ScottR Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 With a long enough bit you certainly could. the scariest part about drilling long runs from cavity to cavity is the angle of the bit and worrying whether it's going to pop out through the top or bottom. Looking at your cavities from the back, it occurred to me that the hole for your jack could be placed in a spot where you could drill pretty to pretty much anywhere you needed with out worrying about the angle. The jack hole would be large enough line your bit up to every point you need. If you don't want to use this option, you can run your switch wires from the switch cavity to the neck pup cavity to the bridge pup cavity and into the control cavity. Those are shorter drill runs. But then you have multiple wires in the same run which can be a pain to pull through and keep separate in the control cavity. Builders do it all the time, so it's not wrong or anything. I like separate channels because it makes life easier for me. I think I would drill a channel from your switch cavity to your neck pup cavity. Then through the jack hole I'd drill one channel to the bridge pup and two to the neck pup. I'd run the switch wiring into the neck pup cavity and then to the control cavity though its own channel. And each pup's wires through their own channel. But that's just me. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Thank you Scott! I will see what I can figure out tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Sure! I'm basing this on the assumption your jack hole is going to line up with the end of your control cavity, BTW. I can't really see if it does or not. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Yep, you are correct in assuming that. It'll be right at the end of the control cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Got some goodies in the mail today, now to see if I can make some progress on these necks this weekend. The bridge was a Valentine's Day gift from the lady of the house, she's pretty awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 I was able to get the truss rod slots routed tonight, I need to decide on what kind of wood I want to go with for the fretboards. Hopefully I can figure that out tomorrow and get some more done on it this weekend. Im thinking I will just go with some sort of maple just to match up with the neck wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 UGHHHH!!! I'm so mad at myself right now... I decided that I was gonna rip these necks down closer to the width they needed to be and ended up scrapping one, I ended up cutting it a half inch narrower than it needed to be. I have no idea how I made this miscalculation, I'm a machinist so I pretty much measure all day every day. The one that I scrapped was the one that I was gonna use on this build and I was gonna use the other one on my tele, so now it looks like I'm gonna have to use the tele's neck on this guitar. Heres the good neck that I cut down closer to the width it needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 Ouch, now that's got to hit the pride right square in the nuts. I have a lot of respects for machinists (Abom79's channel over on YouTube is one of my faves) because it triggers many of the things that I love about building well, anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 It really does hit the pride haha. It was just a dumb miscalculation when trying to measure my fence out on the table saw. Oh well it happens, I'll go buy some wood and start on another neck for it this week. It just sucks because the neck is all I'm really waiting on now. Thanks for the respect! I really love working with metal and I'm sure I will be doing it till the day I die, there's just something about taking a solid chunk of steel and making it into something that people can use every day that really makes me enjoy my job. I think that's also a big reason I'm enjoying building guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Agreed. There's a lot to be said about the engineering part when it comes to an instrument. It's a balance of many things. By the way, I think you'll get a kick out of Adam Booth's channel on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/Abom79/videos Highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I've just read this build from beginning to end. Some inspiring stuff here We've all made similar errors in cutting. A couple of builds ago, I cut a beautiful ebony fretboard 3/4" too short. To this day I don't know why or how! Is there any possibility of adding a couple of contrasting strips and give it the laminated look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Thanks Andy, I appreciate that!! I was thinking about that also but with the scarf joint I think it'd be pretty hard to do that. I think I'm just gonna need to cut my losses and start over. I only had about $12 in this blank but all the time I have in it is what sucks! I think it'd be a lot more time spent to try and fix my mistake than to just start all over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 I picked up the wood for my neck (again) lol. Im gonna try and get it planed down, scarf jointed and truss rod routed tonight, since I screwed up my other neck I didn't know what I was gonna do with that wood, I've came to the conclusion that I'm going to plane it down just passed the truss rod channel and then it'll be the perfect thickness for my fretboard. So a pretty big mess up I can at least turn some of it into a positive. I have lmii slotting me a fretboard right now that I can use as a template so hopefully I can get a good ways on all of this this week Also I picked up a cabinet rasp today, I looked everywhere for a spokeshave but couldn't find one under $100 here in town. This rasp is really an amazing tool! Because it's so easy to work with Ive decided I'm just gonna shape the whole neck out with it, it has a pretty rough cut but it didn't take much sanding to get decently smooth, I'm thinking I might go buy another one that's not so rough for when I get closer to shape. Anyways here's me just messing around on some scrap pine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 Spending more money on tools is probably not what you want to hear right now, but you wait till you try a hand-struck rasp instead of a machine-made one ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 54 minutes ago, Prostheta said: Spending more money on tools is probably not what you want to hear right now, but you wait till you try a hand-struck rasp instead of a machine-made one ;-) I'm sorry, hard struck rasp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 Hand struck. The teeth are picked by hand and have a random pattern. I've not had the pleasure of using one either, but I understand they cut very well. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Oh ok I'll keep an eye out for one then! was able to get the new neck planed down, planed the old one into a fretboard blank, scarf joint cut, scarf joint routed smooth and glued up! It's been a pretty successful day so far! tomorrow I will unclamp it and route the truss rod Chanel then I'm just waiting on my fretboard template to get here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 I need to start thinking about how I am gonna do my scarf joints from here on out. For these 2 necks I put the scarf joint in the headstock and I really don't like the way that it looks, I think I'll be alright with it on this one because I'm planning on putting a walnut veneer on the headstock. how do y'all do yours? Put it on the neck under the fret board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 I usually place it on the neck. Simply for no reason other than it has never really bothered me as to where it goes! Scott - you simply have to get yourself a hand cut rasp! I can't believe you haven't tried one. They are spectacular for carving work. Even the Stewmac dragon rasps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Made up a quick little jig to thickness the headstock and got it as thin as I can from the front side, if I would have gone any smaller it would have taken the nut to close to the heel, so I'll have to figure out how to take the rest from the back. I also got my truss rod Chanel routed and put the rod in. A little bit of the wrapping broke off, hopefully this won't cause any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 One quick question, I went ahead and cut the width of the neck closer to the end size I'm wondering when y'all taper yalls down? Do you do it after you've attached the fretboard and taper it all at once or do you do it before hand and then just taper the fretboard to the neck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 Either way works. I personally find it easier to have the fretboard cut to the right shape first, glue it to the neck and then finalise the neck taper to match the fretboard using a template-following router bit. 4 hours ago, 2.5itim said: I also got my truss rod Chanel routed and put the rod in. A little bit of the wrapping broke off, hopefully this won't cause any problems? Should be fine. Just make use the truss rod is a firm fit inside the channel. Trying to correct a rattling truss rod after the fretboard is glued on isn't much fun. A few beads of bathroom silicone inside the channel before pushing the rod in place will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 2 hours ago, curtisa said: Either way works. I personally find it easier to have the fretboard cut to the right shape first, glue it to the neck and then finalise the neck taper to match the fretboard using a template-following router bit. Should be fine. Just make use the truss rod is a firm fit inside the channel. Trying to correct a rattling truss rod after the fretboard is glued on isn't much fun. A few beads of bathroom silicone inside the channel before pushing the rod in place will help. That is a great idea with using the fretboard as a template for the neck, I was trying to think about how I was going to make a neck template but if I do that I wouldn't have to I don't guess. The truss rod does fit super tight, I had to use a mallet to get it in so im guessing I should be good there One other thing I've been noticing is, with all my guitars that I have here the heels also follow the taper, I'm not really sure how this will work with clearance on the body for the neck. If the body neck cavity and the neck both taper wouldn't that make it almost impossible to slide the heel into the cavity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 I'm gonna take my ibanez apart again and remeasure tonight. I measured the neck heel but I didn't measure the pocket, the only way I could see this working is if the neck pocket wasn't tapered and the neck is. But then I would think it would fit really loose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 On this neck from the back right screw hole to the front right screw hole there is .05" of taper, on the cavity I can only measure 1" of the length but just in that one inch there's .012 of taper. I guess maybe I'll have to cut the neck and cavity at a taper and then hope I can fit the neck in by pushing it from the top instead of from the front. 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.