# Opinions of bodies/necks from Perle? Emailed, but no response yet...



## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

Sorry if this is in the wrong section... not sure where it should be. 

I was wandering on ebay the other day when I came across this:
Unfinished UV Universe JEM RG Destroyer Body 7 String Hardtail | eBay

I've always really wanted an explorer/destroyer style 7 string, so this looks amazing to me. Also noticed that the same guy (company?) makes ibanez style necks that fit the bodies, so I think it'd be a great project to buy one of those bodies and a matching neck (the tree-of-life necks on his website look pretty nice!) and assemble the rest over time. Maybe finish it or stain it or something, who knows, I care more about the shape and the feel than the finish. I'd also really like to throw some piezo saddles on it some day, but that's not so important.

But I've read some mixed reviews online about dealing with Perle, some saying that they got no response for a long time, or not at all, and other saying that their interactions were great... so far, I've tried to make contact through the contact form on their website, but have heard nothing back.

Should I just be more patient, or should I avoid this guy/company? Alternatively, is there another place/person/company/site I could look into for vaguely explorer-ish 7s, or parts that I could assemble, outside of getting a full custom? I've considered looking at Carvin, but I'm not a big fan of their star-ish X227 shape, and that's the closest they've got from what I've seen.


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## MaxOfMetal (Aug 19, 2015)

Perle is a pretty small operation and they're typically super busy with a good size backlog, so email can be spotty. Not defending them, but they're not scammers. 

I highly recommend considering their in-stock stuff if you don't have weeks/months to wait and want a really good deal. 

Check both their eBay and Reverb, as they often have different items listed.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> but they're not scammers.



I guess that was my first concern. As long as they're legit, that's good news. I would just order stuff that's in stock, but the body on the ebay page is drilled for ibanez bridges, whereas I imagine I'd prefer using a hipshot. He mentions in a youtube video somewhere that having it drilled for hipshot was an option if I asked for it (I assume it's not exactly the same as the ibanez bridge, and that the hipshot would be easier to acquire, maintain, add piezos too, etc).

Maybe I can just "buy now" on the ebay thing, and send a message with it to add that request? The neck I guess I can just order separately from the website.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

I just noticed on the ebay listing:



Ebay said:


> Bridge Compatability.....Hipshot 7 string hardtail bridge or Ibanez standard 7 string bridge. Please specify which you need at checkout



So... I'm very strongly considering going ahead with that ebay listing, then getting the neck from here:
7 string AANJ Hardtail Tree of Life Neck 025 - Perle Guitars

A quick order from stewmac or something for the extra parts, and I've got some old stock ibby pickups lying around until I decide on a replacement...

Should I do it?


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## asher (Aug 19, 2015)

Y/Y


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

Does that mean yes/yes...? Not sure if yes, or strange smiley I don't recognize.


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## asher (Aug 19, 2015)

TedEH said:


> Does that mean yes/yes...? Not sure if yes, or strange smiley I don't recognize.



Indeed.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

Imma go for it then.  Will update with how it turns out later.

Thanks for the info.


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## pondman (Aug 19, 2015)

I had a bad experience with one of his swirled bodies quite a few years ago. In fact it was absolute crap. I don't know if he's improved over the years but I have seen posts on other forums about folks having to fettle the bodies to get things to fit.


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## Señor Voorhees (Aug 19, 2015)

I bought one of the seven string destroyer iceman hybrids a while back. I fit one of the RG7421 necks to it. All I needed to do was slightly widen the neck pocket and sand out spots for the pickup tabs to sit a tad deaper into. Otherwise I really liked it. I ended up switching the neck back to the 7421, and subsequently reattached it to the destroyer/iceman. I really want to have it up and going again, as it was a really nice body in my opinion. (mine was unfinished by the way. Just bare wood.)

edit: I forgot I posted about it on this forum a while back.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

One thing I've noticed is that most of the negative feedback I've seen about this guy seems to be fairly old. Any recent discussion seems positive, so I'm hoping for the best. I've already placed the orders, so I guess I'm taking the risk for everyone else's benefit.  If nothing else, it'll be a mildly expensive experiment. I'm not expecting the quality of a several thousand dollar custom or something, but hoping it'll be comparable or maybe a little better than the wizard neck on my s7420, and I'm anticipating maybe the tiniest bit of wood work to get everything to fit as I want it, but if it works out, I think the payoff of having an explorer shaped 7 finally will be worth it. I'm lucky to be in a place where I can take the risk financially without worrying about it.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

For those who have ordered from him before, any idea of what kind of eta I'm looking at? Doesn't mention anywhere on the ebay ad or website how long it should take before being shipped.


