Waffle Build

[richship]

+1 for no recesses . . . . have you thought of putting a pickguard on it (something like on an LP, put more shapely to match the awesomeness of a curvy VIP?)

I hadn't thought about that until now. The material I''d want to use (ivoroid) seems hard to find in sheet form, but I did manage to find a truss rod cover after much scouring of the internet. I'm not sure the body shape would support a pickguard well given how things are moved forward compared to an LP.

Working on what control layout to use. I'm not a big fan of controls right next to the bridge pickup - I tend to brush them and then wonder why there's no sound coming out. Seeing if a mix of PRS and Strat controls will work or if I'll need to drill something (trying to avoid too much of that for this build).

 

[B3Guy]

Yeah, I wondered about control placement too, I'd probably drill my own where I wanted (or pay someone else to  :laughing7

about the pickguard, obviously a standard gibby one would look like crap, but you could just design your own that flows better with the VIP (could look pretty BA) . . . can't imagine that shaping pickguard material is a horribly sophisticated task.

 

[richship]

Figured out the control placement after looking at all the pictures I could find of Warmoth VIPs. I combined some of the Strat and PRS controls to get them out of the way of my clumsy strumming hand. It does leave the option open of doing a pickguard in the future if I find the material.

That should finish the body specs. I need to phone it in because the builder won't let you paint any of the maple options (plus the weird controls). It would be cool if there was a plain maple top option - either for painting or replicating some other guitar finishes.

Chambered VIP
Mahogany/Maple
P90 Neck & Bridge
Strat Tone 1 & Tone 2,PRS Toggle
3/4" Side Jack
Gotoh 510 Bridge Rout
Ivoroid Binding
Mail in Inserts
Goldtop/Clear
$872

Working on the neck specs now.

 

[richship]

Neck Specs:

Warmoth Headstock 25-1/2 in.
Mahogany/Macassar Ebony Fingerboard (found a nice piece)
1-11/16" Nut width
Standard Thin neck contour
Straight 12"
22 frets
Ivoroid binding
6150 fret size
Gold Pearl dots
White TUSQ nut
Clear Gloss
$608

My one special request is the gold pearl dots. If they don't have any, I'll buy some from StewMac and send them with the bridge studs. Hopefully they'll work with me on this.

If there are any comments of suggestions, make 'em now. I'm planning to order it tomorrow.

 

[richship]

Goldtop order placed!  :toothy10:

Broke out all the guitars and took measurements to make sure I had the specs right. The neck I have that feels how I want this build to feel is my Yamaha Acoustic. I checked and it matched up with Standard Thin and just a smidge over 1-11/16 (must be metric).

I worked wth Spike over the phone who helped me through the always nerve-wracking experience. Checking off each item on my list as he went through the order helped me avoid missing the neck binding. They aren't able to do the strat controls with the toggle, so I'll have to drill a couple pot holes. No luck on the gold pearl - they won't work with outside inlay. The MOP dots will look good.

I wasn't able to get hardware from Warmoth since they don't stock nickle finish stuff, but they got most of the money. The total with shipping was just about $1500. I ordered the bridge to be drop-shipped to Warmoth so they can install the studs.

Here's the fingerboard I went with:

 

[DangerousR6]

:headbang:

 

[SustainerPlayer]

:hello2:

 

[kboman]

Much better than gold dots in my opinion. Rock on!

 

[Cagey]

That's a fine piece of ebony. Guaranteed you're not going to see anything like that on any production guitar. Looks great and is going to feel great, too. Now all you gotta do is wait the 239 years it takes to get a custom neck.

You don't say what kind of frets you got, though, outside of size. If they're not stainless steel, there's still time to change the order. The cost adder is small, and I promise you won't be sorry. Quite the opposite. You'll wonder why everybody else doesn't use them.

 

[AutoBat]

That's a fine piece of ebony. Guaranteed you're not going to see anything like that on any production guitar. Looks great and is going to feel great, too. Now all you gotta do is wait the 239 years it takes to get a custom neck.

