Tallying Up The Cost

The neck is on its way!  I ordered the thing a week ago.  When I went back over the confirmation email, I saw that I had accidentally ordered 3A Flame maple, not 3A Birdseye.  The mistake happened because I had added it to the online shopping cart for comparison purposes, then deleted the wrong wood type.  A direct email to Warmoth's sales department cleared things up, but now I'm thinking about how cool it would have been to have flame maple in the neck.  Whatever.  I've wanted birdseye maple in a neck for a long time by now, so I'm committed to it.

Wait time?  This is what the confirmation email reads:

Obviously the neck isn't getting painted, but it will have a gloss coat applied.  I don't know what the difference is in the application/drying process for these things, but I have to assume it will take the full two months.  Warmoth will send an email with a UPS tracking number once it ships.  (And they're in Renton, Washington, so ground shipping should only take one day.)

Alright, so the design of Big Riff is just about about 95 percent finished by this point, but that doesn't mean that there's not much left to consider.  I'm thinking a lot these days about the cost of the project and if/how I can finish it by March next year.  The neck is the single most expensive piece of this entire build—almost $600 after tax—so I'm glad to have it out of the way early on.  The body will cost around $405 plus tax plus the cost of that extra custom routing job I want for the D-Tuna piece when I beg them for it.  BUT, I won't order the body just yet.

 The Classical: The sum of parts.

So the design of the guitar went like this:

Electronics —> Bridge —> Body —> Hardware —> Neck

But the actual assembly will nearly reverse the order for purchasing:

Neck —> Hardware —> Bridge —> Body —> Electronics

I need a couple of things to happen before I order the body.  Warmoth offers a "stud install" option for a Floyd Rose bridge, meaning that they will drill the holes necessary in the top of the guitar to hold two studs which hold the bolts necessary for the bridge's knife-edge action.  You can order the installation with the purchase of a brand new FR bridge, or you can send the studs from a FR set to them and have them do it for you.  An original Floyd Rose bridge will cost over $200 (I'm not cutting any corners with a cheap knockoff!), so I don't want to add that to the same order with the body.  I expect to be able to install the Floyd's nut on the neck myself since I ordered it with holes drilled through (meaning no special glue job required?  I will consult my tech master buddy Mike).

The selected screws are where the pivot or "knife-edge" action happens; they are screwed into the studs, which are anchored into the top of the guitar.  Warmoth offers to perform this special installation so I don't have to screw it up myself.

The other thing is to get that Tremol-No piece in ASAP so I can test it out with my Soloist before the big purchase.  Not much left to say on that subject.  I've already driven it into the ground by this point.

Electronics like the Sustainiac, the Duncan Distortion humbucker, and all of the pots, need to be ordered last because I want/need the finished body first for spatial judgments.  Let's not forget that the Sustainiac's circuit board will need to be fitted underneath the pickguard somehow.

I'm estimating the total component cost of the build to be somewhere in the ballpark of $1700, with the first $600 out of the way.  So, let's say $1100 left to go for the body, bridge, hardware, and electronics.  Looking at the scope of time for the build and the range of other things I've got going on for the next eight months—including school expenses and plane tickets—it will be possible, but require some discipline.  Still, though, this will turn out way cheaper and much more satisfying once I assemble the guitar myself, with some pro help here and there.

I've been ALL OVER the band Jawbox since I got introduced to them recently.  I love the minor/major feel in this song.  The '90s truly were a special time for rock music.

Finishing The Neck Design

I'm feeling really good about this Tremol-No idea.  Ideally, I should be ordering and trying out the Tremol-No with my gear at home before ordering the body of the guitar.  I was dead set on ordering the body this month as I've mentioned this window of opportunity where I can swing the cash, but I took a second look and it turns out that the neck itself will cost about $100 more than the body.  Seems smarter to order the neck first so I can work with that Tremol-No piece before making hard decisions about the body.

I called Warmoth and got some answers to some of questions in my Neck's Specs blog entry.  Warmoth's "Unique Choice" feature allows a person placing an order to pick a specific plank of wood "for those who just can't take their hands off of the remote control".  I'm set on ordering the 3A birdseye maple for the neck and fingerboard; I trust that they will do a good job and leave it at that.  No need to pay extra to choose the individual wood plank(s).

As for the Floyd Rose prep, R3 definitely seems to be the industry standard to match with the 1 11/16" nut width and 10" radius.  Warmoth's site asks for the user to differentiate between the standard neck prep with mounting holes, which means drilling two holes through the neck to mount the R3 nut, or "shelf only", which means that smaller screws are meant to hold the nut down on the top side.  It was strongly recommended that I go with the mounting holes for more strength, and I have no problem with going for that since I'll be assembling the guitar myself.

I'm about 99 percent sure I will be ordering the peg holes to fit a black 6-in-line Schaller set.  There are more machine head versions of theirs than I care to know about; I just want whatever is considered their standard since I will be locking strings at the nut anyway.

Schaller's "Ruthenium" color choice, but of course I'm going with black.  You get the idea.

...That leaves the binding and the dot inlays.  I've been scoping out photos of binding for maple-on-maple necks and I'm just not inspired.  Black binding works with black block inlays (like on the Geddy Lee Jazz Bass), but I think both would detract from the look of that premium 3A birdseye maple.  The inlays aren't that much of a priority that I should want some exotic look for them (although black mother of pearl does look pretty sweet); I simply want to match the look with the rest of the guitar.  So that means black dot inlays, with no binding.  I'm expecting the birdseye wood grain to be served well by this simplicity.

I should be ordering the neck this week!

These days I'm thinking about adding some additional embellishments to the guitar.