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## Señor Voorhees (Aug 19, 2015)

I think the ebay listings are pre-made? Perhaps I'm wrong, but mine shipped out immediately so I know mine was already made.

edit: I'm actually super curious about the quality of the necks, so I'd be appreciative of any input you can share on that. The neck I used, like I said before, I knew wasn't going to quite fit. His necks should fit a lot better than mine did, and I doubt you should have to do any work on it to get it to fit snugly. I ripped all the hardware from the 7421 as well, so the bridge was a direct swap and it intonated just fine.


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## pondman (Aug 19, 2015)

TedEH said:


> One thing I've noticed is that most of the negative feedback I've seen about this guy seems to be fairly old. Any recent discussion seems positive, so I'm hoping for the best. I've already placed the orders, so I guess I'm taking the risk for everyone else's benefit.  If nothing else, it'll be a mildly expensive experiment. I'm not expecting the quality of a several thousand dollar custom or something, but hoping it'll be comparable or maybe a little better than the wizard neck on my s7420, and I'm anticipating maybe the tiniest bit of wood work to get everything to fit as I want it, but if it works out, I think the payoff of having an explorer shaped 7 finally will be worth it. I'm lucky to be in a place where I can take the risk financially without worrying about it.



I'd agree with that. It was about 8 years ago when I got the body from him and I haven't heard any bad stories in recent times so he's probably upped his game. Most raw bodies need a little work so you should be ok.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

Señor Voorhees;4427474 said:


> I think the ebay listings are pre-made?



I think some are and some aren't. There were two ads like the one I posted. One looked like it was for a pre-made piece (I think that's the one I posted actually), and another ad that was almost identical, but listed the options you can ask for at checkout.



> Most raw bodies need a little work so you should be ok.



Besides, I've got the forum to ask if I get stuck.  I've heard somewhere that poplar can be hard to do a natural/stain/etc finish on because of green streaks or blotches or something like that. The plan for now is just to leave it raw, and leave the finish for another days project along the way. Maybe it's better to finish it to prevent dings/chips/etc. though.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

I actually used the search functionality here for once. 

Didn't realize but the RGD on the of-the-month thread is a Perle body I think. So that's good.


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## SandyRavage (Aug 19, 2015)

The one I've seen in person was particularly nice but like any parts style guitar will definitely take some fitting to get right.

I have been trying to get a custom order from him for over a year, and been hard to get him to answer any correspondence. Again not attacking him at all he is super busy with orders and keeping his production stuff going.

As soon as I can get him to respond I will be having him put something together for me.


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## TedEH (Aug 19, 2015)

SandyRavage said:


> I have been trying to get a custom order from him for over a year, and been hard to get him to answer any correspondence.



It's comments along these lines that worry me a bit. I'm hoping that what I'm doing isn't considered "custom", and that an ordered placed on his ebay/website will be fulfilled reasonably quick instead of ignored. It'd be one thing to ignore an email, but another thing altogether to accept money and not produce anything.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Aug 19, 2015)

With small builders such as Perle, you gotta remember, they are busier making bodies/necks and sawdust than they are answer the phone or emails. The latter, they fit it as they can. It's the only way to get orders already in queue out the door.


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## aesthyrian (Aug 19, 2015)

Are you contacting him through Ebay or through his website? I have found much better luck with sending a message through Ebay.


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## marcwormjim (Aug 20, 2015)

I have two "Jemager" bodies I bought in 2011, that I just recently got around to working on. I believe they're poplar. Many of the angles are rough. The neck pockets for both are too deep for the RG Wizard II necks I had laying around - I'll have to shim them. Also, the worm holes and discolorations are numerous. I made the mistake of tru-oiling the one body, and the finish only made the flaws in the wood jump out more. The other body will be stained orange and gone over with Minwax water-based rub-on poly.

