Hello from warm sunny Tasmania!
(I'm actually from Adelaide, so no I don't have two heads. Or any hot cousins.)
After binging on the rather wonderful Crimson Guitars Youtube channel for a few months, I have decided that I'm going to build my own damn guitar for a change! With blackjack! And hookers!
I aim to build myself a heavily customised Pitbull EXA7; through-body stringing with a fixed Hipshot Ibby HM7 bridge, Hipshot locking tuners, and Q-Tuner 2.0 pickups. I have the first version of these in my cheap-arsed Ibanez RG7321, and mein Gott im Himmel they sound great. Not to mention they look amazing. Also, I'm going to have an extra-large control cavity routed for future expansion - I hope to have some Piezo saddle piece pickups at some point in the future. Should be interesting on a 7-string!
I'm also going to finish it with some of the more interesting techniques that Ben from Crimson Guitars has been showing off; either with a burned, stained & oiled finish, or with some kind of aged copper metal finish. Or both. Or something else. Who cares, it'll be great!
Just one problem: I've never built a guitar before.
This could be... interesting.
I also need a 5-string bass. I've been meaning to buy one for years, but have never gotten around to it, so I just decided about an hour ago to buy an EX-5 kit and use that for practice. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? I cock up and get an unplayable bass for a fistful of dollarydoos? Much better that than specify exact details of a customised kit (for a few dollarydoos more), only to mess that up after 2-3 months of waiting, right?
Anyway, I'll try to keep you all updated as I go, seeing as I don't have anything even vaguely resembling a workshop.
Rock on, kids!
- unfunk