New ET Guitars 7 String Project

[La Lettre B]

I'm about to order a neck and a body from ET Guitars and I have some questions for you.

The build right now looks like this

RG 7 String
Body : Mahogany (?) / Zebrawood Top
Neck : Maple / Wenge Fingerboard - Inverted Headstock
Bridge : Hipshot w/ Graphtech Ghost Saddles
Tuners : Sperzels
Pups : BKP C-Bombs or Miracleman (or something else ?)

The questions I have,

As I am looking for clarity, defintion and sustain with this build, would a Mahogany body sounds "muddy" with a seven string on A standard or Ab standard?

Secondly, I don't know if anybody here has made the Hipshot w/ Ghost mod, but on the GraphTech site, they are talking about shimming the neck to compensate for the saddle's angle. Is there anything I should do to avoid the shims like recess the bridge or something? Maybe it isn't that much of an issue anyway...

Also, on a less technical aspect... do you guys think I should go with a Vine or Pyramid inlay on the fretboard?
I'm affraid it would be "too much" with the zebrawood.
If someone is willing to do a Photoshop mockup, it would be appreciated.

If you guys have any comments on the build, don't hesitate!
Thank you!!

 

[yacker]

Could you link to the location on the graphtech site where it mentions what you are asking about shimming?

 

[La Lettre B]

It's on the installation manual.

http://www.graphtech.com/fckeditor/userfiles/File/GhostManualPrintable.pdf

Page 10 of the PDF.

 

[JaeSwift]

On the wood note;

Clarity, definition, sustain can all be achieved with a mahogany body provided that you use a pickup which emphasises on the afore mentioned qualities; DiMarzio Evo, BKP Painkillers, Duncan Full Shreds to name a few examples. However, if you dont care for the dark sound that Mahogany gives I'de advise you to go with Ash or Alder, though in my experience Ash sustains better due to it's weight.

 

[yacker]

It's on the installation manual.

http://www.graphtech.com/fckeditor/userfiles/File/GhostManualPrintable.pdf

Page 10 of the PDF.

It would be best to point that out to your builder and ask if he thinks that would be a problem, but I highly doubt what they are referring to will be an issue or involve you needing to shim the neck. They just don't want you to crush the wires by setting the saddles incredibly low.....which really shouldn't be too much of a problem either assuming you have holes drilled in the bridge to allow for the wires to not be in harms way.