GoatHerd

Now due to how much I went out on a limb on this build I didn't document major parts of it. The whole thing was a bit of a crazy journey, with massive mood swings, and me feeling I'd bitten off more than I could chew in the early stages. But it all worked great in the and, so that I can now share the finish product:

The woods I assembled for the build are as follows: For the neck & through portion of the body: Strips of Roxinho (Purple Heart) and Pau Marfim (Agonandra brasiliensis) between 2 blocks of Pau Marfim. The body is Marupá (Simaruba) for the lightness and ressonance, and a Louro-Faia (Euplassa cantareirae) drop top. Inlays would be Turquoise and red Howlite, with copper inlays. The plan was to have a radical scoop at the neck to body For unparalleled access. Finish would be stained, sealed and oiled. Body is bound on both sides, to make it more ding-proof. Covers would be all acrylic, to showcase the hopefully neat electronics. Scratch plate wound up being made out of Wenge.

Inspired on Rodman's super cool build (check it out if you haven't), I've decide to share with you a mad journey I embarked on this previous may/2021. A good friend left his 1973 Les Paul de luxe with me so I could try and reverse all the horrible things that had been done to it. Looking at it got me thinking. What if I made THE ULTIMATE LES PAUL ? The specs for this ultimate Les Paul would have to be as follows: -Through construction to give it ultimate sustain, -Slimmed body for lightness and playability, -Headstock design that compromised between a classic Gibson look, and straight pull/close to straight pull strings, -PRS style 10º head angle, -4.5º neck angle to not raise the bridge too much, -12º radius on the fretboard, -25" scale length, -Big, tasty volute, -All Brazilian woods, -Light fretboard (to be a contrarian), -Jumbo frets with Gibson style biding, -Treble bleed/coil splitting, -Inverted truss rod, -Fancy inlay work.

I didn't get to play it, but he's sent me photos, which I will share. The Viola Caipira 10 stringer is integral to traditional Northeastern music, and very cool. It has quite a groovy shape, where it slimmer around the middle. I do know that the one he has had the traditional peg tuners switched out for modern tuners. He's also commented that you can see the varnish brush strokes on the wood. But he says it plays very well. He used to be a very serious Chorinho player, which is I suppose a sort of Brazilian Jazz, that sounds kind of like Django Reinhardt's and Stéphane Grapelli's Hot Jazz. You have instruments like mandolins, guitars, flute, sax, clarinet, and the drum/percussion is usually done on a tamborine.

I think headstock shape there is perfect. It's simple, but hints perfectly to original idea. Really well done. And that flamed wood...

Zero woodworking background. And not many tools. But let me show you a video that inspires me so much, if you have time to look at it. It's a Brazilian luthier from the poor Northeastern region. He makes famed 10 string guitars called "Viola Caipira". A friend of mine has one made by him. He does them all with a large saw, a machete, a pen knife and a plane. That's it.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm not a master yet, far from it. For every project I make various mistakes. About the finish, I've learned to stay away from sprayed varnishes, varnishes and paint in general. It's very hard to get a really smooth shiny finish. If you've got nice looking wood, the best is open pore, a nice stain and an oiled finish. Plus you're not destroying the acoustic properties of the lovely wood. A sprayed finish should be left alone 2 months, at least, to completely dry and cure. I've learned that the hard way. I use Tung oil, which is very stable once it cures and crystalizes.

Maybe I should have posted this on a new thread, instead of hijacking yours.

The next one I did was an electro-acoustic. Again, mostly Brazilian woods. For the neck I used Louro-preto (30% more dense than Maple) Fretboard is Pau-Ferro (or Bolivian Rosewood) Body sides and back is Wenge Front is Timburí It has a zero fret, 13º head angle, jumbo frets, abalone inlays, induction pickup and a discreet cutaway, very slim profile and an electric style bridge. AND NO HEEL. So playability is insane. The neck profile is also electric, with a 12º radius on the fretboard. Finish is open pore, sealed & oiled.

Very, very nice! I'm digging all your visual choices.

12 string "sleeper" strat. Looks like a 6 stringer, until you take a closer look All Brazilian woods: Neck - Pau Marfim / Scale - Pau Ferro / Body - Marupá. It has a zero fret, and the neck joint uses threaded inserts and no neck plate for a low profile. As Pau Marfim is VERY dense - 50% more dense than Maple, the neck holds up very well to the 12 strings. It has jumbo frets and HSS pick ups. Finish is stained, sealed and oiled with Tung oil. Neck is just oiled, for superior playability. Video:

Building guitars is simpler than it looks. I've done 6. 3 of them from scratch. From scratch I've done a 12 string strat. A 6 string steel electro-acoustic. A through neck Les Paul. I try to be ambitious, and do crazy new stuff, and also I always build something I wouldn't be able to buy, something unique. There are plenty of reasons for that, one of them being your work can't really be compared to anything else. I'll post some pics.

That's a great suggestion. Thanks. I'll give it a try!

There are 2 aspects, really: 1-getting the game to recognize the correctly played note, 2-representing the fretted position + tapped fret. In the track I produced I achieved #1, with a representation that is correct, even if incomplete (it shows the tapped note, but not where you fret it). #2, though is impossible.

Great suggestion. I'll test it out. Thanks.

I've been trying to track 2 Van Halen songs that use tap harmonics. They bassically require you to fret with the left hand and then produce a 12th fret harmonic by tapping the note 12 frets up from where you fretted it. Ex.: You fret on the 9th fret with you keft hand, and then tap the string on the 21st. It would bassically require Rocksmith to show 2 notes simultaneously on the same string. Kind of impossible, but I'm just putting it out there, in case someone has a creative way of tracking this. I'm thinking of putting a note in the vocals track.

This is a real pain. When it happens I go to import a Guitar Pro file. When the import popup window appears I close it immediately and the problem dissapears for 10 mins or so...

There are some other good ones, that are well tracked: Muse - Can't Take My Eyes Off You Save Ferris - Come On Eileen (Ska version) Big Mountain - Baby I Love Your Way Hindu Love Gods - Raspberry Beret I would love a CDLC of Green Day's version of Rolling Stone, or Everclear's Brown Eyed Girl. Might have to do them myself, but I've got such a long Rocksmith To Do List...