Redhat Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 (edited) I was over at my in-laws place this weekend, and I noticed some spare wood sitting around that looked like it would make a perfect neck blank for string through, so I asked the grand father about it. He said I could take as much as I wanted. So, on closer inspection, it turned out to be real nice cedar. I've always been curious about making a cedar body as well, so I cut up a few 10 ft lengths, and asked him if I could use his shop the next day. He was cool with that, and wanted to help out. Saturday morning, we headed down to his shop, where he also had a bunch of real dry and straight fir, which would make an interesting if odd neck. Back I was to making a blank for a string through, so I asked him if he had anything dark sitting around for a skunk stripe. At this point, he mentions he's had some mahogany sitting back in his basement for the last 40 years, and I'm free to it if I want. So we head back to his place, and pulls out these 3 10 ft 3x6" boards. We take them back to his shop, throw in some eastern maple, and glue them up into a neck through blank. Now I have this blank with a half inch maple skunk stripe, a 3" wide slab of mahogany on each side, with cedar finishing up the outer wings. It sounds super resonant just tapping on it, and I think I want to make it a seven string. It's going to have a fixed strat type bridge and 2 humbuckers. I'm also going to integrate a sustainer into the neck pickup, and add an optical pickup if I can get it working. The body design will be a modified tele with an extra long horn. I'll post pics soon. Anyways, can anyone offer any advice for the neck? I want a 25.5" scale, with a tele-ish sort of feel, but I'm not sure about a few things. Will a standard truss rod be sufficient, or will I need reinforcing rods as well? For the profile, will I get closer to what I want by simply adding the extra width necessary in the middle of a tele neck profile? Or should I stretch the entire profile equally in width to get enough room for seven strings? Thanks for any help! Edited May 22, 2007 by Redhat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 You should probably draw out a full-size plan before you do anything else. As to the truss rod, I THINK (but I am a beginner like you) that you shouldn't need any extra reinforcement since you've laminated several pieces together for the neck blank. But I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrol Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 Planning helps, get pictures too! Sounds really cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 (edited) Ok, so I have a few more things figured out. The nut width will be 1.9" The string spacing at the bridge will be 2.5" 21 fret neckthrough tele design 10" radius fretboard The body will connect to the neck at the 17th fret. The bridge will be affixed to the body back 1/4" from standard to allow proper intonation on the large guage strings I use. It will be bound to protect to cedar outer wings. It will have a tusq nut with a piezo embedded underneath it. Ghost saddles on a fixed strat bridge Tru-oil and wax finish Here's the blank after we thicknessed sanded it flat. Sorry about the quality, but my camera skills suck. Now I just have to decide what kind of wood to use for the fretboard, and to figure out if I will need to reinforce the neck. Edited June 11, 2007 by Redhat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 It really does look great. Have you figured out the answers to your previously asked questions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 It really does look great. Have you figured out the answers to your previously asked questions? looks as though theres no angle in the neck blank, i hope you're using something like a fender hard tail etc, something that doesn't need neck pitch... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 (edited) It is going to have a Fender style headstock, with a scoop down to a parallel face (in relation to the fingerboard) with a fixed strat type bridge. I'm still not sure if I should reinforce the neck though. I tend to run really thick guage strings, and I'm leaning towards adding carbon fiber reinforcements because of the added low B on this seven string, but any advice is appreciated. Thanks for everyone's input so far. I'm also going to pickup some reflective object sensors tomorrow to see if my optical pickup idea will work. My thought is, if it works, blending the optical with the piezos would create a really close approximation of an acoustic sound, leaving the magnetics for electric sounds. Edited May 22, 2007 by Redhat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 The neck will be plenty strong, although there is nothing wrong with adding extra strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 The neck will be plenty strong, although there is nothing wrong with adding extra strength. I agree, nothing wrong with adding extra support. You might want to lean towards carbon fiber as well, since you're doing a 7. I don't think I'm going to do carbon fiber on mine, because it's a 3-piece neck, maple and walnut. I'm betting it'll hold up ok. In semi-related news, has anyone thought about or attempted simply eschewing truss rods and going with, say, 3 pieces of carbon fiber in the neck, instead of two? Or are we getting into Parker territory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 (edited) Well, I've done some more work in terms of planning, and have a little mockup to post. I'll apologize again becuase my camera skills suck, and it looks a little askew though my full size plans are perfectly square. Anyways, I've also decided that I am going to add extra carbon fibre supports to the neck. The headstock is