Mustang vs.Mercury

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:36 pm

bassintom wrote:
Did you ding the top left of the stock?
I prefer to call it relicing it.

=]

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:40 pm

there is nothing wrong with some dings and dents.
i treet my gutiars like they owe me money.
which results is missing paint, wood, broken hardware.
but the payoff is, i get to play how i like to play and i can fix anything that does go wrong.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:42 pm

I play really, really physically but my guitars tend to be in good shape. I suppose my hands take more wear than the guitar, and often end up bleeding.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:48 pm

you gots the bleedin hands?
never happend to me unless i cut myself on something and then proceed to play. one time i sliced the end of my right thumb off abotu 3 hours before practice and then abotu half way thru practice i noticed my pick was sticknig to my hand. looked down and blood had been dripping/flung all over my j.s.
i kept it there, in fact i want to put laquer over it for the tones!!!!
altho you probly have normal hands. my hand are small and knotted up.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:55 pm

I nearly punch the guitar when I play with a band or am gigging.

I sort of punch the body above the strings.

I remember playing a gig when I was about fifteen. I'd shredded the skin off the outside of my four fingers from the nails to about the middle knuckles. I also took all the skin off the outside of my thumb, and took a fair bit off the inside of my wrist. I don't notice at the time, because of adrenaline, and the general feeling of invincibility offered by being on stage. I remember walking up to the bar straight after getting off stage, and ordering a pint of stout. The bar man stood with big open eyes, looking at my hand. I hadn't noticed that my it was basically a bloody mess of skin and flesh, and the the five pound note I was about to hand him was a little wet with blood.

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:08 am

bassintom wrote:
What type tuners are they? Klusons are my favourite.
They don't say kluson,but they look just like them.........DDD..are they?

Yep, they are.

RichieDagger · Post by **RichieDagger** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:08 am

I actually really like that headstock, especially with the 'M' on it. Very Gretschy. It just doesn't suit the small solid body of the Mercury.

I agree with Hurb, if Aug wasn't banned this thread could have gone bad, fast. But fair's fair, if it wasn't someone on here who built it, regardless of whatever stigma they have, people would be more critical of the design and a lot less forgiving about it being a first attempt.

Personally, I don't really like it. Nothing about it really appeals to me. The body and pickguard are decently designed, they just don't look right together imo. I have no idea what would make me like it more though. If anything, seeing these get built has made me appreciate how hard designing a guitar seems to be.

Kudos to DDDave and Aug though, Aug does really nice work. Keep trying with it, you'll get it right eventually.

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:18 am

RichieDagger wrote:I actually really like that headstock, especially with the 'M' on it. Very Gretschy.

Kudos to DDDave and Aug though, Aug does really nice work. Keep trying with it, you'll get it right eventually.

Thanks A LOT! Thanks to everyone else for the complements too!

The guitars that Bass'nTom and Lamp are getting are Proto types and we are damb proud of them. There are lots of tweeks that we made to the guitars and there are more tweeks that we have to still make.

Before the Mercs, we never built any guitars from scratch. I've build dozens of parts guitars, but that is long shot from building a new design. This has been a HUGE learning process and I really do appreciate all the feed back from everyone here and from all my friends that have played it too!

There are more to come..... I want to build a white on white one with a matching headstock. I think it would look "NewWave" or something. We also have plans to make a full scale one merc that would have a bit different lines. A 12 string is also in the works. I'm also working on a design for a special trem and I may even try to market the trem as a stand alone product. See how it goes..... This whole thing is a pipe dream and it is slowly coming to fruition.

Anyways..... Thanks everyone for the comments and complients. If people ripe on it, I don't care, I just wanna hear why and use that feedback to better the design.

freekandy · Post by **freekandy** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:37 am

it looks really good DDD, just not the headstock. the PG doesnt look like it fits the top horn very well either, but it looks good.

Good job!
Can't wait to see the new stuff you come out with

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:47 am

If you want to know why, most of it is in the headstock shape and design. The keys look like they're sticking too far out and the pegs are too close to the edge of the headstock. I've seen enough headstocks split towards the tuning pegs, and this bit scares me a bit. The general shape and where it goes after the nut, looks as though the holes were drilled in a paddle headstock and the wood was cut around them. See how the E strings sort of hover over empty space and cut diagonally towards the pegs? Whereas on a gibson headstock;

As you can see everything lines up and makes sense. The strings still do that cool split thing you were trying to get with the string trees. The tuning keys are pushed further from the edge of the headstock. Also this helps the strings line up better after the nut.