All-in-all, one should expect any unfinished replacement body to require TLC. You buy an unfinished body or neck to skip several steps in the guitar-making process - Not to forego troubleshooting.

Not mine, but similar:


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## TedEH (Aug 20, 2015)

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> they are busier making bodies/necks and sawdust than they are answer the phone or emails.



This is what I'm counting on.  It's only been a day, so I'm far from being in any kind of panic mode yet.



> Are you contacting him through Ebay or through his website?



I originally asked some questions via the website, but ended buying through ebay. I'll probably try communicating through ebay from now on. Still no response from anything other than the ebay listi- 
nevermind, I was halfway through typing that sentence when I got an email from him.  So far so good! Sounds like this will get started on soon.

On a related note:
I preemptively ordered some of the parts yesterday just after ordering the body on ebay- had another weird project that needed some parts too, so it made sense to combine it into one order so I wouldn't get hit with shipping twice. Was going to order from stewmac, but I couldn't find the hipshot 7 on their site. But I did find it on the NextGenGuitars site, which I vaguely remembered from some posts here that they're in Ottawa somewhere. I'm pretty sure they have an employee/owner/someone who's a member here. Anyway, I picked up enough junk, the hipshot, a TOM bridge for another project, bunch of pots and knobs and junk, so that the price would be enough for free shipping, and it arrived at my door this morning. Wasn't expecting it to arrive so quick. This is the first place I've found in the area that has metric/alpha pots available (L&M and Steves don't carry them), so I'll probably be ordering from this place whenever I need parts from now on.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Aug 20, 2015)

marcwormjim said:


> I have two "Jemager" bodies I bought in 2011, that I just recently got around to working on. I believe they're poplar. Many of the angles are rough. The neck pockets for both are too deep for the RG Wizard II necks I had laying around - I'll have to shim them. Also, the worm holes and discolorations are numerous. I made the mistake of tru-oiling the one body, and the finish only made the flaws in the wood jump out more. The other body will be stained orange and gone over with Minwax water-based rub-on poly.
> 
> All-in-all, one should expect any unfinished replacement body to require TLC. You buy an unfinished body or neck to skip several steps in the guitar-making process - Not to forego troubleshooting.
> 
> Not mine, but similar:



Is that a striped EVH in the back, or your own interpretation? Pics?


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## nutsock (Aug 21, 2015)

I currently have a mahogany iceman in the works with him, and ebay has been our line of communication. He is responding pretty well with me.


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## marcwormjim (Aug 22, 2015)

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> Is that a striped EVH in the back, or your own interpretation? Pics?



Sorry for the late reply - The photo isn't mine. I just googled the body shape.


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## TedEH (Aug 24, 2015)

Another question for the more knowledgeable:

To finish the body: is that something I should take to someone with more skill, or is it possible for someone with very little woodworking knowledge to figure out a really simple finish? Basically, anything but flat black.  I've heard/read that staining poplar can be a challenge, so maybe I'm better off finding someone locally with more experience.


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## jbealsmusic (Aug 25, 2015)

TedEH said:


> Was going to order from stewmac, but I couldn't find the hipshot 7 on their site. But I did find it on the NextGenGuitars site, which I vaguely remembered from some posts here that they're in Ottawa somewhere. I'm pretty sure they have an employee/owner/someone who's a member here. Anyway, I picked up enough junk, the hipshot, a TOM bridge for another project, bunch of pots and knobs and junk, so that the price would be enough for free shipping, and it arrived at my door this morning. Wasn't expecting it to arrive so quick. This is the first place I've found in the area that has metric/alpha pots available (L&M and Steves don't carry them), so I'll probably be ordering from this place whenever I need parts from now on.


Great to hear everything made it ok and in quick time. Looking forward to seeing the finished product when you finally get it all rolling.



