Your Ultimate Guitar..

[dsrb]

Maybe an customized Ibanez jem without the "monkey grip" (I think this is how they name it) and with no need of amp to be heard ;D

[duosonicboy]

My Eko Barracuda is probably the most inspiring guitar I've ever played - ultimate guitar would be pretty similar...
Fully hollow, thin double cutaway (like epiphone casino)
24" scale bolt-on (little shorter then the Eko - more Mustang-ish)
Fender Mustang vibrato - once you set it up, feels and sounds AMAZING and stays in tune great
Zero fret, for playability and tone balance
Active treble booster on board with 1 knob for output
DeArmond or Vox single coils
Black with Pink racing stripes
And it would sound like a cross between a Gretsch and a banjo - just like the Eko!

[andy]

dsrb said:

Maybe an customized Ibanez jem without the "monkey grip" (I think this is how they name it) and with no need of amp to be heard ;D

You're in luck- I think Fender make one of those...

www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0967400306

Although I dont think thats quite what you meant somehow...

[andy]

Ok, so my ideal guitar? About a hundred of them should cover it!

Never-the-less, one bass which I would like to have built would go a bit like this...

Body- Light Ash, mid 50's precision bass shape (with the 'Tele' shape but some comfort contouring) and a 70's Tele bass scratchplate.

Neck- Maple neck with deep and wide 'D' shape profile, rosewood 'board and 50's shape headstock, with a kind of half-gloss finish. I have played Mexican Deluxe and Japanese Fenders with this- it looks like a well played-in gloss, but feels smooth in the hand without the over dry 'bleached driftwood' feel of modern satin finishes. I don't know what it's called or how to get it, but I want it, OK?

Hardware- I actually quite like the standard Fender style tuners and bridge for a Fender type instrument- I may make sure that the bridge has good high gauge components though, and would go for four saddles rather than the usual Tele bass pair.

Pickups- Right, now for the real fun... 1 70's style Tele bass humbucker, 1 P-bass split pickup, probably wound slightly hot, and one passive humbucker in the bridge position, probably musicman style. Each pickup would be wired to a separate output on the bottom edge of the bass, leaving room for a mix of volume and tone controls on the front of the scratchplate, most likely neck volume, middle tone, bridge volume. 'Switching' would then be dealt with via A/B/C boxes externally if using one amp, though the most common setup would be the p-bass to an SVT with a 2x15, and the humbucker to a three or four channel Marshall or Mesa guitar amp with the bass rolled off.

Probably a little over complicated for most of us who like our bass just loud and, well, bassy, but I've been having fun with this idea for a while now. The real killer though is that along with the white scratchplate I would have the body sprayed BRIGHT primary blue. The sort of colour you would paint a wooden toy train. Yep, yes, I know, but it looks good inside my head, so live with it!!

Actually, I'll keep my eye out for a cheap Fender Mike Dirnt precision, as it could make a good basis for putting something like this together myself, or the new Squier Tele bass could work too- basswood body though. Hmmm. At least it would be easier to route through!

[sumgai]

andy said:

dsrb said:

Maybe an customized Ibanez jem without the "monkey grip" (I think this is how they name it) and with no need of amp to be heard ;D

You're in luck- I think Fender make one of those...

www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0967400306

Although I dont think thats quite what you meant somehow...

I've played a couple of those things............. very nice, good action, comfortable to play both sitting and standing, etc. And if you're into a bit of non-Fender sound, i.e. an acoustic flavor, then this is the shiz-nitz. ;D Also available in a Teleacoustic version.

I'm surprised that more of these things aren't out on the market, new or used. They're the perfect thing for someone who wants an acoustic tone, but can't stand to play telephone cables on 2x4's (how most acoustics guitars are built and strung). About $300 in my area of the planet.


sumgai

[andy]

Actually, I've never laid hands on one of them. I was just trying to be a smart-arse really!

I suppose in many ways it does make sense to have an acoustic sound which it easier to play, and to amplifly, and to store around the house though. You would have to really compare to see if the sound suited your needs, but other than that you're right, you may well expect to see more for sale and On-A-Stage-Near-You!

Thing is, we guitarists are now a very traditionally minded lot, and not just the acoustic players- after all, probably 70% of us play a design of instrument which is either going on 60 years old, or (Fender, Gibson) or a 25 year old update of that (Ibanez and suchlike)! The temptation is all the more with the simple and natural acoustic to hark back to 'the old ways', partly because of the idealism of the whole thing (I mean how often do you hear an electric mandolin, even though they do exist) but then, theres something kind of iconic about that big ol' guitar hanging round your neck. Just think about the suited and hatted Hank Williams or the early footage of Elvis or Johnny Cash, or the scruffy Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or any of those guys who just made it look so... cool. And I really wish I was that cool. Despite the massive neck. And the heavy strings. And the on-stage feedback. And the fraglie soundboard. And the trouble mic'ing it up.And the fact it takes up twice the space of all my other guitars...

