Hey, Steve,

Congratulations on that absolutely beautiful looking new treasure!  Like the others, I can't wait to hear your first new project using "Ruby", and seeing the hardware, I'm sure that beauty sounds fantastic.  There's nothing more exciting than a new instrument to get your creative juices flowing!

Also, I just want to congratulate Michael on his amazing devotion to craftsmanship.  While seeing the photos in his threads when he was finishing up Ruby, and also Bapu's killer 5-String bass, I was practically drooling!  It seems he really has astounding focus and attention to every detail when doing a build.

Wonderful work, Michael, and enjoy the new baby, Steve!
Bob
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looks great, Steve, beautiful top,what pups you go for? i love SDs, my Washburn has a 59 and Custom Custom...only thing i would have done different is the bridge, either gone for string-thru or Wilkinson trem type, not a huge fan of particular design.

(naming her after your favourite food is a bit weird though...)

 Spacey you do good work man!

mgh


hey Mike, i didn't mean to imply anything with the actual capabilities of that bridge - as you say those are some impressive options it allows. it's just the actual look for  me, looks a bit like a bass bridge has been slapped on there, but it's just my opinion! for me, a PRS style trem would have completed the amazing versatility it offers (you know, locked bridge when trem are down, switching to floating bridge when arm used...), but that's me!
the other 99% of this axe is simply awesome, i love the wood, the colour, the pups, hard to tell the neck profile of course, but neck-thru is always a winner...

and what pups were they?

Your opinion means everything!
I wanted you to know there were conditions that you weren't aware of. And one condition brings up a very good question for guitarists -
If you want to have a custom neck width / string spacing, what are your bridge options?
I hope we see the manufacturers address that more.

Steve wanted a thin neck. It was the part of the build that worried me most. Due to the circumstances I was really left with guessing.
So I carved it to the way I liked it. BUT even after playing guitars for about 50 years doesn't mean he likes the feel....but if he returns it...lol ..I'm
good to go.  I would define it as a thin C and changes to D around the 15 fret for the slop (as it's a neck thru). Another issue with that was
using a double action truss-rod. One can only get so thin....sure don't want that thing busting out! Yes I could have gone to a single rod
but wasn't.

Mark I didn't address all of your post as the bridge and machines were really my choices and I did scrap a neck because I decided to use
a different wood combination. Yes and expensive decision but I know it was the right one.
I didn't want to be rude so I was going to let Steve cover the rest...

The pups are SH-12 --Screamin Demon ( George Lynch) and the SH-4.
Steve ask Danny and he forwarded me the conversation. I'll simply state that Danny is an ACE.
If I tell you what I think about the guitar....to me I'd sound like a real arse, all bragging and fat head....I'll say that Danny made an
excellent pickup selection. We both had selected SD's but I had picked different ones. ( personally I think we couldn't go wrong either way)
I personally loved Danny's choice and I'm certain I will be using them again, in that pairing.

I enjoyed that you addressed specifics Mark. I'm very interested in opinion from pickers as yourself and others too.

Best regards,
Michael

Thank you guys for kudos. I appreciate it very much.

cool, glad it works for you Steve!

Mike, that's really cool you've gone for a compound radius neck, one of the most interesting aspects of diferent guitars is how the neck feels...my Ibby prestige is different to my Washburn, which was very different to my old Vintage neck (very much a Gibson style on that one...)...although i love the ultra-fast flat Wizard neck on the Ibby, the Washburn's slightly more C profile is so comfy to play...i'd love to play a fanned fret one day to see how that feels...so a very narrow neck with custom spacing huh? you have to make a custom nut too then i guess...

Speaking of the Ibby, it currently has stock Ibby/Dimarzio pups, gonna swap em out at some point, i would like to go SD but a lot of the dudes on the sevenstring forum recommend Bare Knuckle or Dimarzio for extreme metal...but i love having a good round woody neck pup for sweeping and playing those more emotional solos...and i think SD do those just right!

You put locking tuners on this one?

Wow Steve, that is really gorgeous brother! Spacey, you do incredible work man...just wow! I'm glad to hear that pup configuration was the right choice. Steve had told me what he was after and since I've tried just about every pup there is, I had a feeling he'd like that combo. If I wouldn't have tried so many myself, I would have never given the advice I gave.

One thing I tried to keep Steve away from was pups that are super high output. The more they put out, the more synthetic your distortion can be...and it can be a nightmare trying to dial in a nice clean sound when you need it. Those pups he chose do everything well. Dirty and tight when you need them with just the right amount of mid push as well as a subtle 4k presence, and bell like clean tones when you dial the gain back. This also allows for the wood of the guitar to resonate and add to the tone instead of high output pups smashing and coloring the signal.

