# The Great Ongoing Guitar Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 31, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172 "2010-01-31T23:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 96
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1902 "2011-08-05T22:30:46Z")
> [@Clockwork\_Jackal](#): > > I tried a Little Martin in the store a few years ago, and I really did not like it. It seemed to be super cheaply constructed. For that money, I could get a nice vintage Yamaha. I love the vintage Yamahas, but I have trouble finding them in my region. > > It’s definitely something to think about though. Excellent. Sounds like you’ve thought it through. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1903 "2011-08-05T23:39:47Z")
Hope you enjoy this and may you all be “Super-Axmen”! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBkkynPyiv8) Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Molotok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Molotok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molotok)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1904 "2011-08-06T05:48:30Z")
Hi, I’m the guy with the ripped hand, asking about alt. tunings a while back. Just an update: my finger works almost 100% now, and I’m playing again. 🆒 Also wondering if there’s a lyricist thread here somewhere? (I couldn’t find one, but my google-fu is patchy at best). ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1905 "2011-08-06T11:38:16Z")
Welcome back to the grind, man. I dunno one. I do know that reading Life (Keith Richards) was surprisingly handy there. As far as confidence building. Thanks for the tunes, Quasi. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1906 "2011-08-06T19:40:52Z")
> [@boomerwang](#): > > Hi, I’m the guy with the ripped hand, asking about alt. tunings a while back. Just an update: my finger works almost 100% now, and I’m playing again. 🆒 Also wondering if there’s a lyricist thread here somewhere? (I couldn’t find one, but my google-fu is patchy at best). Glad to hear you’re better - hasn’t Le Ministre done a lyrics thread? Poetry threads certainly. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1907 "2011-08-10T17:12:53Z")
Excuse me if this has already been discussed but I found little using the search function. What can someone tell me about Godin electrics, specifically the Strat and Tele styles? I was looking at a new Godin Performance Session on an online auction site that was selling for $449usd. I see that Godin guitars are North American made. That price seems low for something made in Canada/USA. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1908 "2011-08-10T17:36:38Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#): > > Excuse me if this has already been discussed but I found little using the search function. > > What can someone tell me about Godin electrics, specifically the Strat and Tele styles? I was looking at a new Godin Performance Session on an online auction site that was selling for $449usd. I see that Godin guitars are North American made. That price seems low for something made in Canada/USA. Let’s hope\*\* Le Ministre\*\*, our resident Canadian (or one of anyway :)) and Godin fan, chimes in. In my experience they are very well-made guitars; sounds like a pretty good deal if the guitar is as described. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1909 "2011-08-11T00:49:23Z")
Well, four fifty is what a Godin Session goes for. Ebay, Amazon, whatever. Don’t hurry yourself over it. The price is low. The finish is excellent. They sound like a good SSH strat, and they play like one too. MSRP is 599, so given standard discount/MSRP inflation, that’s about right. Fun thing is the humbucker’s splittable. Good deal, good guitar. (Hey, if it’s a cheap guitar, I know it.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_fHnVmUIgoc/maxresdefault.jpg "The KAOS Gear Review - Godin Session") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHnVmUIgoc) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/C8bNbbLZ-tc/hqdefault.jpg "Godin Session Review") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8bNbbLZ-tc) (Reviews) I… I uh. I did a thing today. Guy I know, makes things. Star Wars things. Models. And guns. And star wars guns. (But he’s also a gunsmith.) Anyhow, he’s been talking about building a guitar. And I remembered something I was thinking of. Right now, I’ve kind of commissioned him, no hurry, when he feels like building something, to make a Flying V out of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Maybe use the Falcon as a headstock. We figure it’ll be a through-neck design, use some fifty year old barnwood from around. It’s going to be horrible. And glorious. He’s got the skills, no question, but he’s never made a guitar before. Amps, yes. Guitars, no. Anyone have any instructions on how to make a through-neck guitar? Or ideas on how we should wire it? I’m thinking a two-screw late-model Fender trem. Not a Floyd Rose, that’s just too much. I was thinking maybe dual rails, splittable, but I’m not sure. Right now, he’s a bit busy with work, but end of year, maybe next summer, he’ll start picking up bits of wood and thinking. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1910 "2011-08-11T01:26:04Z")
