ScottR Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 I'm a fan of jatoba. I think it makes great necks. That's a pretty unique coloration. It looks great against your top, I agree. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 8 hours ago, ScottR said: I'm a fan of jatoba. I think it makes great necks. That's a pretty unique coloration. It looks great against your top, I agree. SR interesting, I've never seen a Jatoba neck blank (I'd better start looking), but I agree it feels great - very hard like ebony. My only reservation was down to colour but I like this contrast, it's also so similar in colour to the khaya neck blank that I can barely tell the difference between the two until looking closely. Happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 I don't know if you will ever find a neck blank made from jatoba, it is not a common material for necks. I've made 4 or 5 necks from it though, as I happened into a free stock of jatoba timbers some years ago. It is very hard tough and strong, and in particular very stiff. A PG member from Brazil told me that it has a reputation down there as being very mid-tone-ish. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdogg Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 7 hours ago, ScottR said: I don't know if you will ever find a neck blank made from jatoba, it is not a common material for necks. I've made 4 or 5 necks from it though, as I happened into a free stock of jatoba timbers some years ago. It is very hard tough and strong, and in particular very stiff. A PG member from Brazil told me that it has a reputation down there as being very mid-tone-ish. SR I've heard the same thing said about Wenge (very mid-tone-ish) which also happens to be very hard and stiff. I would have though both timbers would be very bright based upon the hardness but apparently that's not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 Did a bit more routing My neck blank being only 30mm isn’t quite thick enough for my desired tenon so I glued an offcut of my droptoo onto the the bottom which should make a cool contrast. Drew around the body with a couple of washers so that I can carve the heel to the shape of the body. Then I made a crude routing jig and got the under side of the neck to thickness, hope I haven’t gone too thin! The fretboard is 5mm and the mahogany is 15mm so I’ve got 5-6mm under the truss rod, will be my thinnest neck yet, I normally shoot for 21-21.5mm. Last up tonight, I glued some ears on the headstock so I can get the top glued in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 jeez at 19 inches that neck is going to be THICK! seriously tho... nice and thin... just the way I like them. cool heel shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 8 hours ago, mistermikev said: jeez at 19 inches that neck is going to be THICK! seriously tho... nice and thin... just the way I like them. cool heel shape. ha, I know it's funny how us Brits do our measurements. weigh the guitars and lumber in pounds, buy lumber in inches and refer to scale lengths in inches, but I always measure them in mm during the woodworking (I do anyway). Drill bits are another one, when you read the dimensions on the box, length is always in inches and diameter is always in mm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said: ha, I know it's funny how us Brits do our measurements. weigh the guitars and lumber in pounds, buy lumber in inches and refer to scale lengths in inches, but I always measure them in mm during the woodworking (I do anyway). Drill bits are another one, when you read the dimensions on the box, length is always in inches and diameter is always in mm yeah, you brits with yer PRECISION and what not. Funny how that gets mixed. I tend to still measure precision things with inches but it gets a little tedious when you get past a 64th! I'm pavlov's dog over here. I think all holes tend to be in mm because most std bit sizes that are in inches don't get into 64ths. Rarely 32nds. At least the common ones anyway. anywho, really nice project there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 12 minutes ago, mistermikev said: yeah, you brits with yer PRECISION and what not. Funny how that gets mixed. I tend to still measure precision things with inches but it gets a little tedious when you get past a 64th! I'm pavlov's dog over here. I think all holes tend to be in mm because most std bit sizes that are in inches don't get into 64ths. Rarely 32nds. At least the common ones anyway. anywho, really nice project there! I've found drill bits to be a bit of a nightmare. The studs that came with the PRS bridge I used on the ziricote build require 1/2" wells, but I was not able to get a 1/2" drill bit in the UK, closest was 12.5mm and that was hard to find. £20 for a bloody drill bit I tried using that to install them on an earlier build but it was still too tight, when I tapped in the brass wells, they compressed and I couldn't screw in the studs. So when I got round to installing the bridge on the ziricote build, I had to buy new wells and studs. I tend to stick to schaller/gotoh bridges now because at least everything is metric and I can get bits for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 7 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: I've found drill bits to be a bit of a nightmare. The studs that came with the PRS bridge I used on the ziricote build require 1/2" wells, but I was not able to get a 1/2" drill bit in the UK, closest was 12.5mm and that was hard to find. £20 for a bloody drill bit I tried using that to install them on an earlier build but it was still too tight, when I tapped in the brass wells, they compressed and I couldn't screw in the studs. So when I got round to installing the bridge on the ziricote build, I had to buy new wells and studs. I tend to stick to schaller/gotoh bridges now because at least everything is metric and I can get bits for them. really, PRS studs are that crappy that they didn't split your body (the horror)! I can't imagine the stress of pulling out studs that are in really tight. Well you could screw in the screws and use the claw of a hammer to pull them out (doh, too soon?) Good on ya for coming out of that unscathed! lots of other good reasons for schaller/gotoh anyway. as you know, I'm a big fanboy. Expensive, but solid and I feel like gotoh is some of the best looking hardware out there. I really want to try their carbon fiber bass tuners... but I'll have to save up for those! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 3 minutes ago, mistermikev said: really, PRS studs are that crappy that they didn't split your body (the horror)! I can't imagine the stress of pulling out studs that are in really tight. Well you could screw in the screws and use the claw of a hammer to pull them out (doh, too soon?) Good on ya for coming out of that unscathed! lots of other good reasons for schaller/gotoh anyway. as you know, I'm a big fanboy. Expensive, but solid and I feel like gotoh is some of the best looking hardware out there. I really want to try their carbon fiber bass tuners... but I'll have to save up for those! the studs that came with the bridge are really good quality, they just don't fit in any wells that I can use because I can't find a 1/2" bit. It was the brass wells that the studs screwed into that compressed - The PRS bridge didn't actually come with wells I had to order some brass wells from Mannmade. The body wood on that build is Ovangkol which I found out is the wood equivalent of granite , I don't think titanium wells would have cracked it I agree though. the schaller signum bridge is far superior to the prs equivalent, and it's half the price too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 4 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: the studs that came with the bridge are really good quality, they just don't fit in any wells that I can use because I can't find a 1/2" bit. It was the brass wells that the studs screwed into that compressed - The PRS bridge didn't actually come with wells I had to order some brass wells from Mannmade. The body wood on that build is Ovangkol which I found out is the wood equivalent of granite , I don't think titanium wells would have cracked it I agree though. the schaller signum bridge is far superior to the prs equivalent, and it's half the price too! ah... got it. I suppose, no matter how quality it is (and I understand manmade is great quality) it's brass so... that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: ah... got it. I suppose, no matter how quality it is (and I understand manmade is great quality) it's brass so... that makes sense. The hole created by the bit is just too tight. Might have been ok with a softer wood like mahogany or Ash, but the difference of .2mm between 1/2" and 12.5mm was enough to crush the brass well. it's crazy because .2mm is nothing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said: The hole created by the bit is just too tight. Might have been ok with a softer wood like mahogany or Ash, but the difference of .2mm between 1/2" and 12.5mm was enough to crush the brass well. it's crazy because .2mm is nothing! i guess granite is harder than brass then... good to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 8 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: I can't find a 1/2" bit eBay is your friend. I bought an imperial bit recently for the very same job. The supplier was UK Drills and it wasn't very expensive https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F260761111806 Hopefully that link works If not, search for "UK Drills blacksmith reduced shank" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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