Rocket

I have to agree. I've thought about it and decided to leave it. I found some graphite rods from an older project and am going to put those on either side of the truss. Hopefully they will reduce the amount I have to adjust the truss rod.

This is a Chinese $40 neck, FYI. What I discovered is that the frets were not spaced to 25.5" as their specifications stated. They were spaced at a longer scale, and wouldn't have worked for the body I want to attach it to. They gave me a partial refund and because I've replaced fretboards before I thought what the hey. I also discovered once the fretboard was off the truss rod sat much too deep in the channel. It was not flush. So to adjust it I would've really had to crank on it (had the frets been spaced correctly). So in all I'm almost glad the frets were improperly spaced so I could solve these problems. Although rerouting the channel after filling it would be a hassle for me as I don't have the right tools for that. Meaning a router. I could do it with a combination of a Dremel and chisels. That's How I did one other neck. It looked like hell but it works. But like you say, who knows? It might be okay.

I was searching for answers to this and this thread came up in my search. I realize it's very old. I am attempting putting a new fretboard on a Chinese neck. When I pulled the attached fretboard off I noticed the truss rod route was not exactly centered. By the nut it is but it gradually goes off-center that by the end of the truss route I'm guessing it's about 1.5mm off center. That's one point five millimeters. It's doesn't seem like much but you can tell immediately that it's off-center when viewing it from a distance. I thought about widening the truss channel a bit and adding some spacers on one side but it's a lot of extra work for something that might not matter. I'm posting this for any opinions.

That's exactly what I did, and found three. That's is why I started this thread - to check if there are any more. That vendor list, BTW, is completely old and outdated. Dead links, etc. As usual, this forum has been a great help.

I'm 25-1/2" scale, thanks anyway.

I'm looking for places that carry pre-slotted, but not necessarily radiused, maple fingerboards that are wide enough for a 7 string, at least 2-5/8". I know of: AIguitars on eBay; Luthiers Mercantile; Allen Guitars. Wondering if there are more places, thanks.

Futzed around with it some more. Two things helped: 1) using a thinner middle washer for the tang wheel, as someone else posted in this thread; 2) I drilled a 2nd hole in the handle crank 180 degrees from the stock set-screw hole, tapped and put a screw in the new hole, so now it's forced to mount on the bolt straight. So yeah, I'm really glad I didn't spend the eighty or ninety dollars on the Stew/Mac one. Actually I was looking at some $35-$45 eBay ones some guys made and are selling but figured I'd give this a shot.

I've been messing with this thing today. Parts cost me around $15 as stated. My problem is the same as another poster, the crank is wobbly. I can see why: it's because the bolt it's being attached to is not snug in the crank (handle) hole, so when the tiny set-screw is applied, the crank mounts on the bolt at an angle. So as I'm putting fretwire through it all, when the set scew is facing up, the tang wheel goes outward on the bottom. Did any of you find handles that used some other method than a set-screw? When I was shopping around I assumed that it would just screw onto the bolt with threads, but I didn't see anything like that. And if you used set-screw handles, how did you get it to catch onto the bolt? I found that just tightening set-screw against the threads didn't hold so I drilled a hole into the threads for the set-screw to go in a little, but I still have to tighten it after every pass. In addition to it wobbling all over the place. I must be doing something wrong.

Speaking of Lace, their more normal pickups don't have the triangular base either. Also, when I mentioned EMGs, and the Select, I forgot to also mention they make a higher end passive line, the HZ. That line of singles doesn't have the triangular base and some have the polepieces showing, for the traditional look. Another non-triangular one I found: Guitarheads active single. It's cheap cheap cheap and looks like an EMG with the solid cover. Black or white.

I happen to also be searching these out lately, for space reasons. I found many Duncans of course but also EMGs (and their low budget "Select" single) and Bartolinis.

What I mean by this is that in between the spring cavity & the bottom of the pickup route would be only about 6mm of wood, and this is all happening at the end of the fretboard.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/577326314WghSAx (few pics. no heel shot though. Imagine the downward line of the long wing flowing into the small wing. That's how the heel is cut.) I don't understand what you mean by 3 inches of wood on either side. I was measuring pickups today in fact. Not much room between the 36th fret and the bridge so I'm going to put 2 single-sized rail humbuckers in there. The one closest to the fretboard I plan on sinking lower to avoid my picking. Probably not level with the body top though, but not as high as I like a bridge pickup. Guess I don't know for sure! I'll direct mount as well. I'm shying away from a Floyd or Fender based tremolo now, the more I look at it and think about it. I don't have a picture of the heel but from my measurements it would be too close for comfort to the heel, on the treble side. The way I've messed up this thing along the way I am certain I'll have not considered something after removing all of that wood for a trem/spring cavity.

I'd posted last winter about a 36 fret neck-thru I am building, and it's taking forever but I'm to the point of routing for pickups and possibly a trem and spring cavity. As I was trying to think 3 dimensionally though, I began to wonder if routing a pickup slot close to the end of the fretboard, combined with routing a spring cavity could weaken the neck. You have to imagine how deep 36 frets go and I have cutaway on the treble side to allow full access to all of them. So the spring cavity would be somewhat underneath the last fret. So with a 42mm thick body, 19mm pickup route and 17mm spring cavity route leaves about 6mm of wood right after the fretboard end. Seems crazy!

Rust-O-Leum Crytal Clear Enamel was one of my tests, and it does change the shade of the wood. I used it on an unstained, maple/maple Allparts neck and that neck is very light colored, even lighter finished than this other neck I want to do is raw. Which surprised me when I sprayed a scrap piece from my raw neck and it darkened. So I guess maple can come in different shades.

Yes, they are all single-action truss rods. Metalhead28, why do you say that?