TedEH said:


> To finish the body: is that something I should take to someone with more skill, or is it possible for someone with very little woodworking knowledge to figure out a really simple finish? Basically, anything but flat black.  I've heard/read that staining poplar can be a challenge, so maybe I'm better off finding someone locally with more experience.


Not sure I'd consider myself overly knowledgeable about finishing, but I do know that if you're using poplar, you'll want to paint it instead of staining it.


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## TedEH (Aug 26, 2015)

I did some reading yesterday that suggested maybe I could use something like tru oil, but mix a dye into it so that it looks like a bit like a stain. I might pick up a couple o scrap pieces of poplar to experiment while I wait for the real body to arrive. In the end, maybe I'll just end up painting it.


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## TedEH (Aug 29, 2015)

Update: I have a tracking number for at least the neck (it might be for both parts based on some emails?) so, at least something is on it's way here.
Edit: It appears to be for both- Website order and ebay are both marked as shipped.


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## pondman (Aug 30, 2015)

TedEH said:


> I did some reading yesterday that suggested maybe I could use something like tru oil, but mix a dye into it so that it looks like a bit like a stain. I might pick up a couple o scrap pieces of poplar to experiment while I wait for the real body to arrive. In the end, maybe I'll just end up painting it.



I've done this but the only thing I could get to mix successfully with Tru Oil was the Winsor and Newton artists oil http://www.winsornewton.com/uk/shop/oil-colour/artists

It ends up really thick and isn't an easy finish to get right.
This is how it came out after a lot of work.


DSCN4194 by zebrafish2, on Flickr

It would be easier to dye it ( as long as there isn't any filler on the body) and then oil it.
Most of the ready coloured veneers I've bought are Poplar so I don't see why it should be a problem to dye it.


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## TedEH (Aug 30, 2015)

I've heard of some people having varying levels of success with stuff like stewmac's ColorTone. Any thoughts on whether that's any good?

ColorTone Liquid Stains | stewmac.com


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## cardinal (Aug 30, 2015)

Finishing a bolt-on body isn't too bad. I'd follow the basic Reranch directions to fill the grain and then pick spray cans of whatever paint you want. I haven't tried the nitro cans, but I've used House of Kolor cans and cleared it with a 2K poly clear in a can, and it looks good. 

I screwed a board to the body using the neck mounting holes and clamped the board to a guitar stand at various angles when spraying. 

The key is prep. It must be prepped well to look professional. Use sanding blocks and make sure everything is level and smooth. Any imperfections just get worse once paint is on there.


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## HaMMerHeD (Aug 30, 2015)

TransTint (available at most woodworking stores) mixes well with oil, water, and solvent-based finishes, including Tru-Oil.


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## TedEH (Aug 30, 2015)

cardinal said:


> I'd follow the basic Reranch directions to fill the grain and then pick spray cans of whatever paint you want.



I've been wanting to avoid any kind of spraying 'cause I don't really have an appropriate place to do it. I saw some youtube clips where Tru Oil was used directly without any kind of grain filler or preparation (other than sanding), so I was hoping that the oil would be an easy finish-for-dummies, outside of a tiny bit of colour to darken it. If it's not as simple as that, I'm probably best to just pay someone who knows that they're doing.


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## TedEH (Sep 3, 2015)

Got a delivery notice email while at work, so there's something waiting at the post office for me. Still haven't confirmed if it's just the neck or both, but either way, progress is good. 

Anyone have recommendations for where I can get tuners? Nobody seems to sell individual ones or sets of 7 unless they're boring generic ones. Would be cool to try out locking ones but I can't find any in sets of 7... and it's gatta be something that will fit the Gotoh/Ibanez setup (I dunno how different each brand is in terms of fit).


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## marcwormjim (Sep 3, 2015)

Tru Oil works fine on unfinished/unsealed wood. As mentioned above, you just need to try to have the wood 99% there before oiling it - It takes a lot of extra coats to get enough buildup to fill dents and uneven areas, when you could just sand them out in the first place. Doing the "fill and scrape" method can work, but it's not a foolproof way of compensating for prep problems.


