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Dilema...


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Basically I could do my project using Carvin's neck (neck thru already slotted, fretted, radiused, etc...)

OR

I could contact luthier supply UK and get all 4 pieces I need, i.e the neck, 2 wings and ebony fingerboard. I'd then assemble the neck and fingerboard together, slot the fingerboard for 31 frets (slanted, like the ESP Kiko Loureiko... however you spell his name. And no I don't need this, but I think it looks real good especially with a slanted single coil I'll put in the neck position). That'd mean WAY more work (not too much a bad thing) and also what I dread the most, the carving of the neck's backshape...

I really want to do a lot, but not go too far. I'm unskilled yet. The problem with the Carvin neck thru is that it's expensive, doesn't have the specs I want, and may not match any non thicknessed body wings I get.

Do you have any solutions or advise?

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Hmmm, sounds like you want some rather non-standard specs out of a standard neck.

I think the single most important part of a guitar build is the fretboard and fretting. Mess that up and you WILL do it again until it is right or "good enough"

The neck carve sounds hard at first, but using a spokeshave is pretty easy. It goes slow enough that you will have to really space out to make a project-ending mistake and it goes fast enough that it doesn't take you a year to get the thing to look right.

If it is the first build, I would go the easy route and just buy the carvin neck, then after you get a good feel, make a guitar with all the specs you really want.

Take it from someone who's first guitar was a set neck maple carve top (neck from scratch). Since my neck was a fairly standard design, I came to the conclusion that it is far easier to just buy a pre-made neck and use it rather than spend half of the build creating a neck that, at best, will be equal to the neck I could have purchased. My next guitar is using the same Carvin neck-through you are considering. Should cut the build time waaaay down and I will pretty much have to do the routing with a blindfold to ruin the guitar.

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I decided to do EVEN easier :D

A mightymite, warmoth, or anything similar neck (as long as it's cheap...so warmoth was just an example) and then just do the body basically. It'll give me some routing and woodworking experience that will help me not screw up the 'real' project:) Thanks for the tip!

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Carvin are fantastic necks, better than warmoth IMO. So don't think that because the price is a bit cheaper they are "cheap stuff". The reason Doug is a bit more expensive is because they are custom to your needs, while Carvin is plain as it can be. On warmoth you can customize a little bit, but still Doug got them beat hands down.

For what you want, if it is that 31 fret exageration, Doug will be the one to talk to.

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Actually it wasn't 31 frets. I don't know why I had this number. I think it was 27? Well on older Jackson Warrior, they had the end of the fretboard as a triangle and a slanted single coil. That's what I want to achieve basically.

I'm not saying Doug is less good. I'm just saying that for a first try, I'd rather try with something cheaper so I won't mess it up.

Edited by Pott
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BTW the carvins are MUCH more customisable than what ppl would think...

You just have to call them... You can get every options that are on their custom guitars.

I alredy did. When I made my last gold strat, and there weren't much options available. That's why I ended up getting the regular bolt neck.

They are still great, so I ain't complaining much. The only thing I have to complain about was that the 5th fret on the low E was a bit lower than the rest of the frets. bummer, since I rather had it a bit higher. I pulled it a bit, sweeped a bit of CA and so far so good.

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Do you have any solutions or advise?

My suggestion would be to forget about finding a cheap way out of building a neck and get the wood to do it yourself. It is not that difficult if you take your time and the experience will give you far more skill than if you just bought the neck and bolted it on. So the choice really is do you want to build a guitar or just a ssemble one? I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you want to just save time then why not buy a guitar? If you are worried out the neck carve avoiding it won't help you learn how to do it. I say go for the neck build. There are plenty of resources here, you can do it if you put your mind to it.

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Eh buying a guitar is no fun. Assembling is funner, but not my much. Either way, I'd build the whole body, that's for sure.

By 'cheap' I meant that if I take the most expensice option, I'd be even more screwed so I'm looking for the solution which makes it easy enough to gain the experience I want, while not making me want to kill myself if I screw it up :D

I wanted to start just with the body first so I could learn how to deal with wood basically. But I've read more and more about how to carve a neck and I feel slightly better about it. I think I'll just do it all. I want to get the most experience and waste the more sweat while still having some room for mistakes. If I just spend it all in expensive stuff I won't have any :D

I think it'll most likely depend on how much I have available. I am totally income less so depending on how much I sell my drum kit for will probably decide on how much I can spend.

Edited by Pott
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