superapplekid

Hi there I recently had my first foray into more exotic woods and got my head handed to me in the process. I was making a telecaster body out of 3 pieces of cocobolo and a maple veneer, only to find 2 months later when I go to check on the body the cocobolo has shrunken away from the other cocobolo pieces. This probably isn't a surprise to anyone on here with a lot more experience than me, but I was certainly taken aback. Anyway, I am not totally discourages and bought two more pieces of cocobolo. They are about 7"x1"x36" each, and I plan to cut them in half after planing and glue them to each other with a maple veneer slapped in the middle of it. I want to know how long I should wait to let them air dry(I can wait a few months and work on other projects instead), or if I need to invest in drying techniques like a kiln. I have read some information on this site, but it went a bit over my head - a simple "wait 3 months" or "kiln the thing" would be sufficient. I really just want to know when i can start safely working with it to keep my previous problem from repeating. Thanks

thanks for the response the board was pretty thick, so that wasnt the issue. The grain isnt going to be totally straight, which isnt a plus. It was a small screw up that I think would make a difference if I fretted it in the pre-done slots, as it would result in slightly odd angles on the frets. I suppose that brings up the other question of whether the grain needs to be perfectly straight on the fretboard (I assumed that wasnt the case).

Sorry if this is a stupid question Ive been doing well building my first guitar so far, but last night I botched getting the side angles on my pre-slotted fretboard. Im toying with solutions to this problem, and I really have three: 1) get a new preslotted fretboard from stew mac, ebay, or allen guitars 2) get an unslotted blank from any of the above places 3) take the preslotted board, cut away most of the slotted area, and re-slot it on the back instead Ive been doing the last one this morning. Ive shaped he board properly and been able to trim its thickness down almost past the pre-done slots, but there still sticking out a little. My concern is (other than the fear of having to slot my own frets) if I start slotting, when I put it on the neck it will have the previous slot-holes in the bottom - Im afraid there might be a tonal difference or possibly other problems, like a weaker wood. Note that the slots are down to about .02-.04inches, the board is about a quarter inch at this point. Does anyone have any insight into this or just guesses? thanks in advanced.

Im taking on a thru neck les paul design for my first guitar, because I want to start out with something easy, ya know? (ha) Well, I know how to figure out neck angles thanks to the book I bought on building electric guitars and this forum. What I cant figure out is what height to call the bridge, since I have a tune-o-matic adjustable bridge. It can obviously work in a 'range' of heights, and I was just wondering if anyone has advice on what height to use when making the angle or if there is a standard height used for it. thanks, sorry for the newb question.