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## HaMMerHeD (Sep 3, 2015)

LMII sells individual tuning machines.

http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-not-wood/tuning-machines/steel-string-tuners

They aren't all available individually, but a lot of them are. They should deliver to Canuckistan.


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## TedEH (Sep 3, 2015)

Doesn't look like any of them are locking. Maybe I'll just get standard "boring" tuners for now.


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## jbealsmusic (Sep 3, 2015)

TedEH said:


> Anyone have recommendations for where I can get tuners? Nobody seems to sell individual ones or sets of 7 unless they're boring generic ones. Would be cool to try out locking ones but I can't find any in sets of 7... and it's gatta be something that will fit the Gotoh/Ibanez setup (I dunno how different each brand is in terms of fit).


We sell Hipshot tuners individually.
Guitar & Bass Tuning Keys - Canada


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## TedEH (Sep 4, 2015)

Aaah nice, that might be the way to go then. I'll look into that.


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## TedEH (Sep 8, 2015)

New update:
I have the body and the neck. I have no real patience to wait for more parts or both with a finish, so I've started assembling things already.  They fit together extremely tightly, which, without knowing any better, I would assume is a good thing. Takes some effort to get everything in there flat, but it's there. Screws were provided for the neck and for the pickups, so that's good. I had to steal some parts from other guitars (mostly an old Dean I don't like much) to get it up and running, and not everything was a perfect fit, but more parts are on the way. 

Hipshot bridge is in place, string ferrules and tuners stolen from the Dean, the tuners aren't screwed in because the screws didn't line up, but the posts are tight enough that they don't move. It's messing with tuning stability a bit for now, but proper tuners are on the way. Strap pins are in, jack plate is there, pots and knobs are good, switch is good, etc. The stock bridge ibby pup I had doesn't fit (it's too tall), so I put the stock neck pup in the bridge spot and wired it to just the volume and the output for now just to prove it works. Will wire it properly once I have real pickups etc.

Two issues so far: one is that the bridge doesn't seem to intonate without bringing all the saddles pretty much all the way back. Maybe once I have the real tuners and properly adjust the neck it'll be less of a problem. Also, I'm getting buzzing when I play a couple of the open strings. The G and B strings sound muffled and buzzy when played open, but sound fine when fretted anywhere. The problem goes away if either I use a finger nail to hold the string in the nut, or if I put a piece of paper between the nut and the string. I'm guessing the nut needs to be re-filed properly. The neck plays really well otherwise. It's thicker than the Wizard neck I'm used to.

Questions for anyone who's following so far:
- Pickup suggestions for poplar? Been thinking about getting some green evos to match the green inlays.
- Other suggestions to fix the intonation or nut problems?


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## jbealsmusic (Sep 8, 2015)

TedEH said:


> They fit together extremely tightly, which, without knowing any better, I would assume is a good thing.


Too tight is not necessarily a good thing. It should be tight enough to be snug (no side-to-side or tilting movement when joined together), but not so tight that it is tough to get into place.



> Two issues so far: one is that the bridge doesn't seem to intonate without bringing all the saddles pretty much all the way back. Maybe once I have the real tuners and properly adjust the neck it'll be less of a problem.


Sounds like you'll need to move your bridge back 1/4" to 1/2". Did the body come pre-drilled?



> Also, I'm getting buzzing when I play a couple of the open strings.


Getting nut re-filed or replaced should definitely help. What is the break angle like past the nut? Is there a string tree?



> Pickup suggestions for poplar? Been thinking about getting some green evos to match the green inlays.


That would look sweet!


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## TedEH (Sep 8, 2015)

I was able to get the neck to sit flat in the pocket, as far as I can tell, but there's no movement at all after that. I'm not too worried about that part. If I need to, I think the tiniest bit of sanding would make it easier to fit.

The body was pre- drilled for the hipshot. I'm not really equipped to do the woodwork it would take to move it back, so I'd rather exhaust any other options first. With all the saddles moved pretty close to all the way back, it's close enough that it wouldn't bother me. I think for the low B, I'd have to take the spring out to get that extra space back. I might email hipshot to ask if they have shorter saddles just for the two or three lowest strings.

