Author Topic: Wez venables guitar build - Done and dusted!! (Read 174539 times)

opprobrium_9 · « **Reply #405 on:** September 20, 2007, 04:55:03 AM »

Quote from: WezV

What happened to this baby?

WezV · « **Reply #406 on:** September 20, 2007, 07:11:22 AM »

on its way soon - finishing is always the slowest process!!

I am glad you are all coming around to the kahler!!

dave_mc · « **Reply #407 on:** September 20, 2007, 12:24:08 PM »

wow, really sweet!

AngusYoung01 · « **Reply #408 on:** September 20, 2007, 05:46:19 PM »

Quote from: WezV

on its way soon - finishing is always the slowest process!!

I am glad you are all coming around to the kahler!!

I like Kahlers, especially on Explorers - I'd love to have a Destroyer, like Dave Murrays with the kahler :D

WezV · « **Reply #409 on:** September 20, 2007, 06:33:06 PM »

The kahlers do tend to be quite bulky and industrial looking and i know that puts a lot of people off, but i have actually recessed this into the body slighty which means i need a bit less neck angle and more importantly the trem feels a lot less bulky from the playing position - should feel quite slinky when its all done!!

AngusYoung01 · « **Reply #410 on:** September 20, 2007, 07:02:43 PM »

That sounds pretty inovative 8)

WezV · « **Reply #411 on:** September 20, 2007, 08:29:44 PM »

Not really innovative, infact some people would see sinking the bridge as cheating, but it serves me well in this instance!!

AngusYoung01 · « **Reply #412 on:** September 20, 2007, 08:36:30 PM »

I've always thought Kahlers were flat mounted, but I've never played one :roll:

Are they usualy liek that?

WezV · « **Reply #413 on:** September 20, 2007, 09:01:46 PM »

you generally get two types, flat mount and stud mount. Mine is flat mount, just recessed slightly because i like it like that.

They can be set as low as a fender bridge but function a lot better with the saddles raised up more, so i sunk the bridge so i could raise the saddles more and still have a low action, i could have added more neck angle instead but wanted to keep it without much neck angle because thats what i am used to playing and i want to keep this one for me a while

AngusYoung01 · « **Reply #414 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:07:31 PM »

Intriguing!

Philly Q · « **Reply #415 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:37:52 PM »

Quote from: WezV

Not really innovative, infact some people would see sinking the bridge as cheating, but it serves me well in this instance!!

I did that with a Kahler Flyer on a Squier Strat in 1986! Not that I'm claiming to have invented the technique or anything.

I think the increased angle over the rollers helps sustain a bit, at least when the bar's not in use. But that was my problem with the Kahler in general - because the cam part of the bridge raises but the saddles stay put, you reach a point where there's almost no string pressure on the saddles and the guitar just dies. That apart, I think it's a wonderful, beautifully engineered design.

I never owned one, but the Washburn Wonderbar looked an interesting design - it also had roller saddles but there was a second set of rollers pushing down on the strings behind the saddles. Big bulky thing though.

WezV · « **Reply #416 on:** September 20, 2007, 11:02:07 PM »

you got it philly, for saying they are designed to retrofit onto a strat they dont actually mention anywhere that you either need to severly shim the neck or sink the bridge for it to work at its best ... but i knew that and allowed for it.

This is the slightly cheaper hybrid model, it allows you to lock the trem off if you want to which is a big plus for me and i dont know why they dont offer it on the pro models

Philly Q · « **Reply #417 on:** September 20, 2007, 11:09:34 PM »

Are you going to use the behind-the-nut string clamp Wez? I always thought it was better with a Floyd locking nut. I was a bit surprised when they re-launched the Kahler that they'd kept the string clamp.

Having said that, if I ever get round to putting my 80s Kahler unit back on my old Hamer, I'm just going to use the standard nut and a set of locking tuners.

ilÿti · « **Reply #418 on:** September 20, 2007, 11:47:36 PM »

Sorry for digging up old news, but I really like this body shape and I'd think it would look stunning with a spalted top: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/XL801042.jpg

Oh well, on another guitar perhaps.

The explorer looks great as it is, I think. I wouldnt hide that wood with a pickguard. With a Warping and a Kahler trem, it'd be a metal beast even Karl Logan would be scared to touch.

WezV · « **Reply #419 on:** September 21, 2007, 07:11:34 AM »

We are doing a guitar like that with a spalted maple top but its a real slowburning project. I am teaching my sprayer how to build guitars but i have given him quite alot to spray recently so it hasnt progressed much recently

here it is rough cut out:

i think since then he has trimmed the top back and done some koa binding, we made a neck for it but it went wrong so need to do another - just as i was letting him do a bit more by himself

Yep philly Q, behind the nut string clamp i am afraid - although i am possibly going to replace it with the cam one so it doesnt need alan keys to change a string:
http://www.wammiworld.com/5514.html
not sure yet