Alexander

Hi all,

Well I made the decision to lacquer my neck (well, my guitar's neck to be precise) with satin aerosol lacquer to seal it because I don't like gloss finishes on necks particularly.

This might sound daft, but now I've done it, it feels rough and kind of gritty. What can I do (save playing it in) to smooth it down a little? Would I be right in thinking that playing the neck for a few months will naturally smooth it?

Or, if you wanted to still rest your hand, couldn't you put a Floyd on and have it sit on the body when at rest, like EVH?

I've heard that if you live in say, the UK, where the climate is much damper, you are advised to lacquer the neck as an oil finish won't do it. Any comments?

Warmoth products are superb - I'm currently building my second guitar using Warmoth parts and I've been very impressed. Not cheap, mind you (especially when you live in the UK and can add £30 customs and tax onto the price of a neck).

Well, I've just put a motherbucker in my frankenstrat - only used it once at decent volume but I can tell you it's very loud indeed, and a lot "sharper" than I was expecting. I was pretty amazed - I had to back it right off the strings to get a decent clean sound. I'm putting an EMG 81 in my current project so I'll try and post a comparison of the two.

Just bumping this - anyone got any insight?

Understood. I'm hoping the neck will gradually get nicer to play just through playing it as well - I can imagine continual string bending will smooth off certain frets anyway...

Hi all,

I'm tru-oiling a swamp ash body at the moment, I've got 6 coats on now, it's starting to look pretty sweet. I'm following the instructions I was pointed to at LMI, but I'm slightly confused about the final step;

When I've got enough coats of tru-oil on and let it dry completely, the tutorial says to use a lemon oil treatment to prevent fingerprinting - I got hold of some lemon oil, but it says it's only to be used on unfinished wood. Is there a difference between a lemon oil treatment, and just lemon oil?

Have any of you got any tips on the final polishing and buffing of a tru-oil finish?

TIA!

I think you could be right about the fret levelling, but I have no idea where to start doing that, and I doubt I have the tools for the job?

Thanks chaps - There's no noticeable grooves (it's not an old neck, just a cheap one). I've got some 000000 steel wool, and some lemon oil, so I'm good to go! i have to remove the neck again soon to reshape the headstock and try a shim to alter the neck angle slightly, so I'll do that at the same time.

Hi all,

Just put together my first frankenguitar, and the neck is admittedly cheap (although fundamentally sound). The problem is it's a bit dry and gritty feeling to play. When bending notes the frets kind of grind. Is there something I can do to smooth out the playing experience? It's a rosewood fretboard too - should I oil it with something?

Thanks chap - raises another good point - what's the best way to tell which part of a humbucker is "working"? I used to think you could tap the blade/pole with a screwdriver to tell which is "live" but on this one they all seem to make a noise all the time.

Hi all,

Well this afternoon I've been trying to wire up a Kent Armstrong Motherbucker, with absolutely no experience, skills or clue. I'm chuffed to bits, because the guitar actually makes guitar like noises! This is a major coup.

However, much of it was guesswork and I think I kinda fluked it. I'd like to actually understand what was going on - obviously I've picked probably the worst pickup in the world to start with, but no mind.

I've been using the instructions included - it suggests using 3 DPTP switches, but I only had two so decided to try it without the third switch. At the moment the two I've got wired up don't seem to do anything at all. I think they're supposed to put each side of the MB into either series or parallel, then the third (missing) switch puts each half of the pickup into either series or parallel. Thing is, I'm using two on/on switches, and the diagram isn't very specific as to whether these are right or wrong.

Sorry for waffling, I guess I'm asking if anyone has any alternative MB wiring schematics that I can compare my "work" with?

Ta!

And what is an antinode?

I've been meaning to get myself a DTR1000 or a DTR2000 for a long time, it's on the shopping list. I use a TU2 in my pedal board, and I can definitely recommend that if you ever do need a pedal tuner.

While I'm in the mood for asking inane questions, why is it called a 5150? What's the origin of the name?

What's the deal with the extra tuning machine there?

Gotcha. Thanks a lot!

Dude, you should write tutorials for a living

That's cool, for some reason I thought there was sanding in between coats etc. but that sounds so simple, even I could do it. And make no mistake, I'm a real numpty. Last night I was drilling neck holes (in another, cheap neck) and wondering why my drill wasn't really drilling. Turns out it was rotating the wrong way. Hmmm.. perhaps I should stick to playing guitars rather than building them.

That said, this guitar is going to be beautiful in it's simplicity. I will post pics as soon as it's guitar shaped.

Hi chaps/chapettes.

I was looking through the tutorials on the front end of this site, but I can't find a good beginners guide to lacquering a neck anywhere - I'm intending to use aerosol lacquer (satin finish) and I'd like to have as much information at my disposal as possible before hitting the button. Things like - how many coats, when I should sand and with what grain, etc.. I'm a complete newbie to this as you may already have gathered.

Yeah I got them shipped over from the US. I've not received the neck yet, but the body had a customs charge of about £37 quid on it, including the brokerage charge they say you shouldn't have to pay. I was going to crib about it until I opened the box, and it was such a beautiful bit of wood I couldn't really complain!

Ha ha, do you think anyone's noticed I know bugger all about guitar building yet?

Thanks again Denny, I will check out halfords this weekend.

I would ideally just like to oil the neck, because I don't like glossy necks anyway, but as it's a Warmoth neck and hence was pretty pricey I don't really want to risk it going all banana shaped.

I'll keep you posted as to what I end up doing anyway.

You sir, are a star!

http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=118017

Does that look like it might be ok on a guitar neck?

Wouldn't gold be too soft for fretwire?