ScottR

It seems like I've been working on this neck forever. And like every neck I've built so far, I boogered up the fretboard while dressing the frets. So I had to go back and polish it all over again. One thing I learned worth passing on is the best way to clean oils and resins and general gunk out of micro mesh. I've used everything from soap and water and a toothbrush, to rubbing alcohol, to lacquer thinner and a scrub brush. Today I used denatured alcohol and a terry cloth rag and it is hands down the best. Cuts fast, cleans quickly, and drys soon; it leaves the sheet looking like new. So I did get done with the neck shaping and fret dressing. that should be enough about the neck until I set it. SR

Measure from the front edge of the nut to the center of the 12th fret and double that. That is your scale length. Adjust the saddle of your high E string 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the way forward and locate your bridge with that saddle at your scale length. For example a strat has a 25.5" scale and so that saddle would be set 25.5" from the nut. Based on your questions, you should probably get someone with plenty of this kind of experience to help you out or at least check what you are getting ready to do before you drill any holes. You've got a lot more questions you need to learn the answers to before you get started. SR

I've picked these up at Walmart, Lowes, HD, and Sears. They've always been with the Dremel accessories. http://www.blackanddecker.com/attachments/RT1000.aspx They don't shatter like the dremel wheels do and those things are like shrapnel when they go. SR

I started dressing the fret ends last night using my regular steel triangle file that I smoothed the edges down for this purpose. It works fine. It takes longer on these SS frets, perhaps twice as many strokes, but it gets the job done. iwasn't getting anywhere setting the diamond file up, so I gave it a shot. I've never worked with or played on SS or jumbos either for that matter. I'm pretty much only building this for the fun of building it anyway, so I figured I'd find out what all the fuss was about. SR

Do you have one of those flexible extentions? I love mine. Except for routing that's the only way I set mine up. I hang the body with a bungie cord let the extension dangle near my work space. Very handy and much easier to control and get into tighter places. Which cut off wheel do you use? I like the ones made for the B&D Wizard much better than the Dremel wheels. SR

Doesn't that give you equal gaps? SR

Additionally the content of your post--what you say--plays a large part in generating responses. Use a "here's what I've done" format and people are going to watch with interest if the work is good--and yours is--but may not feel compelled to say anything. Throw out some bold statements or opinions or methods that others can relate to or disagree with can start discussions. To wit--your last comment in main post was one that made folks feel compelled to respond to and so they did. Not very subtle, perhaps, but it was a conversation starter. And lo and behold, we're still talking about it. SR

+1 SR

Yea. Same here. silently following. i realy like this build. I would not worry about the lack of posts from others. It usualy means you just havent fukt up badly enough for any comments. +1 Sometimes during a build we just can't think of what to say, but we still can't wait to see what happens next! If your view count goes up everytime you post, people are definitely interested and watching. SR

Let me know how it goes. The tool we have here is basically a shear. I'm thinking a shear type cutter would work just fine. SR

My heavy docks (wire cutters)weren't doing a very good job cutting it. It took way too much effort and the ends deformed quite a bit before being cut off. I have a great tool here at the plant that is used for cutting rules for steel dies.....but that was not where I was. The cut off wheel was fast and accurate and even useful for trimming up close to the board. Did make the frets hot though, I had to hit them with a little compressed air before touching them with my fingers. My StewMac frett cutters are great for cutting up close to the board, but they already had a small dent or chip in the cutting edge from nickel frets. They worked fine for EVO too. I didn't even try them on the SS. Jumbo SS is pretty dang tough stuff. That's why I am trying to fix up a diamond file for dressing the ends. The angled bastard file I set up for beveling the ends workd fine BTW, although it did take longer. SR

I've got a stone on my grinder that was intended for cleaning up the edges of granite slabs after they are cut up into counter tops. Didn't touch it. Didn't knock the first crystal off. The file did make a pretty good grinding wheel dresser though. SR

Thanks guys. Soooooo, does anyone know how to smooth one edge of a diamond triangle file? I thought I might be able to knock off whatever it is they used to bond the crystals to the metal of the file. But so far.....no. So far not even another diamond file is working. Huh SR

Thanks, It's in the first pic of the second post today on the corner of the portable workbench. I did a little thread when I made it a while back. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=43964&st=0 SR

Frets are in trimmed and beveled. I think before I level and dress the ends, I carve the neck. I clamped it into my portable work bench and went to work with my handy dandy rasp I made from a used bandsaw blade. That thing's still the fasting cutting rasp I own. The neck is now roughed in and the inlay is leveled but not polished. SR

Yesterday morning while I was fretting the neck in my garage, a young lady walked up my driveway. She had a clipboard and I was afraid she was either going to be selling or preaching.....but what she said was, I want to complement you on your music. She said who's playing? I said, why that's Gary Moore! She said she stopper her car and opened the door and went, whoa....that sounds nice. What does he play, jazz? I said, well, he gets jazzy sometimes and he's played a lot of rock, but mostly he plays the blues. Is this from his latest release? No, that's something live from Montreux. I'm gonna have to look him up. Always glad to help educate today's youth. I use a wedge of jatoba with a grove in it to hammer in my frets. The ends are rounded to keep it off the board and between the mallet and the fret-set, I don't get any bounce. I just slide it along the fret and tap. It does a nice job of focusing the energy of the tap too. This is stainless steel jumbo wire. I cut one fret with my docks and moved on to a cut-off wheel on my dremel. The 12" radius that lmii ships there wire in is perfect for my 14" board. I made my first attempt at cutting shell for an inlay. It was very tedious. I used a Stewmac router base for my dremel (very nice piece that) and a 1/32" down spiral bit. I cut a tighter hole on my practice piece. Man the strokes on thee letters sure looked narrower when I was cutting them. SR

This is counter to your request since you specified pads, but I've done it many times using the regular sanding sheets and the foam sanding block. Oddly enough it seems to work better dry sanding instead of wet sanding. SR

Very creative and lots of depth. SR

It did indeed. It is. I use the screws in the pick-up waste area method too. SR

Smooth..... probably just semantics. SR

Org- a couple of questions about your neckwood on this (beautiful) guitar. Have you ever used that mulberry for a body wood? I was wondering how it is to work. I've got a few logs set aside for carving. That stuff has got some great reflective rays in it. Also, have you ever made a neck using a greter amount of osage orange? I'm thinking the properties that make that a great longbow wood would also make it a great neck wood. SR

What's your verdict on the "real" neck blank? Other than the huge pile of orange sawdust? SR

That's beautiful Allen. I'm glad you didn't give up on it. I checked back at the beginning to remember all the changes you had to make and saw that I'd totally forgotten that the router tried to eat your blackwood. Ican see no evidence of that at all now. Great recovery! SR

Excellent neck to body transition. I really like the cutaway scoop on the back. Something about the same scoop on the front keeps catching my eye though. The way the light catches the top edge of the curve of the scoop, on the horn side makes a visible line that makes you compare it to the curve in the cutaway. Those two curves do not look smooth together, they kind of pinch in a bit and it's the scoop carve that's doing it. I'm sorry I don't have the tools to point out on the pic exactly what I'm talking about. SR

I'd like to make one from bloodwood. It has similar working properties to jatoba, as well as weight and density. We already know it's bright, so I'd wager that it'd be a great neck material. And it'd look stunning with a matching fretboard and a white body. I have a pair of Rickenbackers I've had in the planning stages for about a year now. Both will have jatoba fretboards. It should make great fretboards. It tends more towards mid-ranges than bright IMO. Notyou had a jatoba top on his abused blues and it sounded great. Of course the charring might have changed its characteristics somewhat. SR