Skervesen Raptor 6 Build Advice

[Griffo]

Hi guys, thought I'd get your input on a Skervesen Raptor 6 string build while I wait for them to email me back

I'm going to be ordering a 6 string Raptor ASAP from Skervesen, I just wanted to get your opinion on a few things as I'm still unsure on wood selection and pickups (which can be swapped out so isn't a big deal)

I'm wanting it to be as versatile as possible as I like to play a bit of everything (mainly fusion just lately, but love to play heavier rock, blues and metal)

The only thing I currently know that I want is a maple top, mainly for the looks of it.

What sort of body wood and neck wood would you recommend baring in mind my requirements for genres? I was also thinking of an ebony fretboard as I like how they play and look.

As for pickups - Bareknucle Black Hawks sound like a good choice for versatility.

Your input is appreciated, cheers guys!

 

[angus]

This question borders on the "which X is good for metal"- it's not as though ash is versatile, mahogany is for metal but limba is DEFINITELY for fusion (but not straight forward jazz, because that's alder territory). They will all work fine for all genres, and it becomes less and less important the more heavily you are processing the sound.

Besides, "versatility" isn't a requirement so much as a lack of a requirement.

Who has a sound you particularly like? That should help focus your choice. But wood to sound is by no means an exact science, so it is still always a bit of a crapshoot.

I happen to be a fan of the rosewood/ebony necks, because I really, really stiff neck woods on guitars. I like the snap and attack, and I find rosewood to be a little darker in character than maple.

I also like lighter guitars, so lighter weight ash or mahogany is what I normally gravitate towards. The sapele on my Raptor 6 is very similar to mahogany. Sounds amazing.

 

[Walterson]

What sort of body wood and neck wood would you recommend baring in mind my requirements for genres?

You can play every genre on any kind of wood, take what you like.

 

[Walterson]

...must become faster....

 

[SkullCrusher]

Hey

I'm just about to put money down on a velociraptor.

I'm going with mahogany body, flame maple top, rosewood/ebony neck and rosewood fretboard. And black hawks for pickups.

I went for mahogany as I personally like the mid range from it. Think les paul.

For djenty scooped mids tones. Ash would be the way to go.
For variety I'd say mahogany.

Sapele is a type of mahogany.

 

[Griffo]

Hey

I'm just about to put money down on a velociraptor.

I'm going with mahogany body, flame maple top, rosewood/ebony neck and rosewood fretboard. And black hawks for pickups.

I went for mahogany as I personally like the mid range from it. Think les paul.

For djenty scooped mids tones. Ash would be the way to go.
For variety I'd say mahogany.

Sapele is a type of mahogany.

I've been chatting with them and so far I'm thinking:

Body: Ash + maple top (waiting on their wood delivery to see what I want)
Neck: 5 pc - ebony/rosewood
Fretboard: ebony
Headstock - skervesen swan style
Finish - unsure
Pickups - black hawks or nailbombs

Going to have what they call "world domination mod" too.

Look forward to seeing more of your build! If I like this one ill return to them for sure for more. Seem to be great guys to deal with.

 

[mikernaut]

Sounds like a bunch of us trying to nail down specs for new Skervesens

I'm thinking over wood choices for my neck to go with an ash body and poplar top.

What's the "world domination" mod?

 

[Griffo]

Sounds like a bunch of us trying to nail down specs for new Skervesens

I'm thinking over wood choices for my neck to go with an ash body and poplar top.

What's the "world domination" mod?

It does indeed. I can see why, though. Their stuff looks and sounds incredible!

For a versatile Skervesen, they recommended the rosewood/ebony neck wood cimbination to me and with an ebony fretboard.

I'm not completely sure about the world domination mod. This is how it was described to me in the email:

"World Domination Mod (two 3-way
switches for normal, acoustic and coil split sound. You can have it also as
push pull vol knob and one 3-way switch)."

So with the acoustic thing mentioned, i'm not sure whether they mean that it will have a piezo installed or not, because in other emails John Petrucci was mentioned when referencing this mod and i know his guitars come loaded with it. It'd be cool, but i'm mainly just interested in the humbuckers being coil-tappable!

I have asked for more clarification on the world domination mod though, so i will post what they say when i get a reply.

Can't wait get this build started!

 

[angus]

I'm probably the only customer who actively did not want that switching setup, because not having it allowed me to have a thinner body (and I never use all the options on guitar anyway).

 

[Griffo]

I'm probably the only customer who actively did not want that switching setup, because not having it allowed me to have a thinner body (and I never use all the options on guitar anyway).

This gets me thinking. While i do like to have the option to coil-tap, will i actually use it, and how often? I'm thinking probably not much. If i want a single coil sound or a "stratty" sound, i'll more than likely plug in my Tele or Vigier.

How much difference is there in the thickness without these options? I would have thought it would be quite minimal, but i'm not experienced with building guitars or even wiring/modding them so any light you can shed on the subject would be appreciated.

