One Piece Guitar

[YetzerHarah]

I wasn't trying to challenge your or anything Paulie, you do what you do & you do it well. I was just trying to answer Shaikoski's question. You are right about how large a piece & how important grain orientation is in project like that.

[Shaikoski]

Sorry Pauile, I am confused about the twisting you are talking about. I also had another idea that wouldn't require any neck or body angling but rather it would require tedious measurement and a good template to be made. BTW, I'm gonna use a tune-o-matic style bridge and generally those stick out more from what I know, please correct me if I am wrong. Now, if I carve into the body where the bridge is would that not be a viable solution? I plan on buying all of my hardware and such before doing anything more than carving the body with my silohoutte template so I should be able to get fairly accurate measurements of things. Other than that the only other solution I can come up with is getting a thick fingerboard and tall nut, which would be rediculous.

Also, there is no way I would use the shim method for the same reason that you stated. I'll try searching for your thread, but if you have time I'd really appreciate the link in case I can't find it.

Thank you all for the input.

[Our Souls inc.]

You can use no neck angle at all and just angle your fretboard if you had to. Normal thickness on the nut end and thicker than normal at the body end. Not ideal, but it would give you an angle Vs. dead flat.

[westhemann]

I don't think you would get nearly enough angle from a fretboard taper,though the same idea did cross my mind yesterday before I discarded it.

Cut your angle into the body or recess the TOM...Personally,I would just use it as an excuse for a recessed Floyd

[pauliemc]

Cut your angle into the body or recess the TOM...Personally,I would just use it as an excuse for a recessed Floyd

If I didnt know this dude was not a student of mine Id swear he trained with me Spot on again.

If you are insistant on the tun-o-matic bridge then you realy need about 3-4 degrees of angle. Depending on the fretboard thickness & if you use an upstand/raised neck like a strat. you will need to draw it all out full size to figure your dimensions accuratly.

Try stay away from any more than a 5mm thk fretboard, as this will eat into your neck dimension. too thick a board will leav you with little or no timber behind the truss rod & ultimatly screw up your neck.

The twisting / warping I mention has to do with removing material from the back of the neck. As you cut timber away you are releasing tension in the wood. if you cut away a large amount at any one time you risk releasing tension over so much surface area that the remaining timber may warp out of alignment by an amount that would render it useless. even 3-4mm over the lenght of the neck would render it unuseable, & that much movement is very easily achieved.

As such. a one piece build requires a lot of carefull planning with constant checking of measurements to ensure everything is working OK.

[Shaikoski]

I truly do not like whammy bars plain and simple. I quickly understood the warping thing hours after posting, been taking care of some personal stuff lately. Wouldn't you have the same problem with any other neck though?

as far as the neck thickness... I have bigger hands which like thicker necks and this project is more for me at this time anyway. I doubt I would be using a fret board that would be thicker than 5mm though.

What if you clamped the neck and body to a straight metal edge (specifics would have to be more detailed but you get the idea)? At the very least I would think it wouldn't hurt to do that. If you already have your truss rod in before you work the neck profile wouldn't that add substantial stability as well?

I, unlike most people I've come across, like gibson's style and approach to guitars more. I plan on having a thick body, as compared to more fender style guitars. I really like the gotoh tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece I got for my dad's guitar, it can be adjusted for every saddle in any feasible direction and is aesthetically pleasing to me.

Would there really be an issue with just recessing the tune-o-matic style bridge? I do plan on drawing everything out and making a great template before even buying wood.

Speaking of wood, did I mention I plan on using mahogany? Any wisdom on working with that would be appreciated of course. The way I understand it the same rules would apply just differently because it is a different wood than what I saw on one of your projects.