deadmike

no pictures on this update yet. ive been racking my brains trying to get clued up about neck depths and bridge heights. after drawing it all out a few times, laying it all out and using long straight sticks to determine the neck pocket depth i just went ahead and tried a depth of 5/8, the recommended fender depth. well that came nowhere near deep enough and after a good 20 minutes of chiseling the edges incredibly flat, im a bit dissapointed yet triumphant in my damning of that "standard depth". tomorrow if i have time i'll cut a full 20mm down and try lining it up again. most of my drawings came out at 20mm depth but i wanted to at least try the 5/8 that was in all the books and websites to see if i was going wrong. hopefully by tomorrow i'll be shopping for a back plate. im scavaging around my tool boxes and sheds looking for any metal i could use as a plate rather than buy one. has anyone else ever used something alternative?

he was having an affair... with the guitar! burn it, its tainted with ill love!!!! this project sounds completely bizzare already, if anything im sure it'll be fun.

"you can't have a straight neck (without angle) on a carved top like the Les Paul, because the string path will go straight into the belly of the body." i didnt realise id said that??? i was talking more about zero angle fenders. im scared mommy

having spent 2 hours yesterday reading/mucking about with my guitar and books. i read almost exactly what i wrote down. do i have any idea what im talking about? i thought it made sense? if thats wrong, then ive either been spending TOO long with my nose in the books or that books worthless. i think i better go curl up the corner....

yeah all the books etc give you that mystical set depth for standard fender necks etc. but when building something not out of place in frankensteins lab it becomes a different ball game. lets put it in easier numbers. for my sake. ive got a 25mm neck at the body end. ive got 35mm body. ive got saddles that are currently sitting at 10mm off the body. if i go with 5/8" depth (16mm) im roughly looking at 10 to 12mm above the body counting the frets. isnt that leaving the action a tad low? if not practically ON the frets? i was thinking of setting the neck a full 20mm leaving the fretboard in line with the body. the saddles can lowered quite a bit to compensate. that makes 5mm of neck above body line. not including frets.

one of the reasons a guitar has an angle is to make it more comfortable to play. zero angle guitar necks have very slightly larger frets which stretch the hand a little and are straight, which means you need to stretch your arm out a little further too. angled guitar necks come back toward the body meaning less stretch. the difference is minimal but aparent. personaly im not fussed, but when building, it makes life a lot easier to stick to a zero angled neck.

believe it or not steve im doing exactly the same thing and trying to work out my depth with a encore neck, zero angle. i had asked on this forum but i didnt word it out as precisely as you. i spent two hours tonight measuring and pondering and i think youve hit the nail on the head except for one thing (which my paranoia kept me guessing) what if you set it to the lowest your saddles will go and you find youve set the neck TOO low. then youve got no option but to pad out the neck. would it make more sense to set the saddles mid way? then youve got some play each way? im not an expert or anything (can you tell) and am pretty interested in this particular pickle myself. does your calculations place the fretboard sitting exactly in line with the top of the body? or a little higher?

yeah setch, i was thinking the same. surely with that much flexing something on the neck is going to give?! the glue is bound to start cracking, the fretboard should be popping off, paintwork all to hell. i reckon either this guitar was knackered anyway and they thought they'd settle a pub bet. or, it belongs to someone they really dont like.

