Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

I wish there was some way to get the smooth action of a tremolo with the sustain and resonance of a hardtail... I haven't found a solution or at least not looked hard enough. Would a dive-only floyd resting on the body do that?

A dive only Floyd is the way to go for that. Floyds get a bad rep due to all the cheap Ibanez guitars with floating Floyds (replicas made of cheaper metal in some cases) and scrap wood bodies made of far too many pieces. Of course they don't resonate or sustain as well because the string to body transfer is only taking place at the two tiny knife edges and two trem claw screws. That even holds true with high end floating Floyd guitars when compared to the same brand high end dive only Floyd guitars. These are of course better than the cheap floaters but still the dive only always has the advantage. When you build a guitar from quality wood and set a real Floyd (with a bonus of a big fat brass block) up dive only now you not only have the string to body transfer at the tiny knife edges and claw screws but also the bottom side of the trem is firmly planted on the top of the body too which makes a world of difference in resonance. You get added sustain thanks to the mass of the Floyd + brass block itself, your open strings match the tone of your fretted notes thanks to the metal lock nut, you still get the great "built in reverb" effect of the trem springs, rock solid tuning, you can use the bar subtly, not at all or dive bomb like a maniac, you can use a d-tuna for quick drop tuning, you can unlock the nut and easily change tunings without having to float the trem again, there's a nice flat platform to rest your hand on with no chance of pushing it sharp, double stop bends stay in tune, if you break a string all the others stay in tune still, string changes are just as easy as any other guitar since there's no time spent getting the trem to float evenly again, you can change string gauges without need to slot the nut or adjust the claw to float the trem, fine tuners for precise tuning, this list is longer but I think you get the point by now haha. There are very few downsides to a dive only Floyd and the good far out weigh the bad IMO.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

BTW congrats on getting featured on the D'addario instagram page!
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

A dive only Floyd is the way to go for that. Floyds get a bad rep due to all the cheap Ibanez guitars with floating Floyds (replicas made of cheaper metal in some cases) and scrap wood bodies made of far too many pieces. Of course they don't resonate or sustain as well because the string to body transfer is only taking place at the two tiny knife edges and two trem claw screws. That even holds true with high end floating Floyd guitars when compared to the same brand high end dive only Floyd guitars. These are of course better than the cheap floaters but still the dive only always has the advantage. When you build a guitar from quality wood and set a real Floyd (with a bonus of a big fat brass block) up dive only now you not only have the string to body transfer at the tiny knife edges and claw screws but also the bottom side of the trem is firmly planted on the top of the body too which makes a world of difference in resonance. You get added sustain thanks to the mass of the Floyd + brass block itself, your open strings match the tone of your fretted notes thanks to the metal lock nut, you still get the great "built in reverb" effect of the trem springs, rock solid tuning, you can use the bar subtly, not at all or dive bomb like a maniac, you can use a d-tuna for quick drop tuning, you can unlock the nut and easily change tunings without having to float the trem again, there's a nice flat platform to rest your hand on with no chance of pushing it sharp, double stop bends stay in tune, if you break a string all the others stay in tune still, string changes are just as easy as any other guitar since there's no time spent getting the trem to float evenly again, you can change string gauges without need to slot the nut or adjust the claw to float the trem, fine tuners for precise tuning, this list is longer but I think you get the point by now haha. There are very few downsides to a dive only Floyd and the good far out weigh the bad IMO.

Duly noted... great info btw!
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

As always, amazing work made better by the gorgeous photography.

I keep looking at that white Tele and wondering what it would look like if the left edge of the pick guard followed the same angle as the pickup.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

BTW congrats on getting featured on the D'addario instagram page!

Thanks!

Duly noted... great info btw!

No problem.

As always, amazing work made better by the gorgeous photography.

I keep looking at that white Tele and wondering what it would look like if the left edge of the pick guard followed the same angle as the pickup.

Thanks for the props on the pics, I wanted to avoid the very stale white background typical product photography style shots and figured showing the guitars on the bench and out in the sun gives a better idea of what they look like in the real world.

When designing the T style guard for the JD I actually did try angling the guard like the pickup and it looked horrible, way too steep an angle. Either you get too much guard under the control plate if you pivot it at the point where the top screw is now or not enough guard above the bridge if you pivot it off the bottom screw and at that point it doesn't have the notch around the top side of the bridge anymore. I tried a bunch of variations when mocking it up. In the end I based the guard angle off an area on the back edge of the body. Since the body doesn't have a true flat spot in that area and is a subtle arc the whole way I just picked a spot roughly around the strap button (a hair above it where the arc is about the flattest) and that worked out as just the right angle for the guard. This way if I used a T style bridge with a hum or straight single the guard angle would always match the body. That was my thought, better to have the guard match the body rather than over angle it and match the pickup and not match the body. So yeah, there's a bit of a conflict of angles since the two outer angles (guard and body edge) are matched and are less of an angle than a typical T style pickup, but it was the lesser of multiple evils lol.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Have to bump the thread with this awesome superstrat... Argh, it's got everything I want (maybe just different pups)... http://davanzoguitars.com/da0013
IMG_4741.jpg
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Have to bump the thread with this awesome superstrat... Argh, it's got everything I want (maybe just different pups)... http://davanzoguitars.com/da0013

Thanks very much! Just finished that one up Friday. It's actually serial DA.013 that I purposely skipped over and came back to in order for it to be finished on Friday the 13th haha, so it named itself "Jason" based on that. It's a cool one with a real light weight alder body and a 24.75" scale birdseye neck with carbon fiber rods in it. It's also the first to have my new and now standard cleaner looking rear rectangle shape Floyd route instead of the usual T shape. It also has a hidden ground wire so the're no ugly wire in the trem cavity either.

