Heads up on a bargain- Relic Strat neck

mdphillips1956

Hello Mrchi?

Can I really take seriously the repeated offers that you guys only want to help me make better guitars, and please come and let us tell you how to do it right because we just want to make the guitar world a better safer place.

I still remember one of you gallantly offering to devote one whole hour of his time to doing an assessment and evaluation one of my guitars if I posted it to him... mind you he didn't say he would ever post it back... but seriously, do you think you lot really come over as knowing a lot about guitars?

When I need help on guitars I don't go to a load of whooping yelping photoshopping phoney air guitar luthiers, I seek people with some thought and intelligence... sorry about that!

Mark.................

xmrchi

@mdphillips1956

Thank you for clarifying my point....... You deserve all the basting and photoshopping now and in the future.

We have some of the most respected Luthiers and artistic creators in the UK on this site jooky and feline just to name 2, you cannot get better, I honestly hope you never sell another guitar, as we want beginners to gain a passion for it not to be ripped off and hoodwinked into buying shite, to never to touch a guitar again.

Gassage

I think it's time to take a different tack.

That thing is an abortion. You're selling a heap of recycled junk.

Go figure.

xmrchi

@Gassage I think you're right, words are clearly not working with him hahaha

WezV

have a look down here

http://thefretboard.co.uk/categories/the-challenge

 

We have a challenge where we have got some really cheap kit guitars and are making them better. All just for a bit of fun really. 

 

you might want to look at my thread where i have gone through doing some critical set-up work with the most minimal of tools - I did it this way specifically to make guitar assembly more accessible  for newbies without having to spend a load of money on specialist tools.  I have also shown some very invasive mods, even a few bodges - but I get good results that don't look cobbled together

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/18377/wezv-tele-build

 

at the other end of the scale we have a complete newbie doing the same kit following the guidance I have provided and getting good results

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/18448/sinbaadi-s-tele-novice-build-thread#latest

 

feel free to find fault with the pics of guitars i publish online (you can find faults. they are there, especially in some of the older builds, but i bet i am more aware of those than anyone else) - they are all photoshop free

http://wezvenables.co.uk/

 

Some of us are genuinly here to help and support, as well as learn something new ourselves along the way

xmrchi

@WezV your website does not seem to be working at the mo bud,

thermionic

mdphillips1956 said:

... but seriously, do you think you lot really come over as knowing a lot about guitars?

When I need help on guitars I don't go to a load of whooping yelping photoshopping phoney air guitar luthiers, I seek people with some thought and intelligence... sorry about that!

Mark.................

How To Win Friends and Influence People.

 

Now  I'm curious. Who are these intelligent and thoughtful people that help you?

Gagaryn

mdphillips1956 said:

When I need help on guitars I don't go to a load of whooping yelping photoshopping phoney air guitar luthiers, I seek people with some thought and intelligence... sorry about that!

Mark.................

If this is true - why don't you listen to them?

mudslide73

This is going to be another 15 pager...  X_X 

Gassage

@wezv

I saw your site, but you don't appear to do wide necks for beginners with sausage fingers? Any chance you'll be releasing something of this ilk soon?

Is this a niche you've missed
?

Yours,
@gassage

xmrchi

But 15 pages of a1 entertainment...

[Deleted User]

as someone who is not skilled in the art of guitar making or wood work in general, I've got the following genuine questions for those who do know.

1.) would there not be sound issues using 7 string pickups and then off spacing the strings over the poles when converting this to a 6 string ?

2.) isn't the neck on these 7 or 12 strings designed for the tension of 7 or 12 strings, so would just randomly putting 6 strings on it have an impact on the tension it expects ?

3.) Bridge position - it looks like the 7 or 12 string bridges are being re-used by just stringing 6 strings, would this not have major issues with the spacing on the strings and the intonation ?


I see lots of things like "Japan Les Paul" - yet there is nothing on the guitar to suggest it's a japan made unit apart from a neck plate that says "made in japan" - but as the pickup as been changed for a single coil (very sloppy) and the neck looks like it could possibly be off a different guitar as it's totally sanded down and doesn't look like it fits the neck socket well, it seems odd to trust a neck plate with "made in japan" stamped on it to work out where the guitar has been made as it appears to be a bits-a-guitar/modded guitar.

carlos

"Shame about the extra head drilling but these Korean Squier necks are in my opinion and many others too, the best strat necks ever built"

Whose opinion?