geez, theres alot i need to address here. first of all, if i have come across as cocky impertannent upstart simply hounding for easy answers then im truely sorry. that has never been my intention. secondly, as for the tutorials i was referring to the ones on the forum rather than main site, sorry about that. of course 209 is ridiculous amount, that information doesnt need to be replicated on the chat forum, yet, it would be handy, thats all i meant by that. i looked extensively at the tutorials on the main site for about a month before i came into the chat forum. for some reason i couldnt get the chat forum to work and i kept revisiting. as for : http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/intonate.htm i hold my wrists out for a slap. i looked at that ages ago but dismissed most of it because it was over my head. i should have went back and re-read it now that i know more and actually undersatand it. a stupid error in my judgement and memory. as for this http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...topic=2342&st=0 its over a year old and i certainly dont think ive found it on any of my searchs. chances are, im not searching with the right words. again, my bad. i should have said more clearly before when i wasnt getting results with the search engine, that maybe i wasnt using the right phrases for searching. this one is titled "tunomatic setup, drawing" http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=5188 i probably dismissed it as not being relavant to my bridge type or simply too specific about a bridge i not using. i hope you understand how im trying to process the information im getting from these threads. perhaps im being too picky? perhaps i have dived into a pool of knowledge that i simply havent grasped the basics of, so therefore i dont even know what im looking for or how to ask for it. one point i would like to make is "i first came here just by reading for a few months before i ever posted" thats you, not me, why would i want to just sit on the outskirts watching when i could be getting in there and getting involved? i dont feel ive contributed much but i have learned loads and its been from asking questions. ive had a lot of support about this thread saying things like "keep asking" and "dont take any notice of them" . to be truthful I DONT MIND critisism, i dont mind being slapped on the wrist. these are the things that are guiding me along and if im out of line then i have no problem with being told off. so be as rough with me as you please. one thing i do object too is being labeled a "teen" im 25 years young, while i do enjoy spongebob i'll have you know i spend at the very least 1 hour a day on this forum and looking on the website for info. thats all the time i have to spare, i work and have a life. (i am in no way insinuating that anyone that spends more than an hour on the net doesnt have a life) again doubts have been cast over my 'doing' of homework. i trawled through tons of old threads, if you havent seen me, thats not my fault. i really was only asking to be pointed in the right direction, i wasnt asking for snippets, yet as drak said, dont ask broad barn door type questions, ask specifics. you say snippets, he says specific.. its all a contradiction now? as far as im concerned, going through old threads one by one , post by post, will be my last resort, not my first option. i dont want this thread to turn into a silly bitter battle of bollox. i honestly thought that maybe this thread would be a great little source of info for people like myself and would serve a purpose. i can see now that im too innexperienced to be trying anything like that and id rather see this thread deleted or sunk into the abyss before it turns into an even bigger tradgedy. i have done tons of reading and if you only knew how much ive learned so far! i came here without so much as a clue as to how a guitar could be built, im still very much in the dark about alot and have alot of questions. i can only thank the knowledgable people of this forum for there kind help. i do think all your points are valid, i will go and do my homework and will return (in time) clued up and able to ask questions in a format that can be answered. westhemann, thank you for the links, i have read them over and they are invaluable.

i have to say. if similar questions ARE being asked repetitively then it would make sense that best info posted should be stored in... umm ... i dunno ... a TUTORIAL. that way when a numbskull like me comes along looking for info you need only point him to relavent section. im actaully a bit disspointed in number of tutorials on here. most sections only have 2 or 3 that are pretty much make/style/part dependant. not much use to someone that needs more general knowledge.

come on you boffins! teach us numpties a thing or two!

thanks for the diagram matt. im completely clued up now. i had a muck around with it and strings will sit in the saddles, i not sure thats a great idea, but its cheaper than a new bridge and the idea of cutting holes in my guitar... er... this guitar is starting to sound completely makeshift, it'll be duck tape next... attempted some sandpapering today. that lasted about 2 minutes. its a thankless task that i might just do a little of everytime i work on it. i even made a sandstick.. but that didnt help.

i thought they had to be threaded through the back of the guitar? the holes being conceled by the same back panel that hides all the wires and crap? i take it by your bewilderment that i have no idea what im talking about?? im going to fiddle with the bridge tonight, muck around with some old strings.

i have played guitars with ferrules but ive never had to change a string on one. i can only guess at how long it takes... do you need to take the back panel off first? i style myself completely on doyles vicious downstroke and have paid the price! during a gig i need to change strings fast! so this type of thing is no good to me. if i cant get the string bobble to sit in the saddles... then im looking at a new bridge.

