New guitar build, Super SG

[rnolan]

So I've been really enjoying my Epiphone SG lately.  Particularly that all the frets are clear of the body.  And I need to replace 3 frets on my Anderson pro am (after  35+ years solid playing) so it's having a rest LoL.  Wow stainless steel frets last forever... I love them.

Today (for my birthday) I commissioned a build with a great guitar builder here in Canberra, Russel Vance.  After 50+ years playing, I've finally got a pretty good idea what I want.  I spent half a day with him today going through how I want it.

So hears where we got to today, more later:
Super SG body (a bit nicer than the standard SG shape), we still need to decide on the wood as it will be either oil finish or clear Nitro .  I don't want a colour so the wood figure needs to be good and complement the finger board.
Neck will be Queensland walnut 3 piece laminate with titanium inserts (to keep some flex in the neck for neck bends).  Also my peg head design.
Fingerboard, a very rare piece of Brazilian Rose Wood ($500AUD), it's just beautiful (he'd shown me a bunch of blanks, Madagascan Ebony, et. al. and I just fell in love with this fret board wood), and the tone is to die for, it sings when you tap it.  This will influence the body timber we select (but he's got a bunch to pick from)
The body I want a bit thicker than a standard SG (maybe 1/4"), and solid, I don't want chambers (he likes to do chambers, maybe I'll change my mind??).
PUs 57 Classics, Plus for the bridge and probably series parallel wiring?.
Schaller Floyd Rose, 12" radius, Stainless frets (high but not too wide), 24 frets, Floyd Trem setter (I have a hipshot trem setter in my Anderson and Tele (both have FR trems), this one is a bit better design).
Neck profile I'm modelling off my JPLP, which is a shaved 59 LP neck.  Russel reshaped my Epiphone neck 20 years ago to mimic my Anderson (soft V) which I love.  But I like the shaved 59 neck on the JPLP even more.
I'll probably go a 25" scale length as I want 24 frets (so a tiny bit more room at the top end than Gibson 24 3/4"). And probably run DR Tight Wound 10-50's on it.  I'll see how it goes, I like the DR 10-46 on my Anderson (25") but I'm liking the 10-50s on the SG.

So next get together is on Saturday to decide the body wood, pay the deposit and kick the build off, I should get it for Xmas.

[Peter H. Boer]

When are the pics coming? don't tease us.   

[rnolan]

Hey Peter, the build hasn't started yet LoL  I see him again tomorrow to decide a few more elements, like body wood.  As the build progresses and I get some pics I'll post them.

[rnolan]

Update, I spent most of the day (and some of the night) with Russel (the builder).  We narrowed down a few more details.  So it will be a Mahogany body, thicker than standard SG with a transparent SG red finish and some black in the grain. Rhodium hardware (where possible), standard nickel '57 classic PUs.  So we are getting there, and of course then it has to be built.

So after all that, we went to see Glenn Hughes (50th anniversary tour).  Holy crap the guitarist was good, Thorn Anderson.  I got to sing Highway Star with the band during sound check, I was watching on and singing along (no Glenn at this point) and the guitarist motioned for me to come up and sing, what a hoot .  Russel supplies some back line gear for the middle band, Whitchskull.  I met the guitarist (Marcus De Pasquale ex Looking Glass) at Russel's work shop last Wednesday, he's also getting a custom SG made, and he plays one of Russel's custom Vs (Dante, you'd love it, I'll try to get some pics for you to see).  Russel supplied a couple of MI heads and Orange 4x12 cabs and a Messa 8x10 bass cab etc.  Then it turns out their drummer is Joel Green (ex Armoured Angel) who I met 30+ years ago when I did the PA and FOH for Armoured Angel. Small world.  What a day and night.  I don't go out much these days, it was great to be at a gig where guitars get played at the right volume (loud ).