Ask a (hack) luthier!

I'll be next to MSG - my company's NYC offices are over Penn Station.

If I remember my directions correctly, there is a nice whiskey bar not too far from this guitar store, too.

You'll also be near 30th St Guitars and the new Sam Ash location.

Let me know when you're in town. I might be able to make it out for a beer.
 
Doug, I went to GTR Store today, and they had some nice Daylighters on the rack. Had no idea anyone in NYC even carried your instruments. Really nice place. Definitely one of the better stores in the city.

Yep! GTR still has a couple, we'll see what the future holds with them. My dealer www.mountaincatguitars.com also has a by appointment only location in NYC right next to Chelsea Guitars (iirc). If you want to try Banshee's it's worth making an appointment there. (and a Starliner and some older stuff too).
 
BTW not to beat a dead horse but I just had to buy a new mattress and it cost damn near as much as a mid-level guitar of mine.

Which kind of had me thinking, they just squirt foam in a mold in china and ship it over... I'm in the wrong f'ing business.
 
BTW not to beat a dead horse but I just had to buy a new mattress and it cost damn near as much as a mid-level guitar of mine.

Which kind of had me thinking, they just squirt foam in a mold in china and ship it over... I'm in the wrong f'ing business.
That sounds dirty...
 
bump.

Haven't done this in a while.

Idea's? Questions? Want to hear my "dougs backwards reasoning on why he likes the necks he likes?"
 
bump.

Haven't done this in a while.

Idea's? Questions? Want to hear my "dougs backwards reasoning on why he likes the necks he likes?"
What necks DO you like, Doug? :cool:

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So- for my 24.75" scale stuff (daylighter, starliner, banshee) I REALLY prefer Spanish Cedar necks. I'm really in the minority camp here but I HATE super stiff necks. Lets not confuse stiff with stable. You can have a stable neck that isn't stiff (mahogany).

Here's what I've found in these models. When we've done maple neck ones or Cocobolo (once) the stiffer, denser the neck the faster the response is but the faster the decay. They also tend to have a "plunk" to them I don't care for. The Spanish Cedar necks have a bit of a compressed nature with a slower rise but a longer decay. They "bloom" for lack of a better term. The all Cocobolo neck was gorgeous, felt amazing, sounded terrible to me. All nasally midrange. The guy who owned it, LOVED it. I hated it.

What I find is the body and neck effects the tone obviously. The body is kind of What you say, the neck is how you say it. To me, the magic in these guitars really is the neck above all else.

Now Arcturus, it's 25.5" scale with a maple neck. The Alder / Maple combo sounds like what you'd expect it too, a Strat. The Spanish Cedar / Maple combo has a bit of the magic from the normal line. Again, even with in maple I don't want the stiffest, quarter sawn neck. I tend to prefer flat sawn, eastern maple. Compared to Hardrock (especially quartered) it's the same analogy. Hard Rock Maple imo gets so damn stiff it's VERY plunky. Eastern, flatsawn tends to be a smoother sounding maple to me.

So there we go. I'm in the minority off this subject.
 
How do you feel about oil finishes on maple necks?

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How do you feel about oil finishes on maple necks?

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It's not for me (I like em slick) but I totally get why people like oil finish necks. I don't think they sound better on their own but if you enjoy playing it more then you'll sound better with it.

Doug, if neck wood affects the tone to that much of a degree does the neck joint affect it as much?

I'm sure it does but I only basically always do the same joint so it's hard for me to say.
 
BTW not to beat a dead horse but I just had to buy a new mattress and it cost damn near as much as a mid-level guitar of mine.

Which kind of had me thinking, they just squirt foam in a mold in china and ship it over... I'm in the wrong f'ing business.
You gotta buy a better mattress. You spend half your life on it, and it hosts, like, your top two to five favorite activities (depending on lifestyle).

Anywho, I'm thinking about putting binding on my next build, and it's the first time I've done binding. To cut the binding groove, if that's what it's called, I was going to throw my glued-up body face down (for top binding) on my router table with a single-point guide over the bit (not sure if my vocab is right; picture a pointy board acting as a roof over my bit, exposing just enough of the bit to cut the groove) so that I can run the whole body around the bit to get the groove cut. It seems like the conventional method is to run a handheld router around the top of the body with one of those bits with the guide bearing on the end, but given my unsteady hands and the nature of my workspace, I think my way will be much more reliable. Will it work?
 
You can do it in a router table face down. Use a binding bit with the right bearing and avoid following it into the the neck pocket. :wink:

That exactly how I do them when I have to do it by hand. I'd rather use a router table then a free handed router any day.
 
BTW not to beat a dead horse but I just had to buy a new mattress and it cost damn near as much as a mid-level guitar of mine.

Which kind of had me thinking, they just squirt foam in a mold in china and ship it over... I'm in the wrong f'ing business.
I could have bought a PRS from Dave's Guitars for what our last mattress cost. Crazy
 
EDIT--read the whole thread and got my question answered. This thread is awesome.
 
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