Yeah Spacey, I kinda thought like mgh at first with that bridge. It does look a lot like a bass bridge. But I'd be willing to bet it's super sturdy and helped the guitar gain sustain. I'm glad he didn't go for a Wilkinson. I don't understand those trems. They feel so great yet perform horribly. I had a custom Carvin built for me in 1995. I ordered it with the Wilk. When I got it, I thought it was the greatest feeling trem I had ever played. Way better than any Floyd or Kahler that I had. However, there was one bad thing about it...it would not stay in tune! I tried everything...it just would drop a 1/8 or so with each bend...and if I snapped it, it would go back in tune. I called Carvin and asked them about it. The first thing they asked was "do you use your bar like Steve Vai or Eddie VH, or do you use it more for vibrato and tremolo type effects?" I said Vai/EVH and the dude says "that trem will not work for you." So I said "well can you put a Floyd in it for me?" He says "no, we'll have to build you another guitar". I'm like "well, I can't afford another right now." He says "no man, send that one back, we'll need an additional $200 for the gold Floyd and we'll have you another guitar in 8 weeks." Sure enough, it arrived 8 weeks to the day and I've been using their guitars ever since.

But yeah, if I were going with a stop tailpiece, I'd get the best one out there what would give me the sustain and playability. Unfortunately, I love my annoying trem bars too much. LOL! Lots of luck Steve, looking forward to hearing this baby...and Spacey, absolute killer job on the build man...just wow!

-Danny

Those Hufschmid guitars look awesome Mike. One day i will get something custom made...

I like the stuff this British guy does (Siggery guitars), and the price is ok  - this one is £999:

exactly steve, the fanned fret thing works better on 8/9 string instruments, but yeah, longer scale length in the bass strings equates to better tuning temperament and string tension. so they say! be a bit weird at first i'd say.

craigb

Danny Danzi


The first thing they asked was "do you use your bar like Steve Vai or Eddie VH, or do you use it more for vibrato and tremolo type effects?"
 
-Danny

Hey Danny, I just saw your comment and got curious.  My next custom guitar is set to have a Wilkinson on it (one of my others already has a Floyd - huge and bulky of course, but it works!).  Since my goal with the new guitar will only include using a trem for vibrato and tremolo type effects do you think the Wilk is still the way to go?  On a purely asthetic side, I want to clean up the looks a bit and keep this a very light guitar (it's primarily black limba or korina wood already).

Hi Craig,
 
If they have changed them since the one I tried in 95/96...it might work. To be honest though, after my experience, I'd not trust it. There are quite a few guys that swear by these things. Like I said, it's the best feeling trem I've ever used...but that's moot if it won't stay in tune, ya know?
 
The other side of the coin to keep in mind is, I don't tune standard like you probably do. I'm down to a C below your E 6th string and that's the way I play all the time. Maybe the tension (or lack thereof) was the issue...but in every guitar that I've ever had with a floating trem....as long as the knife edge of the trem was flush/even with the body and not jack-knifing in either direction, and I had the springs set like this \|/ with the right tension....they have always worked incredibly well. Even my Kahler's work well in that tuning. But that Wilk...nothing I tried would keep it in tune. So for me...I'd not risk it brother. I'd go for a Floyd and feel confident it will remain in tune. There are a few new Floyds to look at now though. Slimmer and a bit different than the FR "original" which may be better for you. :)
 
Spacey: No brother, YOU aced it...I just gave Steve some advice based on the sounds he liked from his favorite players. You know how it goes...we can make just about any pups sound decent with the right guitar build...but with the wrong one...the best pups in the world will still sound like @ss. LOL!
 
-Danny

Thanks for the opinions!  I still have at least a couple of months before I'll have any money that could be spent to finish the project, so I have time to think about it.  Sure, I want a guitar that plays like a dream (with lots of electrical options), but I also want it to look gorgeous like Ruby.  To me, adding that huge hunk of Original Floyd metal just detracts from the overall asthetics a bit.  Here's a body-shot of my last custom (from the same guy doing my next) with the Floyd:

Click for large pic
 
I'm not a dive-bomber (and I don't play live anyway), so if I ever wanted that effect for a song I'd just use this guitar.  The next guitar is going to hopefully be my everyday guitar ('cause it's going to be nice 'n light with all that Black Limba / Korina!), so I want a smaller profile, good-looking trem for slight use.  I love playing with notes, but subtly, not decimating them - lol!
 
(I now return you to your previously scheduled drooling over Steve's guitar. )

Lovely looking guitar Steve. Can't wait to hear her played in anger (or mellow-ly)

beautiful build.
dig the tiltback headstock

and is that a schaller 475 bridge?