Oh, ok then. I'll go and try one at least.

[wolf]

I've always liked the Dan Armstrong Lucite Guitar:

It could use some changes such as:
• a real bridge and not that wooden strip (well this was only on the 1969 model)

• a slot for two pickups instead of just that one.

• a lucite pickguard. (I never understood why they blocked out almost half of the guitar's see through area with that dumb pickguard.

And for the amp? I'd like a Kustom™ model with the barefoot Sheryl Crow option.

[sumgai]

wolf,

wolf said:

................
And for the amp? I'd like a Kustom™ model with the barefoot Sheryl Crow option.

Be careful of what you ask for. Always remember the old saying...... no matter how good she looks, you can be sure that right now, someone, somewhere, is tired of her crap! ;D




sumgai

[bendmire88]

My ultimate guitar would be one i designed. It's half SG and half V.

24 fret thru-body neck with an ebony fingerboard and red abalone block inlays.

Black walnut body wings with AAAA flamed curly koa overlay on the body and headstock.

A transparent yellow to red to black sunburst with opaque black sides and fading back into a transparent green on the back and neck.

Neck pup- Single coil seymour duncan Tele neck pup with gold cover

Middle neck pup- SD mini humbucker with gold cover

Middle bridge pup- Gibson classic '57 hum with gold cover

Bridge pup- SD Dimebucker no cover

4 vol, 4 tone and 4 kill switches

Black schaller roller tune-o-matic bridge with a black bigsby B-500 tremelo.

Black sprezel locking tuners.

4 gold bell knobs with red abalone tops for the vol.

4 gold dome knobs with green abalone for the tone.

And a custom cut red abalone pick guard.

If i had about 2000 buck's it would be more than just a dream.

And just so you people know i designed my SG-V 2 years before i saw zakk wylde's SG-V.(mine's better )

[ranchtooth]

My ultimate... hmmm...

1962 Fender Jazzmaster with duncan antiquity II pickups. Played through a matchless spitfire with a 2 x 10 cab loaded with celestion alnico blues. mmmmmm. tone.

[gfxbss]

hmmm.............. semi-hollow tele made of Koa. Maple neck w/ ziricote fretboard. either a pair of P-90s or a pair of ASAT Special Single coils. Of course, there would be a plethora of NutzHouse mods to it....

Play it all through either a bassman or a '74 orange Wiki. Probably with a Big Muff Pi w/ true bypass and a Wah Wah w/ true bypass.

.........Im getting all hot and bothered thinking about it

Tyler

[FireBall]

Here's my ultimate guitar..... also good for target practicing.....LOL





Seriously.. my ultimate guitar would be:

• A hollow bodied strat in mahogany with quilted maple top finished in Black Cherry Burst
  
• A magogany neck with ebony fretboard, compound radius, quilt maple laminate top finished in Black Cherry Burst, the neck will be inlayed with two roses and my little girls name in the center in script
  
• 3 single coil with a GN2 wiring, with all black hardware
  

Or... ChrisK could just give me the Padouk-Caster...

[ChrisK]

Well, while you're adrift in the fantasy land of maybe......... ;D ;D ;D ;D

Don't forget My "Proper" Telecopy

And The MellowCaster Project which I finished but never strung up.............

And The Holy KoaCaster Project which has fizzed out since I intend to use the wenge neck on this New Body for the The Hard Tail Walnut All Mode Caster.

The Koa body is current under water here, along with another walnut body.

And then there's the StrellyCaster, a swamp ash Strat solid rear route body with a Rio Grande twangbucker in the bridge, lipstick in the middle and a SD P-90 Stack in the neck, with a 1 3/4" boat tail ebony/maple Tele neck, just waiting for a finish on the body;

and a TeleCopy with an alder solid rear route body with the tummy/forearm/heel contours with a SD TB4 (JB) in the bridge and a SD SH1 (Jazz) in the neck, with a 1 7/8" 3+3 tuner rosewood/maple neck, just waiting for a finish on the body.

Unfortunately, there are more still adrift.................

I could have some near-ultimate guitars if they were more than just "nearly finished".




Now, if I could have a perfect bass, I'd get one of these

(Oh wait, I did ).
(I HAD to, it was only $860 NEW at GC a few years back.)

But, I do like the Jaguar Bass too!


(Yeah, that's the ticket, the Urge Bass doesn't do everything........)




