killemall8

Thanks! Will a spade bit do or is there too much danger of splintering?

i personaly dont like spade bits. if it isnt a flat surface, it tends to skip. if you have a really high powered drill then it might work ok, but i dont think i would trust it with a 18 volt cordless.

What size and type of drill bit should I use to drill the hole for a LP-style output jack?

Sorry, I'm sure this has been covered but I can't figure out what words to search for and don't have my copy of Hiscock's book w/ me and I need to stop off to buy this on the way home from work today. Thanks in advance.

most use 3/4". its what i use also.

reminds me of the jackson shape form the death angel.

anyone know if this is airbrushed or if they used the marbalizer paint and bag technique? thanks

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/k...ustomrhoads.jpg

Edit:sorry i put 2 links of the same guitar. now look at the green one.

anyone like this jackson shape? i like it alot, but it would be hard to get in the v shape at the bottom to shape and sand.

check it out:

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/k...ustomrhoads.jpg

Ooops, please move it to the "Inlays and Finishing Chat".

if you want to stain it, you will have to wipe the fretboard down with laquer thinner and remover all the residue, then you can stain it. but besides that, it will not take a stain.

Cut the outline first then cut the scarf and join the headstock.

but if you cut first then do the scarf joint, then how do you rout the truss rod channel? from what i have been told you are supposed to rout the channel before you do the taper. and if you rout the channel first, then you have to have the scarf joint done before you can rout the channel and it all circles around again. so is it possible?

Something I've been doing lately. Make a template of the neck (top view) for cutting side profiles. Trussrod slot already routed, best to do it while the block is still square. Draw out the side profiles on your block of wood and cut just outside the lines with jigsaw or whatever, doesn't have to be perfect. Line up the centerline of the template with the centerline on your neck and screw it down. Use a shaft bearing bit to follow the template and rout the rest of your side contours. I then install the truss rod and glue the square fretboard onto the side-contoured neck, once again paying attention to centerlines drawn on each. Then cut the sides of the fretboard flush to the sides of the neck. Two options for doing this, carefully with a hand saw OR flip the block, clamp to a bench with one side hanging over the edge, and use the shaft bearing bit with the already contoured neck as a guide.

but how do you use a template when you already have the scarf joint? how can you rout it like that?

guitarbuildingtemplates.com will do custom templates and designs! they are great to work with. i ordered a ken lawrence neck template from them today. should be in a couple of weeks. thats the only bad thing. the waiting time for it to get here.

hi

how do you make a neck when you use a template and bearing bit if it has a scarf joint? how do you rout to shape if when the scarf joint makes it at an angle and you cant use a template? thanks ahead of time.

Have you read Melvyn Hiscock's book? I highly suggest getting it and reading it thoroughly (check here: http://gettextbooks.com/search/?isbn=09531...amp;Submit1=Go). It will answer so many of your questions involving the basic aspects of solid body guitar building.

Oh, and you should be posting your questions in the "Solid Body Guitar and Bass Chat" since they have nothing to do with an in progress or finished work of yours.

God Bless,

CMA

sorryabout that , i know i diddnt mention anything about in progress work, but that is why i asked, because i am working on a archtop les paul and i was wondering how you could get a 1 piece body to be lighter or how 1 piece bodies are chambered. sorry.

here is a tutorial that isnt about that specificly, but it has what your looking for. i just did the same thing to my sg like 10 minutes ago. it is a real easy way to take them out.

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/trs2lopro.htm

By golly, you're right, Godin! It's so obvious I didn't see it. Dunno why I kept visualizing stopping partway through, but there ya go.

i just meant all of the advise on the board and you were the last one to post, so i just replied to you. thanks

long drill bits. If I'm not mistaken (and I may be) they even do this if there's a top.

well all of the ones i have seen have a rout uner the top like the one in this pic on the right that goes all the way through the cavities.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/k...templates-1.jpg

how do they make solidbody les pauls without tops? how do the rout from the switch to both hum cavities and to the control cavity? and are solid les pauls chambered? or do they just have a mahogany back, and a mahogany top too match and cover the chambering? i am currently working on a archtop les paul that is very heavy and was wondering how to chamber it. gess its pretty obvious the only options. please let me know all of you knowedge!

like this:

I've thought of table-saw before... but since the centre of the sawblade would have to end where the truss rod should end, there's going to be that sort of "ramp" up and out of the neck blade if you catch my meaning. Do you just leave it "hollow" and put the fretboard on?

