G_urr_A Posted August 17, 2003 Report Share Posted August 17, 2003 I've been thinking about how to get the best and most guitars from what I have while still not beeing blown away by the expenses. What I want is to have a guitar that looks like a Jackson Kelly, is neckthru, and has sharkfin inlays, and a guitar that looks like an Explorer (specs yet to be decided upon). Since I allready have a Jackson KE3 (in semi-bad shape, needs refret, lacks cool inlays), I thought that instead of building both of the aforementioned guitars from scratch, I could save some time and money by converting my current KE3 into a neckthru, and while I'm at it, do some fancy inlays and refret and refinnish the bastard. What I'm wondering is if there is any possibility that one could, by glueing on pieces of wood to the neck, and routing out a bigger neck pocket in the body, convert a bolt-on neck to a neckthru. Do you think it's possibly? If so, anything in particular that I would have to think about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulNeeds Posted August 17, 2003 Report Share Posted August 17, 2003 I don't think you'd get anything better than if you glued the neck into the pocket as well as use the existing screws - I don't see the point to be honest. The wood in a neck through goes right the way to the butt end of the body in one continuous piece - all the grain is also therefore continuous. There is no joint at all as such, so you can get really good top fret access. Once you break that (in effect what is already done with your current neck), no amount of glueing pieces of wood to the neck would make up for the lack of continuity. Otherwise to convert, you'd be sawing the 'wings' of the body off, then glueing them to a complete through neck. You'd be better off buying a thru-neck blank or part finished neck, and then adding the body wings to it. In my opinion.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 17, 2003 Report Share Posted August 17, 2003 he's right.i am going to do that to one of my bolt ons.just buy one of those neck thru necks from carvin or stew mac and trace it onto the body you want to convert.cut the middle section out,run it through a joiner,glue the wings on,and reshape,rerout,sand,and refinish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 Yeah, because when your talking about gluing another piece of wood to extend the neck tenon.. your not really gaining anything in my opinion.. but anything is possible.. it will work. but you'll have to work alot more to get everything fitting properly.. and leaving it bolt on.. would be alot easier ... but I say go for it.. if that's what you want.. do it..because only you know what you want... Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 isn't wood glue supposed to be stronger then the actual wood in most cases? i thought i heard a couple of u guys saying something like that? Well here's a McGuiver solution for ya. if ur neck fits in there like an OJ simpson glove (and i mean good) then glue'er up, use the neck screws to keep the neck in there tight while the glue sets, then take them out drill the holes a bit bigger,and shove some dowels in there glue those in place and snip of the excess and sand flush, now take away what u feel u need to from the heel, but since the major glue surface is going to be on the horizontal plane of the pocket and not the walls, ur going to be kinda limited. u can just kinda round it down and bit without the worries of the screws. But no promises on weather or not this will hold that's got to be good enough for a wanker of the week nomination!! (my recomendation) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted August 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 How about drilling two holes into the neck (one on each side of the truss rod) and drilling corresponding holes into the body, and inserting metal bars into these holes, and use that to hold the neck in place. This would leave the heel to be very freely sculpted. Do you think it would break? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86barettaguy Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 if you want to use bars, there are several things to consider. 1) you need them to sit deep enough in the neck and body. so forget about having a neck pickup. 2) they need to be fastened at both ends so you'll have to find a way of doing that. 3) they need to be stiff enough not to bend. so what material are you going to use? what shape? And with those bars in there, how are you going to adjust the truss rod? those bars will be acting against the truss rod... 4) how are you going to make the holes? a normal drill isn't accurate enough. do you have a drill press that can take the neck? do you have any way of getting the holes in exactly the right spots? 5) how much will this cost you? I think you'll find that it will be less expensive to just buy a through-neck and replace the middle section of your guitar. and it will definitely be a better guitar. I say you should forget about turning your bolt-on into a neckthrough. it's not worth the trouble compared to building a neck-through from a ready-made neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted August 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 1. The neck pickup does get in the way. I could however have the bars go into the neck, and weld them to a metal plate, which would surround the neck pickup and be covered by wood. 2. The neck would probably be held in place good enough by the string tension, and epoxy should do a good enough job. 3. Some metal, hardened steel or something. But in what way they would counter act the truss rod, I can't see. The bars would not go deeper than maybe to the 19th fret (24 fret neck), and the truss rod has nearly no effect at all out there. 4. Got access to a drill press. 5. Bars = $10 at most. Epoxy = $5 at most. Ready made through-neck = $194.85 (stew-mac) I still think it's very possible, and less time- (and money-) consuming to convert. But I'm not so sure if I wan't to be without my KE3 for as long as it would take, and of course, there is a risk of doing something very wrong, so it would take even more time to fix. If someone has a guitar laying around, and is willing to donate it for a tut, I'm willing to try, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 well that sounds like a lot of work for something which gives you no real benifit.the real purpose of a neck thru is to create a continuous piece of wood through the body,giving increased resonance and a more full bodied tone.the increased upper fret access is kind of incidental.these bars and all the glue or epoxy is really not going to do anything but mess up your guitar,possibly beyond repair. if you are looking to create a great guitar,leave it as a bolt on.redo the frets and inlays and give it a first class finish and all new top of the line hardware.then you will have something.i prefer neck thru but a good bolt on is nothing to sneer at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 by the way that same neck is available at carvin.com cheaper.and it is a great neck.you WILL NOT get the tonal benifits of a thru neck with what you are contemplating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted August 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 Ok, since you all seem very negative about it, I'm not going to try. I'll probably build the neckthrough from scratch instead (gives more experience, but also bigger hole in my wallet). And I'll do the refretting and inlays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 i think it is a wise man who listens and responds well to negative feedback and i also think you will enjoy the end product more as well.by the way you can get enough maple to make a neck pretty cheap.and warmoth sells fingerboard blanks already preslotted and with fretwire included(but not installed)for about $20.you could probably build a neck for about $60 in materials if you are a cheap dude like me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 i'm sorry fretwire is not included.fretwire is an additional 6.50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted August 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 i think it is a wise man who listens and responds well to negative feedback What's that supposed to mean? Thanks for the advice on where to get stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 i think it is a wise man who listens and responds well to negative feedback What's that supposed to mean? Thanks for the advice on where to get stuff. it means i am a very wise man as i often get negative feedback on my loony ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted August 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 Ah, ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted August 19, 2003 Report Share Posted August 19, 2003 i just started my neck thru guitar, and the wood was 91$ Canadian, that's for the purple heart neck 2x4-4ft, lacewood5x2-40inches, and zircote 1x3-2 ft and i'll end up with 2 extra finger board blanks. that to me doesn't seem like alot. FYI 91$ can = 65 $US Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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