ok. im still learning and still looking for info. so far from what i can figure out, ive got an encore neck and the frets are slightly wider than my gibson necks. if going by the 12fret to the nut my encore neck is exactly 25" for scale length which is amazing, because the guitar im copying is the same. with that done im on to two puzzlers which im sure will take equal amounts of reading. 1) now that the saddles must sit 12 & half inches away from the 12th fret, which saddle do i measure from. my saddles arrived all in different places. i couldnt find any info that says anything about that. on my other guitars the saddles are slanted and on some there all over the place, yet my book talks as if they should be in line? the info above says to line up with the top and bottom E saddles. yet on my gibson guitars the top and bottom saddles are sitting at different lengths.? 2) how deep do i set the neck into the body? now that i have a rough idea of where the bridge is going, how do i figure out how the string should sit? if i router the hole for the neck i know it'll sit flat. no problem, so is getting the depth correct just a case of trial and error? or can it be worked out with all the parts sitting in front of me?

my bridge is almost identical to that, not as groved round the edges and i certainly didnt think it was "finest non-tremolo solidbody guitar bridge available" i got it cheap off ebay!! "This bridge is designed for through-the-body string mounting" ummm , does that mean im screwed then? i thought the little bobble on the end of the string sat in saddle, i though thats what "toploading" was? i certainly dont want my guitar to become a shecter.... where i live 'a schecter' is a slang term for a poo. *gulp* i think my innexperience is showing....

i hear what your saying matt. i'll keep that picture though its pretty cool. im undecided about it. i drew up a paper version of a straight triangle headstock a bit like doyles, and i think it looks ok. its a bit small, but ok. its pictured on page two of my site.

thanks guys. matt id love to see your suggestions for the headstock. i take it you can get a fairly rough idea of what its like or a proper scale drawing of a encore headstock? cant remember if i said before. but i was just going to cut it symetrical so it looked like a straight version of doyles. easy to do... i hope... glad about the bridge, i hadnt encountered one like that before and i had an incling about the zero angle. seems the simplest way to put a guitar together, must read up on it more though!

very minor update. been reallly busy, but as promised did some work on it. mostly been scratching my skull thinking how low to set the neck and scale lengths blah blah... theres some crazy ideas in there so feel free to say "NO!! DONT DO THAT YOU PLONKER!!" http://deadmike.faithweb.com/page_3.htm

"Try the search engine, you'll like it. " cheeky beggar, as i said before I DID TRY THE BLOODY SEARCH ENGINE, i honestly on my mothers eyes found nothing like whats above. even using basic searches with words like "neck" and "scale". thats great info though and im printing it off right now so i can read it in front of the parts. thats very much appreciated drak, thank you.

thanks drak, when im gen'ed up i'll use this thread to pose SPECIFIC questions. ... so its money you want huh...

does anyone have any links to any related threads on this? i cant find anything other than the 31 fret pictorial thread which isnt much good to me. i truthfully am trying to do my homework on this and not simply get quick answers. cheers

cheers drak, i understand these questions have been answered before but i HONESTLY did try the search feature and came up with about 12 questions exactly the same as mine... unanswered. also i thought this kind of thing would be in the tutorials... but no luck. if its there... i'll find it!! i really have been reading up, im just thick as mince and need it spelled out. thanks

ok, heres the deal see. i gots me this neck see, its a black Encore jobbie with 22 of those things you call frets. i also gots me one lovely body, ready to be fitted up, if you gets me drift. so whats a guy to do? i start reading all this stuff about some "scale length" and "bridge positions". lets pretend i know NOTTIN'. what do you do step by step laid out for simpletons? i honestly cant find any easy to follow instruction for a first timer like myself and need some specifics about what scale lenght is correct for the things i have. also how deep the neck should be set for certain bridge types. it also doesnt help that i cant find my bridge type anywhere on the net... its starting to scare me! all info is greatly appreciated

i think you guys are a tad gung ho on the ol' "destroy it!!!" i reckon that guitar is quite nifty looking and i like the wood effect, the pickguard is screaming for some rennovation though. just off the top of my head, lift the pick guard and see what you have to play with, reshape it into something a lot smaller and with more style and slap some paint on it.