I want to add a couple custom decals for both the front and backside of the headstock.  On the back I want the number 15 encircled, because this guitar will commemorate 15 years of playing after I started at age 15 (by my 30th birthday next year, remember).

...A quick Google image search pulled up something very close to what I'm looking for.

Since my first entry, I've really taken a liking to naming the guitar Big Riff, and I'm considering having a label made in whatever original font is featured on the cover of Cave In's Jupiter record.  The label would take the place of a traditional Fender logo.  Additionally, I want the satellite featured on the same cover to occupy the circular end of the headstock.  I need to find someone, preferably local, who can/will do this kind of custom work.

...And here's the original satellite graphic.  I thought of getting this as a tattoo years ago, but I think it will work better on the headstock.

This thing is coming together.  I can hardly believe it.

It's summer and I have The Cranberries stuck in my head.  Guilty pleasure.

*EDIT 7/16/2014*
Look at what just happened!!!

Solutions!: Trem Blocking Versus Trem Stabilization

A week ago I installed the EVH D-Tuna on the floating Floyd Rose bridge of my capable Jackson Soloist.  The installation was fairly simple: block the bridge, loosen the locked nut, take out the E string at the bridge, take out the screw, put in the D-Tuna screw and reverse the order.  The little piece worked right off the bat although I didn't take the extra time to fine tune it and get it to switch perfectly from E to D and back.  The tuning app on my smartphone displayed what I already knew would happen: sure enough, when you drop from E to D, the other strings do go sharp by about 3 to 4 cents on the meter.  Enough to drive me #$%&ing crazy.

EVH D-Tuna on my trans green Jackson SL2H.  Extra cautious here so I wouldn't mark the body.  As expected, the float caused the other strings to go sharp when I dropped from E to D, but it worked just fine when the trem was blocked by a screwdriver underneath that polishing cloth.

But hey, I still like this thing.  It's easy to use and about 80 percent of the reviews I've read for it have been exceedingly positive.  I'm the kind of guy that will do things very carefully and by the book, so I expect to successfully implement the D-Tuna by fine tuning it correctly.  Plus, the mod doesn't infringe on the look of the body.  It sticks out only about another inch or so from the other bridge screws.  Only a guitarist with a trained eye would recognize it and say, "Oh yeah, that's one of those drop tuner things."

And so, with the window of opportunity to order the body just around the corner, I felt satisfied once again with the decision to go with the angled pocket so the Floyd Rose bridge would be flush-mounted against the top of the body—again, with the purpose of being able to dive down but not raise up.

Throughout this entire process so far, I kept reading about how a D-Tuna requires that the trem be blocked, and that there are several different methods of doing it, whether by purchasing new hardware, or simply jamming a wood block into the cavity to keep the bridge from moving.  I waved all of those possibilities off, not wanting any feature to be second rate to the build of Big Riff.  But I finally decided to put some research into two products on the market: the Hipshot Tremsetter, and the Tremol-No.

The Hipshot Tremsetter is essentially a bigger spring that replaces the middle of the usual three springs in any trem system.  I didn't see anything that explained how it actually works except that it tightens up the springs' response back to their original setting, which makes it a trem stabilizer.  Once I saw that installation of the Tremsetter requires drilling more holes into the cavity of the guitar, I immediately axed it.

Google image search: the Hipshot Tremsetter installed.  See that hole that has to be drilled into the body?  That's a no-go!

The Tremol-No is a trem blocker with a shaft-and-rod setup that clamps between the trem block and the claw plate.  The claw plate itself is provided with the Tremol-no and needs to be replaced; otherwise, no other crazy modifications to the guitar need to be done other than making sure the ground wire is connected.

Google image search: the Tremol-No installed.  Simple, clean, no heavy modifications or mess, and adjustable.

I became very intrigued by the Tremol-No.  The three thumbscrews enable the entire Floyd setup to be used in three different modes: full-float mode (dive and raise strings), dive-only mode (blocked halfway), and fully blocked mode (no movement of the bridge).  If the thing actually does what it's supposed to do, this means that EVERY feature I wanted for my guitar is now entirely possible!!!  This would be a perfect best-of-all-worlds scenario.  I'm certainly not the only person to have thought this.  I've found YouTube videos of guys pairing the D-Tuna with the Tremol-No and it seems to work well given that it's set up properly (again, by the book).

I could leave the D-Tuna in at E and utilize the full float, I could put the guitar in dive-only mode and switch from E to D seamlessly, or I could block the trem completely and use the guitar as a hardtail.

And so with this in mind, I must revisit the possibility of having Warmoth do the custom routing job that I discussed in my fourth post.  I will need to have exact dimensions figured out and agree to never return the body.  All sales final.  I'm going to call them back in the next couple of weeks and insist on a price quote.  I imagine I will wind up saying something to them to the effect of, "No, really, guys, I want this job done and painted..."

There are a few complaints for the Tremol-No that I've seen on various forums.  One is that players would need to remove completely or customize [i.e. cut a hole in] the back plate to reach the thumbscrews.  That would be an easy fix.  The other is that the thumbscrews can fall out while in full float mode, as they need to be loose to allow the shaft to move, but I'm reading up on how to fix that issue as well.

Part of what has made this such a fun and interesting project so far is the pursuit of the "end-all be-all" instrument.  Heavily modified, customized, and entirely practical.  Why should I stop at the trem system?  I've been thinking, too, about having a second pickguard with a different pair of pickups in it so that I could swap it out on the body when I don't want or need the Sustainiac.

It's Independence Day, and...  *sigh*  Whatever.  I was going to try to make a connection between this song and celebrating our nation's heritage, but I give up.  Anyway, Queensryche are one of the few bands I can tolerate from the Monster Ballad era.