What I would really like to hear is something from someone who has some personal knowledge. The promo stuff is always positive. But I found out with my first guitar that sometimes reality differs from the description of the seller. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1911 "2011-08-11T02:22:04Z")
This is what a survey of the two guys who I knew who knew someone who had one said, is all. Pretty darn okay, good pickups, good wood, nobody’s really quite sure how it’s made for that price. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1912 "2011-08-11T11:19:16Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > make a Flying V out of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Maybe use the Falcon as a headstock. We figure it’ll be a through-neck design, use some fifty year old barnwood from around. > > It’s going to be horrible. And glorious. Indeed. You, sir, are a geek. A horrible, glorious geek. Tons of luck - if you two actually gain traction with this project, it could be really fun. I totally enjoyed building my two homebrew Teles. I would refer you to the build threads for my Tele Specials as reference. As for trems - I would strongly recommend researching that. I assume you envision the Destoyer V (not to be confused with the 1970’s Ibanez Explorer replica, called a Destroyer - Van Halen’s holding a Frankenstein’d one on the cover of Women and Children First) to be a metal/shred guitar so a trem is a must. The biggest issue is that a trem is all about tolerances and engineering, so I would stay as simple as possible. Standard Strat routing and parts are super well understood - can that work for you? Keep us posted. ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_Jackal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clockwork\_Jackal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_Jackal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1913 "2011-08-11T13:50:35Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I… > I uh. > I did a thing today. Guy I know, makes things. Star Wars things. Models. And guns. And star wars guns. (But he’s also a gunsmith.) > > Anyhow, he’s been talking about building a guitar. And I remembered something I was thinking of. > Right now, I’ve kind of commissioned him, no hurry, when he feels like building something, to make a Flying V out of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Maybe use the Falcon as a headstock. We figure it’ll be a through-neck design, use some fifty year old barnwood from around. > > It’s going to be horrible. And glorious. He’s got the skills, no question, but he’s never made a guitar before. Amps, yes. Guitars, no. Anyone have any instructions on how to make a through-neck guitar? Or ideas on how we should wire it? I’m thinking a two-screw late-model Fender trem. Not a Floyd Rose, that’s just too much. > > I was thinking maybe dual rails, splittable, but I’m not sure. Right now, he’s a bit busy with work, but end of year, maybe next summer, he’ll start picking up bits of wood and thinking. You mean, something like [this](http://www.uberreview.com/2010/07/millenium-falcon-electric-guitar-makes-music-for-nerd-ears.htm)? That thing is super cool, rolled in bacon, covered in awesome sauce! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1914 "2011-08-11T16:42:23Z")
Oh, someone mentioned the trem on the Godin is really nice. Basically, yeah, strat, except I was thinking two rails and a (unknown) for the middle: HSH maybe. Or maybe HHH. Maybe replace the top of the rails with wood, make woodbuckers. The guy is good, he’s technically competent in metal and woodworking as well as electronics. I’m not sure if we’re going to use a Original Trilogy Star Destroyer for the body, or a The Old Republic era version, with a forked nose, which would let there be a cutaway. Depends on what balances better. But it’s going to be a Flying V for sure. Basically, there’s three goals here. A: decent playing guitar at the end. B: No sacrifices made on the guitar part, due to nerdiness in the design. C: Incredible nerdiness. I figure, if this gets pulled off and it sounds good, it’ll make the front page of every nerd website in the world and also half the guitar mags. There is a one in three chance it’ll also wind up being used by Lucas for something. (the guy currently works for a Lucasproject, in software, but they’ve used his crafting stuff before cause he’s good.) There is no way this can not be awesome. I… just need to find tabs for a metal version of the Imperial March. And, more seriously, if anyone can point me to plans or instructions or books on making through-neck guitars, so much the better. This pretty much has to be a through-neck, I think, because a bolt-on has too great a chance to shatter on a V. If we go for a classic ISD, I’m thinking the Falcon’s going to be the headstock, with the dots as TIEs chasing it. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1915 "2011-08-11T19:31:41Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > And, more seriously, if anyone can point me to plans or instructions or books on making through-neck guitars, so much the better. This pretty much has to be a through-neck, I think, because a bolt-on has too great a chance to shatter on a V. Do searches - both in general Google and on websites like The Gear Page and TDPRI - on “building a through neck” and also using the names of well-known through-neck designs like Firebirds, BC Rich guitars, Alembic, etc… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1916 "2011-08-11T20:17:10Z")
That is the eventual plan, but I was trying to cherry-pick anything that came to anyone’s mind first. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1917 "2011-08-11T20:22:27Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > That is the eventual plan, but I was trying to cherry-pick anything that came to anyone’s mind first. I want to say I have see a “neck through build thread” - i.e., a thread where someone builds a neck-through design and documents it - but I couldn’t tell you where…that is what make me think of the search… ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1918 "2011-08-11T20:32:25Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > That is the eventual plan, but I was trying to cherry-pick anything that came to anyone’s mind first. **BigShooter** would likely have an idea what’s involved. Maybe try PMing him? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1919 "2011-08-11T20:35:21Z")
- [http://radackguitars.blogspot.com/](http://radackguitars.blogspot.com/) - but set-neck, not neck through - [http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28666](http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28666) someone asking how to build a neck-through…which includes the following quote: > [@](#): > > Also, take a look at Carvin’s site - they sell neck through blanks. Stewart MacDonald also sells neck through blanks. (so you could start with one of their blanks and build the star destroyer onto it??) - youtube: how to build a neck-thru, part 1: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G0UueBweZM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G0UueBweZM) lots of good visuals, broken out into a few-part set of youtube clips. And if you look at the clips that youtube suggests while you watch that clip, you will see a few other neck-thru builds you can check out to. Goldmine! \ ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1920 "2011-08-12T07:22:01Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fr5jKS6BIhY/hqdefault.jpg "Bobby Long - Hard To Take") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr5jKS6BIhY) Have you guys heard him yet, or am I, as usual, the last one on the bus? Way back, before I chose drums, I played a cheap[Silvertone](http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff71/Drummerboy49/silvertone.jpg)and then switched to a [Kay electric](http://www.kayguitar.com/products/ke330.htm). Mine was the red one. The reason I even mention the now-defunct Kay (which has no collectors’ value, according to the site) is because this was before I learned about adjusting the “action”, and I kept thinking to myself, “Damn, you have to be a Hercules to push those strings down!” 🙂 If I had known that, and stayed with the guitar, I might have become another Chet Atkins!!! ;):rolleyes: Quasi ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/1921 "2011-08-12T11:20:16Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > [http://youtu.be/fr5jKS6BIhY](http://youtu.be/fr5jKS6BIhY) > > Have you guys heard him yet, or am I, as usual, the last one on the bus? > > Way back, before I chose drums, I played a cheap[Silvertone](http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff71/Drummerboy49/silvertone.jpg)and then switched to a [Kay electric](http://www.kayguitar.com/products/ke330.htm). Mine was the red one. > > The reason I even mention the now-defunct Kay (which has no collectors’ value, according to the site) is because this was before I learned about adjusting the “action”, and I kept thinking to myself, “Damn, you have to be a Hercules to push those strings down!” 🙂 > > If I had known that, and stayed with the guitar, I might have become another Chet Atkins!!! ;):rolleyes: > > Quasi I haven’t heard of the fella on youtube, but he is a solid player. I am hearing the guitar through a pickup, PA, video recorder, and youtube upload, but it sounds pretty cool. Simple, warm. I am currently jonesing for an old Kay/Silvertone/Harmony guitar - I played a '50’s one in a store and really enjoyed it. Simple, plain f-holes in a plywood body an old Gibson inventory P-90 type pickup. Gutbucket fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=95) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=97)