Custom Built Guitars

[AngelCityOutlaw]

I've thought about it for a long time, but I don't know too much about gear, so I thought I'd ask you.

If I were to have a guitar custom-built, what ingredients would suit my style best? You know, wood, pick-ups, all that jazz.

For playing metal/rock, funk, classical music and pop stuff through mostly solid state amplifiers?

[Fishy]

In list of importance:

fretboard wood

pickups

fret material

body wood

neck wood

The body wood is not as important as people think, especially once you've got the distortion turned on. If you want to be capable of a glassy strat tone at all, you pretty much have to go maple fretboard.

Here are a some good wood guides:

http://www.suhrguitars.com/wood.aspx

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/Options/WoodDescriptions.aspx

Do you want any specific advice cause this is a bit of an open question?

[SonicThHedgog]

If you looking for a bright 80s/90sglam/hair rich mid range tone (like I aim for) you would lean towards maple, alder, rose wood etc.. if your looking for a darker tone then ebony, (I think) bass wood etc.. and electronics and amp also balance out in factors of what tone your looking for.

Theres a huge thread about this shit in one of the ultimate metal fourms, I just cant remeber.

but check out fishys links too.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

In list of importance:

fretboard wood

pickups

fret material

body wood

neck wood

The body wood is not as important as people think, especially once you've got the distortion turned on. If you want to be capable of a glassy strat tone at all, you pretty much have to go maple fretboard.

Here are a some good wood guides:

http://www.suhrguitars.com/wood.aspx

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/Options/WoodDescriptions.aspx

Do you want any specific advice cause this is a bit of an open question?

Thanks! Well, what are some general tips and/or warnings etc. to keep in mind when getting a guitar custom built?

[Mak Eightman]

One question Chris. Are you going to make it with your own hands?

If you not, go to ppl/organization/etc who making guitars. Tell them what do you want from your guitar, give em money and take your unique instrument.

I'm glad that I'm not alone, about body wood. Mainly your sound depends of your picks and strings. In my case, I finely made some nice rhythm, but lost some nice lead tone as a result, after setting picks positions(passive). So, I suppose, active picks are better, in any case. But I may be wrong.

[Sixto]

The body wood is not as important as people think, especially once you've got the distortion turned on.

I have to disagree with this. I have several guitars with different woods and they all sound ridiculously different through distortion. My Les Paul, SG, and Strat (mahogany body) sound a lot thicker and have this huge bump in the mids and sustain really well, especially the two with set necks. I usually have to cut the lows and mids and boost the highs on my amp/eq and sometimes even cut the lows before the amp. My other two Strats and my Luke (alder bodies) have a tighter sound, but not exactly brighter. They just have less mids and lows so it's easier to get chimey clean tones and still get warm, thick distorted tones. My Ibanez RGs (basswood bodies) are snappy as hell and have a very tight bottom with a bump in the higher mids. These do great in music where the guitar needs to cut through a heavy mix. This makes chugging easier because there is less low end to muddy up the distorted tone. I usually crank the bass and mids on the amp and sometimes I'll have to back off the highs or place the microphones at an angle to tame some of the brightness. Plus, basswood bodies are super light!

Of course, you can rely on the electronics that have the opposite affect of the body woods to get you where you want tonally (bright EMGs on a Les Paul), or you can use electronics to further push you in the same direction (hot and bright DiMarzio Evolutions on an Ibanez RG).

If you're playing a lot of different styles, clean and dirty, and you want to use just one guitar, I'd recommend either a solid alder body or basswood body with a maple cap, a bolt on maple neck, fretboard of your choice (I like rosewood, birdseye maple, and ebony), stainless steel frets (trust me on this!), and a non-locking tremolo (or a locking tremolo without a recessed cavity). I also recommend a H/S/S configuration. You'll want pickups that aren't specific for one style or another so I'd go with something PAF-like in the bridge (DiMarzio AT-1, Fred, PAF Pro) and some fat single coil-sized humbuckers (to keep things quiet) in the the the other two positions. Maybe a couple of DiMarzio Cruisers (fat Strat sound), or a Chopper (higher output, more mids) in the neck, Cruiser in the middle.

[SonicThHedgog]

I have to disagree with this. I have several guitars with different woods and they all sound ridiculously different through distortion. My Les Paul, SG, and Strat (mahogany body) sound a lot thicker and have this huge bump in the mids and sustain really well, especially the two with set necks. I usually have to cut the lows and mids and boost the highs on my amp/eq and sometimes even cut the lows before the amp. My other two Strats and my Luke (alder bodies) have a tighter sound, but not exactly brighter. They just have less mids and lows so it's easier to get chimey clean tones and still get warm, thick distorted tones. My Ibanez RGs (basswood bodies) are snappy as hell and have a very tight bottom with a bump in the higher mids. These do great in music where the guitar needs to cut through a heavy mix. This makes chugging easier because there is less low end to muddy up the distorted tone. I usually crank the bass and mids on the amp and sometimes I'll have to back off the highs or place the microphones at an angle to tame some of the brightness. Plus, basswood bodies are super light!

Of course, you can rely on the electronics that have the opposite affect of the body woods to get you where you want tonally (bright EMGs on a Les Paul), or you can use electronics to further push you in the same direction (hot and bright DiMarzio Evolutions on an Ibanez RG).

If you're playing a lot of different styles, clean and dirty, and you want to use just one guitar, I'd recommend either a solid alder body or basswood body with a maple cap, a bolt on maple neck, fretboard of your choice (I like rosewood, birdseye maple, and ebony), stainless steel frets (trust me on this!), and a non-locking tremolo (or a locking tremolo without a recessed cavity). I also recommend a H/S/S configuration. You'll want pickups that aren't specific for one style or another so I'd go with something PAF-like in the bridge (DiMarzio AT-1, Fred, PAF Pro) and some fat single coil-sized humbuckers (to keep things quiet) in the the the other two positions. Maybe a couple of DiMarzio Cruisers (fat Strat sound), or a Chopper (higher output, more mids) in the neck, Cruiser in the middle.

You read my mind, curse you.

well you read my mind up until you said the pick config, I prefer H/S, but I do also like H/S/S. my 2 favorite pickup config

I love a all (body and neck&fretboard) maple guitar or a alder body maple neck combo, I feel like I get nice mid ranges, they sound so bright and mean like....GrRRRR, I also like a alder and maple neck/rosewood fretboard, it has a like a high mid dominent sound just like maple. thought it does depend on the quality of wood though.

[Fishy]

Well obviously the body wood has an effect, I'm just saying it won't change the sound as much as changing the fretboard wood or the pickups.

[Mak Eightman]

Well obviously the body wood has an effect, I'm just saying it won't change the sound as much as changing the fretboard wood or the pickups.

Same here. I had electro-acoustic guitar made in 1979(USSR).

Hollow plywood body, maple neck, bronze-like(have no idea what was the material) frets and two broadband picks. It had lot of white noise and other bad things(because of age i suppose), but any cheap pedal, amp, emulator, etc made amazing sound. Versatility was name of that guitar.

Deep, bright, dark, heavy(really heavy), aggressive, soft, anything was possible. The only complain - no tremolo, and it's age.

edit: you have no idea what kind of awesome sound it produced with reel tape recorder as amp..