IMG_4776.jpg


IMG_4770.jpg


IMG_4763.jpg


IMG_4752.jpg
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

I'm going to mark this thread as spam...but only because it makes me feel inappropriate things for guitars.

One Day Mike....One Day.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Mike....That white and black 1942, holy f-ing hell. That is the hawtest guitar i have seen in a long time. Is it routed under the guard for a neck pup?
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Mike....That white and black 1942, holy f-ing hell. That is the hawtest guitar i have seen in a long time. Is it routed under the guard for a neck pup?

Thanks! Yeah I planned ahead with it and it has a rectangular route that's big enough for a humbucker and probably wide enough for a P90 too and will of course fit a tele single or strat single. That's also how you access the truss rod, through a notch in the body so you don't have to pull the neck off if it needs to be adjusted. It's the last of my 1pc heel adjust single action rod necks, I've moved to two piece headstock adjust single action rod necks from here on out, even with Floyds.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Have to bump the thread with this awesome superstrat... Argh, it's got everything I want (maybe just different pups)... http://davanzoguitars.com/da0013
IMG_4741.jpg

OH THATS KILLER!!!!! I need some tums... Major GAS attack!!! For being a "plain" white guitar, this is just gorgeous.. I think it's cuz it just looks like it rips... no frills, just balls out ripping.. I like the look of the new back route too.. And lastly, this really excites me cuz of the shorter scale neck. What pups are in it??
 
Last edited:
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

OH THATS KILLER!!!!! I need some tums... Major GAS attack!!!

Hahaha Thanks! Everyone who has played it loves the combo of the short scale 24.75" neck and the smaller size body shape, they certainly work well together visually since the whole guitar is evenly "shrunken" from a typical 25.5" neck on a full size strat body. Just got an order for another one with some cool twists to it.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

I love that guitar its supreme, Greta work as expected. My next two build will be 24.75''scale.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

My wood hasn't abated, feel light headed...

Think you're one of he few people who bothers to make the trem cavity look nice - big props to that, especially as someone who leaves the cover off.

What pups are in it??

DiM Satch Track, Cruiser, Norton.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

My wood hasn't abated, feel light headed...

Think you're one of he few people who bothers to make the trem cavity look nice - big props to that, especially as someone who leaves the cover off.



DiM Satch Track, Cruiser, Norton.

Yeah, thanks! Mike referred me to his site and I checked that. Normally Im not a big dimarzio guy.. I actually really like the Satch track tho.. Not tried one in the neck, but have one in the middle of my Tele and its sweet there.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

I love that guitar its supreme, Greta work as expected. My next two build will be 24.75''scale.

Thanks! The short scale on a bolt on with a Floyd is real fun to play. Adds a bit extra give to the feel and sort of rounds out and fatten things up a touch compared to the tighter more punchy attack of a 25.5" scale.

My wood hasn't abated, feel light headed...

Think you're one of he few people who bothers to make the trem cavity look nice - big props to that, especially as someone who leaves the cover off.

DiM Satch Track, Cruiser, Norton.

LOL, thanks! I decided to really fine tune my Floyd route so it's as clean as possible making it rectangular instead of T shape since the typical T isn't needed for a Floyd. That along with grounding the guitar differently so there's no unsightly wire in the rear cavity and the icing on the cake the optional brass trem claw and black noiseless springs to match the black shielding paint I use in all cavities and the brass block. Trem cavity covers aren't an option on my guitars, ok I guess they are if some had to have it, but they're $100 for making me ruin a guitar with unnecessary plastic haha.


Yeah, thanks! Mike referred me to his site and I checked that. Normally Im not a big dimarzio guy.. I actually really like the Satch track tho.. Not tried one in the neck, but have one in the middle of my Tele and its sweet there.

The Satch Track is great in the neck, absolutely a fan of it after this and will certainly use it again. I asked one of the techs at DiMarzio what sounded similar to the SDS-1 (which I love in the neck) but was hum cancelling and they said to try the Satch Track and of course they were right, quite similar but no hum.
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Im a huge fan of superstrat with the shorter neck scale. I have 2 Grover Jackson era US Washburns that are. Only thing diff is that they are set neck. But that softer feel and throatier tone is great!
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Im a huge fan of superstrat with the shorter neck scale. I have 2 Grover Jackson era US Washburns that are. Only thing diff is that they are set neck. But that softer feel and throatier tone is great!

Yeah, it's a cool change of pace from the usual 25.5".
 
Re: Some recent D'Avanzo guitars...

Oh god why, I just want to make all kinds of unspeakable things to that guitar, doesn't help either that it has a multitude of non-standard options that I happen love in guitars (except for the 5-way, I always preferred 3-ways + push/pulls but I guess in a HSS guitar is a necessity).

Mike you're REALLY making it hard for us common folk with limited budgets and skills to justify it... :D
 
Back
Top