Quty Pie - Carved-top Tele

bagman67

Epic Member
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8,786
Here at long last is Quty Pie, a gift from my wife, who funded my wildest guitar-building fantasy.  The guitar is named Quty Pie afer a chalk drawing my little girl made when she was five years old, translated to a neckplate by DangerousR6.  Assembly and fret treatment by Cagey, whose work is stellar.  I can't recommend him highly enough.

Specs:

Body:
Warmoth carved-top tele with unique choice quilt maple top on a mahogany backside.  Strat neck pocket.
Finish by Warmoth:  Purple edge burst into clear, clean masked edge, with clear poly on the back.

Neck:
Showcase Strat neck in quartersawn wenge, SS6115 frets, clay dot markers.  Black Graphtech nut.

Hardware - all black:
Tuners:  Planet Waves autotrim
Bridge:  Wilkinson VS100 tremolo
Knobs, pickup bezels, etc:  black chrome.
Neckplate:  Custom DangerousR6 "Quty Pie" original.

Electronics:
Santana II pickups harvested from an unused PRS Santana II ;  Pabloman sold them to me, and may he and his progeny be blessed unto the 7th generation - they're NICE.
One vol., one tone, with a .001 mF treble bleed;  Black Electrosocket jack.

Here she is:

Frontal body shot:
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Headstock:
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From above:
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Controls:
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Pickups, with a halfway decent representation of the in-person chatttoyance of this top:
6182794503_1cd0faa040_b.jpg


View from the bridge toward the nut:
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Dangerous Doug's handiwork:
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What a backside on this beauty!
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Full length from the front:
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Ridiculous.  It's truly the most amazing sounding, playing guitar I have ever encountered.  The thing sustains and sustains, which is something I have not actively noticed in a guitar before.  The PRS Santana p'ups do clean sounds with gratifying complexity, and a delighfully lively high end (and I don't even qualify that by saying "...for a set of humbuckers.")  The guitar is rather loud unplugged, and sounds ever-so-slightly compressed when  plugged in and played clean - prob'ly the wenge, but whatever the cause, it's really nice.  Overdriven or in full-blast distortion, it really roars.  I'm all the way in love.
 
Thank you for the pic's, thats what I've been hanging out to see  :glasses9: & WOW WOW WOW  :blob7: I'm in Loooove, that is simply gorgeous.

I Just dribbled all over my keyboard again  :toothy11:

Looks like good'ol Cagey did a wonderful job too  :icon_thumright: nice work cagey & of cause Dougies great work too.
Very good choices too Bagman67  :headbang:

Can I just suggest ONE thing thou (this includes everyone)
When taking photo's of your finished guitars, I personally think it looks a lot better when you DON'T see the screws in the Knobs.
Just turn them so they aren't in sight .... Will make those photo's of your pride & joy look so so so much better.

Stunning  :glasses9: Rock-On  Bagman67
 
Glad to see some pics of that beauty. Well done, all involved.

I'd love to hear some additional samples (besides your late-night, quiet YouTube session), if you're inclined to share some audio file attachments.
 
Having played without one for so many years (8+) I have to force myself to put the bar in the socket.  Gotta relearn how to play with one, I suppose.
 
That guitar won't punish you for using the vibrato. I put all five springs on the bridge so I could set it up as a floater while still maintaining tune almost no matter what you do to it. Between that and the superior design of the VS-100, you'll find it to be highly repeatable.
 
Yeah, it's not punishment that's the issue.  I've just played so little with the twang bar that it feels something like:

1.  Play guitar
2. Stop playing guitar
3.  Operate tremolo
4. Resume playing guitar.

The bar is very, very far from integrated in my playing - so I'm looking forward to learning how to use the dang thing.

