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Started building an electric today, need some help


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nyjbkim:

yes, thats where i got my info on building a neck, but i did not understand it, thats why i am asking, i will check out the tutorial

Thanks

Curtis

P.S. Fretting wire, how much does that stuff cost? or is fretless a good way to go?

Curtis

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i can't dig up fender...i swear they are 9" on strat,and 6" on tele,but i may be wrong.

modern Fenders have a 9.5" radius. Vintage Fenders have a 7 1/4" radius,

and for the record, Gibson Les Pauls are 12" radius.

DON'T go fretless...at least with a guitar (its OK on bass where you won't be playing many chords). The fret wire will cost you maybe $5-$10, pennies when you come around to the cost of the rest of the hardware (bridge, tuning keys, pickups).

On the neck, go flat and try it out. If you don't like the feel of it, yank out the frets, radius-sand either 10" or 12", then re-fret.

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Hey Curtis. Not to disparage your abilities or enthusiasm but from the questions you ask, it seems like it might be a better idea (cheaper too) to buy a pre-made neck... but if you do go forth and do it yourself, I'm sure you'll get lots of help here. .. especially if you pose specific questions.

Look at the StewMac site for an idea of the tools you'll need and cost (fretwire, files, etc.)

Fretless? Frets'd be good... if you like playing in tune :D especially when chording.

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OK, thanks alot

I will take a few more looks at some necks for sale, the pickups, i am getting cheap from a buddy, the machine heads, bout 20 bucks, and the bridge, i have no clue, yea, frets will probaly be better, haha dumb question i asked

Curtis

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maybe this should be under elctrocnics, but i am not sure?

anyways, forget about the neck for a couple minutes, when i go to instal the pickups (thanks to Westheman for the schematics i needed :D ) on the back, i have noticed some guitars have that plastic cover screwed on, is that totally nesacary (sp?) ?? i started marking out where the pickguard will go, and the pick ups roughley, and if i route the pick gaurd out a little so i can se in the pots and run the wires, then run the wires to the input jack, i will be set, but, just that plasric cover was bothering me, i dont really want one on it, you can find them on the Les Pauls behind the Rhythm and Treble toggle switch (located on where the upper wing should be) its only going to have the 2 volume pots, one to each pickup so i can "blend" them together, but its that damn plastic cover on the back!!

Curtis

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I saw the comments about bridge radius and I need to pass along what I already learned the hard way:

Original Floyd Rose (ala Warmoth) 10" bridge radius.

Schaller Floyd (ala StewMac) 14" bridge radius.

The locking nuts are almost always 10" radius unless you special order or you buy the replacement nuts from stewmac which are 14" nut radius.

Please trust me on this - I had many people at stewmac and Warmoth verify these radius measurements. It was one of the most confusing things for me when I first built a guitar.

Bridge shims are available at AllParts if you want to match one of those Floyds to your fretboard radius.

Good luck and have fun!

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I HAVE to comment on the neck dude, sorry...I am a jackson RR series fanatic, but never built one myself...There are several places to pick up discarded ones from jerks like us who get bigger and better ones. The curvature of the fretboard on a 24 fret neck is also pretty key IMHO, because its easier to reach and more comfortable. Also, are you thinking about your neck speed? My Jackson RR1 is pretty slow in comparison to my ESP LTD Horizon.

About the hiding of electronics, you CAN hide your wires and whatnot in any number of clever guises; but in the event of a dead POT or faulty pickup or broken connection because your friend kicked your guitar while it was resting on your amp...Its handy to get at them from the back. You dont need to route it the same exact way, you could make them smaller.

Good luck on this and post lots of pics about your progress...I mean everything!

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do you know anything about that annoying plastic cover i been talkin bout?

The output jack may be difficult to reach with a standard pickguard. Will the pickguard reach all the way to the jack? If so, you should be OK without it.

You will probably not want to do this but I will suggest it anyway:

Try building a body out of some pine or something like that (cheap wood). You will find all of the things that you would have messed up without the agony of having to shell out big $$ for more wood. It won't take very long to do - you don't have to get the body perfectly smooth along the sides - just go through it and see where the trouble spots are in the building process.

BTW: did you see my comments concerning bridge radius? I think there were some comments made earlier in this topic that may not be correct. Check it out.

Dave

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also, the input jack, they go on the side of the guitar like the Les Pauls (I believe) and i was planning on routing the jack in at the end of the pickgaurd, on the side though, not like a Strat, it may be a little difficult to understand, but best i could do at the moment for making people understand.

BTW, I think I might have found a 22 fret neck, i really want a 24, but a 22 bolt on will work for now i suppose

Curtis

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Here

I dont have a digital camera, the first picture is from www.jacksonguitars.com, and the second one(right here) i found in google

The second picture, the white one with gold accents was the one i orginaly wanted to do, but i prefer the black one, next year I am going to do the white one with gold accents, or a Flying V like this one

Thats all i got for now

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