RGGR

Keep us informed, willya!!. I'm planning LP too, and a reviewed the different methods just like you. The stepped route alternative in combo with bandsander looks promising to me. But as I don't have orbid sander or band sander.....just some chisels, wood files and some sand paper after routing will do the trick too, I guess.

I would go for one category: GOTM. No subdivision. With simple story let people vote on winner. Sometimes a great moded guitar will win, the other times a great scratch build. This way all guitars fall in one big category. We just pick the nicest one that month completed. How was that line again: Keep it simple stupid!!!

Sounds like product coming from Medilin Columbia.

Is there really a best method??? Doesn't it all depend on tools available, and experience of builder with these tools. Hearing your story I think you just should give it a shot. Based on articles you read, try the method you feel most comfortable with. I've seen people use dupli-carvers, band, orbid & drum sanders, routers, shissles....the lot. All with great results. And if you wanna be really on the safe side.....buy cheap piece of pine (or other cheap wood) and do a couple of test carves. Just to feel what works and what doesn't.... Good luck.

If hardness is factor, why not ditch the ferrules to begin with and replace the whole walnut wood piece with machined piece of metal, replacing the ferrules and wood insert altogether??? Just a thought.

Marcel, on your guitar it looks rather okay, I have to agree. The JS has more delicate shape, and I think these bigger ferrules won't look as good.

Vwall quoted me a price of $18 for set of neck ferrules.......Auhwwww!!!

Checked Stewmac's Neck Ferrules again, and discovered that they are 5/8" inch. That's bigger than the regular Ibanez neck ferrules. Drawn model of neck holes in Autocad, and saw that these big ones just don't look good. Checked Scott at Vwallguitars and he told me the regular Ibanez ones are $18 a set. I almost choked in my beer. Auch!!! After little search, saw that www.musikraft.com has set of smaller 1/2" ones available. Neck Ferrules Edit: After brainwave I checked voxhumana.nl and luckily they have these puppies available (sometimes these things are right under your nose and you're not even seeing them). Not sure the size yet, but they look alright. Wasn't it Bismark who said - It's the d*mn small things that drive me crazy.

Might the problem not be your glue, but rather not enough pressure on top veneer piece???

You might have a look here. RG 7 To my knowledge the RG/Jem 6/7's have same body design and measurements. JEM CAD plans.jpg Look on Jemsite.com for neck dimensions of 7 strings and adjust neck pocket accordingly. Most these things can be found doing a little Universe/Jem/RG 7 search on Google and this site. Edit: I have cad plans available if you have the AutoCad program. Just send me an email.

Nice maple on top. I especially like the heel design you put in. Smooth. Nice improvement to this LP inspired body. See you've built some other Limba guitars. Nice.

It's not so much stability....it's more taking wood (or material for that matter) out that has vital part in transporting vibrations from neck to body. (Altough vibrations are really transported, but haven't got better term for it) That scooped Fender thing can't sound right. Or as my marketing team would decribe it; "It has it's own very unique & distinct sound characteristics."

Some beautiful Black Limba you got there. I agree with others and don't like the idea of p-up routed through body (so close to neck). Your guitar wouldn't brake so easily, but just the idea of weakening this important area of guitar, just scares me. And p-up (looked at it from front) looks little out of center, hope this is just the pic.

Looking good. Quick question, how did you trim the frets? Dremel??? P-up selector switch need to be drilled, I suppose right??? Nice guitar.

Neck Mounting Ferrules, eh!! Thanks, BLS. Saw that Allparts have some matching "shorter" neck screws. Part #GS_3005-010 (Short Neck Plate Screws (4 Pieces) Phillips Head, Chrome, #8 x 1-3/8").

Quick question. On this project guitar neck tutorial (http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/neck2.htm) I bumped in to the following pics. My question is now, does anybody know what are those small little washers behind the screws. In hardware store I found some stainless screws that were a little to short (1.5"), and some that were a little to long (1"). Proper size will take some more searching, I guess. I think some 1 3/8" screws will do. But those little washers? Are they any special or just 'standard' hardware rings. They look like recessed washer of some sort. Thanks.

Why, would I wanna do that? The body and headstock will be same metallic Candy Apple red color. With sanding I can get nice flat and smooth surface on the headstock. No laminates on there. Or do you mean to mask marks caused by dropping it on the floor? Neh, no need to. Everything cool there.

Did little more work today. Finished routing neck pocket, and finished routing the neck. Happy with the results so far. Of course nothing without the occasional screw-up. Specially when you drop the just finished neck on the floor...... Neck pocket and the neck are tight fit. Yes!!! I can lift the guitar from it's neck while it's pressed in the body. Now waiting for trem and pups to route these out of the body. Will probably spray layer of spray putty on body before I start sanding final shape in the body. (So I can get sides real nice and tight.)

Big guys vs. little guys, I mostly vote for the little guy.

Hope you guys received the RG cad files in good order. Good luck!!

Couldn't resist. Had to take the headstock out. ;-)

With interest I read that link to Nashguitars. Says alot about the Fender company. Seems the CBS years are back again. Of course I understand Fender, cause if someone can make a living out of making Fender type guitars (selling them for $1100 a pop.) Fender thinks......hmmmm.....that's $40.000 a year less coming into Fenders' pockets, we need to get after these guys. What they forget is, they're getting $40.000 worth of bad rep. And why would everybody and their grandmother be after those nice relic '59 strat copies....hmmmm......maybe, just maybe, because those brand new MIM strats are just all out crap.

Have you read any of the other LP posts on this forum??? Have you done a search on Les Paul in this forum??? Might be handy!!!

Finally, my router bits are in. Yibbidi Yibbida!!! Routed most of the body out. Left top piece attached (in neck area), so I have a more flat area (more support) when routing out the neck pocket. Some people adviced me to route of the neck pocket before anything else as this seems to be rather critical. Working with router takes some getting used to. Darn dangerous machine. Read about router bits leaving the router, tear-outs......all the good stuff. Made sure router bit was attached properly to router.......but to my own surpise the bit would come off. Not funny!! Secured it more firmly. And darn would it happen again!! I even marked the bit and the router nut, so I could see movement on bit.......but still it caught me by surpise. Had tear-out on lower horn. Nothing very serious, and sanding the horn will make this "problem" disappear. When doing final passes on body I had the lock nut on the router dig in to the body. I didn't notice the nut sticking out under the router. When routing I smelled the wood burn, and knew something was up. Again nothing serious as further sanding will take care of this. All in all happy with results. These little accidents tend to happen and sanding and Bondo will take care of most problems. Lessons learned: Router is dangerous piece of machinery. Be very careful!!! Wear safety glasses, and make very sure the router bit is attached securely to the router. 3/4" of shaft sticking in router. (trouble is that bit won't come low enough to route all the way through the body.) To solve this problem I used two types of bits. The template bit with bearing on top, and the fluss trim bit with bearing on bottom. Also saw that not every router pass is equal to the previous one. I could detect some router marks on the side of the body. Again, sanding will take care of this. Before I route out the neck pocket I will start working on my neck. Darn beautiful to see lump of wood change into guitar. ;-)

I'm with you Westhemann. Personally I let the big three inspire me and build something better. Better tone wood, better pick-ups, better neck construction. If I want a exact copy of a Gibson or Fender I will buy one. If I build one....I want it to be better. And Picasso once said; "Good artists copy, great artists steal."