balooka

Hmm no. I havent seen a PRS like you discribed in your other post (that doesn't mean it don't excist!), but I'm going for a regular bold-on neck. I think the use of those inserts is pretty much the same. The only difference there *might* be is that I'll probably have more wood underneeth the inserts to keep them in place.

Hi,

I havent used them yet, but I'm planning something similar. The ones I bought at a local hardwarestore are smaller, and the screws are philipsheads, the allenheads are pretty high...

BTW, I think the ones you are showing are a set to bold on acoustic necks, I'm going to try this on a four-point boldon.

jP

For a bit of snap, I'd say Brazillian rosewood, Ebony, possibly even cocobolo. If you put CF rods in the neck it *might* just tighten things up a little. Maybe. It will give you a stiffer, more even neck.

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Thanks for the info. I've seen you do alot of posting on woods, so I'm kinda taking your word for it

I already ordered a rosewood and maple fboard, mostly because of their color. I want to bind them with black binding. This neck is (tho' I want it to be perfect) basically a firstbuild-testneck. I'll go for ebony on the next one (and put some maple laminate in the neck also).

What did you mean by the CF rods? Tighten what up? The sound or stability? Seems they sell CF rods in a local kiteshop, I'll see if they are solid rods and are up to the task.

TIA

jP

Thanks Southpa

Its Honduran

jP

Hi

Should I use maple or rosewood for my fingerboard on a mahogany neck? I want to compensate the (warm/dark) acoustics of mahogany. This is my first neckbuild so im kindof unclear on this.

TIA

JP

How can you tell what kind of mahogany it is? The guy that sold me some didnt know (he was only the salesdude, boss wasnt there). Besides the weight (which I obviously cannot compare), is it also shown by the grain?

TIA

jP

the copyring or templatering is nothing more than a little 5 mm ring you attach under your routerbase. It sticks out 5 mm at te bottom so you can run it against a template. Since you are using that the bitsize and depth are no issue. you can rout 3mm deep, without a bearing because your 'bearing' is the copyring.

My copyring has a size of 18mm, so if i want a 100 x 100mm cavity, using a 10mm bit, my template is 4mm bigger on all sides. Using the ring you dont need thick templates (mine are all .25) so the maximum cuttingdepth is only shortend by 6mm...

Ill post a pic of the darn thing when I get the time for it, seems my skills in explaining in english arent all that

jP

The reason I did it like this is not because I didnt want to order stewmacs template, but this is (for me) the better option. As I said I use the copyring (or templatering as some call it), so I dont have to bother with bearing and minimal routing depth. As a 'bonus' I can do the electonics cavity with a 3mm ledge for the backcover to sit in in only 2 passes with the router, only needing to change the bit once.

When these templates are OK i'll copy them to acrilyc which has to be .25 thick otherwise I cant use the copyring (thats a con).

This took me about 30 minutes to do.

hi

well I've made my own using some MDF to start with. Draw the cavity you want, take some *STRAIGHT* scrapwood, and line them up to the drawing you just made. Drill some holes, turn on your router and have a go at it.

However, I use my copyring alot when routing and doing so I can use any routerbit I have without the hassle of bearings. All it takes is to offset the scarpwood by a few MM's. I've made mine to be used with a 6mm (.25") routerbit. If I put an 8 mm in it, it'll make the cavity 1mm bigger so I can use binding in it and keep the same radius...

Hope it makes sense

Those ebay templates look like crap. I've made mine in an hour, perfectly straight and clean.

no that wont work, because you would be putting an angle on each cut, not on the whole surface of the pocket. you would just get a staggered surface, which is pretty much useless...

why dont you just make a simple template of the pocket out of some MDF or ply, one that fits your neck perfectly, line it up on your guitar and put two wedges at the back of your tempate, creating the desired angle, then route with a template bit and you will have an angled pocket that will hold your neck deadon.

well thats how I'm going to do it anyway. No gaps between the body that you'd need coverup with an overhanging fretboard.

heh, I'll just angle the pocket when routing. Saves me a headache or two

So are there pros and cons with both techniques? Is shaping the heel more common than angling (?) the pocket?

Someone once told me that if you shape the heel, the guitar would be more versatile since you could exchange necks easy and alter the angly doing so... I (IMHO) think thats crap, cause adjusting the angle for another bridge would also mean modding the body (in most cases).