What is my ultimate guitar?

Only the one that I haven't thought up and started yet.........

[FireBall]

chrisk said:

Well, while you're adrift in the fantasy land of maybe......... ;D ;D ;D ;D

Don't forget My "Proper" Telecopy

And The MellowCaster Project which I finished but never strung up.............

And The Holy KoaCaster Project which has fizzed out since I intend to use the wenge neck on this New Body for the The Hard Tail Walnut All Mode Caster.

The Koa body is current under water here, along with another walnut body.

And then there's the StrellyCaster, a swamp ash Strat solid rear route body with a Rio Grande twangbucker in the bridge, lipstick in the middle and a SD P-90 Stack in the neck, with a 1 3/4" boat tail ebony/maple Tele neck, just waiting for a finish on the body;

and a TeleCopy with an alder solid rear route body with the tummy/forearm/heel contours with a SD TB4 (JB) in the bridge and a SD SH1 (Jazz) in the neck, with a 1 7/8" 3+3 tuner rosewood/maple neck, just waiting for a finish on the body.

Unfortunately, there are more still adrift.................

I could have some near-ultimate guitars if they were more than just "nearly finished".




Now, if I could have a perfect bass, I'd get one of these

(Oh wait, I did ).
(I HAD to, it was only $860 NEW at GC a few years back.)

But, I do like the Jaguar Bass too!


(Yeah, that's the ticket, the Urge Bass doesn't do everything........)




What is my ultimate guitar?

Only the one that I haven't thought up and started yet.........

I just thought of a good reason for you to give me the Padouk!! Because you wouldn't miss it!!! ;D Some VERY nice guitars dude!!! I can't wait to see some of the next finished products!

[ChrisK]

I can't wait to see some of the next finished products!

Yeah, me too.

[richardsenior]

I own a custom 24. The only thing that stops it being the best guitar in the world is that you can't swing on the wang bar. But what you loose in wows and flutters you make up for in tone.

www.prsguitars.com/santanamd/index.html

or

This original selmer

www.eimers-guitars.nl/eg-430-1a.jpg

[ChrisK]

The link goes to the Santana model which does indeed have a vibrato (I guess this would correctly be called a Vang bar).

Are you upset because the guitar doesn't have a vibrato, or that you can't (physically) swing on the Vang bar?

[newey]

"My Ultimate Guitar" selection changes from day-to-day depending on my mood. Love is a fickle thing.

Lately, this one has been the object of my lust:



This is an Eastwood Airline Tuxedo reissue. (Drool, Drool

[richardsenior]

Oct 28, 2008 17:14:37 GMT -5 ChrisK said:

The link goes to the Santana model which does indeed have a vibrato (I guess this would correctly be called a Vang bar).

Are you upset because the guitar doesn't have a vibrato, or that you can't (physically) swing on the Vang bar?

Yeah I have a custom 24 because I couldn't afford a santana.
I have a few other guitars with floyd rose locking trems, and you can depress the bar to the point where the strings can be moved an inch in either direction, then let the bar snap back and it'll still be perfectly in tune. Try that with the PRS and you're likely to spend the next 3 days playing with your intonation settings again.
But I'm reliably informed that the problem with floyd rose systems is that they tend to reduce the amount of resonance, so they're great for death metal, but not so good for classic blues. etc.

[jwj4856]

My favorite right now is a custon designed strat with the SD mini humbuckers in it, a JB jr in bridge, adimebucker in mid and a little 59 in neck, or my custom built tele copy with the new SD P Rails in it, both sound great, but what I am getting is a PRS Johnny Hiland Signature Series and that is sweet sounding.

[sydsbluesky]

Gibson flying V body style, but with a neck-through design, like BC Rich uses. No pickguard.... more on knobs later.

I'm not a fan of BC... never played one I liked, but they're on to something with neck-through...

Mahagony body with dark rosewood fretboard.

The body I would have painted by my friend, Eddie Lee. He does custom paint jobs on all of the stuff for my band, including guitars, basses, amps, cabs... you name it.... just no drums yet.

Picture... pop art with pandas, cowboys and katamari themes.

So... flying V covered in pop mural so far. Modern, right?

For electronics I'd go the other end of the spectrum. Vintage.

One Gibson Burstbucker Pro AlNiCo V pickup in the neck, and an EMG PA2 afterburner to run low impedance.

Bridge pickup? Empty. Leave the routing there, and everything. Pain the hole like the inside of a watermelon, or something. I don't care.

I know, I know... No versatility. Versatility is overated!!!