ICBM

darcym said:

as someone who is not skilled in the art of guitar making or wood work in general, I've got the following genuine questions for those who do know.

1.) would there not be sound issues using 7 string pickups and then off spacing the strings over the poles when converting this to a 6 string ?

2.) isn't the neck on these 7 or 12 strings designed for the tension of 7 or 12 strings, so would just randomly putting 6 strings on it have an impact on the tension it expects ?

3.) Bridge position - it looks like the 7 or 12 string bridges are being re-used by just stringing 6 strings, would this not have major issues with the spacing on the strings and the intonation ?

1 - no, unless the outer strings were so far beyond the poles that they weren't properly in the magnetic field. If there would, then when you bend a note on a Strat neck pickup, the volume would dip when the string was halfway between two poles, and it doesn't. The field between the polepieces is not that precise.

2 - no, the difference in tension between a set of 12s and a set of 8s is roughly 2:1, and a normal neck will handle both with no trouble - that's why they have truss rods. So simply taking off one string - one-seventh less tension, roughly - is well within the capability of the rod to compensate for. Even going from twelve to six is likely to be, since you're taking tension *off* - although it wouldn't be a certainty the other way round.

3 - no, as long as you can get the strings into the right spacing positions it will be fine - each string can still be adjusted for intonation. The string doesn't have to be centred on the saddle. It looks odd, but as long as the string doesn't pop off the edge of the saddle it will work OK.

That's one of the problems - *what* he's doing is not actually physically impossible, and he's even right about how he cuts the nuts (assuming the bottoms of the grooves are profiled and smoothed properly, which is not a certainty given how rough the rest looks) - so he thinks that justifies *how* he does it.

darcym said:

I see lots of things like "Japan Les Paul" - yet there is nothing on the guitar to suggest it's a japan made unit apart from a neck plate that says "made in japan" - but as the pickup as been changed for a single coil (very sloppy) and the neck looks like it could possibly be off a different guitar as it's totally sanded down and doesn't look like it fits the neck socket well, it seems odd to trust a neck plate with "made in japan" stamped on it to work out where the guitar has been made as it appears to be a bits-a-guitar/modded guitar.

It's the honesty of many things in the description which is the problem - including things like "professional set-up", which cannot be true given the state of most of these.

I have no issue with him butchering cheap, already-wrecked guitars if he wants to and even selling them - but I do with the way he markets them as some sort of specialist conversion to people who don't know any better.

welshboyo

The issue is even if you don't have the wood-working or guitar-making skills, we as  "musicians/guitarists" can easily spot the incorrect positioning/fitting of such items on a guitar (which we have) and I think the issue here is the way that these guitar are advertised to those un-suspecting individuals who don't have the knowledge we have about general guitar set-ups who think they are getting a high quality, handmade instrument.

I for one am absolutely appalled/horrified at the way these guitars are built and then sold on - as the Tutor to many "younger" guitarists (and indeed my 12 year old son) I would absolutely hate for one of them to turn up with such a piece of garbage at a lesson thinking their parents had purchased a handcrafted/modified for specific needs instrument which is nothing more than a poorly put-together piece of recycled junk (good description by someone further up the thread) - the advert for the guitars are very well written and certainly come across as a very knowledgeable builder to those who don't understand - I get asked all the time to help with purchases of guitars for beginners as it can be minefield (as with any instrument I suppose) and to those who go it alone, this type of guitar could spoil the whole experience for a beginner...

I've kept out of the whole pitch-fork saga until now, and I can't hold back much more, this guy as much as he states he has "happy returning customers" must be so thick-skinned to have the cheek and audacity to take people's hard earned money through adverts which clearly misguide some people into thinking he is supplying a quality product...

As much as I hate the fake  "Chibson" market, at least they are made to some degree with basic guitar-making processes present (string-spacing, pickups in right areas etc)  - these bitsa-guitars are nothing more than an insult and surely there is something that can/should be done about this..

impmann

It was I that "gallantly" offered to look over one of his guitars - I would have posted it back, as I doubt that it would have been the sort of guitar I would necessarily use or want to keep.

