Ask a (hack) luthier!

I don't think that's the case, Doug. I'm really happy you're here and are sharing all this knowledge. I knew a lot about how and why you did things before. But I'm very pleased to be learning all this additional stuff.

We all get a little spammy around here. Many of us post about upcoming shows. I post a lot of my photography. Mark has been pimping his album and book pretty well. The other Mark (McFeely) gets lots of opportunities to show off his awesome guitars. I can probably speak for most of us when I say we're really happy you've joined us, and we want to know more.

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"I have a friend who I play with. Every guitar of mine he plays "it's great but it would be better with more relief and higher action". Finally I just said "Dave, you only feel that way because you grew up playing pieces of SHIT that wouldn't play correctly any other way so shut up. I get it!" (in good humor ofcourse). It's all preference. Aint no right or wrong."

Son likes his action a mile high. Not a big deal to change that on a guitar when you get it, only thing to really bitch about is when you go to a store, and EVERY guitar is unplayable.

You mentioned your pickups being specially voiced. Do you wind your own, or are you talking about working with your supplier?
 
dougk said:
BTW at any point if I become spammy or preachy or know-it-all-y, just say "doug your being a douche. Shut up."
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Not a chance. If you stick around a while, you will see this is not your average forum. I bet you even the folks who don't like your designs still know and will acknowledge you know your stuff and do great work. I bet everyone here thinks it's awesome that you are here posting.
 
Chad said:
Not a chance. If you stick around a while, you will see this is not your average forum. I bet you even the folks who don't like your designs still know and will acknowledge you know your stuff and do great work. I bet everyone here thinks it's awesome that you are here posting.
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100% agreement.

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I'm curious to hear your thoughts about guitar makers using what many believe to be shit wood (like basswood) on expensive guitars. Is it because they believe it's decent tonewood, or merely view it as an opportunity to increase their profit margin via the use of lesser materials?

Or is basswood and the like actually fine, and the whole "this wood sounds better than THAT wood" argument is just hokum?
 
Bob411 said:
only thing to really bitch about is when you go to a store, and EVERY guitar is unplayable.
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Absolutely. That's just laziness on the stores part. I've dropped dealers of mine because of complaints from people who tried our guitars that had been hanging neglected and needed a fresh tune up. Does the store a disservice, does me an injustice.

You mentioned your pickups being specially voiced. Do you wind your own, or are you talking about working with your supplier?
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Wolfetone does all my Humbuckers and P90's exclusively for my guitars. I played Wolfe's pickups, gave him my thoughts of where I wanted them to be (they weren't huge shifts) and he nailed it. The necks in particular can be a little muddy from Wolfe's normal winds in our main line (the 24.75" scale stuff). I think Wolfe's tend to be voiced for african mahogany and the like that is a little flatter mid range. The bridges, I tend to like a bridge with a little more oomph than vintage (not talking super distortion, just a .5k bump or so over what they were).

Psychotronic said:
I'm curious to hear your thoughts about guitar makers using what many believe to be shit wood (like basswood) on expensive guitars. Is it because they believe it's decent tonewood, or merely view it as an opportunity to increase their profit margin via the use of lesser materials?

Or is basswood and the like actually fine, and the whole "this wood sounds better than THAT wood" argument is just hokum?
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I personally LIKE Basswood. My favorite strat is basswood (56 MIJ reissue, it's absolutely made of basswood). I have a killer original 74 that's great too made from Alder.. but when I built strats and tele's when I first started off, I ended up finding that I really liked the sound of Basswood.

Honestly, if it sounds good (to you), who cares right!? That's like seeing a band where the guitar player is using and epiphone and writing them off before you've listened.

That brings me to another point, one of the biggest things about having a guitar a guitar built from someone specific for you is that you are assuming they hear the same way you hear. The reality is we don't always. I try to take pretty good care of my ears but I've had customers who play so damn bright that birds are exploding in mid-air and still want more treble. To many years in front of full stacks I think, those frequencies are just gone for them.

It's a lot of why I stick to a sonic formula that allows me to make small shifts off center to accommodate customer requests. There are builders who every guitar is truly different and there is no defined "sound" for them. That's fine too, it's just not the model I go for. It also keeps my instruments consistent sounding, guitar to guitar, month to month, year to year. We can all go to GC and play 10 different les pauls that sound completely different (or tele's or strats), Guitars of mine of the same model and wood package will generally vary a much smaller degree off my expected center.
 
I think basswood gets a bad rap. It's an inexpensive fast growing wood that works well for guitars. The tonal qualities are good. I think it works really well with single coils and when used for a bass. The only issue I see is that it's soft.
 
I'm not personally against it -- whatever works for someone. Guitars -- and often specific woods used -- sound like....well, I sometimes associate sound with taste, in a weird way. Mahogany sounds like chocolate to me. Basswood sounds like a saltine cracker. A good flanger sounds like a twizzler to me -- chewy.

I know, it's weird -- I admit it.
 
Doug, I really dig the research and way you incorporated the maple splines in the neck for added stiffness as well as the engineering of the headstock angle and the truss nut. Many manufacturers use carbon fiber rods for stiffness and I think they sound really dead. I've contended for a while that only part of the blame of Gibby's headstocks breaking left and right is on the angle, the majority is with the wheel lug nut sized truss nut that they insist on using. :facepalm:

When I started working with Mark McFeely on my latest project I was very committed to using American woods. They're on the exotic end of the spectrum (Koa, burled redwood) but I wanted the guitar to have a definitive american pedigree.
 
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Haven't had a chance to read the thread through bit I'm glad to see you post Doug. Love your guitars, hate how much they tempt me on a regular basis
 
baimun said:
Doug, I really dig the research and way you incorporated the maple splines in the neck for added stiffness as well as the engineering of the headstock angle and the truss nut. Many manufacturers use carbon fiber rods for stiffness and I think they sound really dead. I've contended for a while that only part of the blame of Gibby's headstocks breaking left and right is on the angle, the majority is with the wheel lug nut sized truss nut that they insist on using. :facepalm:

When I started working with Mark McFeely on my latest project I was very committed to using American woods. They're on the exotic end of the spectrum (Koa, burled redwood) but I wanted the guitar to have a definitive american pedigree.
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Canadian Redwood
/discussion
 
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