Just a thought, but maybe one solution might be to shim the neck so it's a little more angled than it was before, and raise the saddles up to compensate. With the angle, the strings would be traveling a bit farther right?

There's no string tree, but I don't think the angle is the problem. The angle looks to be about the same as what there is on my s7420. Also, putting pressure on the string behind the nut (more angle) doesn't stop the noise. The noise does stop if I place my fingernail lightly on the string right where it leaves the nut. Sounds to me like it's rattling around in the nut.


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## TKOA-Dex (Sep 8, 2015)

I can't say anything about his wood work, but Ive gotten pick guards from him, which are all nicely done.


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## jwade (Sep 10, 2015)

TedEH said:


> I think for the low B, I'd have to take the spring out to get that extra space back. I might email hipshot to ask if they have shorter saddles just for the two or three lowest strings.


I had that problem with a similar bridge, my solution was to just clip the spring itself at about the 1/3rd mark. Kept the slightly longer spring piece for the future, in case I decided to go with lighter springs and needed a bit more travel-back.



> There's no string tree, but I don't think the angle is the problem. The angle looks to be about the same as what there is on my s7420. Also, putting pressure on the string behind the nut (more angle) doesn't stop the noise. The noise does stop if I place my fingernail lightly on the string right where it leaves the nut. Sounds to me like it's rattling around in the nut.


Kind of sounds like you need to run a nut-file/piece of sandpaper through the slot.


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## TedEH (Sep 10, 2015)

I don't have any proper nut files, and I don't feel like spending the money on a set at the moment, so I might try the tiniest bit of sandpaper. Worst case, I'll find a luthier or repair shop nearby to fix it for me. 

I haven't received the rest of the random parts and junk I ordered yet, so I'm not going to do anything drastic until they arrive. Gotoh tuners, caps for tone knobs, some copper shielding junk, and some string ferrules to replace the ones I stole from the other guitar, are all on the way.

Once I've managed to get the tuners on and the nut reasonably fixed, next thing will be the correct pickups. I'm thinking Evo bridge and Air Norton neck or something like that, but suggestions are welcome. I also really want to throw in some Ghost saddles, but I can't decide if I want to do that right away or wait. 

Also have to decide on how to wire it up. I'd like the piezo stuff to be passive with a volume and switch. Or maybe not even the volume. The body has three holes drilled for pots (and one for the pickup switch in the horn, so four total technically), so there's a number of options there. One option is to just have magnetic volume, ghost passive volume, then skip the tone and put a switch where the last pot would go to switch between the two. Or I could have volume, tone, and switch, but when in piezo mode there's no volume and it's just wired directly to the output. Oooooor I could pull one of those stereo jack setups, but I don't want to mess with stereo cables and splitters and junk like that. Oooooor I could try to drill for another output jack and have two cables.


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## HaMMerHeD (Sep 10, 2015)

You can get needle files at just about any hardware store. They work just fine as nut files. If there's something like a Harbor Freight, you should be able to get a set for ~$5 or so.

http://www.amazon.com/SE-Needle-Dipped-Handles-FBA-FILESET-2A/dp/B000T41MH2


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## TedEH (Sep 10, 2015)

I guess the stewmac files are mostly recommended just because of the accuracy to specific string gauges. Canadian Tire might have a set like the one linked. I guess I would just want to get the smallest round/needle looking file I can find and work with that? I don't know what the consequences would be if the slot isn't filed pretty close to the shape of the string. I'm a bit suspicious that maybe the nut I got on the neck was just "started" or marked for string spacing, but that it's sold that way with the intention of the buyer finishing the filing themselves. I say that 'cause the slots aren't cut very deep at all. I'd have to go home and look at it again, I don't remember how different each slot was.

Maaaaaaaaaaaybe if I'm lucky the combination of the improperly mounted temporary tuners and an unfinished nut are the cause of my intonation issues. We'll find out soon enough I suppose.


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## Chokey Chicken (Sep 10, 2015)

The poorly mounted tuners will likely not do anything to effect intonation since intonation is literally measured by the termination points on the string. (ie: Bridge saddle and nut.) Anything beyond the saddle and nut is irrelevant to intonation. The nut might effect intonation, but I can't imagine by much. 

