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aberdeen-music

tips on customising guitar


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An RR3 already has bevels.

A bevel is just the edge where it forms a gradient between the 2 perpendicular faces (a 90 degree angle - e.g. the top of the body and the sidewall depth).

Look at the contour of this (RR3) and see how it matches the picture which indicates what a bevel is:

20080407183732-RR3.jpg

The bold line shows the beveled edge.

200px-Bevel_%28PSF%29.png

If you're meaning you just want to make the bevels stand out like below (RR24):

1myjacksoncw0.jpg

then I would just mask off the top and side, sand the beveled edge, primer, colour, lacquer.

Otherwise just use some sort of tape like you mentioned as that is easily removed (I wouldn't like doing it this way as it'll then be ridged and raised above the paint and would peel/irritate me (I'd feel it when playing)).

:up:

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Top Tip: tape some holes to your guitar to make it lighter..... o_O

I'd recommend practicing any cutting/painting on scrap bits of wood of similar spec to your guitar before carrying it out on your instrument. Go to a local timber yard and ask for some scraps, I'm sure if you offered the yard hand 20quid they'd let you fill your car with off cuts! Get some packs of varying grades of sand paper, masking tape and whatever paints your needing, then you can balls up as many times as you can afford without wrecking your instrument.

Best tip I could give you for a first time attempt at most things is: prepare to be woefully under whelmed by your first attempt :up:

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Guest texjamm
Ignore everyone telling you to stop! They're cowards. Get a fu***** chain saw and have at it. Sometimes the best way to learn life lessons is with power tools and a guitar.

Mmmm....can I practice on your '50's Strat....lol? Polite answers only please. :up:

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Based on your other gear related posts. I'll give you the following advice, basically re-stating what some other people have been trying to get at.

Stick to the basics. Get a good guitar (or two) and a decent quality amplifier and work from there. As you appear to want to use more than one tuning it would probably be best to have more than one electric guitar and if you are desperate to change tunings on the same guitar, a fixed bridge on one of them might be a good idea.

Once you have that side of things sorted, get a few pedals. Delay and possibly wah are probably the most commonly used on guitar in many styles, but I'm sure other people may disagree.

You don't need a specific amplifier for a specific style but it does need to be of good quality. You even get high gain pedals designed to be plugged into Fender amps and as the owner of one such pedal (Suhr Riot) and a Fender amp I'll testify that some of them sound awesome.

You don't need amazing gear to be able to practice but it is helpful if it responds to your playing and is inspiring to play.

If you want to bring power tools to your guitar, do this to a really cheap guitar that you are prepared to lose if it goes wrong, especially as you don't appear to have prior experience of this.

I also think the time and money you would put towards such a project would be better spent on your guitar playing or a job that would enable you to afford the gear you actually want.

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Mmmm....can I practice on your '50's Strat....lol? Polite answers only please. :up:

No worries, it's already got beveled edges, so no need- Leo thought of them for me. But you know damn well that I've done worse to guitars than bevel the edges- lots of time while playing the damn things.

Learn by doing. That's the ticket.

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If it was me, I would just go for it and see how it ends up.

You don't learn without trying afterall!

This is my beautiful Gretsch 6119. Between the lower f hold and the volume knob you will see a 2-3 inch "scar" from where the tip of the soldering iron fell out when I was replacing the pickups.

It was the first time I had ever used a soldering iron.

Im OK with it now because it really doesn't affect the way it plays or sounds at all and it is a fantastic guitar, but it's a reminder of the damage you can do to your pride and joy if you don't know what the fuck you are doing.

n573972363_621204_3573.jpg

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n573972363_621204_3573.jpg

Gouge or not, that is a looker of a guitar.

I watched "It Might Get Loud" recently and Jack White was showing the Gretsch he had modified. He had a few things done such as a cutaway on the top to make it easier for him to play up the neck but he also had a retractable microphone fitted inside his guitar so he can sing even if he isn't near a stage mic. There was a clip of him soloing and then pulling this mic out the bottom of his guitar to sing.

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Gouge or not, that is a looker of a guitar.

I watched "It Might Get Loud" recently and Jack White was showing the Gretsch he had modified. He had a few things done such as a cutaway on the top to make it easier for him to play up the neck but he also had a retractable microphone fitted inside his guitar so he can sing even if he isn't near a stage mic. There was a clip of him soloing and then pulling this mic out the bottom of his guitar to sing.

Sounds like what Les Paul used to do.

Les-Paul-The-Man-The-Music-The-Guitar.jpg

Surely vocals through a guitar amp sounds like arse though.

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Sounds like what Les Paul used to do.

Les-Paul-The-Man-The-Music-The-Guitar.jpg

Surely vocals through a guitar amp sounds like arse though.

Looks a similar idea. Go to about 2.20 into the video to have a listen, not exactly crystal clear!! Probably to do with the type of mic as much though.

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This is my beautiful Gretsch 6119. Between the lower f hold and the volume knob you will see a 2-3 inch "scar" from where the tip of the soldering iron fell out when I was replacing the pickups.

It was the first time I had ever used a soldering iron.

Im OK with it now because it really doesn't affect the way it plays or sounds at all and it is a fantastic guitar, but it's a reminder of the damage you can do to your pride and joy if you don't know what the fuck you are doing.

n573972363_621204_3573.jpg

Unlucky! Still... sweet guitar!

:up:

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An RR3 already has bevels.

A bevel is just the edge where it forms a gradient between the 2 perpendicular faces (a 90 degree angle - e.g. the top of the body and the sidewall depth).

Look at the contour of this (RR3) and see how it matches the picture which indicates what a bevel is:

20080407183732-RR3.jpg

The bold line shows the beveled edge.

200px-Bevel_%28PSF%29.png

If you're meaning you just want to make the bevels stand out like below (RR24):

1myjacksoncw0.jpg

then I would just mask off the top and side, sand the beveled edge, primer, colour, lacquer.

Otherwise just use some sort of tape like you mentioned as that is easily removed (I wouldn't like doing it this way as it'll then be ridged and raised above the paint and would peel/irritate me (I'd feel it when playing)).

:up:

i shall try this out :)

- primer, colour, lacquer

where do i get these?

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im thinking of adding bevels to my jackson rr3 but dont know what to use and where to get it

errr..... you did ask about "adding bevels" as apposed to "painting bevels"

Again I would still get some scrap practice pieces to work on, unless you are skilled in the use of spray paint! It's all to easy to create runs or overspray other areas.

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errr..... you did ask about "adding bevels" as apposed to "painting bevels"

Again I would still get some scrap practice pieces to work on, unless you are skilled in the use of spray paint! It's all to easy to create runs or overspray other areas.

I don't mean to be a cunt, but if he didn't even know where to buy the paint from, I can only assume he's not very skilled in the use of spray paint. This all seems like a bad idea that is begging to go wrong.

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