Work in progress

[ken]

It's your guitar Digitized. Do what you want with it.

The lower horn on soloists is more intrusive than on other super-strat shapes. I can believe it gets in your way. I just hope yours doesn't end up looking like Rusty Cooley's Jackson:



Sweet artwork too. I wish I could draw like that.

Looking forward to seeing more pics of your work in progress... if the posse don't get to you first.

[joshulator]

Rusty's guitar popped into my mind too. Van Halen also did some pretty aggressive modifications to his guitars. I admire Digitised's cahunas in doing something like this. And since he's starting with a high quality guitar, if his remodeling is also quality work, he will have a high quality guitar that is exactly what he wants. More power to him I say.
Me, I don't even like taking the rear plates off my guitar for fear of stripping the screw-holes.

[j2379]

u sanded thru the front & back veneers in some spots but not others.....it cant possible be flat anymore.

[neilli]

u sanded thru the front & back veneers in some spots but not others.....

Yeah, that was my first thought when I saw the pics. Those veneers are in place to smooth the top so the wood joins aren't visible through the paint...

Still, it's your guitar to do what you want with, and it's not like the world is short of SL2Hs

[Digitised]

if theres any uneveness in the top its less than 1mm and still smooth to the touch and look.
Structurally that veneer doesnt hold it together. and ill take the rest off when i give it its final sand to make it as clean as i can before i apply a few coats of primer.

I had this idea before i saw rustys guitars but hes done it different to me, he just opens out the horn more, if you look at his 7 string his horn has the same depth.
Its the depth which i find to be the problem so ive taken it from the back.
I now have huge stretch across all 6 strings without bad hand positioning or twisting.

I wont get to do any more work until june (back to uni for final 7 weeks) but as soon as exams are finished ill be right back at the grind.

[sully]

Dude thats computer aided stuff lets see it drawn freehand or on canvas.Computer art has its place but way different from the real deal.

you are dead fucking wrong.

you ever try to draw something with a graphics tablet? it's challenging to get the feel for, as it's COMPLETELY different from drawing on paper. to say that the above work isn't as hard as canvas or isn't as impressive (although the face on the last one is brutal) is a really uninformed statement.

sully

[Budman68]

Still, it's your guitar to do what you want with, and it's not like the world is short of SL2Hs

agreed, I actually like to see guys just like you who aren't afraid to make their instrument "part of themselves" in the interest of playing better and more comfortably. Look at any sport or art and the artists or competitors have no problem making changes in their equipment to perform better.

Good luck!

[ken]

I had this idea before i saw rustys guitars but hes done it different to me, he just opens out the horn more, if you look at his 7 string his horn has the same depth.
Its the depth which i find to be the problem so ive taken it from the back.
I now have huge stretch across all 6 strings without bad hand positioning or twisting.

Ah, I see what you mean. I have a (slightly unusual) 22 fret soloist, so it looked to me as if Rusty had both widened and deepened the horn. He certainly scaloped the horn, but I can't see how that would really help access.

I wont get to do any more work until june (back to uni for final 7 weeks) but as soon as exams are finished ill be right back at the grind.

Will look forward to the updates once you're back from your studies.

[Digitised]

Its to do with your wrist placement with wide stretch scales.
Try doing a run across all six strings of : 12 - 16 - 20 / 12 - 16 - 20 / 12 - 16 - 20 ...etc
Three note per string using the 1st 2nd 4th fingers (thats 3 semitone gaps between each note).

You need to bring your hand round facing your body with the thumb on the lower part of the neck. You pretty much have to tilt the guitar and your arm needs to be pretty much as far forward as you can get it.
The horn always blocks your wrist and prevents the smaller handed players like myself from reaching past the highest 3 strings (GBE) after that it feels like im just tearing up my hand.

Just to give you an idea, heres shawn lane doing some wide interval atonal patterns.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-f2Jq10j1ms

Hes a huge influence on my playing, as well as goncalo pereira, buckethead and a lot of stuff ive seen from allan holdsworth.
I think their technique and wide interval playing is really quite amazing and gives a lot more variety in their solos and riffs.

[åron]

Outstanding work in increasing the access without losing too much of the soloist style. Collecting guitars to sell and trade is a fine pursuit, but making your own tools is a higher art, whether it be designing a J/C custom, making parts mutts or revamping an existing guitar. Going balls to the walls on a SL2H takes talent, skill and a bit of luck the first go around, I'd wager. Rock on.

[Mat]

you are dead fucking wrong.

you ever try to draw something with a graphics tablet? it's challenging to get the feel for, as it's COMPLETELY different from drawing on paper. to say that the above work isn't as hard as canvas or isn't as impressive (although the face on the last one is brutal) is a really uninformed statement.

sully

agreed completely!

just because its done on computer doesnt mean the computer does it for him. its very hard work, just using a different medium and set of tools.

[cdwillis]

Good job so far man. Fuck all the haters, I think you deserve a lot of respect for altering the guitar to help you play. What does it matter if the contours are altered? Obviously it's going to look different with the scalloped lower horn. Speaking of the contoured horn not too long ago I was talking to a friend about Rusty Cooley and I tried that wide stretch pattern shit. My knuckles were smacking the back of the horn constantly.

[straycat]

Well I will give him credit for modifying it to play better for him thats what is important here.So I will back off.I have done the computer art stuff and didn't like it at all.I do have a lot of art background(Miami of Ohio school of art) and just find freehand drawing to be better for me.
So have at it do the deal lets see what it turns out like.

[ken]

Its to do with your wrist placement with wide stretch scales.
Try doing a run across all six strings of : 12 - 16 - 20 / 12 - 16 - 20 / 12 - 16 - 20 ...etc
Three note per string using the 1st 2nd 4th fingers (thats 3 semitone gaps between each note).

Thanks for the youtube link. I need to start doing some stretching exercises before I can play that. Even on the high E, I have to roll to hit the 20. Still, it'll give me something to practice.

[surfreak]

Just be careful not to take too much wood off the neck joint area (so to speak, being it a neck through...), as that might have a negative effect on tone.

In my experience, all the guitars I owned or played which had a relatively weak neck joint (Washburn N4's with the extended cutaway, Parker Fly, newer Ibanez AANJ, some 90's Charvel SD reissues) had serious tonal problems such as dead spots in that area.

It might be a coincidence, but I would be careful.