers, and most of those might even be true. But I will kick off the response/discussion with a short story which morphs into a non-answer.

When I first started dabbling with my own builds, -and especially when Warmoth first got its hooks into me, I had this notion that I was gonna build the ONE do-it-all/perfect all-around guitar. I searched for and researched what wood sounded like what, which pickups fit best within this ideal tone definition I was formulating in my mind, and I laid awake at night imagining every possible tonal combination of wood/pickups/electronic circuitry/finish... "-AH HA!" I had dreamed the perfect instrument. I set to work ordering and constructing.

My first builds (yes, I tried to fashion the holy grail more than once) where ridiculous. -Hideous Frankensteins! Too many weird combinations of wood. Too many switches and knobs. Too much everything... but totally lacking in simple elegance and function.

Alas, I say to you: Keep it simple. Build with a specific function in mind. Be okay with not being able to cram every good thing about guitars into one instrument... there will be other builds, -there just will. (The GAS just won't let it be any other way.)

-My huge opinion.

 

[Archie Macfarlane]

if i wanted to build a generic guitar i"d walk down to world of music and buy one. Things don't have to be perfectly exact and i know what i'm getting into since i've built a hsh strat before, and i know the minor tone downfalls, no shit ey? :doh: ccasion14: 

anyway if this was too much for you to handle at once don't bother . nah  jokes    just help me if you can with rosewood necks on mahogany bodies  arty07:

 

[Day-mun]

When it comes to the 'boards, I take what works and leave the rest; -seemed reasonable to think you may do the same. I figured what I had to share might be relevant (-I usually do, that's why I bother to comment) and thought you'd take it or leave it according to your own judgement, but I never suspected it to be offensive...

(Note to self: Only give comments Archie wants to hear.)

Again, welcome to the forum. -It'll be great to see whatcha put together, -hope ya share your build with us!  :icon_thumright:

 

[Orpheo]

Hi all I'm a new member  here i've been lurking for a short period of time, i dig the partscaster recipe and have one but it's not perfect so here i am        

i want to build a strat/soloist mahogany body mahogany top  not sure on hardtail or a flush mount floyd
strat conversion neck  rosewood neck back ebony board ss frets either boatneck/59 profile. contoured heel

rosewood neck, ebony board: good idea. Pair it with a mahogany body for great versatility. Ask for a koa top, though. Koa looks just so much nicer than just mahogany. The top is so thin, it is just there for looks, not for tone. (the 1/8'' droptop not the 3/4'' thick carved top of a les paul!).

i guess i want to "get the balance of brightness" right,  as opposed to "nailing a tone exactly" and i'm kind of getting sick of maples tonality  :dontknow:

Yes, good idea. Don't go for nailing ONE tone, but go for a broad base tone and tweak your tone with the right picukps.

mahogany just sounds a bit more like a guitar to me??? rosewood doesn't need finishing, and ebony could add back some life to the single coil tones without getting to dominant like maple necked strats

maple necks serve a purpose too. But you seem to have the idea that the board makes a huge tonal difference. It doesn't. It's a small part of the final tone. It's like salt in your soup: it is just 3 or 4 grams in 3 kilo's of soup but with a dramatic effect.

the humbuckers have a bit of a single coil bite/tone even when in full hb mode which is ok i guess but i figured the woods would rein this in appropriately in humbucking mode so to mimic a less unbalanced paf (not that that's bad) i just want decent Gibsony hb sounds mahogany rw and ebony seem better for this than a maple necked strat

Not really. Depends on what kind humbucker you use and bodywood and bridge you use.

how does a rw neck combine with a mahogany body? should i just get a hog neck? will the scale make a huge difference? or could i just deal with it??

Go with rosewood. Feels better, sounds great. Scale is a huge difference. but mostly in feel. I prefer a shorter scale.

[quote[getting this "balance of brightness" right could be done a few ways and i like the sounds of mahogany strats and rosewood fenders but for this pickup set going in between the hb and sc tones it might need a little more clarity. [/quote] There's no such thing. You simply want to make a balanced sound to begin with, not balance of brightness. I've got a guitar, full walnut with a padouk neck and an ebony board. A recipe for disaster, you'd think. Way too bright, but with the right pickups it's an amazingly sweet yet clear guitar. Same with full korina les paul and a brazilian rosewood neck. Recipe for mushy, warm tones but with the right pots and pickups this guitar screams.

any advice on pot values? or even a 250k resistor in place of a tone pot which gets turned off in split coil mode??? just ideas..  ebony fretboard ss frets and the shorter scale guess i want it to all work together "Convincingly"          brass/titanium/mix of both string saddles??

500k is always a good choice. you can always tone it down with a 500k resistor to tame the highs if needed but I don't think that's necessary. I'd go with brass saddles if possible (on a fixed bridge, steel saddles for a floyd). Titanium is cool but very expensive and I'm not sure as to the tonal benefits versus the price.

