ItWasKnight

I'm still slowly working on that Kelly I started a couple months ago, and I'm about ready to buy a neck now, but I'm curious about what necks will fit it. I found a few on ebay, one sold by TNT guitars for US$100 shipped looks pretty good, but would it be a good buy? I will need to remove the inlays to do my own, and I'll also want to paint it... Also, are 22 and 24 fret necks the same size? Are they interchangeable and more of a matter or preference? And one more thing.. What's a dinky?

I plan on putting this on my Jackson Kelly's headstock when I get to it. I made it from a Jackson logo in photoshop. It's not done.. Still needs a few touch-ups Oh, and I call my acoustic "Smoothie"~

I'll definitely ask my dentist next time I go, which, coincidentally, should be quite soon. Thanks for that suggestion. I'll bet they have some REALLY small bits. I had no idea Dremel made anything smaller than the 1/8" or whatever. Glad to know it shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of that one. Thanks for that. Also, while I have your attention, there is one more thing I'm not sure where to get... I need some sort of syringe.. One with a needle on it big enough to move Inlace which is a little thicker than blood. I want to sort of inject the inlace into the area I route out using the 0.8mm bit krazyderek mentioned. This seems logical since a single drop will be about 5 times as wide as the routing, and makes a huge mess when it doesnt pour right in... Can I get one of these legally (in Florida) and fairly easily? Hopefully without visiting the doctor too! (next thing you know I'll think of something I need relating to my guitar I'll need to bum off a lawyer~)

I found some 1.6mm router bits for my dremel on ebay that work really well, but they're just a little too big... Anyone know where I might find some bits that are about 1mm or even smaller?

Well, I've started this project, so I intend to finish it at any cost.. Even if I have to pay someone to do it. I seriously doubt I could do the fretwork myself without messing something up and costing myself alot of extra money and work.. How long does one of these $300 fret jobs take to complete?

Wow, that would be much easier, wouldn't it? If I did it that way, I would still need a pro to level the frets at the very least... How much do you think that would cost? Also, I realize I'm a total noob, but it seems like that inlay down the side woudn't be incredibly hard with a very small router bit and inlace.. Routing it should be the hard part since filling it with inlace woud be cake..

I've decided to attempt to make inlays for the guitar I'm trying to build while I wait for Fernandes to produce more humbucker drivers for that sustainer kit. After giving it much thought, it seems my best option would be to buy a "Jackson Style Neck", remove the fretboard, buy a pre-slotted fretboard , do my own inlays, glue the fretboard on, then take it to a shop to get the frets put in (I hope that's not TOO expensive). I went with Morben's suggestion of Inlace, and I'm glad I did. It seemed to be the perfect consistancy - thin enough to pour, but thick enough to pour right to an open edge without any dripping off the edge. For my first attempt at inlays (and routing), I used a scrap 1x4. I got white Inlace and tried adding only a little green dye, but it barely changed the color. I ended up with a very, very light blue-green. My second and third attempts failed because they never dried. I could not get a halfway decent green color, no matter how much dye I added, and I ended up adding quite alot (experimenting, you know). I'm pretty sure it didn't dry because there was just too much dye. I'm going to try clear Inlace with green dye when I get around to ordering some clear. On my second successful attempt was on a 2x4. I tried making it go around a corner and was suprised at how well that worked. It seems to be durable and feels/looks alot like a very hard plastic. All the rough edges you see are because of my shabby routing job (not to mention the fact that I'm doing it on lumber). There are two ways I'm thinking of doing the inlays on my fretboard.. Either make the whole fret into an inlay, and have it like my second picture where it goes around the edge, covering both sides as well as the front.. Or the way I'd really like to do it, but don't know if it would work right... I made this diagram (I hope you can see what I mean by it). Do you think having the inlay and the wood meet at the corner like that would work out? I want the inlays to take up the entire fret without having square ring around it like shown on the third fret. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Inlace actually looks pretty good... If I were to get white and add some of their solid color green dye, I should be able to make it any shade I want. I'll have to give this stuff a try. If I wanted to give plastic a try as well, should I melt down some old mountain dew bottles, or is there a better way to get plastic that's suitable for this sort of work? I'd really like to try out a few different materials to see which works best for me.

Why are inlays always made out of shells and pearl? Almost every inlay I've ever seen has had that shine to it.. I'd really like to try my hand at making inlays, but I'd want a material that's not shiny. I saw in this thread that Craig used what looked like a flat green colored gasparite recon stone for the land in his globe, and a nice blue for the water under the marlin. Are there other, more readily available materials that can be used for making inlays? I found one tutorial on making them out of acrylic but I was hoping maybe there are other options?

Thanks so much for the input, guys! I'm going to try your suggestions. I'll let you know how it works out.

The sustainiac Stealth Plus looks pretty good, but I still think I'd like to get the Fernandes kit... Thanks for the suggestion, though. It's appreciated.

So I can put two singles in a humbucker's place? If so, can I use a single humbucker pickup cover over both of them? Also, Can you use humbucker pickup covers and rings at the same time?

Well, I finally got my Kelly body and I'd really like to try putting one of these Sustainer kits on it, but apparently it comes with a single coil "driver" that's supposed to be in the neck position and a humbucker as well. I really want to do it myself even if it requires routing, which I think it does. I just want to get an idea of what I'm up against before I buy it. As you can see in the picture, I have two places for humbuckers, so how would I get it to work?

Thanks for the help, guys! That really clears things up, and I can't wait to get started. I have a feeling this project is going to turn out quite well.

I bought a Jackson Kelly body, and it's going to be here tomorrow. I'm ready to sand it down to repaint it because it's red and I'm going for black. I've read just about every tutorial I could find and I've learned quite a bit, but I still have alot of questions.. First, Can I use car paint to paint my guitar? I'm not sure what kind of paint is used on cars.. If I can use that, then I can just spray the base coat and clear coat, same as if I was painting a car? The reason I ask is because I have a friendly neighbor who is always painting cars in his paint booth at his house.. If I can do it that way, it shouldn't be too difficult. Also, the body I'm getting is "new", so can I sand the clear off and use the old paint as a base or do I need to take it all the way down and fill in the grain and all that too?

Why would they do this? I'm new to this, so it makes no sense to me...

That's what I like to hear! Can you tell me what kind of paint is good on plastic? Also, can you tell me where I might be able to purchase a green humbucker cover? I've looked quite a bit over the past few days... Seems even allparts doesn't have them... Thanks alot for answering, this is my first project guitar, and I know I'll be needing even more help!

After searching around, I can't seem to find any references to colored pickup covers.. I'm working on putting a guitar together, and I'd like to have green pickup covers. I plan on having a fernandes sustainer by the bridge, and an EMG-60 by the neck. I have a few questions... Can I buy a green pickup cover for the Fernandes? Or can I buy a pickup cover for the Fernandes and paint it? Can I paint an EMG pickup?