Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: plastercaster on January 16, 2011, 03:08:52 PM
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It's finally here!
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete2.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete4.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete5.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete8.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete7.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete3.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete6.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete10.jpg)
Specs:
"Spanish Cedar" Body
3 piece bolt-on maple neck - 25.5"
Ebony fretboard (Huge Frets!)
VHII in the bridge and a Mississippi Queen in the middle
Coil Split
Tone kill pot
Tonepros locking T-O-M
sperzel locking tuners
It sounds superb- long scale, maple neck, warmish body and a T-O-M give a tone between a les paul and tele, bright and attacking but with a strong lower register. The best of both worlds for me!
The VHII is the one I've used most so far- a great RAWK tone. Open chords really ring out, and sustain for ever, whilst leads sound full and aggressive. The coil split has got a stratty liveliness but with more body- nice jangly tone that had me bashing out "walk on hot coals" with vigour!
The P90 is something I hadn't tried before- it retains something of the single coil character but has a warmer, rounder sound. Great with the guitar volume turned up when distorted but also a gorgeous clean with the controls rolled back a little.
Speaking of which- the controls are great. On my les paul, rolling back either tone or volume made it sound as if I was underwater; the sparkle disappeared out the tone and it became very muddy. I almost decided to drop the tone control entirely, but I'm glad I didn't because here the controls add real flexibilty to the tone- keeping some of the aggressive attack of the sound but subtly altering the flavour of the chord as it rings out.
Finally, It's so easy to play! Nice big frets, 9 gauge strings, great fret access, and an unfinished maple neck make soloing a breeze and I can play barre chords at the 17th fret!
All in all, it's an amazing guitar, and I'm so glad I got Jon to make my design for me.
Bob
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Wow, that is really quite unique!
I'm seeing a pinch of Ibanez Fireman, a smidge of non-reverse Firebird and maybe just a hint of EB/MM Albert Lee? Or did it just appear to you in a vision?
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The firebird was probably the main influence- I always liked them but thought they should be the other way up!
There's also a bit of fender jazzmaster.
Then it was just a process of drawing out hundreds of similiar designs, tweaking proportions and details until I felt it was nicely balanced and I gave feline the call
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Truly unique. Why are the pickups that close?
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A) Don't like neck pickups so
B) that's where the neck pocket goes.
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i quite like it!
it breaks a few of the usual guitar design rules - but definitely works
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Very exotic! =)
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I quite like it, but - sorry feline - I find the eyes at the 12th fret don't suit the look of the guitar.
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A) Don't like neck pickups so
B) that's where the neck pocket goes.
Ah.. The more I look at it, the more I start to like it. It's somehow vintage Firebird meets Stealth.
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Wow. That's sweet. Risky, but sweet. I like how the end of the fingerboard is angled to match the angle of the cutout. Also, the back of the headstock has some sexy curves. I can't tell, did he do a volute for you?
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Hi Congrats on the guitar.
I had seen some of the pictures of it on the bench and was intreged. Got to say now it is finished looks a very nice axe. (Though not for me I could not do without the a neck pickup.)
Hope you enjot the axe :D
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A quick view of the guitar in build shows the long tenon going into the body (hidden later by the pickguard)
(http://www.felineguitars.com/guitar_images/alkazar/alkazar-2.jpg)
Bob's design was certainly a different take on the usual and we helped guide a few of his ideas to ensure that the guitar was a cohesive design.
I had seen the two two pickup together design before - the Kramer Nightswan was like that , and putting a Mississippi Queen there was a cool move - some of the blended sounds are pretty cool - like the VH2 in coil tap mode combined in parallel with the MQ - some great clean to mild breakup tones available
The wiring was done pretty standard - 3 way switch like on a tele , coil tap for the VH2 volume and tone wired 50s style (tone has a vitamin Q as I recall).
The tone pot is also a Shadow Killpot - so stuttering effects aplenty if the mood takes you.
The body wood is Cedrela - which is part of the mahogany species, but some refer to it as Spanish cedar
It is light in weight for mahogany and is very resonant with quite a lot of zing to it.
I believe it was often used for the neck wood of classical guitars.
The Earvana nut adds a bit of zing and clarity too
Fingerboard has a 12" radius and the frets are pretty massive too
A real easy to play guitar with a lot of high end access
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Looks awesome in a really weird way.
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Looks awesome in a really weird way.
that was exactly what I was going for.
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I commend you plast' first for a truly original design that actually works and is retro and modern, very well done. I also commend our man Feline for a superb build. Plast' that is an absolute, total, died in the wool keeper. If you ever sell that you're a c***.
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The body wood is Cedrela - which is part of the mahogany species, but some refer to it as Spanish cedar
It is light in weight for mahogany and is very resonant with quite a lot of zing to it.
I believe it was often used for the neck wood of classical guitars.