 

[72xmulch]

You asked for "versatile" in your original post , definitely get coil tapping.. otherwqise just make it as awesome aw possible and play your Tele when it.calls for it?

 

[Amanita]

"World Domination Mod (two 3-way
switches for normal, acoustic and coil split sound. You can have it also as
push pull vol knob and one 3-way switch)."

So with the acoustic thing mentioned, i'm not sure whether they mean that it will have a piezo installed or not, because in other emails John Petrucci was mentioned when referencing this mod and i know his guitars come loaded with it. It'd be cool, but i'm mainly just interested in the humbuckers being coil-tappable!

I have asked for more clarification on the world domination mod though, so i will post what they say when i get a reply.

if i may chime in with clarification (maybe it will be of a use for someone else too)
"acoustic mod" and "world domination mod" terms come from vocabulary of Vicol our Soldering Master.
acoustic mod is coil splitting combined with a clever passive filter network. it gives a fuller sound that plain split and in particular in middle position (both pickups) gives spectacular results. in our completely biased opinion of course. no piezo is harmed with this mod
world domination mod is a combination of normal humbucking, splitting and acoustic mod on one switch.
if you want more impartial information about these features you could chat up user stratjacket here, as he has a 4AP axe loaded with them.
so called Petrucci mod is coil split with inner (away from bridge/neck) coils of both pickups playing. Tomas of MDB has this feature in his green Raptor.

 

[Gregori]

Coil-splitting(the correct term) is rather weak. Instead of that, do a series/parallel switch.

The first thing that comes to mind when people say they want versatility is the Seymour Duncan P-Rail. I haven't had the chance to play one myself, but it just sounds like a good idea for versatility.

 

[stratjacket]

Amanita is right with that description. If you want versatility, then this is the very definition of that in my mind. I normally like a very simple setup and usually strip my guitars down to a single volume knob, no tone and never coil tap. Just flip between bridge and neck. But this is a very cool mod to mess around with.

My 4AP has 2 switches and 1 vol, no tone. It is also chambered which I think helps the "acoustic" bit, but not enough that I still can't get balls out metal.

Switch 1 - standard fare: Neck / outer coils / Bridge
Switch 2 - pos 1: coil split / pos 2: Full humbucking / pos 3: acoustic mod.
No piezo. So Switch 2 performs these variation in combination with whatever pickups are selected. So that is 9 possible combinations in total and they do sound different.

The different sounds can be best heard on a super clean channel. I wouldn't say the acoustic mod is actually acoustic, I mean I can tell it's not an acoustic guitar. But it can get pretty close and it sounds great. It's unique I guess, not exactly like a clean electric guitar sound either. Adding some effects and such and you can really make it sound "pretty"

I actually found that I like playing the acoustic mod with heavy distortion instead of straight humbucking sometimes. It sounds a little bit fuller and it rounds off a little of bite.

I guess instead of trying to explain all the settings individually, I can say that all 9 settings sound different. Combined with different amps, effects and such, it just gives more options to play with and create different sounds. And I can still just put it on the bridge, straight humbucking and get the basic sound I love too.

 

[Amanita]

Coil-splitting(the correct term) is rather weak. Instead of that, do a series/parallel switch.

The first thing that comes to mind when people say they want versatility is the Seymour Duncan P-Rail. I haven't had the chance to play one myself, but it just sounds like a good idea for versatility.

you're kinda preaching to the choir, sir
coil split tends to sound weak, true. weak sounds have their uses tho' and some humbuckers can give nice strat-like tone. BKP VHII is our in-house favourite at the moment
parallel is nice, gives an extended treble response at the cost of weaker output when compared to serial connection of coils. unfortunately it has the same "mushy" attack as series due to phase interference of coils. at least when compared to the sound of a single/splitted coil.
simplest way of thinking about "acoustic mod" is taking it as a splitting without sounding weak

haven't had the chance of testing P-rails either, but they seem to be 2 nice and very different single with an option of making a humbucker from them.
what we looked for was a classic hi-gain humbucker with a possibility of making it sound good with clean and ultra-clean (cheers stratjacket ) sounds.

 

[Andromalia]

For djenty scooped mids tones..

Djent....scooped ?
Djent...scooped ?
Djent...scooped ?
Djent...scooped ?

Did I miss the third world war or ?

 

[nicktao]

Hey guys similar situation here, specs:

Chambered mahogany body
quilt maple with lagoon burst
rosewood neck ebony fillets
ebony fretboard
bkp blackhawks

 

[angus]

Good, safe specs. I can't wait to see this one.

 

[Griffo]

Thanks for all the information guys. This forum is awesome! I think I'll go all put on this and get those features.

Just hope the guys at Skervesen send me some paper with the switch/position info so my mind isn't totally blown

Now waiting on finalising my spec with Maciek who I'm hoping will get back to me tomorrow and then this build can get started!

Also waiting to see if the finishes I'm fond of are possible and the maple delivery to see what I can have as my top.

 

[Rhino-152]

Has anybody/can anyone supply a wiring diagram for the "world domination" mod? Or even some pictures of the cavity