Gonz0's TonE

Let kick off by saying the Peavey EVH Wolfgang is an amazing guitar! It's one of the best buys and never ceases to amaze me! Right then, thats that update done and dusted..

Okay, whats new..well, quite a bit actually..been spending some time with a guy whose been touring for like 12 years around the globe and he's been up at the house trying out my guitars and we've been talking tone and I've been watching him play some riffs..
So, discussion got around to looking at building some guitars...what would that guitar be etc...
Well, thats all I need to start the little grey matters going haywire.
Obviously costs come into the equation, but at the same time if you want something a wee bit special it's gonna cost more than something you can pick up thats made in Korea..problem is the Asians know how to make a good quality cheap guitar! So, the question is of course, why would somebody want something I'm gonna design and put together?It's gotta be good, it's gotta be original in some respect and of course its gotta not only sound good but look good and have a design that is slightly different than any other...Okay, sounds all pie in the sky right? Wrong! Been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.
back in 91 they told me there was no way you could build a Harley davidson road racer that would be as good a handling bike as a Japanese bike.

Guess they were wrong....Now these frame kits are in Australia to the USA.

So, Pre-study has started and my god there are so many options out there!
set neck, bolt neck, body design, neck contour, materials, finishing, bridges, pickups, floyd or no floyd..

So, the first thing is to look at things you know work and obviously what you'd want yourself.
I have a few guitars in the collection which vary in design, pickup design and different necks and different body weights, so I have an idea of what I perceive should work together.

Okay, it's early days, but I know what I want with regards the body design. It really didn't take too long once I looked at the design of a certain guitar I own which reminds me of a land speed record car as opposed to a guitar.Sounds bizarre..it is...but I can't reveal anymore until I have the prototype finished...
Now then...looking at all the necks on the guitars, from Schecter guitar research to EVH Peavey to Charvel...there is one neck that sticks out which would be easy to replicate the compound and radius which is it's forte.Not too big, not too slim and just the perfect neck..It would be easy to replicate the dimensions anyway.
Hardware can always be changed..but to start off, you always need a good set of tuner pegs.
Now then..hard-tail or trem? once again a tough one I reckon...with the pickups I have in mind I think the best setup would be a string thru body. Tone comes from more than just the woods..it's an equation that is the sum of all parts in the matrix.
I'm fairly confident the pick ups I have in mind will not disappoint.

There are a few classic old ideas out there to be read, copied, stolen...wood under the pickups, pickups directly bolted to the chassis..even the tone of Andy Summers guitar is apparently assisted by the fact that the brass bridge plate is cracked so he bolted down the pup to the chassis..
All these bits n bobs assist I reckon. Asymmetrical necks like the Peavey Wolfgangs are out of reach, but there are several things that come to the table and which aren't difficult to trial and error.

Whatever happens, I wont be disappointed with this project.
I'll be updating once the first bodies/necks are in...otherwise it's gonna have to be kept kinda secret.Which is a pain of course for anybody whose actually interested..but its gonna be a good adventure!