Something like this:

Would suit the existing headstock much better. It would help keep those E strings in order and would look much neater and more professional.
I would really consider trying angled heastocks though, they just plain look better for 3+3 style.

As far as the body itself goes, I think most of it's wonkyness IMO goes to the pickguard, that doesn't quite line up to the curves of the body as it should. Fix that and you're halfway there.

All and all I know I came off pretty aggressive in my post, but most of that is because I personally feel a guitar should be complete before it gets into a customer's hands at full price. If you guys ever get this design down to where it's actually a finished product I may one day consider one, because like Eric said, it does have potential. My only thing is the fact that you're using constructive criticism at this stage is beyond me. Many ideas I've stated in this post have already been brought up when the first shots of this guitar were posted here, but it seems no one was listening.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:55 am

Nick wrote: Many ideas I've stated in this post have already been brought up when the first shots of this guitar were posted here, but it seems no one was listening.

In the first NOHO thread when I posted guitars with similar ideas, and suggested that if they carved the headstock deeper they could eliminate the string trees, Aug responded by sending me a PM cursing me out.

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:34 am

Nick wrote:

We are considering a aluminum block string tree very much like this one. We are working on redesigning the headstock. It would simular to what we have, but a bit better.

Sorry about Aug cussing you out. He can be a bit passionate.

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:43 am

i really love the top end of the headstock, don't get rid of that. just change the rest of the stock.

also you need to get an exact copy of bassintom's M he put on there. it really seems perfect to me

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:45 am

Mr Mustache wrote:i really love the top end of the headstock, don't get rid of that. just change the rest of the stock.

also you need to get an exact copy of bassintom's M he put on there. it really seems perfect to me

I like that too. I think it needs to be a chrome metal piece if we are going to go with anything like that....

freekandy · Post by **freekandy** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:46 am

i think an angled head stock would look really good, i think the flares after the nut are too big, if you narrowed the whole stock down, the flares would get smaller and it would look really good IMO. But if you dont angle the stock the aluminum block would look good,

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:54 am

freekandy wrote:
i think an angled head stock would look really good, i think the flares after the nut are too big, if you narrowed the whole stock down, the flares would get smaller and it would look really good IMO. But if you dont angle the stock the aluminum block would look good,

That is Exactly what we are thinking. We may do both make it smaller and add an Aluminum block. The block will look better then the framus. The framus looks funny because of the distance from the nut. Our adjustment is in the heal, so the distance thing won't look like an afterthought....

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:55 am

dodgedartdave wrote:
Mr Mustache wrote:i really love the top end of the headstock, don't get rid of that. just change the rest of the stock.

also you need to get an exact copy of bassintom's M he put on there. it really seems perfect to me
I like that too. I think it needs to be a chrome metal piece if we are going to go with anything like that....

i guess i should have said damn near perfect. Chrome would be perfect

bassintom · Post by **bassintom** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:00 am

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

bassintom wrote:
Quote:
What type tuners are they? Klusons are my favourite.

They don't say kluson,but they look just like them.........DDD..are they?

Yep, they are.

I thought you told me they were but I wasn't sure.They are smooth and it stays in tune really well.The tuner set up may look"wonky" but it makes it easy to tune.Some of my guitars have tuners that are thisclose and are a real pain in the ass to tune.For some reason I think it's the camera's fault making the guitar look awkward because IRL it's doesn't look odd.But maybe it's just me.
DDD..you have to find old hearing testers to get those "M"'s..look in school dumpsters.

dodgedartdave · Post by **dodgedartdave** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:43 am

bassintom wrote:..you have to find old hearing testers to get those "M"'s..look in school dumpsters.

I'll have Aug go to different schools and look through the dumpsters. That'll do over well.

TheBurbz · Post by **TheBurbz** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:54 pm

Is Bassintom the only person to receive a Mercury? If there are others, maybe we could set up a photo gallery thread to show them off from different angles and with different colour schemes and whatnot? I'd very much like to see more pics