I have my sound. I've thrown all kinds of expensive, pretty, trendy and highly rated pickups into bridge positions... I've done singles, p-90s, humbuckers, active humbuckers... I've never found a bridge position I like. I use 100% neck 100% of the time. It's my sound. Live, practice, studio... it's always the same pickup.

I love the bite of the burstbucker pro. The almost raucous mid spikes I've heard in the two burstbucker equipped guitars that I've played I think would be perfect for the neck of a full mahagony guitar.

........and if I'm wrong... well, hell... I'll switch it out!

One volume, which would of course be an N-tune onboard tuner, one tone and the afterburner... if nothing else, I'll set it at base level just to run low impedance....

Nothing fancy. it'd get beat up, scratched, dented and drooled on, and I won't mind. I never really warm up to a guitar until it has its first few scratches. Doesn't feel like you have proper ownership of something until you drop a screwdriver on its vintage burst finish and impart an inch long scratch two inches behind the stopbar.

BUT... it would be my own guitar with my own sound. That's the ultimate guitar.

[ijustwannastrat]

I would have to say, a les paul copy, with a bolt-on neck (I hate set necks. Neck thru's are OK at the very most, set necks are aweful). Tobacco burst finish. I would want a Seymour Duncan "SH-11" in the bridge position, and a SD "SH-PG1" in the neck position. obviously 2 volumes, 500k pots. A tone for the NECK ONLY, 500k, and probably a .047 cap. Both volume knobs would be push-pull, for coil tap of each pickup respectively. Where the 2nd tone SHOULD be on a les paul, a mini toggle, On-On-Off (do they makes these?) that is regular, phase, and kill (no signal?).

Oh, and it would be a slick finish. No goopy finish for me, Gun stock oil, or maybe satin finish if I'm generous.

I realize that the 3 way Phase/Off switch is actually rather impossible now that I think about it, but you can only dream...

[ChrisK]

The neck tone could be a push pull for phase (mind that you use a 4-wire pickup with separate shield for noise/cover touching issues) and consider a series capacitor for parallel half out-of phase (PHooP) in the event that parallel out-of-phase (PooP) sounds thus-like.

Then the bridge tone hole becomes the home of a SPST kill switch.


Or, you can buy the DiMarzio 4P3T (DPDT ON-ON-ON to the unwashed) for $29.99 plus shipping and do it all in one switch (minding the aforementioned PHoop/PooP issue). Two poles do the phasing, the third does the killing, and the fourth just "loiters aboot" looking to cause trouble (aka Compulsive reWiring Dementia).

It even has a big threaded barrel.

DiMarzio Three Position On/On/On 4PDT Pickup Selector Switch

accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/DiMarzio-Three-Position-OnOnOn-4PDT-Pickup-Selector-Switch?sku=424669

[Teleblooz]

I already own it - a Telecaster!

[peskypesky]

Early 60s Strat. No doubt.

[dunkelfalke]

Oct 22, 2006 12:32:44 GMT -5 dunkelfalke said:

like this one
www.hohner.eu/upload/bildpoolcms/gal00000389gr.jpg

but with 6-in-line headstock, black hardware, transparent cherry sunburst body and dark side of the moon pickguard

ah, and 24" scale

I've got myself another Revelation ;D
The more expensive RTX model this time, but very cheap (149 EUR) on eBay.

The quality is really somewhat better than of my first Revelation RTS, the tuners are very smooth (although the 4-2 head is a bit strange), the Wilkinson Vibrato is also a bit better model with set screws (those things are called "maggot screws" in German ;D ) in it so I can put the strings backwards. The guitar has also got the Hohner Advanced Tone Network (some very strange passive element) in it. I am not quite sure, what it does exactly, but using the push-push-pot alters the sound a lot. The body colour is quite strange, too, it rather looks like a marble-laminated kitchen worktop.

Will post some pics later.

Still searching for a Revelation ATX (the 27-fret set-neck version).

[dunkelfalke]

here is she

[D2o]

Good to read you, Dunk - and nice looking guitar.

Hey, the appearance reminds me of the tonestone thread!

D2o

[cynical1]

Yes, good to see you lurking around here again. That's a nice looking guitar for 149 Euros... Very interesting finish.

So, what maniacal plans do you have for this one?

And don't be a stranger

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[dunkelfalke]

I'll probably change both my revelations. While the Tone Monster mod miraculously works with active pickups, it plops very loudly everytime I switch something. Also, my first Revelation has already got some active tone mods and is very good grounded and screened.

So I think I would put the active pickups into the new Revelation, together with the active tone mods, but leave the guitar with the standard 3 way switch, and my old Revelation gets either the original Revelation ATX Pickups or the GFS Lipstick Pickups, and keeps the Tone Monster mod.