You don't say what kind of frets you got, though, outside of size. If they're not stainless steel, there's still time to change the order. The cost adder is small, and I promise you won't be sorry. Quite the opposite. You'll wonder why everybody else doesn't use them.

he got a neck binding, no ss option :\

 

[richship]

Yes, the binding made the SS frets unavailable. As long as I was using nickel frets, I got a size unavailable in SS. The rest of the hardware is nickel plated, so it makes sense in a way.

I've noticed that there aren't many solidbody guitars with neck binding and dots. Plenty of acoustics and hollowbody (and semi-hollow) electrics are made that way and look good. On solid electrics, binding means big block or trap inlays. I've never been a fan of those and certainly didn't want to cover up all the nice wood.

Starting to gather parts from near and far. Put in one order to Germany for some pieces I couldn't find anywhere else.

I found that EMG makes two P90 housed (stacked) single coils, PSA and PFT that they don't advertise much, but are still on their price list. I found a few places that at least have them listed, though I doubt they are really in stock and would have to be a special order. Has anyone done business with any of these guys:

Custom Music - sells through http://www.sears.com
Instrument Pro - http://www.instrumentpro.com
Guitar Parts Site - http://www.guitarpartssite.com/
Naked Dave's Music - http://www.nakeddavesmusic.us

 

[Cagey]

My fault; I didn't see the binding option. It's too bad, but the binding will certainly look good anyway. Plus, it's not like the nickel-silver frets are going to wear out in a week flat. They'll be fine for years. They just don't feel as sexy.

 

[tubby.twins]

Here's the fingerboard I went with:

That's going to be a beautiful neck.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Dude, you have choose the fingerboard on Unique Choice that I most like... Will be a awesome guitar, but I hate you amyway :laughing7:


BTW: choose a headstock veneer or match it with the body.

I'm particular to you have the headstock in Macassar Ebony or Figured Walnut or Rosewood, that is always awesome!

 

[richship]

I originally was looking at Brazilian Rosewood, which is pretty, but somewhat boring. Once I saw that fingerboard (at the bottom of the Macassar Ebony list) I wanted to pull the trigger quickly. Sorry if I scooped you.

I think it might be impossible to find a matching veneer to that piece. I also wanted to show some of the Mahogany from the front like the PRS that I took some cues from:

 

[Nando Vallart]

Brazilian Rosewood can be figured (not as much as Macassar Ebony or Ziricote)

That is a cool PRS!

 

[richship]

So after taking my money, AllParts tells me they don't actually have the bridge I want in stock, but they might have it in 3-4 weeks. I'm not sure they have the item listed correctly anyway. Called Warmoth to tell them not to wait on the bridge studs to install so I'll have the fun of installing them. Ended up ordering it from a place in Japan that seems to act as Gotoh's retail store: http://ssl.bfit.jp/~jby/

Went to get the Tuners from StewMac and they are not in stock either, but they say 5-7 days. Another hard to get item, so hopefully they come back in stock. Maybe I'll have to get those from Korea. :sad1: I should learn not to be so picky.

Here are a couple other fingerboards I was looking at:

 

[DangerousR6]

So after taking my money, AllParts tells me they don't actually have the bridge I want in stock, but they might have it in 3-4 weeks. I'm not sure they have the item listed correctly anyway. Called Warmoth to tell them not to wait on the bridge studs to install so I'll have the fun of installing them. Ended up ordering it from a place in Japan that seems to act as Gotoh's retail store: http://ssl.bfit.jp/~jby/

Went to get the Tuners from StewMac and they are not in stock either, but they say 5-7 days. Another hard to get item, so hopefully they come back in stock. Maybe I'll have to get those from Korea. :sad1: I should learn not to be so picky.

Here are a couple other fingerboards I was looking at:

That's a tough decision between those fretboards...Flip a coin throw some darts...  :dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

I agree with Mr. Dangerous; they both look excellent. But, if it was me, I'd do the ziricote. Super hard and dense, highly attractive, and who has a ziricote 'board? It'll be a conversation starter thousands of times. People will look at that and say "wtf?" The other just looks like any old rosewood, of which there are literally millions of examples.

 

[Nando Vallart]

He went with a Macassar Ebony on the last page
This was the other two options...