Bagman
 
Yeah, it's one of those things where you have to dare to suck. Few things sound quite as bad as poorly executed vibrato, although amateur slide work can be pretty painful to listen to. There's a touch to it, and you almost need to hang on to the thing all the time so you can get rid of your natural tendency to think about it too much and as a result, overdo it, as in too often or too much. That'll also teach you to move your picking hand without moving the wang bar, which is the toughest trick of all. Get all that down, and you'll be qualified to be a leader of men, explain various problems to management, and be looked upon as a local hero <grin>
 
Bagman... that thing is beautiful. What neck carve did you go with? I really like the way the wenge suits the purple burst finish. Absolutely gorgeous! Two other questions: How was Cagey's work? And the most important one... how awesome are Doug's neckplates in person? THinkin' about getting one...
 
As someone who has 3 guitars with Floyds on them, I can tell you that the whammy-bar thing is over-rated (unless you're Vai or Satriani).
I intend for my next two builds to be hard-tails.
 
Tipperman said:
Bagman... that thing is beautiful. What neck carve did you go with? I really like the way the wenge suits the purple burst finish. Absolutely gorgeous! Two other questions: How was Cagey's work? And the most important one... how awesome are Doug's neckplates in person? THinkin' about getting one...

Thanks, Tipperman - I have to agree.  She's a beauty.

1.  I went with the standard thin neck profile.  No regrets there.
2.  Cagey's work is the whip.  A-numbah-one!
3.  Get a Dangerous Doug neckplate, or suffer the scorn of all who look upon your axe.  Seriously, it's really nifty.  Makes a one-of-a kind axe even more so.

Peace

Bagman
 
Street Avenger said:
As someone who has 3 guitars with Floyds on them, I can tell you that the whammy-bar thing is over-rated (unless you're Vai or Satriani).
I intend for my next two builds to be hard-tails.

I agree. I've had vibrato bridges (including Floyds) on most of my guitars since day one, which is a lotta guitars, but the next three in the chute are going to be hardtails. I just got back into the finish work on my Mahogany Strat today, and there are two VIPs to follow that.

I will say this, though - a Floyd will quickly put you off having a whammy. They're too much of a pain in the ass. At least with a Wilkie if you don't use it, it doesn't try to eat your life anyway. You can almost pretend you don't even have a whammy. Can't do that with a Floyd. It's like owning a dog. They're great, but they need constant attention and they'll cramp your style sometimes.
 
Bagman67 said:
Tipperman said:
Bagman... that thing is beautiful. What neck carve did you go with? I really like the way the wenge suits the purple burst finish. Absolutely gorgeous! Two other questions: How was Cagey's work? And the most important one... how awesome are Doug's neckplates in person? THinkin' about getting one...

Thanks, Tipperman - I have to agree.  She's a beauty.

1.  I went with the standard thin neck profile.  No regrets there.
2.  Cagey's work is the whip.  A-numbah-one!
3.  Get a Dangerous Doug neckplate, or suffer the scorn of all who look upon your axe.  Seriously, it's really nifty.  Makes a one-of-a kind axe even more so.

Peace

Bagman

All right! Sounds good. I'll get a neckplate from Doug for the Jaguar, then. If I can ask one more thing... How is the Standard Thin vs say... Fatback or Boatneck? My Jag neck is a fatback, SS6115 frets straight 14 inch radius (Which is my preference as I do leviathan bends all too often) but I am thinking of replacing my strat neck (59 roundback, one piece Maple total vintage) with a standard thin for more of a normal strat style neck. Thinking Rosewood for fretboard/standard thin, depending on feedback from someone who has a standard thin. I'm boring and prefer a Nitro finish on my neck so that my hands stick and I ruin the entire gig, so none of that fancy Wenge for me. I won't infringe on your territory.
 
Hey, Tipperman -

The standard thin really does accurately replicate my experience with recent Fender necks.  It's no fatback, for sure.  I find it very comfortable, but of course that's very much an individual preference kinda thing. 

And the last thing in the world I would be if someone else decided they wanted a wenge neck like mine is offended - this is really good stuff, and I want everyone to be as happy as I am.

Happy building!  I'm looking forward to the photos!

Bagman
 
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