Never2Late

REDWOOD Earthen Maple Vanguard-Silver Limited Korina

Mr. Huss is nearing the finish-line with mine, too...

Mine had the EXACT SAME damage when I purchased it from some dude from Germany. The Beveled-point of the wood in that area had a few local Luthiers/Repair-shop dudes telling me to put it back in the case and move-on. I took it to Shannon Huss at HEL, who apprenticed under BCR Greg - "No Problem!" He shaped and grafted some Mahog on the affected area, re-capped the top with some veneer to hide a few 'prototype' holes made, now it's working through the paint-booth as we speak.....

I've restored a few 2x12 and 4x12 cabs. MojoTone isn't re-tolexing cabinets made from particle-board anymore. They did 'one' for me once, but old-age causes that material to fragment and come-apart when they try to strip it. I 'second' the recommendation that a good "forever" cabinet should be made of SOLID wood so that you can re-tolex it when the battle-scars become too much.

I remember the time he played for the "In Memoriam" at the RRHOF with Derek Trucks and Billy Gibbons for the passing of Freddie King.....Trucks and Gibbons played pieces fitting a Memorial in the spirit of the person being honored for his passing. Bonamassa wanted to "show off" that he was good, spitting out a flurry of blues-shred wankery that had no place on stage. Sure, Joe is a "nice guy", but....I've listened to his music and didn't find anything 'catchy' or memorable - I found a guy who clearly tries TOO hard to prove he's skilled at playing.

Trevor Healy - he built/assembled 'The Last One' Mirage II, and did the neck-work and assembly on my Patrick Nagel Centaura.

I'm working that angle with an area luthier - the current string height is 'perfect' off of the fretboard, I'm very happy with that aspect of the setup.

To the best of my knowledge, the neck is OEM correct. The pickups in it when I bought the guitar were EMGs mounted 'low'.

Uh, no....the Guitar was converted from a Sustainblock to a Kahler surface-mount by the PO. I converted it back to original. When I bought my Sustainblock, I had no idea there were two different 'versions'.

This is an OEM Sustainblock bridge on a custom Hamer. The bridge has the saddles as H-I-G-H as they can go to clear the bridge pickup and maintain correct action. There is no adjustment 'left' in the bridge, as I'm almost out of threads on the saddle screws. Saddles are almost 30-45 degrees from the base of the bridge plate. I need a 'spacer' to install under the Sustainblock plate to elevate it . I'm close enough to your NH shop to bring the guitar in if you'd like to take measurements.

Would you be able to make a SustainBlock 'spacer' for under the bridge?

I dropped-off my Scepter for minor-surgery and got the 'grand tour'.....including a peek at what was in the big guitar case on the floor. Got plans?

Was that your double-neck he's holding-on to?

I dunno......John "talked" a good game to me. Unless someone has a recent photo of this "prototype" he built, I'm reserving judgment for now. I made several visits to his shop personally, since I'm only one hour away by car. I saw HIS bridges in the shop - I did not see a Sustain Block prototype, nor was I promised that he would make them or that he had made anything at-all.

I was the one who worked with John to make new SustainBlocks, and went as far as buying a TLE from a HFC member for John to reverse-engineer. He has the measurements....first I heard that he actually built something. He kept giving me the run-around regarding his 'plater', I assumed he just didn't want to build something. You may just need to send him your CAD, and if the numbers match, he should be all-set.