| Author |
Message |
Bobby E. Day Jr.
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
Does anyone know where I might be able to have a RG body produced in Mahogony other than Edromanguitars.com? I've already called Warmoth and they laughed at me! They said they would have to build the jig for it, and that could run me as much as $900! I haven't asked "ED" on his price, but that's probably my next step....
Any help? |
The Tone Zone
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
ibanez makes a mohagany rg, the 520 qs. thing is damn smooth and costs about 6 and a half.
mike |
andy
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
You can make one yourself - its not so actually difficult and if it goes wrong you always have the old one.
Question do you want a natural mahogany for the looks - or do you want just the tone of the mahogany and plan to paint it to look like a standard RG? Paint is much easier as you can more easily hide the imperfections
There is actually an easy way to make a body that has been used by both Fender for telecasters and Gibson for LPs in the past.
You make a two piece body with a back plate and a front plate. The back plate has the neck screwed directly on to it and the front plate is jigsawed for the pickups and neck socket etc.
The advantage to this method is you do not need a Router you do everything with drill and a jig saw.
Basically you strip all the parts your RG and make photo copies of it as plans. If you have a dark colouur then you need colour copies light colours are OK in BW.
Then you buy two pieces of mahogany (you can also use meranti which is cheaper) you may wish to practice on an old piece of wood first.
The front plate should be exactly the thickness of the neck pocket (which I remember to be close to 2Cm). The back plate can be as thick as you want - this does affect the tone. 5Cm is the norm for guitars but this may be too heavy for some.
Clamp your old RG body to the mahogany back plate - having squared it to the grain and draw round the RG body with a black marker pen.
Using a jig saw saw as close as you dare to the inner edge of the black line and use sand paper for the last bit.
Use the sawn back plate to do the same to the front plate.
Using the photo copies and the guitar parts you can make templates for the neck and pickups .....
The mounting posts for the term are the most difficult
I can post the whole exercise if it is needed.
One problem with mahogany is filling the grain
in order to get a good finish in a natural wood look, if you paint it you can use car filler paste which is much easier.
For good kiln dried mahogany tone wood you should pay around 60-80$ for a body worth of good wood -avoid you local harware store. this is not guitar wood it is not properly seasoned.
Do not forget you are no longer tied to the RG body shape, you may experiment as long as the neck fits and the pickups come between the neck and the trem.
You may choose to use 2 different wood - mahogany for the back plate and something more decorative for the front. 1Cm (3/8 inch) tops cost between 25$ and 200$(for AAAAA flame maple)
If you do not feel you are competent to do this yourself there are carpenters who will the sawing and fitting for you. It should not take more than 4-5 hours for a skilled man. Iwould guess that 250 -300$ should get you a piece of fitted wood that you could paint /varnish yourself
From my supplier in England a strat body in Mahogany fully routed costs 105-135 Pounds usind wood to the value of 30 pounds. 280 -300$
They do custom bodies on request. www.craft-supplies.co.uk.
let me know if you need more details
In the end you can do far better by finding a mahogany guitar. You will probably spend more than your 550 is worth, but you may have a whole heap of fun on the way.
135 |
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