Myka Guitars Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 I actually got the idea for the neck joint from Harry Fleishman. I took a class from him about 2 years ago. He is a wild man with some very cool ideas. His bolt on necks have 3 adjustable set screws that allow you to change the angle of the neck without having to carve or sand anything. He also builds some wicked electric basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Today I prepared an adjustable bridge and took a ton of pictures. This bridge will be ebony with a bone saddle. I think the bone will provide a nice acoustic tone. The adjustablility will be via thumbscrews available from StewMac. This post is pretty image intensive so I will put it into a few posts. First step is to prepare the bridge base: The bridge blank is scribed along the arched top with a pencil. It is then cut on a bandsaw and filed to shape. I made this jig from the Benedetto book to sand the bridge bottom on the arched top. I makes for a perfect fit. This will be done again when the guitar has finish on it to make sure it is still perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Next the saddle is made and fit into the top portion of the bridge. The bone saddle is made from a piece of 1/4" bone. I like to use the thick stuff. This way I can make a straight saddle and still have room for the compensation cuts. The outline of the bone is scribed onto the ebony piece with an awl. Then chalk is rubbed into the outline to give us a line to work with. The ebony is taped to the table and 2 rails hold the router to height. The outline is routed to 3/16". You may not notice fro the picture but ther is a little slop in the cut. This is OK. I learned a cool trick for making the airtight saddle fit. First a mixture of epoxy and ebony wood dust is prepared. After wetting the slot with just epoxy the mixture is pressed into the slot. The bone saddle is waxed heavily and pressed into the slot and clamped until cured. After it is cured clamp just the saddle in a vise and hit the ebony with a small hammer to realease it. Another perfect fit! Works great on acoustic guitar bridges too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Next the thumbscrew holes are drilled and installed. I set the depth of the drill so it does not go through the bottom of the bridge base piece. The bridge is now ready for final shaping and carving. I will be carving some shape into the bridge and possibly adding some inlaid ornamentation. I also will be making the bridge more narrow and some other tweaks. The rest of the work is mostly cosmetic but this should get you a workable bridge. I will hold off and do the carving of the bone saddle when the guitar is ready for strings. Enjoy!~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 what he said. You continue to amaze me David! I get more excited to start work on my archtop every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 wow. i love that stacked ebony and bone bridge on an electric!!! but shouldnt the top ebony piece have some curvature to it so its not so 'stacked' or blocky looking? just a thought nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 but shouldnt the top ebony piece have some curvature to it so its not so 'stacked' or blocky looking? It does look rather blocky at this point doesn't it? It's like leaving a neck uncarved! The bridge has been prepared larger than necessary. I used 1/2" stock and left it big so it is easier to work with. Now that the bridge is functional I can trim and carve it until it looks right. I will be adding some curve to the base and top pieces by the time I am finished with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 that looks all very nice, but i am curious if you will be able to do any intonation-adjustments with this bridge? i somehow think this will be impossible.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 he's gonna put compensation cuts in it, it looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 that looks all very nice, but i am curious if you will be able to do any intonation-adjustments with this bridge? i somehow think this will be impossible.... It's not impossible. Like rob says, it will be done that same way as with a fixed saddle acoustic guitar by carving the bone saddle piece under each string with compensation cuts. The saddle for this bridge is 1/4" in width. That is 1/16" more than the compensation offset I need. I will have plenty of room to make the intonation adjustments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyunsu Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 thank to Myka.. when i see your pic , i feel happy .. your good work.. beatifull.. thank to shaw your pic.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Hows it coming Myka? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWhoSoldTheWorld Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Yeah, I'm anxious to see some updates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I have been finishing up an acoustic guitar doing the final buff and setup both yesterday and today. I didn't have much time for the archtop like I was hoping. With the little free time I did have to spend on this I put a little work into the bridge. I made it a lot thinner and put some curve into it. I also added a small, simple inlay to cover the screw holes in the ebony saddle. It looks pretty cool. I will probably fret the neck tomorrow and prepare for routing and setting the neck. I will have the time for some more work so expect some more pictures tomorrow evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWhoSoldTheWorld Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Yay! I can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Today I did the fretting and routed the neck pocket. Here is a pic of my homemade fret press. I cut off an end of a Stew Mac radius sanding block and put a dowel in it to fit onto a drill press. Here is a pic showing the fret being cut to size and the end overhang cut to fit over the binding. To put the frets in first run a tiny bead of Titebond glue into the slot. Then fit the fret inplace. Use a small hammer if you need to tap it in a bit. Press it in with the fret press. Make sure it seats well. After pressing it you may have to clean up some glue. Use a damp rag. The fret cleaned of glue and the ends trimmed. The whole neck fretted. The final step involves putting one drop of gap filling super glue on every fret end. This keeps strings from getting underneath them. After the glue dries the edges will be sanded and the frets will be dressed with a file and diamond stone on the edges to put a bevel on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weezerboy Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 excellent thats the kind of post i have been longing for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 This setup is for routing the neck pocket. The jig is pretty easy to make. The wood ends on the jig are setup so that when the stright edges are in place the resulting angle is 3 degrees. You can adjust it with shims if you need to change it. The aluminum clamps are held there by thereaded inserts set into the plywood base for the jig. There is cork on the bottoms of the aluminum where is contacts the body so it doesn't mar it. First off the jig is screwed down to the bench. Then the guitar is clamped into place and the neck is clamped onto the straight edges. This sets the angle perfectly. The straight edges are then tightened into place, the neck removed, and a back stop is also clamped into place to set the end of the route. Measure everything at least three times at this point. For cheap insurance I put two layers of tape on the stright edges to allow for a finish pass. For the final pass the tape is removed. If you are unsure if you got the tolerances close enough only remove on layer at a time and check it. If it is too tight remove another layer and make another router pass. With the finish passes hold that router tight. The last pass must be smooth and without error. The router is fitted with a long bearing guided bit. Take it slow and easy with the routing. After a few passes the tape is removed and a final pass is made. Then the neck is fitted into place after some slight sanding of the edges. Nice tight fit! Here is a shot from the front. Look at the thickness of that spruce! I love it~ Top view. As you can see from the pictures there is a lot of contact along the joint. This is a very sturdy neck joint. The pickup will be routed into the end of the neck tenon but it will still have a good amount of wood holding it. The next step will be to glue in the neck and route for pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Not too much to update today. I roughed carved the neck and glued it in place. It looks sweet with the lacewood back. Here are a couple pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWhoSoldTheWorld Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Looking very good Myka, thats going to be an awesome guitar when its done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 myka, it's beautiful. imagine how it'll be when you're done.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivin Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Sheesh! Your work is absolutely exquisite! so neat and just generally stunning ive looked over your website so many times and i never get bored of looking at the pretty pics keep it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strummer2k Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Wow, that guitar is obviously beautiful, but I am learning alot just seeing "how" you did some of those things. Especially that neck pocket rig, very cool. I wish I had seen that a little earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWhoSoldTheWorld Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Yeah, your posts are really good, you show how you do things very well, lots of help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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