Greg

thanks guys for all of you advise. i will definitly use all of it in the future. thanks again

how long do you have to be a member before you are considered a regular member? any info will do. thanks ahead of time

What, specifically is wrong with your scarf joint, truss rod alignment, etc.? Are you making them right but they wind up in the wrong place? or are they in the right place but the actual cuts are botched = large glue lines etc.? Bad planning / order of neck building steps? What sort of tools are you using for each step? Need specific info to open that "can 'o worms" you have there.

i dont really have a way to get the t rod channel straight, so the only thing i can do is make a fence with a big piece of wood, but it is really inaccurate. its not exactly the scarf joint itself, its how you cut a 2" neck to profile width and how you cut behind the scarf joing to keep it at an angle. also after the fretboard is glued on, to reach the truss rod nut. do you have to rout it deeper under the nut? because i diddnt think of that and now the t rod tool doesnt fit under the wood to fit on the nut. TOTAL CHAOS! i know its my fault for not thinking of everything, but after months of planning i diddnt see anything left to plan. i guess im not fit for this stuff. i think i will stick to making bodies. those come out great. i knew i shouldnt have tried it again. wasted a good 30"x3" piece of mahogany. dang. i hope i learn eventurall

Can you specify what you have trouble with the most?

CMA

lets see,

the scarf joint,

proper truss rod alignment and insertion and proper adjusting rout at the headstock

making

you know, only the MAJOR STUFF. no matter how many tutorials i read or books i read i can never get it right. i demo everything and practice and it seems ok, but then i get to the real project, and i screw up. i guess thats what happens when your self taught.

this is my fifth attempt at making a neck, and still as bad as the first time. i dont know how you guys do it. i run in to problems i never would of thought of even after i planned for 3 months for this one. how do all you do it. you all say its easy, but its the hardest thing i have ever done! i just cant get it to work!

Please don't respond with "SENSES FAIL ISNT EMO! THEIR SECOND WAVE EMOPOPCOREMETAL!!!!!!!" because no one wants to hear that. Just pick the genre you listen to. lol. Some people dont listen to rock. If thats you, just post what you listen to in a reply.

Myself, I listen to hardcore. Some of my favs are norma jean, the chariot, underoath (old and new), and this runs through.

you for got thrash metal!!!! thats the hardest and fastest metal!!! why? how could you!?

has anyone here put a ken lawrence headstock on a guitar besides an explorer? i am starting my new les paul project and was wondering if anyone was brave enough to have put that headstock shape on something else. it will probably look funny on a les paul, but its definitly a unique combo. i'll probably try it.

les paul project:

solid african mahogany, no maple top

set neck construction

emg 81/60 combo(if i can afford them)

semi carved top, not as dramatic as an original les paul

undecided on scale lenghth.

bump... 500?

oh my god, i have been dying for one of these, and i only have 400 free right now. dang if its still for sale in a week or so i will definitly consider.

Try the options button on the upper right of the first post. Click on it and go down to the last three selections and it will standard, switch to outline(I bet this is where you are at) or linear. I think just click it back over to standard and you should be good to go. I never even noticed that options bar until you asked, hopefully that will solve your problem. Let us know, good luck! J

ah, perfect! thanks, i never noticed it either. i guess i should have looked harder. thanks for the quick help!

here is the answer to your first question. the trans finish underneath the primer and color coat is sanding sealer. it is applied to creat a surface above the wood before finishing. according to stew mac, sanding sealer should be 25-30% of your finish. do not sand the body all the way down past the sealer, or you will have to re seal it.