 

[Archie Macfarlane]

Hi all I'm a new member  here i've been lurking for a short period of time, i dig the partscaster recipe and have one but it's not perfect so here i am        

i want to build a strat/soloist mahogany body mahogany top  not sure on hardtail or a flush mount floyd
strat conversion neck  rosewood neck back ebony board ss frets either boatneck/59 profile. contoured heel

rosewood neck, ebony board: good idea. Pair it with a mahogany body for great versatility. Ask for a koa top, though. Koa looks just so much nicer than just mahogany. The top is so thin, it is just there for looks, not for tone. (the 1/8'' droptop not the 3/4'' thick carved top of a les paul!).

I got the impression that veneer tops add sustain..  but thats probably quite mythical in nature..

i guess i want to "get the balance of brightness" right,  as opposed to "nailing a tone exactly" and i'm kind of getting sick of maples tonality  :dontknow:

Yes, good idea. Don't go for nailing ONE tone, but go for a broad base tone and tweak your tone with the right picukps.

mahogany just sounds a bit more like a guitar to me??? rosewood doesn't need finishing, and ebony could add back some life to the single coil tones without getting to dominant like maple necked strats

maple necks serve a purpose too. But you seem to have the idea that the board makes a huge tonal difference. It doesn't. It's a small part of the final tone. It's like salt in your soup: it is just 3 or 4 grams in 3 kilo's of soup but with a dramatic effect.

the humbuckers have a bit of a single coil bite/tone even when in full hb mode which is ok i guess but i figured the woods would rein this in appropriately in humbucking mode so to mimic a less unbalanced paf (not that that's bad) i just want decent Gibsony hb sounds mahogany rw and ebony seem better for this than a maple necked strat

Not really. Depends on what kind humbucker you use and bodywood and bridge you use. 

i should add here that i forgot to say i wanted to use lindy fralin unbuckers which had said bite due to  mismatched coils

how does a rw neck combine with a mahogany body? should i just get a hog neck? will the scale make a huge difference? or could i just deal with it??

Go with rosewood. Feels better, sounds great. Scale is a huge difference. but mostly in feel. I prefer a shorter scale.

  i'm on the same boat since i don't exactly have huge hands...

[quote[getting this "balance of brightness" right could be done a few ways and i like the sounds of mahogany strats and rosewood fenders but for this pickup set going in between the hb and sc tones it might need a little more clarity.

There's no such thing. You simply want to make a balanced sound to begin with, not balance of brightness. I've got a guitar, full walnut with a padouk neck and an ebony board. A recipe for disaster, you'd think. Way too bright, but with the right pickups it's an amazingly sweet yet clear guitar. Same with full korina les paul and a brazilian rosewood neck. Recipe for mushy, warm tones but with the right pots and pickups this guitar screams.


sounds tasty, and again "this pickup set"  was me referring to the fralin unbuckers.  Balance is pretty much the goal here

any advice on pot values? or even a 250k resistor in place of a tone pot which gets turned off in split coil mode??? just ideas..  ebony fretboard ss frets and the shorter scale guess i want it to all work together "Convincingly"          brass/titanium/mix of both string saddles??

500k is always a good choice. you can always tone it down with a 500k resistor to tame the highs if needed but I don't think that's necessary. I'd go with brass saddles if possible (on a fixed bridge, steel saddles for a floyd). Titanium is cool but very expensive and I'm not sure as to the tonal benefits versus the price.
[/quote]              i suppose it wouldn't be with the woods,    well thanks for the insight man really helps happy builds and all 

 

[Orpheo]

You make quoting (and replying to) your replies hard, my friend. but I'll give it a go.

 

[Orpheo]

I got the impression that veneer tops add sustain..  but thats probably quite mythical in nature..

nop. absolutely for looks and nothing more.

 
i should add here that i forgot to say i wanted to use lindy fralin unbuckers which had said bite due to  mismatched coils

the unbuckers are great. but they aren't really bright per se: they work in close conjunction with the guitar. In other words: if you have a very bright guitar, these pickups will sound very bright with a lot of treble. A warm guitar will sound warm but very clear and chimey.

  i'm on the same boat since i don't exactly have huge hands...

The size of your hands has very little to do with the scale length. More with the width and thickness of the neck. The scale does something with the feel of the strings and the feel of the guitar. Just calculate the difference per fret: less than a millimeter per fret and it's very hard for a guitarist to feel that difference in terms of stretching your hand. What you do feel, though, is a higher tension on the strings (which translate in more spank, bite and clarity on the lower strings!) when you use a longer scale vs a short. I just prefer short for these reasons.

sounds tasty, and again "this pickup set"  was me referring to the fralin unbuckers.  Balance is pretty much the goal here

I only have tasty guitars Don't try to balance too much: it may result in a tonally bland or boring guitar. You need contrast: hard top, soft back or vice versa. Stiff neck and supple body or vice versa: you need contrast and that gives you, at the end of the day, the balance you need. Because a tonally bland guitar will make the neck and bridge pickup sound way too similar. 

        i suppose it wouldn't be with the woods,    well thanks for the insight man really helps happy builds and all 

keep us posted on the progress