joej

Ditto on what they said -- endgrain to endgrain is the weakest joint. Biscuit joint is, dowel it, or do some kind of spline so that there is long grain to long grain gluing. Else ... the joint will fail. -- joe

extra info ... That Bruce Weiart guy seems to have a bunch of inlaying going on, and ebays a lot of items. I've ordered a couple things from him, just to see what the deal is. He seems on the level -- very decent in email, promptly shipped, concerned that I was pleased with the items, etc. I'm guessing he gets bulk/cheap materials over there, and the ebay thing is a side business to recoup more money from his efforts. --joe

Boston has a 'Sparqs' -- coop woodshop (metalshop, etc.) http://www.sparqs.com/ -- joe

You'll get lots of opinions on this one (and, yes, the tele sounds like a nice/easy introduction into making a guitar) ...let me start: Simplest/easiest guitar is - flat, solid body (no carves, bevels, etc.) ... 1 or 2 piece body - single humbucker / simple wiring with only 1 volume control - standard scale length - simple hard-tail bridge From here on down, the cost start rising ... Easier? - buy the body, neck, and parts - finish the body yourself - just assemble Easier? - buy a finished body does that sound right, folks? -- joe Oh -- go buy the Hiscock book, too. Its worth it for this.

... and tasty too ! Just kidding -- yew and hemlock are on the wood toxicity list. So, be careful when using them. -- joe

I'd used a brass tube, that I filed some serrations into the end, to cut small veneer "circles" -- for fret dots. I placed them in the fretboard with a ring of the tube (drill, place ring, place veneer, lay down CA thing, level & polish) It looked OK, but here is what I learned --- VERY interesting woods do not often look very interesting when you only have a small dot of them. - Zebrawood looked great (try to cut dots so there is a nice dark grain line or two in them) - Flamed, etc -- not so visible - etc ... -- joe

quick scale/fret summary from my point of view: 1- Vibrating string with 2 end-points = your scale length That is: nut to bridge saddles 2- Frets are laid out under this string at certain divisions. Example: 12th fret = 1/2 the length 3- You can have ANY scale length, but remember that strings and human beings are built to work better at certain lengths Examples: bass scale 30,34 inches with fat strings (hard to chord :-), and guitar lengths are 25, 25.5, 24.75 inches with thin strings (easier to chord), smaller (20" length scale) miniguitars are a PAIN to play and have to be tuned differently than 'normal' guitars ... So ... Think carefully if you really want a non-standard scale length -- there are lots of factors into why history has settled down to the "normal" scale lengths. Then, if you really want to -- go for it, but you have to calculate out the frets and make all the pieces (can't guy fretboard, neck, etc from off-the-shelf) -- joe

Careful ... I remember some woodworkers forum talking about some bad reactions to monkey pod dust. Make sure to use dust mask, clean up the dust, etc.etc -- joe

Why not naval jelly, then cover/protect the metal? --joe (or am I missing something here?)

After watching this thread since the start ... I have 2 comments: 1- Holy moly, this could have degraded into a nasty battle Kudos to the posters and Pr3Va1L for keeping the whole "we're all friends" concept in mind. THIS is why I like this forum :-) and 2- Remember the "too many cooks spoil the broth" admonition? Well -- you all proved that wrong, too. The design looks much better and the contributions are helping, not hindering. This is why I contributed to this forum (and need to again for this year :-) Any of you get to Boston, I'll buy you a beer. -- joe

Sure -- easy for a drummer to say, you got strong arms :-) I say we meet him at this guy's house, and have a little talk with him together! -- joe (in boston, ready to go)

Tony -- I was just pointing out the Warmoth site for the info they give. Yes, they're expensive. Remember, the string path (nut, neck, fretboard, bridge, pickups and their setup) factors VERY strongly in guitar playability. Also, these are the pieces of the guitar that are dealing with the string tension, etc. So ... I don't think there are any inexpensive necks out there, unless you watch eBay for good deals. -- joe

Some folks here can help with places to get decent and decent-priced necks. Obvious things: (scale length is strat, neck pocket size, # frets, right/left hand) Lots of other details: - profile of the neck (fat, skinny, thin, etc. or other profiles: wizard) - frets (jumbo humps up more, medium or normal is standard, I think) - Want tuning pegs on that? if so, which make/model/kind? - inlays are dots or something special - two-way truss rod? or single action? - etc. Hit www.warmoth.com -> guitars -> necks ->strat® That page lists out all the variables + shows neck profiles + etc. After the neck is mounted on the guitar -- you still need to have it adjusted/set-up. The neck adjustment + string height, nut, bridge configuration makes or breaks a guitar -- in my opinion. -- joe

Opinions and butt holes? Everyone has one. Here's mine (opinion that is) ... 1- upper/bass body side looks so much larger/heavier than the bottom/treble side It feels out of proportion. Its sort-of like the neck-through should shift downward a bit & the top should lose some weight 2- headstock look cramped / string angle break oddly You may want to shift it "up" ... or widen the headstock a wee bit. 3- I don't know if I like the bottom horn or not. I think I like it ... but that the line between the horns should sweep more than be a straight line. Maybe. Or, heck, maybe that little horn needs to poke out a bit more :-) My photoshop skills are lacking ... but here is an example of just shifting the treble side up and the headstock shifted + expanded a bit (below). -- joe edit -- wow, my ps skills do suck: ignore the goofs ... I hope you get the general idea, though.

Few more design notes from my travel guitar forays ... 1- I dislike the micro/mini amps ... they sound bad. So, if I do stick a preamp/amp inside, then it'll be a MIMF preamp or a real amp circuit (not based on some audio preamp chip that sounds bad) 2- I like full scale, not some 19" neck scale Playing an Epiphone Pee Wee Les Paul is like having the capo on the 3rd fret all the time. Ugh. I'd rather lose some upper frets by shifting the neck farther into the body than lose scale length. 3- I don't think I'd like headless eTribe is headless Neat idea, but I don't like how his tuners are mounted (angle is all wrong). I think more problems get introduced when you try to have the strings terminate at the body/endblock area. I don't know if I want that hassle.