Neck's Specs

I made the very first purchase toward the guitar!  The EVH D-Tuna in black came in from Musician's Friend (extra fast on ground shipping, too).  I'm going to test this thing out on my Jackson Soloist, with an extra careful eye not to ding the body since I intend not to block the trem system.  My gear is currently stashed away in a super secret safe place as I type this, so that means it's not at home.  I won't be able to install the thing until next week.

Having this thing in my hands, though, is producing three trains of thought: 1) Holy moly this is actually happening!, and 2) Why wouldn't I just order the flush-mount-style body?  I already have a floating-trem guitar and it's a pain in the @$$ to keep up with the maintenance, and 3) I could write a song where the riffs are structured specifically so that I could only play it by changing the low string mid-song from E to D or vice versa.  I could go back and forth on the floating trem body routing idea, but I think I'm learning to trust my gut on this, at least until I can try this thing out next week.

So in the last post, I was stopped dead in the tracks over the issue of the Strat headstock shape for the neck.  I'm mostly clear on the other stuff I'm looking for, so I'll attempt to move down the Warmoth custom build page with a brief description why:

1. Construction Type: Warmoth Pro Construction
A double-expanding truss rod for more stability, which adjusts on the side of the neck close to the body, is a winner in my book.  Ever tried doing a truss rod adjustment behind the nut when your Floyd Rose is already locked into place?  It's stupid.

2. Shaft Wood / Fingerboard Wood: Birdseye Maple
Because it's beautiful and will keep the brightness of the guitar.  Warmoth offers a "standard" grade and AAA grade birdseye maple.  I'd really like to go with the latter.  The difference in price jumps from $193 to $357.  Yowzers!

3. Unique Choice
This section allows for buyers to choose a specific plank of wood that Warmoth may have on hand in their shop.  I may call them to clear up some confusion, but I don't expect to need to opt into this.  As long as I've got birdseye maple for the neck and fingerboard, I'm golden.

4. Nut Width: 1-11/16" (43 mm)
Whoa.  This is perhaps the most important tech consideration as this (along with the size of compound radius) will determine the correct nut complement to the Floyd Rose bridge.  1-11/16" is considered the standard size for most guitars.  I checked and my Jackson does have this configuration, so I'm happy here.

5. Orientation: Right Handed

6. Back Contour: Standard Thin
Warmoth's Standard Thin contour runs from .800" at the first fret to .850" at the twelfth.  I like a slim, fast neck—but not too slim, like the way Ibanez RG's are.  The Wizard profile does look interesting, though (.750" to .820").  I'll need just to do just a bit more research on my own guitars, including my incredibly comfortable Gibson Explorer, before sticking to anything.

7. Fingerboard Radius: 10-16" Compound
YESYESYESGIMMEGIMME the compound radius!  This means that the shape of the neck flattens out as you move up, which makes it comfortable for chords in the lower register and better suited for soloing in the upper register.  It's one of the reasons why I love my Jackson so much.  Their standard compound radius size sits at 12-16", but I'm expecting Warmoth's 10-16" compound to be a little more forgiving on my fingers.
This is also a factor that affects which nut I will need to order for the Floyd Rose.

8. Fingerboard Length: 22 Frets
Warmoth's standard.  No more than 22 frets needed.  I don't intend to go all Marty Friedman on this thing.  Keeping a standard fingerboard length will help me with matching the body and pickguard, which I've already picked out.

9. Scalloping: HELL NO.

Hey Yngwie, did you catch the time?  Yeah, the '80s are over.  Put the leather away.

10. Binding: ???
My gut reaction tells me no because it might detract from the look of the birdseye maple for both neck and fingerboard.  Also, the $110 charge is pretty hefty.  I need more time to think through on this one.

11. Fret Size: Stainless Steel Jumbo (SS6150)
The stainless steel adds $20 to the cost, but hopefully should save money in repair costs in the long run compared to standard nickel/silver fret wire.  The jumbo size matches my Jackson.  Warmoth does offer a specialty SS6115 jumbo which adds an extra peak at .004"...  I think I should just stick to what I know.

12. Tuner Hole Size: ???
I just want whatever will correctly fit the same tuners that are on my Jackson (I bet you're sick of hearing about this guitar by now, eh?).  The tuners on that are smooth acting, not ornate, and never touched after I lock at the nut.  I'm pretty sure I'm looking for Schaller tuners.

13. Inlay: Dots
Oh gosh, I totally had no expectations for this one and there are a whole bunch of options...  Dots this time around; no sharkfin inlays.  One can't go wrong with black dots on a maple fingerboard, and it would match the black hardware intended for the guitar, but on the other hand, abalone does look pretty sweet...  Need some more time on this one.