going to be 3 machine heads on top, and 4 on the bottom. What do you guys think of the design? I'm fairly happy with it, but am always open to suggestions. I just have to choose a fingerboard material. I had been thinking ebony, but am now considering some other woods my local supplier has in stock. Has anyone tried olive or orange tree wood? They both seemed quite hard and suitable to a fingerboard, but I want to do some research on these woods before jumping in on either. In terms of the optical pickups, my local electronics shop was out of stock, so I had to order the reflective object sensors. In terms of design, I did a little more research and found some guys at the Universiy of British Columbia who have used these sensors to make pickups for a standup bass, and their reports are that they offered better acoustic results than standard piezos. Their design had two sensors per string, perpendicular to each other, under the string so as not to interfere with the actual performer's picking, in a sort of 'V' shape. Anyways, I'm quite excited to get the parts in. I'll keep you all posted. Edited June 11, 2007 by Redhat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted May 25, 2007 Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 Top and bottom, you mean left and right? Definitely go for a full scale drawing on your work, I guarantee you will have much more peace of mind when doing more work on the project. Draw out the string spacing, nut, bridge, pickups, and string spacing for tuner holes (so the strings don't run into each other) and go from there. It will be time very well spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 In terms of top and bottom, i was thinking from a playing position, so left and right when upright is what I meant. I have a full size drawing with all the details. It has indeed helped, and doing so actually lead me away from my original headstock design, which was originally a little more Gibsonesque. I actually traced a copy of it Photoshop to do the rough mockup I did. Still thanks for the tips, and I do hope they help out any other newbs who might be reading this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 25, 2007 Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 (edited) i've done 2 7 string neck throughs, and neither needed any extra support, i did them as 2 piece necks, with quarter sawn maple, my V is flamed maple neck blank, the superstrat 7 hard rock maple, no figure... just a truss rod, both have fairly thin necks, although my V's neck is asymmetrical, so its a bit thicker on one side, and thinner than a normal neck on the other... see no need for any carbon fiber support, unless its just to say that you did it, and then, by all means... Edited May 25, 2007 by ElysianGuitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 Elysian, just out of curiosity, what guage strings do you play? I run 11 to 52's on all my 6 strings, and I really like to crank the string tension up pretty high. The 7th string will be a low B, and the tension I have on most of my necks is why I was thinking of the carbon fiber. Are there any negatives to reinforcing a neck with carbon fiber? I really have been jumping back and forth with the decision, but at the end of the day, I'd pick sound quality over piece of mind if I HAD to choose. If there aren't any negatives, I'm just going to do it so I don't end up worrying about it. In reguards to the fretboard, I've pretty much settled on Macassar ebony. No point experimenting with woods I can't find info on, and orange and olive wood both fall into that category in terms of musicality. That being said, if anyone living in south western British Columbia knows of a local hardwood suitable for fretboards, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted May 25, 2007 Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 (edited) 10-60 zakk wylde set with a 58 for the low E generally, tuned standard, so with the low B Edited May 25, 2007 by ElysianGuitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted May 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 Thanks Elysian, appreciate the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted June 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2007 Ok, so I got the truss rod cavity routed and the rod and top cap installed for it. I did the cut on a milling machine, and I'm absolutely amazed at how precise it was, exact to 3 decimal places! I have to get one of those. I'll be roughing out the rest of the shape tonight, and will post pics then. I had a blond moment trimming off some of the excess wood though. I did it on the table saw, completely oblivious to all put the highest point on the blade when doing the excess wood around the neck joint. Ouch! Must have had my fill of lucky charms that morning, or I'd be starting from scratch. All the over cuts will be trimmed off when the neck is shaped! On another note, I'll also be building the prototype for my intonatable nut tonight, and I'm pretty sure my design will work fine. Anyways, pics tonight. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 (edited) Ok, here's the roughed out neck and body, with truss rod installed. Now I just have to find a fretboard for it. Does anyone know where to get a 3" wide ziricote fretboard? Edited June 11, 2007 by Redhat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhat Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 I should also mention that I ended up not reinforcing the neck. After many discussions with many builders, it became very clear that to do so was really only catering to my paranoia. So, next up, sanding down to the final shape, and sourcing the fretboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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