johnsilver

Metalcarver, that's really cool. Its nice to see something unique. The body shape is good. How do you join a graphite neck to an aluminum/aluminium body?

Setch, thanks. I guessed that judging the perpendicular was easier from the top than the bottom. In any case, an innovative solution even if risky in my view. Of course, I guess it could be done before the finish is applied with less risk. Your work is even more impressive in its accuracy knowing you don't have a drill press. Are you going to relax and enjoy your LP when its finished, or do you already have another project in mind?

Setch, would it be possible to accomplish the angling of the pots by using a forstner bit from the cavity side instead of the method you used? It worked great for you but for me I'd be afraid I'd ruin the finish coming in from the top. BTW, that is one awesome guitar.

I put this bridge on a guitar I made recently. It is very solid and adjustable, including the string spacing. Unfortunately, I see its gone up about $15 since I bought mine and it wasn't cheap to begin with. Schaller Roller Bridge

I measured my strat and tele necks, both 21 frets, and they are about 26" from the tip of the head to the end of the heel. So leave yourself some room beyond that, say a 30" blank. I just checked the maple neck blanks at LMI. They are 30"

Great stuff. I was looking it over. Can't figure how you did the lizard's teeth against a black background. Who am I kidding. I can't figure out how you did any of it. Yesterday was a big day for me. I graduated from fretboard dots and cut my first MOP block inlays into an ebony fretboard. Mostly ok, but you have pieces smaller than my gaps. Really sick Craig.

On my first guitar last year, my alder body blank had a twist in it. I don't have a jointer or planer, so I had to break out an old Stanley plane (9.5") and go to work. Turned out to be very enjoyable and worked well. I then bought a 14" Bailey plane and now I use them in combination, first the Stanley then the Bailey. They are also useful for flattening neck blanks before attaching the fretboard.

That's cool. My brother in law was a telephone installer for the phone company and a really nice guy. People were always giving him stuff, including a large plank of 10/4 mahogany once. Not sure what he did with it.

How about using it as a top over something like mahogany or swamp ash?

France, huh? We were living in the UK when my son got this. Anyway, here is a clip played clean with a second dirty part just coming in at the end. My skills aren't good enough to edit a clip so you can hear the heavier part. This is just the intro. Maison clip

I am testing a link to a music file. I searched for instructions / restrictions without success. Hopefully not against the rules. My Webpage

Hey, no prob. To each his own. I'm just trying to find out a little about the guitar if anyone knows.

Someone gave this to my son. He blocked out the trem, lowered the action and put a Duncan Distortion in the bridge and 59 in the neck. He likes it ok.

Anyone know what this is? Headstock says Maison. Body is mahogany with maple top (looks like 4 piece) that is heavily carved. Neck is maple with rosewood fretboard. Bolt on neck. I can't find out anything about the manufacturer. Probably Korean made?

I was looking at some of these guitars at Guitar Center last weekend. The neck looked fairly standard size, that is, the width at the nut was the same as a standard size and so was the bridge. There was a single humbucker placed somewhat in between where a bridge and neck humbucker would be placed. It's just that the body size was a lot smaller and the neck looked slimmer on the contour of the back. It had 21 frets even. I didn't see any for lefties but wasn't looking for that. Maybe you can examine one of those to get the ideas for your leftie model.

I just recently went through this on a couple of guitars I'm working on - a LP style and a PRS style. These were the first carved top bodies I had done. On the LP, I carved the body first before cutting the binding channel and realized that wasn't the optimal sequence. As LGM said, it's better to cut the channel before carving, then you can use a router on flat wood. That's what I did on the PRS style that I did after the LP. Having said all that, the LP came out ok even if a little nervewracking. I used the small binding cutting tool from Stewmac attached to my Dremel. If using a router base on flat wood is like driving a hummer on flat ground, then using this binding cutter is like riding a unicycle down a hill. Its scary but works well with care. As the top carve changes, the binding channel will change also as was previously noted. What I did was to clean up the channel manually as was described in LGM's note (like around the horn) but in some cases (like around the waist) I reset the Dremel and went back over the areas to adjust the channel slightly then feathered it in to the rest of the channel. Check it out - a 7 layer ivoroid / black binding on the LP cutaway.

I don't know anything about that tuner, but you can get it here for $69. I've bought two of my sons Boss TU2 Chromatic tuners which is a pedal tuner. Both play in bands so they like the pedal. Boss TU2

Southpa, I think bigleaf maple is commonly used for tops on solid bodies. I like your idea of cutting bookmatched tops. With a piece of maple that wide and thick, you can get lots of tops with varying grain / burl that will keep you in projects for a long time. If it is 18" wide and long enough for a body (say 20-24"), you can cut it down the middle to make pieces 18"x24"2", which when resawn will make lots of tops. I also like your idea of using some on a tele. With the remaining pieces that aren't as wide, it may be worth trying a neck. I wouldn't try it flatsawn but since you have the thickness would turn the wood on edge. laminate it around a stiffer center core strip of wood and then use carbon reinforcing rods (not sure these would be necessary but wouldn't hurt). Anyway, have fun.

The work you are doing is valuable experience. You have already figured out that it is better to route the truss rod channel when the neck blank is square rather than after bandsawing it to its rough taper. When gluing a fretboard to a neck, its helpful to insert some small pins into the neck and align the fretboard on the pins before gluing. Once you have the glue spread, you can then fit the fretboard back onto the pins so when you clamp it down it doesn't move. I agree with Devon that you can line up the centerline of the neck to the centerline of the body. That works if you have routed the neck pocket on the centerline. I suggest you always use the centerline of the body as a reference for neck pocket, pickup routes, etc. Once you have that fitted, you can see if the fret slots are perpendicular to the line where your bridge will be i.e. the distance from the bridge to the nut should be the same on either side of the neck (i.e. both e strings). You could also measure the distance from the bridge line to the 12th fret for example and see if the two distances are the same. It may be possible to adjust for slight imperfections by adjusting the intonation, but I'm not sure how much leeway you have. You say you routed the fretboard flush after gluing it on the neck but it came out wavy. Did you use a neck template to guide the router of route by hand? If a template, you shouldn't have a wavy result. If not, you are lucky waves are the only problem. I once again agree with Devon that a long flat sanding block is useful. I suggest buying Melvyn Hiscock's excellent book on guitar making. All these questions are addressed there. Good luck.

Toddler, buddy - where do you find out about these auctions?

Setch, if you've already died a body and used filler, can you then use toner (dye suspended in laquer for example as you suggest) to hide the imperfections?

Drak, do you have a favorite pickup combination in a Tele? Say, one made of alder with maple neck and fretboard with humbuckers?

I'm with Drak on this one. My suggestion is to make a guitar while looking at the piece of lignum vitae and don't let the two come in contact.

As far as I know, lignum vitae is the densest wood on the planet, so dense it sinks instead of floats. I believe it has been used to make wooden mallets for carvers / cabinetmakers and as sole plates for wooden planes. I'm not sure what application it would have in a guitar unless you wanted to make knobs or pickup rings or something. Even a fretboard would be very heavy. If you want to try to work with it, try using mineral spirits (good for removing wax), naphtha (good for oil and silicones) or xylol/toluol/toluene (good for grease, oil). I've heard the resin/wax continues to emit over time.

Anyone have a reference or source to help date an old Tele? I think its a 60s model. The bridge is brass and is labelled Fender USA Pat. Pend. I looked on the neck plate and didn't find an id number. Thanks.