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Originally Posted by RFR

I built lots of "kit style stuff" I'd buy yard sale junk and have at it, mixing and matching parts.

When boogie bodies came out, I was in heaven. I could now buy quality stuff and go to town!


My first completely handbuilt instrument was a beauty! ( to me anyway.)

I made a strat out of walnut with one humbucker and one volume with an old dimarzio double creme pickup.

The neck was one solid piece of rosewood, finished in oil.

There was NO truss rod in the neck ' cause I couldn't figure out how to install one.

Luckily, Rosewood is very strong and a set of .09s or tens pulled the neck into the perfect relief.

I loved that guitar, and so did everyone that played it.

Some years later, I ended up meeting Trevor Rabin from Yes, and he wanted to commission me for a build.

I brought this guitar and a few others to his house, for him to try out different neck feels.

He said he wanted the rosewood neck, I said you want me to make a neck like this one? He said no, I want THIS one.

So I cannibalized my favorite guitar for Yes...........It turned out ok.

I got quite a few orders for solid rosewood with out truss rod necks


Ah, let's touch on the Les Paul.

Why is it a good guitar?

It just is. It is beautiful, the combination of a mahogany body with a thick maple top and a mahogany neck just works.

Older ones were built by people that gave a crap, in a day where the work ethic and pride was much more than today.

Materials were good as well.

Why do they feel good??

I'll be a little cocky here

They don't..........not until I get a hold of them and do my magic.

Up till then they feel OK



later,
Roman

lolz, your not cocky.. but i'll tell you who is.. .Ed Roman.... what a dick.
He told me or one of his staff, that he'd only quote me for a custom guitar if i was serious about buying one.... how can anyone be serious about a sale without knowing the price, and then he went on about how his custom guitars are better than les pauls...etc etc. and that i'd be a moron to purchase one.....

You're lucky you were able to build a guitar out of rosewood.... nowadays rosewood costs ALOt of money..., i'm planning on building my les paul replica from Fijian Honduras Mahogany....its basically the same wood from its Brazilian cousin but... Fijian Honduras is said to be a better wood to work with and it's grain pattern is perfectly straight. Have you used Fijian Honduras? Have you used Ancient Kauri (its 40000 years old wood.... its sold in USA cheaper than it's sold in NZ ...even though it's our native timber ..?




I'd recommend it to you but i think you know what works and what doesn't

So, is installing a truss rod something difficult to master?