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Paw Jem Build & First Neck


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Ok another 80's Ibanez build, always wanted a Passion and Warfare Universe, but the price of 7 string parts is too expensive. Was even thinking of buying the cheapest 7 string i could find & just cut & shut, replace fingerboard & swirl, but theres just not much out there - so 6 string it is.. but why not try my first neck.

Fretboard been sitting around for about 6 months waiting to be used.

Spent last week making templates while I was waiting for the wood to arrive, also made the pickguard.

wood.jpg

routing today - pickups

pickuprout.jpg

Outline

bodycut.jpg

body

cutout.jpg

Tomorrow, going to tidy up, do the contours & the lions claw...& start the neck..maybe

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Did some more today, the claw is never fun without a cnc machine. Mark up the body, 10mm, then 1mm gap, then 10mm etc, make sure the router doesn't slip sideways & go for it.

claw.jpg

The garage is covered in dust & shavings as usual

frontrough.jpg

Loads more sanding to do but its getting there & remember to use a fully charged drill when doing the neck screw holes.

backrough.jpg

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Agreed, very clean. I like how it's coming together thus far. Where did you get that set of plans? They look very very detailed, professional. A nice buy!

::EDIT::

Should've read the post first. You MADE those templates? Them's very nice. I resorted to buying a $30 beater body to make mine, but you clearly already have one kicking around.

Edited by Xanthus
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The body was cut with my crappy 20 quid B&Q router - lay the template on make a cut, take the template off then use a bearing bit to cut down as far as it would go and the outside wood would support the router, but mainly because I have no bandsaw & didn't want to cut it out with a handsaw.

Started on the neck

trussrod.jpg

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The body was cut with my crappy 20 quid B&Q router - lay the template on make a cut, take the template off then use a bearing bit to cut down as far as it would go and the outside wood would support the router, but mainly because I have no bandsaw & didn't want to cut it out with a handsaw.

Horay, i was right.

How long did it take to do it with the router? I'm sure you had to go pretty slow to avoid damaging your bit. I'm asking because there was a thread about a week ago that asked if you could rout out an entire body using just a router.

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The body was cut with my crappy 20 quid B&Q router - lay the template on make a cut, take the template off then use a bearing bit to cut down as far as it would go and the outside wood would support the router, but mainly because I have no bandsaw & didn't want to cut it out with a handsaw.

Horay, i was right.

How long did it take to do it with the router? I'm sure you had to go pretty slow to avoid damaging your bit. I'm asking because there was a thread about a week ago that asked if you could rout out an entire body using just a router.

not long, half hour? about 5mm at a time, made it about 3/4 through then flipped it over & used a bit with a bearing at the bottom

glued up overnight

fretboard.jpg

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it seems from the neck pics that you have more work to do on the heel and headstock transitions. It makes sense to rough these in with a rasp before starting on the rest of the carve, especially if using a spokeshave

it all looks really good, very neat work

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Thanks wez, I was sweating this first neck & knew from here the sensible way was to rasp out the head & heal then carve the gap. I did the opposite, no rasp so just started shaving down to a line, making sure i didn't go into the truss rod. Did a couple of hours this morning, heal fitted, neck is a very flat back D shaped, not quite a wizard but only a couple of mm off. I must admit shaping necks are one of the most fun things - just shaving some bits off - checking the feel - shaving some more etc - very satisfying. Whats left? Drilled the tuner holes & had a bit of tear out despite backing with wood, time to chuck out that vintage 10mm bit. Tomorrow plenty more sanding & maybe some frets

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Looking sweet! Love the reverse headstock!

I just ordered a neck and inlays like yours (after seeing this post!) Think I am going to give a shot at making a neck, or just replacing the fingerboard on a current one.

Question, how did you put the inlay's in? Were they vinyl with clear plexi, were the inlay's that color? I have not gotten mine yet, but want to know what's involved so I can get started on it right away!

Thanks for you help! And post more progress! I can't wait to see the finished! I am planning on making mine like the 777LNG...converting an old RG550 - or maybe I just will build the entire thing!

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thanks reamer, if you got the fluro inlays like mine they are clear plastic with the colour on the bottom, then wrapped at the back with a white coating. his other inlays are either solid plastic or clear with a sticky backing - mostly the mirror ones. Brian has a great tutorial on the home page for putting them in

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/3dinlay1.htm

have fun & post some pics of your progress

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, abandon all taste from here on in.

I really wanted an old style messy ATD type swirl like the original below

vaicover.jpg

Headstock, I make no excuses for having the logo on there, the ibanez tick is one of my fav bits so much so that I wouldn't buy an ibanez prestige, because it doesn't have it, plus I'm not trying to sell them or pass them off..stick logo on, swirl it, peel logo off..

swirl1.jpg

Looks a bit washed out with the flash in this one

swirl6.jpg

natural light

swirl5.jpg

notice there are a few holes drilled in it as possible, less chance off anything nasty(apart from the swirl!)happening when you dip it in water.

Normal swirl procedures, 80ltr dustbin, add a 400g box of borax, disolved leave for half an hour. Paints are 1shot signwriters fluorescent enamel. Very slightly diluted with their reducer about 5%, but depends on the colour, some spread out more on the water that others. Its just getting the balance between the colour not spreading enough, if its too thick it clumps or too thin for weak colour. Dip it in slowly move it about if you want, but always keep going down or you'll recoat the previous bit. Once its fully submerged (dont touch the sides) I use a hair dryer to blow the excess to the sides of the bin & clear a clean space to pull it out.

Got some fluro cocktail sticks coming from ebay for the side dots which I always forgetto do. Clear should turn up soon, 2k in spray cans, I'm down with 24h curing rather than months after I tried it a few months back.

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You got the crazy look you were going for! I like it!

For some reason it wasn't until 1 shot was suggested to me as an enamel, that I thought of using that! Duh...I was wondering what kind of enamels people were using...and a painter friend of mine mentioned 1 shot. And the light bulb went off. Considering the variety of colors that have, etc.

So you confirmed a curiosity of mine. Thanks!

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