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Perhaps a scroll, definitely 3 single coils, and maybe an F hole.


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26 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

I wonder how the butt of the neck would transfer tone.

My butt transfers tone pretty well despite being quite far from my neck.

If the butt of the neck is synonymous to the heel, well... In electric guitars that'd be end grain to end grain. Would that be the tightest fit humanly possible? If not, how would sound vibrations jump over a gap? Then again, isn't sound part of the vibration family just like colours or electricity? A friend once told that he's seen electricity jump six (6) metres.... Oh my... I'm getting puzzled!

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15 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

My butt transfers tone pretty well despite being quite far from my neck.

If the butt of the neck is synonymous to the heel, well... In electric guitars that'd be end grain to end grain. Would that be the tightest fit humanly possible? If not, how would sound vibrations jump over a gap? Then again, isn't sound part of the vibration family just like colours or electricity? A friend once told that he's seen electricity jump six (6) metres.... Oh my... I'm getting puzzled!

I sense a massive derail in the force.

new term I'm adding to my dictionary... butttone.  @ScottR's guitar is going to have butttone in spades.

(do you think my butttone sounds fat?)

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Speaking of derail... The word f-hole is somewhat disturbing since I've learned not to use the f-word in public. Maybe holes are more glorified here?

Re butttone... Haven't electric guitarists used all sorts of devices and circuits to produce a buzz, fuzz, suzz  or any other more or less distorted sound rather than a clean ringing tone?

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4 hours ago, mistermikev said:

I wonder how the butt of the neck would transfer tone.

I'm sure I've read that PRS claims the exposed heel on their necks adds to their tone. Personally, I've always wondered why any neck has an exposed heel (that makes an interesting mental image) rather than a smooth transition to the body.

SR

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30 minutes ago, ScottR said:

I'm sure I've read that PRS claims the exposed heel on their necks adds to their tone. Personally, I've always wondered why any neck has an exposed heel (that makes an interesting mental image) rather than a smooth transition to the body.

SR

not necc scoffing as who the heck knows and I'm guessing most builders have more experience than me so I'll assume I know nothing.

I think in that article he was saying that the heel end of the neck joint should actually touch the body... and that would be the source of tone transfer.  wait, what?  I could see making the point that more contact would increase the coupling, but why specifically would neck end grain contact improve anything?   Perhaps he just meant a continuous piece would increase tone transfer.  So now I would think it'd be better to cut a 45degree angle on the butt end and really couple them?  I find it hard to believe but I would honestly love to know.

prs: why in the world would an exposed neck heel increase tone?   

my mouth, which is connected to my neck, often has an exposed foot... which is connected (in theory) to a heel... ok, yeah I can see that now.

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40 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

prs: why in the world would an exposed neck heel increase tone?   

Tone is such a subjective subject. If we consider that tone is sound, and adding to tone means changing the sound, it becomes less subjective...until you try to describe what sounds good. I suspect that leaving an inch or so of heel exposed stiffens the neck at that point, which would change the sound compared to a neck not stiffened at that point. Perhaps PRS likes the way that sounds better. Whether most people could recognize the change in the sound, and identify the cause of it is a whole nother debate.

SR

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1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Tone is such a subjective subject. If we consider that tone is sound, and adding to tone means changing the sound, it becomes less subjective...until you try to describe what sounds good. I suspect that leaving an inch or so of heel exposed stiffens the neck at that point, which would change the sound compared to a neck not stiffened at that point. Perhaps PRS likes the way that sounds better. Whether most people could recognize the change in the sound, and identify the cause of it is a whole nother debate.

SR

ah... I see what you mean.  more neck in general would equate to more rigidity.  I could see that. 

you do know they've discovered the element tonearium?  it's present in all early 80's lotus guitars.  hehe.

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7 hours ago, ScottR said:

I suspect that leaving an inch or so of heel exposed stiffens the neck at that point, which would change the sound compared to a neck not stiffened at that point.

As we know, both the strings and the neck-body combination vibrate. I'm not sure if the vibration pattern looks like a skipping rope or rather like an 8, but anyhow. Just got thinking about the skipping rope: If you tie a knot in the middle, it's easier to swing it. Would the heel serve a similar purpose by solidifying the vibration?

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2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

As we know, both the strings and the neck-body combination vibrate. I'm not sure if the vibration pattern looks like a skipping rope or rather like an 8, but anyhow. Just got thinking about the skipping rope: If you tie a knot in the middle, it's easier to swing it. Would the heel serve a similar purpose by solidifying the vibration?

I hear ya... and that is an interesting point. 

I think you are saying I should tie a knot in the middle ofmy guitar. (hehe)

 

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17 hours ago, Mr Natural said:

you didnt mean Joe Driskill out of Fort Worth did you? I almost forgot all about that guy. 

I spelled it wrong, so maybe.......

http://www.driskillguitars.com/Bolero.htm

I had the site labeled donald, but that's where it took me. I expected to go to a PRS style build with a long tenon....

I've changed computers at least twice since I bookmarked that so who knows.

SR

 

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With PRS, I think it's more of a strength thing than a tone thing, the tenon that stretches under the pickup is particularly short (on the custom 24s'  especially) the part of the tenon cut away to fit under the pickup is only about 15mm thick so there really isn't very much wood there and they're very easy to neck dive on which is obviously adding extra stress on the joint. 

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Out of the clamps, tenon planed, gluing surface flattened again.

C02438.jpgC02440.jpg

I make a neck pocket template by taping together three pieces of polycarbonate sheet and draw the edges of the body on it and use that to transfer to the top. The top has been flattened and prepped for glue up already. I cut the clot for the neck into the top just inside the lines and not worrying about the fretboard end fit, since a pickup route is going there anyway. I finessed the fit with sandpaper spray glued to a scraper , cut a couple of plywood cauls and grow a new clamp forest.

C02441.jpgC02443.jpg

SR

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1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Thanks.

You know, If you hadn't said something.......I'd never have know that was a backstreet boys quote.:P

SR

well, I'm not actually sure if THEY actually said it... but there was an SNL parody where they said it A LOT!  Seemed to fit how much I like your build so... went w it!

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I added a cover made from some rosewood neck off cuts. That should complement the neck nicely.

C02464.jpg

I usually don't like to start carving till all my cavities are routed. I want the flat stable surfaces for holding templates and keeping the base sturdy whilst running the madly spinning router.

My pickups are set to arrive Monday, or so the tracking site tells me. Even though I have templates, I don't like routing pickup cavities till I have the pickups in hand.

So I started the neck join carve. Just roughed it in actually. I will finesse it once the back is carved to its final contours.

C02466.jpgC02467.jpg

Maybe just a little bit around the scroll...

C02469.jpgC02472.jpg

SR

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1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

if the spots where that epoxy sits over the burl are any indicator... man this thing is going to have a beautiful look.  that second piece too... the figure is crazy.  nice work.

Thanks.

And yeah, this is going to be fun!

Maybe I should just finish it in Z-Poxy.

SR

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