Tailpiece and Archtop bridge on VIP

[Mugician]

I'm planning on constructing my first Warmoth sometime this year, and I want to know if it would be possible to go with this set-up on the VIP body. Doing a chambered Black (or White if it's available by the time I can make this) Korina body, and absolutely love the look of Archtop bridge/tail piece combos. I realized that it would end up being quite a lot of work, but hey, it IS supposed to be a custom guitar!

Also, I don't really like the idea of bolt-on necks. I'm curious if there's a way to either - 1: ask Warmoth to extend the neck so I could glue it into the body, or 2: do it all myself.

Come on people, natural finish White Korina chambered body, with a jet black ebony tail-piece and bridge, and a super slick ebony fretboard? How sexy is that? My mouth starts watering when I think about this guitar I've been wanting to build for over a year.

Obviously I'd be doing a lot of work with my incredible Luthier friend a town over - don't worry, I'm gonna do this right!

EDIT: Here's some pics of what I'm looking to accomplish:

 

[Mor Paul]

A archtop bridge/tailpiece has been done before, on a LPS. It could be done on a VIP too.
Because of the way Warmoth does necks, I seriously doubt that they will have a custom heel shape and all. Calling would be the best bet.
You *could* go all Fernando on the mother and get the body routed out some at the neck pocket (no neck screw holes) and order a custom neck elsewhere.

 

[Mugician]

Awwww.... but the Warmoth necks are so pretty and well done and COMPLETE. I've never found another company that does necks with as many options, nor as good pricing... Plus, I want an ALL Warmoth guitar!

Any suggestions for neck makers out there?

 

[Mugician]

PS - to any and all who read this and are curious: the pictures I posted are of a Paul Languedoc guitar - the G4. He's got an interesting style, and I think it's an acquired taste. I absolutely love the look of this thing, but the price tag is a little ridiculous.

 

[Mugician]

Also: does anyone know what KIND of bridge that is? It's so awesome. You might've guessed, I'm into minimalism.

 

[Mor Paul]

Is there anything in particular you dislike about bolt ons? You *could* get no holes drilled in either the neck or body and glue it in, but it won't be as effective there as a bolt on.

 

[Mugician]

I don't have a problem with bolt-ons, it's their construction, it's MUCH too bulky and I'm a lead player. I considered the contoured heel, but then someone somewhere on this forum said that it wasn't much more effective than without, so I'm wondering about further cutting down on the joint.

I stopped playing strats a while back because the neck joint gets in the way of my giant hands, and I go ALL the way to the top. More than anything, I'd love a neck-through guitar, but then I don't get chambered, and that's first on my list.

 

[m4rk0]

there's a couple in the gallery that look really good;

 

[hannaugh]

PS - to any and all who read this and are curious: the pictures I posted are of a Paul Languedoc guitar - the G4. He's got an interesting style, and I think it's an acquired taste. I absolutely love the look of this thing, but the price tag is a little ridiculous.

Thanks for clarifying.  I was wondering who the maker was.  That thing is pretty cool.  It's vintagey and modern at the same time.  Gotta love designers who think outside the box.  I hope you can figure out a way to make your dream come true.  :rock-on:

 

[Mugician]

Thanks! It'll happen, I'm not worried!  :headbang1: :blob7:

 

[Mugician]

Does anyone know who makes that bridge (the one in the pictures I posted)? It's so goddamn sexy with it's two brass saddles...

Yeah, I've been looking at those two in the showcase, I just wasn't certain if I could do it on the VIP. I was thinking of using this: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Archtop_guitar_tailpieces/Benedetto_Archtop_Tailpiece.html - but it looks much to long to use on the VIP, which brings me to my next question: anyone know of any sites that specialize in archtop building? Any online stores with tailpieces and bridges to drool over?

 

[dbw]

Yeah it's cool looking but it's not worth crappy intonation.  Get a TOM.