It was a genuine offer of assistance from a professional with many years of experience who makes his living out of being a Guitar Technician and Quality Control Manager for a major manufacturer (Production Process Inspection and final set up) - and also someone who trains other professionals in the same field. This was a meant in the true spirit of helping out a fellow human being who clearly has some training needs...

But you have seen fit to mock this, and to pour cynicism onto this offer. 

Well - you can offer an olive branch to someone, if they set light to that branch and fling it back to you then you understand the sort of personality you are dealing with. 

As a parting suggestion, and this is *AGAIN* meant in a positive way, I would urge the purchase of this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-Electrics/dp/0879302917/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406127319&sr=8-3&keywords=dan+erlewine

The reason the rest of the guitar fraternity perform repair work, and set up work in a particular way is because it is the best way to get the best from the instrument. If you follow Dan's teachings to the letter, your guitars will play better and you will find a lot less derision on sites like this.

Good day to you.

mdphillips1956

Hello er... Impman?

Actually I apologise if your previous offer was made out of kindness and not just trying to play the old soldier in front of your chums on this site; I had assumed it was like everyone else just looking for another convenient stick to beat me with.

Seriously though, after all the hoots and micky taking that had back then been poured on me and my guitars, and knowing how everyone had agreed that I was beyond help... did it really seem likely that I was going to take up your kind offer to send £200 worth of stock across the country to Christ knows what fate?

On this Pacifica I took the rear cover off and added a wood block in just the right place to hold the tail piece rigid and stable for you to tune the guitar and keep it in tune.

Okay I see it is not very well written; but someone said what a hilarious read my explanation with the Pacifica is about blocking the trem.

I cannot see the hilarious bit?

This is an attempt to explain for a complete beginner why I have blocked the trem and why I think it will benefit his or her learning, ie easier to tune and keep in tune.

And to 'Welsh Boyo' while I try to answer a few recent messages: you don't know what you're talking about! No I don't mean that rudely! I mean you are saying how dreadful to play my guitars are having never played one.

There are some people who have bought and played my guitars who say how excellent they are to play... you on the other hand have never as far as I am aware ever played one, yet you are able to tell us in the most minute and specific detail how hiddeous they are to play and how destroyed you would be if one of your students, or even worse your own 13 year old son god forbid, acquired one and thereby destroyed his chances of ever playing the guitar to any degree!

Deary me... it sounds like too many of you only know it from books... does the real world of actually playing a guitar to form an opinion count for nothing with you?

Today I was messaged by a guy asking if I can do a standard acoustic for him on my ebay shop... says he has had three of my guitars (electric) over a couple of years and they worked so well he would love to try one of my acoustics.

An hour ago I listed a low cost acoustic for him to consider, though he wants a standard and this one has a 48mm nut so might be too wide for him... my point is though: many who actually play my guitars like them a lot... it's only you bunch of theorists who insist (with no hands-on knowledge) how terrible my guitars are.

Come on boys, wake up and smell the coffee!

Mark.................

carlos

mdphillips1956 said:

Deary me... it sounds like too many of you only know it from books... does the real world of actually playing a guitar to form an opinion count for nothing with you?

There are loads of professional guitarists, professional guitar luthiers and professional guitar repairers in this forum.

xmrchi

@mdphillips1956 as is the same with religion, it's all about faith, but the educated few who question it do not follow one man's word... They request proof, so unlike God, you are able to give us proof of this wonderful work, but are not willing????
I will happily pay some towards postage to send to impmann and i am sure others would to..... This is your opportunity to prove us wrong with an impartial professional, yet you won't take the offer, anyone who is proud of their work would jump at the chance to have it scrutinised on a popular platform as this. Only someone who preys on the uneducated and has something to hide would turn it down.........

Gassage

Gibson CS- check
Gibson - check
Fender CS- check
Fender- check
Anderson- check
Melancon- check
Suhr- check
Tokai- check
Taylor- check
Lowden - check

But nowhere do I own one from Phillips Cleartone Conversions........

My life is a failure.