I'm still with the GJ8, here. The body is not a departure from the traditional designs we see in the market. The pickups you see there:
- Neck: Bare Knuckles- Cold Sweat
- Bridge: Bare Knuckles- Miracle Man
There are 6 bolts here & the screws are slightly smaller than the traditional, say, Fender/ Ibanez units. That's right, that line there is the wood's 2-piece division line not concealed by any finish, ditto the working stain.
This is how much top material the instrument is equipped with. It's not about having an attractive cosmetic top, the wood is there to help achieve the end in mind- good tones for the taking.
9 comments:
hey sub, actually the obvious glue line is due to a piece of walnut veneer, I was just experimenting then, turned out to look quite ugly haha.
gjkung: hmmm whats the body back wood and top wood??
sub: hey sub any chance of a sound sample?? XD
it's rather perplexing why you would want to apply a hair-line veneer there...
ya sub, it's ugly.
But I wanted to know how to do it because I saw the same process done in the RG wizard necks.
Tanreu:
The wood is all Nyatoh, a regional wood. But nyatoh comes in many different densities. The top piece was a higher density and harder piece, the bottom piece was lighter and softer.
hmmm may i know what's the difference in tone between a lighter and a heavier nyatoh? if i rmb correctly, nyatoh is eastern mahogany right?
Here's a long reply!
Mahogany is somewhat a loose term that covers all mahogany-looking woods. Genuine mahogany:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_mahagoni
Even African mahogany is not true mahogany if you refer to the genus which it is from. Most of the so-called "mahogany" guitars are not actually Swietenia Mahagoni.
It's more important to look at the density information and visual characteristics that allows it to be finished without paint.
Nyatoh is yet another blanket term similar to true mahogany, being in the range of 6-700kg/m3. But the top piece has a density that is slightly over 700kg/m3, same is true of the darker laminates in the neck. This is closer to Sapele, a denser cousin of African mahogany which we see used in many acoustic guitars and also in the Ibanez Darkstone series.
Tonally, it is very similar to mahogany/sapele. Theoretically speaking, it will sustain for a little longer due the the increased density. However, it's not something we can detect as it's in the order of percents.
The 30 inch scale length imparts a certain "twanginess" to the thinner strings at high tension that sounds quite different to a shorter scale. Nyatoh itself is not a very bright wood. But it is very strong and very consistent due the to the large trees available.
The neck is also a good 50% increased in mass compared to a regular neck, due to the longer scale and 2 extra strings. All these affect significantly more than the wood choice.
Visually, Nyatoh is much duller as it does not have the characteristic lustrous banding found in true mahogany and sapele.
The trees of "genuine" rosewoods, mahoganies and ebonies are all threatened due to over logging. If you ignore the aesthetics, you can alternatives to these woods that offer the same tonal qualities and stability. These alternatives are available with greater consistency and plank sizes, but as we can see the market has not adapted and continues to push the increasingly limited supply or "smoke out" on their material sources.
Hope this helps! :)
talking about the body bro, not the neck...
For original reasons of comfort, the eight string was made 7mm thinner than a normal RG body at 38mm vs 45mm. I increased the top wood density to prevent any loss in overall density.
This was originally in fear of sustain loss.
However after making this guitar I find that the neck density and stiffness contributed more to the sound than the body. The guitar is still relatively light for an 8 string, but not as light as would be ideal for comfort.
One of my friends commented that the 8 string seems to "bully the player", due to it's bulk, something I'd have to work on.
Oh sub, I realised I didn't answer the question directly.
What I meant is the body is tonally similar to a mahogany bodied guitar due to the slightly thinner but denser body.
I elaborated more on the neck because I felt that was more important to the tone than the body.
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