Firefox2551 Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hey All! I've been working on a neck through with my local luthier buddy, only he's never built a neck through and neither have I. Here are photos of what we have together. http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/1005704/MVC-001F.JPG http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/1005704/MVC-002F.JPG http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/1005704/MVC-003F.JPG http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/1005704/MVC-004F.JPG http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/1005704/MVC-005F.JPG We did make sure to mark a centre line before cutting the body sides, but what I am worried about is that we should have built the neck before gluing the sides on, it should end up being a normal PRS style 6 string. I was also planning on have a TOM style bridge but I'm afraid I may have to go with some kind of strat style hardtail because of the neck angle. Which I would actually be fine with. I guess in the end my question is what do I do now? Did we screw up or is this still fine? If you need any info like dimensions or anything I'll be happy to oblige. I just ordered Hiscocks book so I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing, but I'm getting anxious to hear from someone who's actually built these before. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 much easier to start with just the neck section and get most of the work done on that first. You still could remove the body wings and do that. .. but there have been a couple of people round here that have done guitars from 1 solid piece so its certainly possible to progress from where you are now - just not the easiest method Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox2551 Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 (edited) So should I have to worry about any neck angle at all? The whole thing has been planed and sanded absolutely flat. Can I just just basically slap a fretboard and a strat style hard tail on it? Edited January 3, 2008 by Firefox2551 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 nope... you need to make accurate plans based on the hardware you have. You certainly need to worry about neck geometry, it should always be at the forefront of your mind.... this is the kind of stuff you luthier buddy should know whether he has built a through neck guitar before or not!!!! What you could do to proceed is 'slap a fretboard' on as you suggest but then you will need to recess the hardtail into the body. but i suggest before you do anything you look into all the procedures that are going to need to be done to this guitar and make sure you understand them and make accurate plans before doing anything else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maikman Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 don't quote me but I'm pretty sure on a strat the neck is 1/16-1/8" higher then the body without the fretboard (can't exactly remember). This means rather then recessing a strat bridge like WezV said you can plane that thickness off the body and leave the part covered by the fretboard the thickness it is now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 don't quote me but I'm pretty sure on a strat the neck is 1/16-1/8" higher then the body without the fretboard (can't exactly remember). This means rather then recessing a strat bridge like WezV said you can plane that thickness off the body and leave the part covered by the fretboard the thickness it is now certainly the way i would approach it if the wings were not glued on, they make it rather more awkward to plane the angle (should have said depth rather than angle) - but if you can build a router thicknesser (use the search function) then thats still a viable way to approach it i still reckon you should remove the wings and make life easy for yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maikman Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 my reply was if he wanted to use a strat bridge with no neck angle over a TOM, if you still want the TOM disregard my post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 so was mine... you were basically suggesting leaving the wood under the fretboard higher than the rest of the body.. Its a good suggestion but hard to accomplise with the wings in place.. can be done with a router thicknesser though - i have used that method for through necks with full tops!! many ways to skin a cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 We did make sure to mark a centre line before cutting the body sides, but what I am worried about is that we should have built the neck before gluing the sides on, it should end up being a normal PRS style 6 string. I was also planning on have a TOM style bridge but I'm afraid I may have to go with some kind of strat style hardtail because of the neck angle. Which I would actually be fine with. Nice body but a little planning ahead would have helped for sure. Incorporating an angle in the neck at this stage is close to impossible because I'm sure that the fretboard will end past the body join. I guess you could add a contrasting piece of wood laid flat where the fingerboard would be, then, lay the fretboard over that. That would definitely look nice and solve your problem. Depending on the thickness of your piece of wood, you could raise the level enough to accomodate a TOM. If you want a TOM bridge without addidng a piece of wood, you can recess it. That's the way I like my TOMs. The fretboard on that guitar will be too low for a hardtail anyways. Here's an example of a recessed TOM route. I prefer a recessed TOM beause the strings are closer to the body at the bridge. Personal pref I guess from all those years of playing an Ibanez JEM with a recessed Floyd. The Godin LGX is a very good example of a guitar with a recessed TOM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Ok, say you are able to work out a fix to accomodate your bridge. You have just begun to deal tasks you have made more difficult. Accurately cut those wings off and laminate them back on after you have done everything you need to do to the neck section, including the area where the neck and wings meet, carving the neck(including a close ruff shaping at the heel, but leave just a bit to shape a smooth transition), scarf the headstock and shape the headstock, attach your fretboard (you set can set all your angles, and surface without wings). Plan everything out and do as much as you can before you add wings. You can make up for the little loss of material from cutting them off with nice thin lams(just cut them accurately). Wez is making perfect sense here, don't fight his advise. You are only going to make your project much much much harder to manage, and full of difficult work arounds and fixes. I am suprised your luthier friend did not clue you in to any of this. Having built a neck through before or not, he has done the basic tasks, and he should have known you are going to have to have a plan to accurately accomplish them. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGoat Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 If you want a tremolo, a recessed Floyd Rose would work too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox2551 Posted January 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Thanks for all the advice so far guys, I've been reading about building guitars for about 2 years now but things get real difficult when you actually try to do this stuff. So please excuse my ignorance. I actually like that recessed TOM idea very much. I think I'll end up going with cutting the wings off. And I'm still kinda fuzzy on the details, is there someplace I can go to for some pictures or diagrams for neck-thru's? This is turing out to be a bigger problem than I had initially thought it would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 as is suggested often melvyn Hiscicks book has a chapter on building a neck through that will answer so many quaestions for you - and its a book you should have anyway!!! also you should go down to the tutorials section and have a look there I am guessing you didnt route a channel into the side of the neck blank for pickup wires before glueing the wings ont - its the little tips like this that can save you so much agro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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