 

[Mugician]

Really? Does this design really suffer from bad intonation? I mean, it's on a $7500 guitar. It's on the same guitar Paul made for Trey (Phish), and that's a serious gig right there, I can't imagine the guy is slacking at all. He seems to be very passionate about his instruments. I thought that while these bridges are fixed intonation bridges, that you can still get good intonation out of them...

 

[tfarny]

Those are very pretty, but too many switches for just two pickups. You could conceivably get that bridge just as well-intonated as anything else, but not for a variety of string types - if you went to a wound G you'd be screwed.
Get a VIP, it has the contoured heel standard, access is quite a bit better than on a strat. Bolt-ons sound just as good as set necks and are far easier to deal with for the hobbyist. DON'T muck around with trying to glue the thing together - four steel bolts work very well.

 

[Mugician]

Righto. The switches are master coil tap and master series/parallel I think, or maybe in phase/out is the other one. Either way, I'm totally in love with the thing and want one.

Is the contoured heel really that much better than regular? I mean, I don't want just access, I want comfort too.

Can they do 24 fret necks for the VIP without mucking around with the neck pickup?

As for that bridge, I play on 10's and 10's only - no wound G's found here.

 

[taez555]

As a huge Phish fan, gotta say I love that you're aiming for one of Paul Langedouc's guitars as you're design template.  (at my first Phish show I actually waited till the end and went up and shook Paul's hand) 

It's very cool he's actually making them now, for years he said he never would.

but I digress.

I too would love to know where you could get one of those ebony tail pieces.  You should e-mail Paul himself and see if he builds them himself or if he gets them somewhere.  Phish doesn't start their tour for another month, so he's probably not too busy yet.

As for intonation.  Trey's guitar has never had any issues with intonation or even tuning.  I know Trey has said his guitar stays in tune perfectly from the begining of the set till the end.  Paul was a master luthier before joining the Phish boys in the late mid 80's as their guitar builder/sound guy.    I mean, he designed the sound chamber to resonate with "desirable harmonics".  You'd think someone that put that much attention to detail into his build would probably figure out how to build a bridge, maybe through some trial and error,  that was already perfectly intonated. 

It's one of the few non-warmoth guitars I'd love to get.  Although... I do like his standard G2 a bit more.   Sadly I don't have $10,000.

 

[dbw]

I mean, he designed the sound chamber to resonate with "desirable harmonics".

Dude, that claim makes me respect the guy LESS, not more.  Everyone always claims their sound chambers resonate with the most desirable harmonics or some such bull.

I do use wound G strings, by the way, so that's why a non-intonatable bridge is OUT for me.

 

[taez555]

Dude, that claim makes me respect the guy LESS, not more.  Everyone always claims their sound chambers resonate with the most desirable harmonics or some such bull.

I'll agree with you it is a rather dubious claim.  What exactly are "desirable harmonics" anyway?  Does a guitar sound better when it rings out at 2000 kHz verses one that has overtones at 2500 kHz?  Isn't that all just subjective anyway?  Did he really test the frequency response?  Maybe, maybe not.

Of course, it is scientifically possible to tune a chamber.  Look at Bose audio?  Talk about a company that's perfected the acoustics behind sound chambers.  Chambers resonate, and you can definitely make it larger or smaller to maximize the acoustic properties within it.  Obviously you're dealing with a small space, a foot to 6 inches, and at that size you're only talking sound waves in the 1K to 2K range and above.  Anything lower will double up on itself and cause cancellations and bumps.  Through some trial and error though, it is acoustically possible to tune a chamber to a specific resonate frequency.

but again... what’s desirable is extremely subjective.

I guess if you like the way his guitar's sound, they're desirable to you.  Plus, he's really only had one client for 20 years, so based on his one client's tone,  if you like the way Trey from Phish sounds, then I guess he accomplished his goal.  Bullshit claim or not.

 

[ricky_kodadek]

Alot of archtop bridges like that are custom cut and intonated with a file when they are installed for a certain guage strings. So long as it is properly installed and you don't mess around with string guages you should be all right. There is something very classy about that bridge. As you don't have any intonation adjustment, bridge placement is a very big factor.