14. String Nut: Floyd Rose R3 Prep
The R3 prep will match with the 1-11/16" neck width and work with the 10" radius as part of the compound radius configuration.  The nut itself would come in directly with the Floyd Rose bridge rather than pre-installed on the neck.

15. Mounting Holes: Standard 4-Bolt

16. Finish: Clear Gloss
I've read and heard the debates over whether a player of the Shred persuasion should choose a satin finish for a "faster" feel.  I've only recently come to understand how/why players go for that, but I think it looks ugly, or plain at best.  Also, players tend to talk as if gloss finishes are evil because they claim that their sweat sticks to the neck.  However, I've always loved the look and feel of a gloss finish and I don't have corrosive sweat.  The birdseye maple will look exceptionally sweet with gloss over it.

It's late and I'm tired.  Enjoy this new Failure jam.

The Headstock: Go Big Or Go Home

I have a window of opportunity in July to purchase the body of the guitar, which will cost me $405 without any hardware.  (I just dropped $555 on a community college math class last week, so for those who may be concerned, please understand where my priorities are.)  Before I do that, though, the plan is to get that Floyd Rose D-tuna piece in as soon as possible and try it out with my floating Jackson setup.  This will help settle my mind on whether or not I will ask Warmoth for that extra custom routing job on the top of the body.

The rest of the pieces will be ordered in increments over the next six to nine months.  The Sustainiac and the Floyd Rose bridge each will cost over $200.  The Duncan Distortion TB-6 will cost about $80.  I'm expecting the pickguard and hardware(s) together to cost me about $60.

The last thing for the design phase, then, is to choose what features I want for the neck.

Oh boy.  I thought this was going to be the easiest part.  Definitely not.

SO.  If I'm going to have a maple body, it only follows that I would have a maple neck with a maple fretboard.  I haven't owned a guitar with a maple neck fretboard and in the past few years I've been interested in trying it out, given my playing style.

Let's take one step back.  I recently acquired this old Charvel Strat from my buddy Andy.  He's had it kicking (and kicked) around his practice space for a long time.  We think it's from the early '90s.  He wanted to sell it, so I agreed to take it home and clean it up for him.  It was DISGUSTING.  Years and layers of dirt, oil, dried sweat, cobwebs, and who-knows-what-else caked on it and in all of the crevices.  I completely dismantled the bridge and got rust off of all of the individual parts with WD-40 and a toothbrush.  Something rotten was all over the neck and fretboard, so I cleaned that up, too.  I put everything back together and while it still could never be sold for more than $50, it turned out to be a somewhat playable and fun guitar.  This would be perfect to put some stickers on and throw it around in a punk band.

Andy agreed to let me have this Charvel.  I still owe him a portion of a nice bottle of Japanese whiskey that I've got.  Fair trade.

I've been banging out some power chords on this thing at home and paying attention to how its maple neck affects the tone.  Bright and...  spanky.  Is spanky a word?  That's the best description I can come up with.  The strings practically jump off of the fretboard.  I like the lively feel of this guitar and would be happy to implement it into a much higher-quality instrument like what I'm expecting with Big Riff.  Not as much sustain as my neck-through Jackson, but that's a given.

Right off the bat, Warmoth's custom build portion of their website forces The Issue:

Traditional Strat headstock style...

or 1970's CBS fat headstock style.

When I was fifteen and learning to play on my Squier Affinity Strat, I was unimpressed at the time with the large headstock and wondered if/when I would own a "real" Fender with the normal headstock.  But then I got away from Fenders altogether, and years later, I now know the story of CBS's ownership of the guitar brand and the change in the Strat headstock design.

My inner Romantic is scratching its head.  Do I move away from my old Squier years and CBS headstock (which I covered up with an American flag sticker) or do I boast it loud and proud?

Enter my next guitar hero: Billy Corgan.

Say what you will about his, erm, eclectic range of interests (pro wrestling, tea, animal shelters, etc.), but this man is carrying the torch for not only the '90s alternative rock we know and love, but '70s big arena rock and prog as well.  With the drama of the first incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins long over, Corgan is still committed to the passion of the electric guitar.  His main guitar approach is usually based around some combination of a Marshall [or Diezel these days] half-stack, a fuzz box...  and a Stratocaster with that big headstock.  There's just something big and defiant about it.

Strike the power stance, bend a wide note, be as loud as possible.  I'm getting the CBS headstock.