One of my friends actually recently had this problem with an 8 string warlock. She had to move the whole thing back about a quarter of an inch to get it to intonate properly. She didn't care if she butchered the $350 thing so she just took a dremel to the string holes, making them tip towards the now relocated bridge. It's a little annoying to do string changes since you have to bend the tip of the string to get it to follow the new channel, but it doesn't effect playabillity or sound, and it's still easier than changing strings on a floyd. (the guitar plays great now, too.)

Unfortunately, the better option would be to plug and re-drill the bridge holes. A bit of a chore, but if intonation is close enough with the current bridge I wouldn't stress it, even if the bridge is near maxed out.


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## TedEH (Sep 10, 2015)

So I went to Canadian Tire and picked up the first cheap set of files I saw, and went home to carelessly hack away at the nut. On closer inspection, the nut I received was slotted, but the slots were not angled at all. I took a significant amount of material away from the back of the nut for all the strings and tried not to touch the edge the string should be resting on. 

The strings are all maybe a tiiiiiiny bit higher than they need to be, but otherwise it seems to be a success. Pretty good for a first attempt.  The weird ringing is gone, and I haven't touched the bridge again yet but it already sounds a lot better intonated- almost better than some other guitars I've got. Honestly, for taking a risk and setting everything up in a pretty amateur way, it plays super well. The only playability flaw left is the tuning stability being pretty bad because of the temporary tuners not being screwed in- everything else is just wiring and aesthetic stuff.

I entirely forgot that this week was pay week, so maybe tonight or tomorrow I will order pickups and maaaaaaaybe also the piezo junk if the price is right (I haven't looked into cost for any of that stuff yet).

A picture!


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## jwade (Sep 11, 2015)

I want to build a reversed headstock Destroyer 7!


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## pondman (Sep 11, 2015)

If the nut slots were flat , there's a chance that the strings could have been sitting back on the head side of the nut slots causing the intonation problems.
Fingers crossed


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## TedEH (Sep 11, 2015)

I'm pretty confident that's what it was. I'm happy with the state it's in for now. I'll probably stop messing with it too much until the tuners arrive.


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## TedEH (Sep 26, 2015)

New things!
I got the tuners/caps/etc in the mail, so I figured since I have to take the string off anyway, now's a good time to take the whole thing apart and start attempting to sand and finish the body. I picked up some tru oil, and I'm doing a pretty amateur job of it, I think, but it's something. Currently hanging from an unwound coat hanger in my bathroom, waiting for the 3rd coat to dry. In the right light the grain/streaks are very green looking, but I'm ok with that. The inlays are green, and the pickups I've ordered are also green, so hopefully it won't be the ugliest thing in the world when it's done.


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## TedEH (Sep 30, 2015)

Tiny update: I ordered some ghost piezo saddles and the "passive kit" to wire it up. The plan is to use a toggle switch to go between those and the dimarzios.

Question for those more familiar with wiring- My original plan is/was to get a simple on-on switch and put it right before the output. The magnetic and the piezo stuff would each be wired separately as if it was it's own thing, then the switch would just swap between which two output wires to use. Does that make sense? Is there any reason to do it a different way? I don't plan on using any kind of blending of the two systems, no active stuff, no batteries. Sounds simple to me, but maybe I've missed something.


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## GuitarBizarre (Sep 30, 2015)

TedEH said:


> Tiny update: I ordered some ghost piezo saddles and the "passive kit" to wire it up. The plan is to use a toggle switch to go between those and the dimarzios.
> 
> Question for those more familiar with wiring- My original plan is/was to get a simple on-on switch and put it right before the output. The magnetic and the piezo stuff would each be wired separately as if it was it's own thing, then the switch would just swap between which two output wires to use. Does that make sense? Is there any reason to do it a different way? I don't plan on using any kind of blending of the two systems, no active stuff, no batteries. Sounds simple to me, but maybe I've missed something.



Not to .... with your ideas, but why are you avoiding the active element here?

That passive volume kit exists so that you can impedance match the raw piezo output when sending it into outboard equipment - it doesn't actually do any of the tone shaping that the preamp of a piezo system does.

