In need of some more experienced opinions...

[MDV]

My personal opinion on the guitars config is:

GET WHAT YOU@LL BE HAPPY WITH.

Dont think about selling it on when youre buying it. Asside from anything else, you wont be the only person that'll like it: you would find a buyer eventually.

In the mean time you dont want to be sitting there playing a guitar thinking "I wonder what it wouldve sounded like if I got what I really wanted???"!!!

[noodleplugerine]

Get what YOU want, not what some prospective buyer wants.

[dave_mc]

I agree, if you get what may nab you a slightly higher price, you probably increase the chances of having to sell on later. if you aren't going to sell on, resale value doesn't matter. (though of course you never know if you may be forced to sell on, which can be a shame)

of course, you probably don't want to order one with giant hannah montana (or whatever she's called) custom graphics on it or something.

[jt]

:D Dont get me wrong here guys.

Nobody gets a custom build with the intention of selling it on at some point, me included. I`m just making you aware that you never know whats around the corner. As it goes i really liked the look of the guitar you put up it looks great. As for the woods debate. There were more & more people chipping in with suggestions  it was starting to run round in circles !

Check out the  Warmoth site theres a great bit on it about woods telling you what you need to know. Also talk to your builder. Be honest about what you want he will have a much better idea. There are some great guys on these boards here Bob Johnson, Johnathon Law-[Feline] both Luthiers will give advice if you ask, just PM them. As for custom graphics or paint jobs i personnally disagree, i think anything that helps your guitar look distinctive and good is allways a good idea, but thats a personal opinion. As for P/U choice.Your right of course its your guitar & your paying for it so get what you want and that you`ll be happy with. But like i said be carefull dont rush because your getting excited, its easy to get it wrong. Every player i know that had a custom build ended up selling it as they realised they`d got it wrong.

 :D  8)

http://www.warmoth.com/

[noodleplugerine]

:D Dont get me wrong here guys.

Nobody gets a custom build with the intention of selling it on at some point, me included. I`m just making you aware that you never know whats around the corner. As it goes i really liked the look of the guitar you put up it looks great. As for the woods debate. There were more & more people chipping in with suggestions  it was starting to run round in circles !

Check out the  Warmoth site theres a great bit on it about woods telling you what you need to know. Also talk to your builder. Be honest about what you want he will have a much better idea. There are some great guys on these boards here Bob Johnson, Johnathon Law-[Feline] both Luthiers will give advice if you ask, just PM them. As for custom graphics or paint jobs i personnally disagree, i think anything that helps your guitar look distinctive and good is allways a good idea, but thats a personal opinion. As for P/U choice.Your right of course its your guitar & your paying for it so get what you want and that you`ll be happy with. But like i said be carefull dont rush because your getting excited, its easy to get it wrong. Every player i know that had a custom build ended up selling it as they realised they`d got it wrong.

 :D  8)

http://www.warmoth.com/

Don't forget Wez!

[jt]

:D Yes or absolutly right ! Sorry Wez  

 :D  8)

[WezV]

arh dont worry, bob and jonathan have both been doing this a lot longer than me!!!

the best thing is to have a good idea of what exactly you want and why you want it and be willing to investigate other ideas any luthier may give you.  

i would do it with a maple through neck and swamp ash wings like the original post and i would stick with the ebony board (or my favorite  - ziracote) because although its not a combo i would do on a nomral guitar the extra clarity (some would say brightness) from the maple and ebony will help a lot with the low notes on a 27" scale 7 string - i'm guessing this things gonna spend most of its life detuned.  i would also consider making it fanned fret - possibly 27 1/2 on the bass and 26 on the treble.

one thing i did notice on the spec - you say 1/8" maple top and you also say carved top.  a traditional carve needs a lot more maple than that and will add a bit more mapleyness to the sound.  1/8" is thin enough that it wont influence the sound to much.   with a thicker maple cap needed for the carve i would consider adding something like mahogany to the neck sandwich  - really depends if the maple goes over the neck section.  if its just a cap on the wings with the neck section still visable its less of an issue

[dave_mc]

:D Dont get me wrong here guys.

Nobody gets a custom build with the intention of selling it on at some point, me included. I`m just making you aware that you never know whats around the corner. As it goes i really liked the look of the guitar you put up it looks great. As for the woods debate. There were more & more people chipping in with suggestions  it was starting to run round in circles !

agreed :)

[PeteyG]

It'll generally stick in a pretty standard 7 string tuning to be fair, I like detuning my sixers to a somewhat ridiculous amount, but I'd stick to keeping it pretty standard on a 7 :)

Yeah the brightness in the neck is what I was hoping to use to counteract the otherwise very low end of a 27" scale instrument. I'm glad there are some luthiers on a forum like this, willing to give up their experiences to humble know nothing guys like myself, hah.

[ToneMonkey]

Personally I would look at finding a luthier that you'll be happy to work with first.  Then flop out some money and start discussing it with them.

Chances are that they'll be able to advise you far better than a load of blokes off a forum.  I know that the blokes here are very knowledgable, but it's easy to end up with unsolicited info.  Chances are that they've come across this, or something like this before.

[dave_mc]

they'd be much better than me anyway.  :lol:

[gorath23]

It's worth noting that Pete is talking about swamp ash rather than hard ash. From what I've heard, and from speaking to Doug at Blackmachine, they are two very different woods. Apparently swamp ash is quite middy and fat sounding, as well as being very clear.

I agree with Nolly, I have a Custom Strat with a Swamp Ash body and a Maple/Maple neck - not nearly as bright as I was expecting, sustains for days and has a nice fat sound, especially considering its loaded with single coils.

[WezV]

It's worth noting that Pete is talking about swamp ash rather than hard ash. From what I've heard, and from speaking to Doug at Blackmachine, they are two very different woods. Apparently swamp ash is quite middy and fat sounding, as well as being very clear.

I agree with Nolly, I have a Custom Strat with a Swamp Ash body and a Maple/Maple neck - not nearly as bright as I was expecting, sustains for days and has a nice fat sound, especially considering its loaded with single coils.

oh yeah, completely different things.  but then swamp ash and swamp ash can be completely different as well... swamp ash is a label that suddenly increases the price of ash astronomically and there is no set method of grading it.  Is it swamp ash because its grown in a swamp or is it swamp ash because its light!!!  .... or is it really being sold as swamp ash because the person selling it knows they can charge a hell of a lot more for it if they add swamp to the start

generally with all reputable wood suppliers it comes down to weight.  swamp ash is lighter because its grown in a wet area so the tree contains more water.  when the wood is dry it has more air space  that regular ash.  This is why it can have huge pores and be a pain to finish and also dents easily.  I have had some swamp ash that was as light as balsa but it can be a lot heavier and still be called swamp ash.  Tonally it is a lot warmer than the baseball bat ash, but then i made a guitar out of that and it wasnt unpleasant... certainly quite a bright guitar and i had to make it thinner to get the weight to normal, but nice in its own way.

 
so basically ash varies from incredibly light to quite heavy.  10-15 years ago it was all just called ash and most places selling wood didnt want the stuff that went on to become 'swamp' ash because they thought it was a PITA.. dents easier and harder to finish are not the best qualities in a wood.  then some bright spark used this cheap disposable wood for a guitar, some marketing mojo happened and we all want it

 good swamp ash is truly excellent despite the extra problems in workability..  trust the luthier to get you a good bit