The Earvana nut adds a bit of zing and clarity too
Fingerboard has a 12" radius and the frets are pretty massive too
A real easy to play guitar with a lot of high end access
A builder here in Finland, Ruokangas ( http://www.ruokangas.com/ (http://www.ruokangas.com/) ) uses Spanish cedar extensively, for the reasons you've mentioned here :)
On the topic: the 'tele on steroids' thing is exactly what I've been thinking about lately. The tele shape has a punch that's different from the strat shape. And I also love the LP tone, but it's not often that you find one that has an open ringing tone to it.
The more I look at that guitar, the more I like it! 8)
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Also, the back of the headstock has some sexy curves. I can't tell, did he do a volute for you?
Yes the neck is a 3 piece neck - the way I prefer to do them to get quartersawn grain and more strength & stiffness /less tendency to move or twist.
The base of the headstock has a small volute for extra strength
If you look carefully you can see both these features in the pic below
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/fasterplastercaster/guitar/complete6.jpg)
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Sweet. Love volutes. I just couldn't tell from the pic if there was one or if that was how the headstock plane was shaped into the neck curve. Overall the guitar looks nice and well thought out, the latter being of greater importance to me lately.
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very nice :D I thought you might have been using the scratchplate to hide a neck pickup route in case you changed your mind later, but I guess it's just to hide the neck tenon :)
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Afriad that I can only see Felines build pic as my personal computer is on the blink. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished item as soon as I get it back.
It's really nice to see something original for a change, and especially nice to see something original that looks really good..... unless it turns out that you painted it pink or something.
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Its nice to see original designs like that.
At first I wasn't sure if I liked it but the more I look at it the more I do.
I think more guitars should have pickups spaced like that. I have a 6 string stephen carpenter (Deftones) signature with the same spacing and I love the clean tones you can get out of it.
Well played sir!
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Afriad that I can only see Felines build pic as my personal computer is on the blink. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished item as soon as I get it back.
It's really nice to see something original for a change, and especially nice to see something original that looks really good..... unless it turns out that you painted it pink or something.
Rest assured - the paint is a vintage 2 tone burst like on an old Gibson Firebird
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When i first looked at it, it didn't really grab me, but like the Gibson Moderne, it's actually grown on me quite a bit, and i think it looks great (personally, i'd have something other than the tele control plate)-- it looks like it'd be a great guitar to play and be really comfortable! Congrats :)
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It feels relatively weightless when on a strap
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Looks like great craftmanship. I really start to like the shape. It has a bold elegance to it.
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After a few days of watching this thread I'm getting more used to the look of the guitar. It's kind of growing on me. A bit like a woman that has something uniquely beautiful about her but you can't quite put your finger on what it is.
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Nope, I've kept coming back to this and I'm afraid it's not growing on me at all. I'm sure it's a wonderful guitar, but that is one ugly mother-trucker. :lol:
Does look very practical though, I'll give it that. Looks really comfortable and well balanced. Maybe if it had a gibson style control layout and a solid colour finish, maybe candy apple red or something? But that would be my guitar not yours...
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I love this. I think it's such a cool piece of design, actually pretty timeless but clearly very functional. I'm extra impressed at you actually having gone and got the thing built. Nice one!
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First time I looked and though 'not for me' but every time I see it, I like it a little more. Couple more weeks, I'll be lovin' it 8)
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I should ask Rob if he was drinking a popular American beer when he designed it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/CUSTOM%20BUILT/rob%20hunt%20alkazar/robhuntalkazar5.jpg)
(http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2008/6/17/budweiser_logo_thumb1.jpg)
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I should ask Rob if he was drinking a popular American beer when he designed it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/CUSTOM%20BUILT/rob%20hunt%20alkazar/robhuntalkazar5.jpg)
(http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2008/6/17/budweiser_logo_thumb1.jpg)
If so that might make me like it less. :(
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It's more likely to be a picture of Albert Einstein wearing a bow tie! (Rob is a Physicist)
(http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/82301896.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA5481C97EC5E1D3BD02B1FAFF5B364F20A15C0FD8E1DA426BCE2)
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I'm wondering what it would look like with a reversed body but still keeping the cut-out for the higher fret access?
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I should ask Rob if he was drinking a popular American beer when he designed it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/CUSTOM%20BUILT/rob%20hunt%20alkazar/robhuntalkazar5.jpg)
(http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2008/6/17/budweiser_logo_thumb1.jpg)
If so that might make me like it less. :(
HA! I had friend in High School who won one of these in a raffle. He didn't play, but he owned it. I wish it was a Tullamore Dew guitar instead.
(http://www.edroman.com/featured/images/ebud.jpg)
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That Feline is screaming out for a Bigsby - do it!!! 8)
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That Feline is screaming out for a Bigsby - do it!!! 8)
Sounds like an ex(cellent/pensive) idea.
When I get another one!
Maybe budweiser will pay for it if I opt for a red paint/ white pickguard combo (one can but dream).