A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Every once in awhile, I'll build out a complete guitar in order to help promote my humble little shop's wares. I've been kicking the idea for another one around for a while, except maybe making a replica this time. Then, EVH passed away. Seems like a no-brainer that I'd then make a Frankie tribute. I even alluded to doing so here on the forum, but for some reason - I just didn't feel like that was the project to go with. I guess because I knew that every luthier and his dog would be building EVH tributes.

Cut to: present day.

As you may remember, I am known to be quite fond of video games. Gamers will know this already, but there's a game coming out very soon that I am super excited for. Cyberpunk 2077 is being produced by the folks who brought us The Witcher series of games and is based on a tabletop role playing game that originated in the mid-eighties. That gives this particular release an outstanding pedigree. I'm not a D&D kind of guy, but I used to play the tabletop version in junior high. It's the only one of those games that ever held my attention, and I'm looking forward to it's digital version.

One of the main characters in the games is Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves in the video game version) who is, among other things, a guitarist. In seeing all of the pre-release footage for the game, there are a few shots of Johnny playing his guitar and now you see where I'm going.

Turns out, the company making the game is ahead of me - they've already commissioned a replica. This won't stop me, I'll just have better pictures to base mine on.



Thoughts?

That's quite a mix of old and new for sure, with a little Salvador Dali mixed in for good measure. Looking forward to the project!

Hmm...

Gotta think on this one. Do you have other interests to draw inspiration from?

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 8:49 pm Hmm...

Gotta think on this one. Do you have other interests to draw inspiration from?

Sure I do.

Why do you ask?

Most of that looks reasonably doable, but the way that the strings are set up is wild.

I'd do it!
But if I was doing a totally scratch build, I'd definitely do a neck through instead of a bolt on, but that's just me, I don't like bolt ons.

Also I wish I understood what was going on with the strings and tuners and bridge

You asked for thoughts. These are my honest thoughts wrt that design. That would certainly show off some technical skills.

You know who you are trying to reach/impress, and I don't. I believe that design will be a miss for a whole lot of folks, but maybe not for the ones you are interested in.

Sounds like you really want to build it, so that is a big Plus. You will probably have a blast doing it. Good luck with the build.

Looks insane, in a good way, looking forward to seeing the build progress if you go for it!

Whoo, excellent stuff! Really cool...and I already pre-ordered the game too

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fullonshred wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:21 pm You asked for thoughts. These are my honest thoughts wrt that design. That would certainly show off some technical skills.

You know who you are trying to reach/impress, and I don't. I believe that design will be a miss for a whole lot of folks, but maybe not for the ones you are interested in.

Sounds like you really want to build it, so that is a big Plus. You will probably have a blast doing it. Good luck with the build.

I understand. Thank you for your input.

I am indeed looking forward to building upon my skillset to get this thing working. That's part of the appeal to me.

I agree with you that most would shake their head at the effort, but then again - most of what I like (or like to build) isn't intended to impress anyone but me and could be classified in the "not for everyone" category.

No worries. I'm used to being the weird one.

LancerTheGreat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:29 am I'd do it!
But if I was doing a totally scratch build, I'd definitely do a neck through instead of a bolt on, but that's just me, I don't like bolt ons.

Also I wish I understood what was going on with the strings and tuners and bridge

The guitar pictured truly is a replica. It is not terribly playable in it's current state.

The string holders(?) on the headstock come in a set with the bridge shown and are static. There is no tuning adjustment at the headstock. The opposite ends you can see going to the visible crooked bridge are dummies. The actual strings end under the metal plate which hides a half-tray surface mounted bridge. The guitar isn't functional in that it can't be easily tuned. It's possible/probable that it can't be tuned at all.

The challenge (and also the appeal of the project for me) lies in trying to make a functionally sound guitar without altering the intended appearance of it. I'm contemplating ways to make the visible bridge be the actual bridge used by the guitar so I can delete the hidden bridge.

deeaa wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:10 pm Whoo, excellent stuff! Really cool...and I already pre-ordered the game too

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I've got my copy reserved as well. Hopefully, Amazon can get it here on day one - so I can get started on downloading the patches! I'm thinking that'll take a while.

I would have thought it should be tuneable if you put rollers under the black 'bridge' to ensure that there is free movement possible

Come to think of it, it's 2077 and guitars still have Fender mistakes in place ie a headstock that needs a string tree, volume knob too close to strings and that awful 5-position switch and difficult pickguard system...

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I recon you can hide anything you'd like under that bridge cover thingy, but you can't palm-mute. I've never understood bridge covers--definitely understand why they get removed.

Forecaster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 4:19 pm I recon you can hide anything you'd like under that bridge cover thingy, but you can't palm-mute. I've never understood bridge covers--definitely understand why they get removed.

I'll have to fabricate the bridge cover anyway, so I'll just make one that attaches with some small magnets. It'll be easy to remove that way. The magnets should be far enough away from the pickups so as not to cause problems. Otherwise, I could just use a tab and slot method.

Looks awesome! Game and guitar

I’d ditch the cover and just with a floyd rose / double lock trem system. I’m also not a fan of the single coil middle and neck. I’d do 1 bridge humbucker like Frankie, direct mount.

Good luck man - I can’t wait to see you do this!