CudBucket

I'm not a fan of those kinds of bodies. I always think it's better to have a more basic design. Those look like they'll be real hard to play. