kench

I just got my Martin style U-Channel truss rod from StewMac. I've seen most of the guys routing the truss rod cavity a bit more deeper and put a fillet on top of the rod. Is this important? Is it a must? I was planning to route an exact space for the rod, and glue the rod to the cavity on sides and then attach the fingerboard on top of it. But it seems that it might push the fingerboard out too much when I tighten the rod. Or the epoxy will be enough to keep the rod in the cavity? Here's a picture of the rod:

Also.. if you ever want to use DiMarzio's humcancelling pickups for Strat... such as HS-1, HS-3.. you will need a little deeper cavity. Because those pickups are actually humbuckers with one coil on the top of the other. So they are taller than standard single-coils. But my brother used those pickups with his Standard Stratocaster without any modification to the cavity.. If 3/4" depth is from a standard Strat body.. that will be an enough space.

Thank you very much Rhoads!!. That's what I needed to know. But the grain of the maple is not the flame figure, right? Because the grain and the flames are perpendicular to each other. So what I'm going to do is... first take a 60 grit disk and carve the body with disk spinning parallel to the lenght of the body and moving the grinder perpendicular. Then I will do the opposite with 220 grit. I just drew something to show you what is in my mind. Tell me if there's something wrong. btw- what does "Flame does "wear out", it is there throughout the piece of wood" mean.. my English isn't that good..

Thanks for all responses. I tried the angle grinder on scrap maple today. With some 80 grit flap disks (aka Fan Sanding Disks... looks like a fan blower). I couldn't find any higher grit for this type of disks. Then hand sanded a little with 220 grit sand paper. But those little brown lines still exist. I also found out that those are actually burnt lines because of the disk. They only go away after I use a chisel. I think I can do it with an angle grinder. I think I will have to do a lot of hand sanding after I shape the body with the disks. Or I might use my drill with a sanding disk instead of angle grinder. So the speed would not be that much. (2000 rpm). But then it will be hard to control the process with a drill.. (ergonomy) I don't know yet. Btw... I've seen some posts on MIMF about using lancelot disks with grinders... But those looked very scary to me. How do you guys use angle grinders? With what kind of disks? Which grits? and what should I do after the angle grinder process? More importanty.. How can I prevent losing the flame figure? Can anyone give me the step-by-step details of this process?

Hello. I was thinking of using an angle grinder with a sanding disk to carve the maple top of an LP style guitar. It will surely be a fast way to carve but one thing that worries me is that I might lose the beautiful flame figure on the maple or causing some little scratchs or lines on maple. Those lines come up everytime I sand the maple even when I (think I) sand it through the grain direction. Or am I using very coarse sand papers? (it happened with 80-120 grit papers) I am planning to use the sanding disk through the grain direction but should I use it through the direction of the flame figures? How can I do this with an "angle grinder" without losing the figure and without causing scratchs and lines? btw- I don't have a router or finger planes.

Seymour Duncan has all the detailed dimensions for their each pickup in their website. But other brands like EMG may use slightly different dimensions. http://www.seymourduncan.com If you're planning to use standard size humbuckers like PAFs or Strat size single-coils, you can count on Duncan's dimensions. And remember that humbuckers for tremolo bridges (fender, floyd rose) are slightly wider than the gibson size humbuckers. Because of the string spead. Just route a cavity that has enough space for both. Seymour Duncan's Trembucker series and DiMarzio's F-Space humbuckers refer to the tremolo bridges.

Hello. I was wondering the tonal capabilities of the woods I am using for my first guitar project. I am building a Les Paul style guitar and here are the woods I am working with. Body: African Mahogany with Flame Maple top (17 mm thickness) Neck: African Mahogany Fingerboard: Ebony from StewMac. There are commonly two types of mahogany here in Turkey. Both from Africa and called as Sapele and Sipo. At first I bought a bone dry Sipo blank for the body but I realized that there were lots of cracks in it while working on it. So I bought some nice and very straight grained quartersawn Sapele blanks for both the body and the neck. I was wondering if they are any worse than the Honduran Mahogany? I tried to find the latin names of the woods I have got but I couldn't. Any of you guys know the tonal differences between Sapele, Sipo and the Honduran Mahogany?

yes its a cool guitar.. but unfortunately mine is damaged... I took this guitar from a friend of mine 8 years ago.. it was hanging on his wall and i said.. "hey can i have it?".. and he said "yes"... It was originally the single cutaway version (like a LP).. but someone made it double cut when converting it to a left hand guitar, and damaged the body very roughly, when replacing the pickups with fullsize humbuckers and placing pots, jack hole on the otherside, etc... It's been staying in my closet for 8 years until I decided to build a new solid body for it couple of weeks ago. This is how it looks like "right now". i just took the pics.. and sorry about the bad flash.

I have this old italian guitar EKO Florentine 1967.... it has a bolt on neck, just like the Warmoth's double cut LP. The body is maple (as it says in the brochure but mine looks like mahogany), the neck pocket is smaller and much thinner than the Warmoth's,... the body isn't even solid... and it's still stable.

yes.. the top right bolt can be placed on where the scale lenght starts..(or ends) this will give you the enough adjustment possibility for intonation.... but DRILL AFTER YOU PLACE THE NECK ON THE CORRECT POSITION and make sure your bridge's center point matches the center line of the neck. Otherwise you may get your E strings falling off the fingerboard.

Some bridges like "tune-o-matic" style bridges should be installed with an angle when its tail-piece is installed 90 degrees to the neck's center line. Like on Les Pauls. But this is just because of these kind of bridges have limited adjustment range on their saddles. With angling the bridge, you will get bigger adjustment range on saddles for the right intonation. Intonation should be done with adjusting each saddle while tuning the strings. Normally, the bass strings should be slightly further back than the trebles. It can't be done while mounting the bridge. So the idea is to leave maximum adjustment range for intonation after you install the strings. Most of the other bridges and tremolos have enough adjustment range on each saddles, so no angling required. And tremolo bridges should be mounted 90 degrees to the center line for the right "tremolo action". Here's an example drilling diagram for my tune-o-matic bridge and tail-piece. But it may be different on other bridges.

Hey finally I have a host site for my images!... Thanks for the advices! www.fullservesite.com works if you remove "members/" from the url. Well... here are my drawings on computer. I used Macromedia Freehand for drawing vector images and plans and Photoshop for coloring. Please check them out and let me know if you have any ideas, corrections or tips that makes the work easier. And I think I'll go for the Hollow body.. thank you very much for the information about your guitar Rye!. And I still need the lenght between 2 humbuckers in Gibson Les Pauls.

Hello.. I'm a graphic designer from Istanbul, TR. I'm playing a Fender Strat for 7 years but I'm also trying to build a Les Paul body for my 1967 EKO Florentine neck (the body is damaged, converted to a left-hand guitar very very roughly by one of its past users). The neck is in good condition and has a good feel except the fret wires. I'm going to replace the fingerboard if I success with the body. I'm going to use mahogany body and maple top, just like the original LPs. Anyway.. I'm now in planning process and made all the drawings in the computer. My questions are... Should I make a hollow body or a solid one? I've seen that Warmoth is making hollow bodies and I drew my plan just like theirs. A semi-hollow body is attractive because of it's warm tone and light weight. But the sustain is more important. Does it reduce sustain? and what about the feedback problems with high gain amps? I may forget about the hollow body if it is risky. You can see the chambers in this image from Warmoth website: ...And I need the exact lenght between two humbuckers in original LPs. It should be accurate because I might mount an original pickguard. My last question.. what is the easiest way to angle the neck pocket for tune-o-matic bridges? I can calculate the needed angle but how can I route the neck pocket with exact angle? (It's gonna be bolt-on) PS: I'd like to post my detailed plans on here but I don't have an account on any free server... Would you recommend me one?

I just registered... am I the 1001st?....lol... j/k