More on the neck design in my next post.  For now, enjoy some of the classic fuzz that helped to define a generation:

Contrasts And Components

It's been about a month since I last posted.  I went through what I called Music Madness May: Moog's marketing director contacted me and offered to send me all five pedals in their new Minifooger line, for free, in exchange for making new demo videos for each and putting them up on my YouTube channel.  A friend helped me with a film shoot for six demo videos and I recently just uploaded the first one.  Aside from that, I worked on some new material with my friend Jackie who is getting a backing band together for her singer-songwriter thing, went to see one of my top favorite bands, Failure, play on their Tree of Stars reunion tour, watched my friends over at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar play a kickass Weezer cover show under the moniker My Name Is Jonas Brothers, and got to hang with producer Steve Evetts and Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman at CreativeLive in Seattle while they taught a taught a two-day class on guitar recording.  All of this on top of the usual balance of work and school.

Everything is cool when you're part of a team!...

Yikes!  June is most definitely a period of necessary rest, so here I have some time at home to be back at the blog...  In between bouts of editing and uploading the other Minifooger videos, that is.

Alright, so I left off my last post having chosen the wood and solid color for the body of the guitar.  A heavy maple body for a bright sound and fast attack, matched with Warmoth's seafoam green because I've always wanted a fun surf-inspired color in a Strat.  The last thing, then, is to choose what hardware I will put on it before I start designing the neck.

Aaaaaaaand it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, that in keeping with my metal interests, I should want all of the hardware to be black.  Black Floyd Rose bridge, black strap pegs (I use Dunlop strap locks), black screws, et cetera.  My one exception is that the pickguard should be a three-ply black-white-black because EVERY pickguard should be multi-ply.  It gives extra dimension to the look of the guitar and honestly, the angle of the cut is forgiving on the picking / strumming / windmilling hand.

Here it is...  VOILA!

I present to you...  BIG RIFF!

See how striking the black looks against that seafoam green?  In the past I've always joked to my friends about how I need my guitars to be "lookers", but it's true.  Wherever I perform, I want someone who watched it to walk away remembering something about the experience, which I just poured my heart and soul into for them.  Of course this primarily means the way in which I approach playing my instrument, but the look also matters.  The guitar needs to have character and draw attention to itself, so I can communicate what I need through it.  I see that I'm crossing over into nonsensical territory.  However, just remember: the classical and the romantic are always intertwined.

Somehow I feel that this touches on another point that I want to make.  I love to straddle the lines between rock, punk, and metal.  As soon as I move a little far in one direction, my brain wants to kick in reverse and do the other thing; kind of like the difference between the wave and particle theories of light.  When I was playing with Overcome, I always sort of insisted on being the least metal dude in the band.  When the situation called for a traditional metal look or ethos, I performed better when I approached with more of a punk spirit.  The contrast just fit right for me.  I usually performed with a collared shirt on because I think there's something neat and smart and punk about it.  Where the rest of the metalcore bands we played shows with were trying to look tough with their sleeveless shirts and synchronized moves and LTD Viper guitars, we would spaz out and throw our Jacksons all over the place on stage.  I distinctly remember the times where I would turn on one of my Moogerfooger pedals during a break—the head of every chatty and bored person in the room would snap to attention.

Think of a whole room full people wearing black metal t-shirts, making this face: "What in the blazes is going on?  What is that noise I'm hearing?!  I think I shall faint, or die!"

The same is true in the opposite sense.  I've played music in churches for something like twelve years by this point.  I'm more experienced as a live musician doing praise and worship music than anything else.  But every time I come in to play, I throw in some little lead line, or flip on a pedal in a place where it isn't expected, or drive my pick a little (or a LOT) harder into the strings, baring my teeth a little and letting folks know that there's a metal edge underneath the surface.  I vehemently reject the notion that I should mimic U2's / The Edge's sounds just because I'm a guitarist who is also a Christian.

And so Big Riff is intended to be equally capable as a rock guitar or a metal guitar in appearance, playability, and sound.  It's not common to see actual Strats in metal anymore, but the black hardware here will give it a proper nod.  And the surf rock color is a high-five to my fifteen-year-old noob self.

By the way, the pickup I intend for the bridge position is a Seymour Duncan Distortion humbucker.  I've used it on multiple guitars in years past.  It's punchy and has a great balance of lows, mids, and highs.  Should react well with the Sustainiac.  Duncan makes both a "regular" version (SH-6) and a "trembucker" version (TB-6) that's shaped a little bit differently to fit Floyd-equipped guitars; I will need to order the Distortion trembucker, then.

Since this is my blog, I get to plug my own demo video for the Moog Minifooger line:

But, um, yeah, let's close with a Weezer song because I just can't get enough of it lately: