craigb
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Progress made on the Red Rocker, er, Aqua (TBD)!
Introducing one of the longest builds ever. This guitar in a sense started over 12 years ago with the first custom Jeff was going to create for me that was going to hold Variax guts in a conventional guitar that also had passive pickups. Well, Jeff accidentally routed the body for dual humbuckers but the pickups were S/S/H and that turned out to be a lucky event for me because it set us up for doing a second guitar! The natural progression of the second guitar ended up with a completely different set of pickups so that means those original pickups are almost vintage by now - heh. It was finally going when the credit crunch wiped me out back in 2009 so everything was put on hold until recently. I just got some new pictures of progress Jeff made over the weekend (getting the top carved). Next up sanding and attaching the neck.  The body is Korina (Black Limba) so it's nice and light (less then half the weight of my last custom, the Gaudy Paul, now owned by our own Space Cowboy - that body was made of wenge). The neck is mahogany with a maple fretboard and the top is Master Grade (above AAAAA) curly maple. It's called the Red Rocker because the top will end up being red (the exact shade is still TBD), however this is a PhotoShop test:  Can't wait! 
post edited by craigb - 2017/07/19 00:54:42
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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jamesg1213
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 07:17:58
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Schweeet! 
Jyemz Thrombold's Patented Brisk Weather Pantaloonettes with Inclementometer
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Slugbaby
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 14:36:39
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Beautiful!
I can't wait to see the finished product.
I've always wanted a custom build, it just never gets to the top of my pile of bills.
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Hugh Mann
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 16:44:41
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12 years and Red Rocker is the best name you can think of? Come on, that name is kind of....well..please try for better name, lol. She looks like she will be a beauty. Congrats. :)
This is what I think of when I hear Red Rocker, lol.
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bayoubill
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 16:46:44
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drewfx1
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 17:03:47
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Love that quilt!
 In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
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michaelhanson
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 17:21:28
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Craig, you named the guitar Sammy?
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Zargg
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 19:55:10
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Nais
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Glyn Barnes
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:04:29
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Looks wonderful. Reminds me I must finish my latest electric dulcimer, its been over a year now, but it will be nowhere near as pretty as that!
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yorolpal
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:07:37
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Holy moly Craig...that's one beautiful slab of wood!!!
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:42:32
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☄ Helpfulby Zargg 2017/07/12 21:02:32
yorolpal
Holy moly Craig...that's one beautiful slab of wood!!!
Yeah, but what about the geetar?
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:42:44
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:42:51
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:42:57
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/12 20:52:32
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☄ Helpfulby Zargg 2017/07/12 21:28:54
I'm going to make progress in my Red Rocker too. 
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yorolpal
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 03:44:22
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From the looks of that picture you are definitely OFF YOUR ROCKER!!!
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Mesh
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 12:56:15
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Looking very nice!!
The guitar too.
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craigb
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:13:53
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bapu
I'm going to make progress in my Red Rocker too.
That's actually a pretty killer red color!  (FWIW - Jeff has named all my guitars and, with they way they sound and play, who am I to argue?)
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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Zargg
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:24:02
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craigb
(FWIW - Jeff has the name of all my guitars and, with they way they sound and play, who am I to argue?)
All your guitars are named "James"???? Sowwy..
Ken Nilsen ZarggBBZWin 10 Pro X64, Cakewalk by Bandlab, SPlat X64, AMD AM3+ fx-8320, 16Gb RAM, RME Ucx (+ ARC), Tascam FW 1884, M-Audio Keystation 61es, *AKAI MPK Pro 25, *Softube Console1, Alesis DM6 USB, Maschine MkII Laptop setup: Win 10 X64, i5 2.4ghz, 8gb RAM, 320gb 7200 RPM HD, Focusrite Solo, + *
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craigb
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:33:39
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Here are the other two he's made for me:  "Raspberry Twist" - Raspberry because Jeff wanted to match the PRS raspberry color, Twist because this baby has Variax guts in it as well as passive pickups!  The "Gaudy Paul" - Now in the hands of our very own Space Cowboy.
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:36:09
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craigb
Here are the other two he's made for me:
"Raspberry Twist" - Raspberry because Jeff wanted to match the PRS raspberry color, Twist because this baby has Variax guts in it as well as passive pickups!
