guitar2005 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I'm just interested in exactly how the neck is built. I've thought of trying to do some kind of wizard-style neck for a different body - just haven't gotten the cahones yet to shave one down that thin. they're actually pretty easy once you have the technique down. I have an angled router sled that I use to do this. Off the router, I just sand a little to get rid of the tool marks. Glueing is the hardest part. You need to use pins (staples) to hold the pieces together, then clamp up always checking that the pieces don't move and stay aligned. I've changed my method of building these since I built this one. I now use a 3/4" piece to glue on to the scarf and I bandsaw/sand down to 1/2" from the rear after. This allows the scarf to show up before the nut on the neck. It makes for a smoother transition. With my new method, I don't need the backstrap to hide the transition on the back of the headstock. In terms of how thin they are, mine are more like the original Jem from 1987. A little thicker than the newer Wizard necks with a slightly rounder profile on the back. Much nicer that way IMO. I use a truss rod that needs a 3/8" deep channel and never had any issues. This is what my scarf joints look like now (no shaping done yet): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 That's awesome! I may have to try this soon. I'm thinkin I'll PM if more questions though - don't wanna rob the thread. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 A bit of progress on this. I carved the neck and applied some sanding sealer on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Anderson Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) @OP: in your first post in this thread, you said fboard is ebony. but that looks different. in my country, we have wood that look similar like that, mostly for fboard, called nibong. it looks like this: sorry, don't have pict of mentioned fboard Edited February 17, 2011 by Ricky Anderson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 @OP: in your first post in this thread, you said fboard is ebony. but that looks different. I had to redo the neck and changed things as I went along. This neck is Wenge laminations with maple/birdseye maple & a Wenge fretboard with pearl block inlays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 Fretted the neck yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 thats a bleeder............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 thats a bleeder............ Yeah... umm.... obviously, the fret ends still need a bit of work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Man, this project has been taking sooo long to complete.... Still, I want to finish it soon. Its always been the project that was put on the backburner so I could work on other projects. I promised myself that I wouldn't start any new guitars until this one (and an Ash Strat) is completed. Back to this Jem. The Lacewood veneer top has been extremely difficult to work with. I've re-done the top three times and still had trouble with the 3rd try. The lacewood has soft and hard spots and in veneer format, the differences are accentuated because each part absorbs the glue and finish differently, causing an uneven finish. Its been very hard to get the finish to a decent quality on this guitar and I don't recommend veneering lacewood to anyone. I did try to grain fill the wood and that helped somewhat. Another thing that compounded my problems was the use of waterbased finishes. Attempting to even out the finish with a waterbased product is not a good idea. These products are not meant to be applied in multiple layers. 10-14 is the max and your spraying technique must be good, so practice is key. I've done 6 guitars in waterbased so I'm starting to get the hang of it. I use Target Coatings EM6000. Additionally, the more layers you add, the more light refraction happens. This may not be noticeable over most colors but on black and dark colors like this Jem you WILL end up having a blueish/purpleish hue. For black, you pretty much have to tint the clear to get a true black. The color on the sides and back of this guitar were supposed to be a very dark brown and it definitely got that hue to it. Would I use Waterbased finishes again? Of course, but differently over dark colors and I would make sure that the surface has better prep in terms of grain filling. This guitar was really a learning experience. Here's the body in direct sunlight, where the blueish/purpleish haze is most apparent. I sanded back as much as I could to get the finish thinner. One thing that I like about this finish is that it will sink into the grain over time, like nitro. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're going after but I like it. You can't really see it in the pics but there are a LOT of flaws in the finish. Most people go "Wow" when they first see it but when you look closely, I know its not what it should be. Look at the lower horn in the 2nd picture above and you'll see what I mean. Here's the neck: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I actually finished this guitar a couple of months ago and even played a show with it. Here are a couple of pics of it. There are a couple of minor flaws on it but nothing major. This guitar finish was a major pain to complete. Lacewood is hard to work with. Here, you can see the decal and how I didn't properly apply it There's some air bubbles under it. Lesson learned. The guitar feels great, especially the schellac finished neck. Its plays beautifully and it has settled in now. I've had 3 fret ends sprout up (bound fretboard and no glue used when fretting) but it was fairly minor. The guitar has very low action of approx 3/64" on the high e. I might bring it up a little as that's a little low for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Flaws aside, that is a very beautiful guitar man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I myself have bailed on using EM6000 because of a lot of the issues you have pointed out. I am still looking for a good affordable film finish. Currently I am still using Behlens Instrument Lacquer because aside from a horrendously long cure time it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I myself have bailed on using EM6000 because of a lot of the issues you have pointed out. I am still looking for a good affordable film finish. The EM6000 actually works quite well. You just need to know what the quirks are over a dark finish. Most of my troubles came from the lacewood venneer top which was quite hard to grain fill and get an even finish on. On the Lacewood Jem, I basically sanded back quite a bit to get a little more clarity in the finish. It is much better now vs when I first buffed it up. This is a Cherry burst I did with EM6000. It worked very well: And an Anthracite Strat, which also worked well (that was tinted EM1000 with EM6000 clear over it): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I myself have bailed on using EM6000 because of a lot of the issues you have pointed out. I am still looking for a good affordable film finish. The EM6000 actually works quite well. You just need to know what the quirks are over a dark finish. Most of my troubles came from the lacewood venneer top which was quite hard to grain fill and get an even finish on. On the Lacewood Jem, I basically sanded back quite a bit to get a little more clarity in the finish. It is much better now vs when I first buffed it up. This is a Cherry burst I did with EM6000. It worked very well: And an Anthracite Strat, which also worked well (that was tinted EM1000 with EM6000 clear over it): Nice work. I used it on Diablo, HOD, and several other guitars a few years ago and had several issues similar to yours and other completely different issues (humidity problems to boot). It worked well on the bright orange guitar but on the few natural finish guitars I had all kinds of fun. I don't completely agree on knowing its quirks and I am going to take the irrational "I hate this" stance. EM6000 still sucks IMHO. I had several nightmare sanding sessions learning how to use it. Also I made the mistake of buying my first round int he winter and it froze in the truck.... bad things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I don't see any flaws.....I do see tons of well executed little details. Excellent work man. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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