I'm here to learn

No, your thinkin as if it would be a non angled neck, just tilted back. that would leave a gap, bet when you make your own you will be able to design it so it does. dont think of it as angling the heel, more of angling the fretboard, instead of having it parralel to the body, its tilted down 3 or whatever degree.

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ok I think where talking about two different things here What I meant was on top, looking at the the joint from the top of the body, between the body and neck there wouldnt be a small gap?

No, why would it. Thats the sort of things you plan, so it doesnt hapen,

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so you're saying that if I route a straight pocket, and put a straight (unangled) neck in, it will look the same as if I would put an angled neck in it?

Wouldn't that be kinda odd? whenever something isnt completely flush it leaves a gap, but it wont in this case?

Heh, I am in the planning process and this is one thing I was looking into

jP

If you angle the heel of the neck, and route the pocket without one (obviously) wont there be a (small) gap between the neck and the pocket? Putting an angle in the pocket would/should prevent just that... right?

jP

idch

no I meant the hotrod needs an 11 mm routing depth, I mentioned that to make clear thats how deep it'll go in there, regarding neckthickness at heel.

I'm Dutch, my english is pretty crappy and trying to explain what I mean is even worse so it seems

and yes, my table and plunge routers can go deeper than that...

TIA

jP

ok thanks,

it's going to be a solidbody (EVH'ish), with a shaller fixed bridge [ this one ], and the angle (so far on the drawings) is 2 degrees. Headstock angle is 11 degrees.

The 22 mm I measured was excluding the fb.

TIA

jP

Hi

I got my stuff from stewmac today (kudos, took 'm only 6 days to get it here), and I finalized my full scale drawings. I've taken measurements from various guitars but the heel turned out to be a mindbender;

The thickness of it varies between 22-25 mm on various necks. By drawing it all out I noticed that the thickness is related to the thickness left when routing the pocket. So the uhm base of the neckpocket (?) would get thicker when the heel gets thinner... I think. I'm using the hotrod on this one and routing depth is 11 mm, is there a minimum thickness for the heel?

I *did* use the searchengine, but couldnt find anything relating

TIA

jP

Thanks

The heel of my neck is angled, thats why I didnt order the spokenut. I'm just going to build the neck and check on a dummy body what wil work best then.

Thanks for the info!

jP

If the nut is at the headstock, yes. Doesn't really matter where it is, anti clockwise is the same at both ends (rod will react the same).

good luck

jP

To give a neck more forward bow/relief, is the truss rod to be turned towards the Low E string, ie. counter-clockwise when looking at it from the guitar body?

Just wanted to check before I try and fix some horrible fret buzz on my new pacifica 812v..

ps. and yes I know not to turn the rod more than a 1/4 turn a day, a rather less..

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If you want to apply relief to the neck you loosen the rod by turning the rod end - the nut, slot, whatever - to the left, or anti clockwise.

hehehe

kewlies

I am gonna use the wenge (once the hombre brings it to me )... I've made an oak + walnut body before and the neck was maple + walnut. I like the oak more than the plain maple, but it's a tad on the heavy side. So for this new one I might be going for wenge and (chambred) oak. Since we're not really looking and tonal qualities anymore

Thanks

jP

btw, nice bass

Hi

While is was drawing out the template to rout for a stewmac hotrod, I thought of the extra space I needed to access the nut (base of the neck). This means that the neck pup has to be placed back a little more (correct?). So, is it ok to put the allen nut a few mm's into the neck? I don't think this would be harmfull, but im not sure.

TIA

jP

ps. I was doing a fullsized drawing of the complete guitar with measurements to work from, and something caught my attention. I've ordered a 1/8 allen nut trussrod from stewmac and their website says I have to route a recess of (only) 1/4". It doesnt say how wide it should be to be able turn an allenkey plus I'm a bit uncertain if the key would actualy fit in there since the recess is so small... Is 1/4" enough and how wide should it be?

thanks guys

A (former ) friend of mine used to build basses for a living, and he used wenge all the time. I did some looking around and I couldnt find a solidbody guitar made out of wenge/maple.

That being said, I'm going for the wenge now

I've changed the maple board on my orderlist to a wenge board, and the neck is now 50% maple. Now it's sit back and wait for the shipment.

thanks

jP

Wenge is good, my bassist has a wenge kneck on one of his basses. Plays and sounds like a dream

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Hmm, both of you mention bass necks, but im not building a bass. Does that mean the sound of wenge is dark or will it be compensated enough by the maple??

TIA

jP

ps. I'm finishing my list of items to order, and have a maple fretboard on it.