So it's a JTV clone?  JTVs have the modelling guts as well as passive pups.
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Zargg
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:36:12
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craigb
Here are the other two he's made for me:
"Raspberry Twist" - Raspberry because Jeff wanted to match the PRS raspberry color, Twist because this baby has Variax guts in it as well as passive pickups!
The "Gaudy Paul" - Now in the hands of our very own Space Cowboy.
The 1st one one looked like a PRS a friend of mine had in the 90's. Gorgeous guitar(s)
Ken Nilsen ZarggBBZWin 10 Pro X64, Cakewalk by Bandlab, SPlat X64, AMD AM3+ fx-8320, 16Gb RAM, RME Ucx (+ ARC), Tascam FW 1884, M-Audio Keystation 61es, *AKAI MPK Pro 25, *Softube Console1, Alesis DM6 USB, Maschine MkII Laptop setup: Win 10 X64, i5 2.4ghz, 8gb RAM, 320gb 7200 RPM HD, Focusrite Solo, + *
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craigb
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 20:59:29
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bapu
craigb
Here are the other two he's made for me:
"Raspberry Twist" - Raspberry because Jeff wanted to match the PRS raspberry color, Twist because this baby has Variax guts in it as well as passive pickups!
So it's a JTV clone?
JTVs have the modelling guts as well as passive pups.
'Tis where the idea for the JTV came from actually! They talked with Jeff about this guitar. Only two other luthiers ever even tried to do a Variaxectomy (The late Ed Roman out Rain's way being one of them.)
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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drewfx1
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 21:24:58
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craigb
'Tis where the idea for the JTV came from actually! They talked with Jeff about this guitar. Only two other luthiers ever even tried to do a Variaxectomy (The late Ed Roman out Rain's way being one of them.)
Warmoth used to make bodies routed for Variax guts to be put into.
In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
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bapu
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/13 22:15:20
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drewfx1
craigb
'Tis where the idea for the JTV came from actually! They talked with Jeff about this guitar. Only two other luthiers ever even tried to do a Variaxectomy (The late Ed Roman out Rain's way being one of them.)
Warmoth used to make bodies routed for Variax guts to be put into.
I wish I could get one for a bass. I hate the Variax bass neck but I like the modelling.
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drewfx1
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/14 02:37:57
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bapu
drewfx1
Warmoth used to make bodies routed for Variax guts to be put into.
I wish I could get one for a bass. I hate the Variax bass neck but I like the modelling.
From what I can gather in a brief search it seems like it's close to a Fender bass neck but with a slightly narrower heel (but it seems like it's still the same scale/placement of the end of the neck vs. bridge), so in theory it should be possible for a competent tech to widen the heel socket for any Fender-style replacement neck to drop in. Or for someone who builds necks to just make one that fits. For some reason it looks like they made the guitars with Fender-compatible neck pockets, but not the basses. And Moses graphite also seems to make drop in replacement "Variax" versions of their P and J bass necks.
In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
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michaelhanson
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/16 01:20:00
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craigb
Here are the other two he's made for me:
"Raspberry Twist" - Raspberry because Jeff wanted to match the PRS raspberry color, Twist because this baby has Variax guts in it as well as passive pickups!
The "Gaudy Paul" - Now in the hands of our very own Space Cowboy.
VERY NICE ! I'm really digging the raspberry.
post edited by michaelhanson - 2017/07/17 01:22:23
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Mosvalve
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/16 01:53:28
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Very nice looking guitar. I like the natural wood look myself. Then you can call it the Natural Rocker..
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batsbrew
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/17 15:48:18
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beautiful quilt.
so basically you are following a tweaked version of a double cut paul.
is there any neck dive with that design?
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craigb
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Re: Progress made on the Red Rocker!
2017/07/18 07:16:50
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batsbrew
beautiful quilt.
so basically you are following a tweaked version of a double cut paul.
is there any neck dive with that design?
All of my customs take things I like from a few other guitars: - The body is from a Les Paul Studio Double-Cut
- The neck length is 25" like a PRS
- The neck radius is 10" like a Music Man Axis
Each one brought something different to the table (Variax guts, custom wiring, Classic Rock pups, Prog-Rock pups, Modern pups, no trem, full-on Original Floyd Rose, Wilkinson, etc.), but each would feel the same to play. What do you mean by "neck dive?"
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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