Tristan Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 This is a Stagg R500 I got for $50. It had a front bowed neck and the truss rod was busted. So i pulled the frets and got the fretboard off. When I got the fb off I noticed the neck wood was pretty soft and didn't seem very stable for a neck, But I ignored my findings. I got a nice macassar ebony fret board slotted for 25" scale and a 12" radius. Get that glued on all is going fine. Then I started to fret the thing. I got 5 frets in and the headstock snaps off at the scarf. oh well, I knew the wood was soft but I didn't want to put more money into this by building a new neck, so I got the headstock glued back on (it was a very clean break). So now the headstock is fine. This time I get about 8 frets in and the headstock snaps off again! in a different spot. This wood sucks. So now it's time to build a new neck for it and hope I can save the macassar board. The plans for this now are maple neck, macassar board, GFS pickups, and I'm not sure on what tuners now. I've been able to keep the top nice through all of this (even though it's just a veneer), but not the sides or back, so they're goint to get painted black witht the black going up the neck and on the back of the headstock. The face of the headstock I'm going to get a veneer for and try to match the top. But from now on I'm going to try to get pictures of what I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Aww thats crap. but for $50 thats not bad. Where you supporting the neck when you where fretting? Anyway sounds like an interesting project. Keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Posted March 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Yeah I was supporting it. I've done a couple necks before, which is why I was surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 I don't understand how it broke. Did the vibration wobble it off or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 I don't understand how it broke. Did the vibration wobble it off or something? I am a complete loss to understand how the head can drop off, not once but twice...if the neck is supported so the head is touching nothing, what supernatural forces were working on it. It seems like a lot of work to put into a $50 guitar that already had major problems (you say the truss rod was busted?) If you thought the neck was soft and now completely replacing it...what do you think the veneered body is made out of? Since the back of this is ruined finish wise, are you sure that even this is really worth keeping? But then, that begs the question...with all that new hardware, there's virtually nothing left of the $50 guitar anyway I'm really into and support the tinkering of cheap guitars, but you need a reasonably good thing to start and that doesn't require a lot of investment to make it worth while...you know the saying about making a silk purse? pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.