It's really more intended for allowing you to use an outside preamp of your choice, or several different outboard preamps if your circumstances require. It doesn't turn the piezo output into a passive equivalent of the active signal.

It would be my advice that dealing with the passive Piezo output will give you substandard results at best, and will be a giant hassle at worst, compared to simply installing the active preamp and a battery, which will enable you to jack that guitar straight into any amplifier you please without worrying about the sensitivity or impedance of the input.


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## TedEH (Sep 30, 2015)

I'm doing it that way 'cause I've had passive piezos before and I liked them...?  Also I don't want to deal with batteries, and the control routing isn't big enough to fit the preamp. I'm not trying to "sound like an acoustic".


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## GuitarBizarre (Sep 30, 2015)

TedEH said:


> I'm doing it that way 'cause I've had passive piezos before and I liked them...?  Also I don't want to deal with batteries, and the control routing isn't big enough to fit the preamp. I'm not trying to "sound like an acoustic".



Way to get tetchy. Whatever, do what you want. Just don't say nobody warned you when this doesn't come off like you expected though. Just because you've had a passive system before doesn't mean the ghost system works the same way. Graphtech's website clearly explains the purpose of the passive kit, and it's not "Directly to any amp you please", it is "To external equipment designed to handle this kind of output".


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## TedEH (Sep 30, 2015)

I understand the purpose of the kit, I just want to try it that way. I'm not being "tetchy". If I don't like the result, I can add the preamp later- and I do have some decent DIs and bass pres and stuff I can try it with, nothing wrong with experimenting. Not sure why you've taken it so personally.  Also, I really do want to avoid adding batteries. Also, isolating the magnetics sounds like a good way to prevent the ghost stuff from messing with the existing sound.


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## TedEH (Sep 30, 2015)

My original question stands though: Is there any reason not to put a switch immediately before the output, one side connects magnetic stuff like normal, and the other side defeats the magnetics altogether and connects the piezo (with or without preamp) instead?


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## A-Branger (Sep 30, 2015)

why dont you use a 3 way toggle switch? same way as the JPs work. 

in that way you can have the blend of the two signals, could give you a nice sound option for cleans


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## TedEH (Sep 30, 2015)

Unfortunately, a switch like that doesn't work without a preamp. You can't blend the two together the way you would with pickups. Something to do with impedance and levels being too different, but the specifics are outside of my level of understanding.


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## TedEH (Oct 5, 2015)

Made a phone call to L&M to see how much longer I need to wait for my pickups... turns out they're backordered. Might have to wait up to 6 weeks or something like that. Laaaaaaaaaame. The ghost stuff is already shipped so unless some miracle happens, I'll get those first.

It's incredibly tempting to rip the pickups out of my s7420 to make this one playable, but I don't want to mess with my #1 right now, and I've got a show on Saturday. I could put that Ibby stock neck pickup back in again I guess.... but that's not as fun.

*sigh*


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## TedEH (Oct 20, 2015)

Finally received the graphtech stuff, but still no word at all about the pickups... it's so frustrating to have to wait so long. I dunno how you guys with your super-long-wait customs do it. 

Had a mini-panic for just a moment when I got the new saddles- you can only see 6 in the pack. I was convinced I had received the wrong thing and went online to look at the part number... which matched... so on closer inspection, the 7th one is hiding underneath. Jebus.


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## TedEH (Oct 23, 2015)

I switched the saddles yesterday, and it was a pain in the as$ to feed all the wires through the tiny hole drilled between the routes.  I suppose the "correct" thing to do would have been to widen it, but I don't have the tools (and probably don't have the skills) to do that, so whatever.

Question!

The stuff I got with it included another output jack... and I realized that instead of a switch, I could put the extra output jack where the last pot/switch would have gone. It might look a bit funny though...

Which one sounds like a better idea- extra output jack on the front, or the original plan of a switch so they can share the same output?


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## TedEH (Oct 29, 2015)

DiMarzios are in! Graphtech wires are fed under the bridge pup. Terrible dramatic-angle photo:


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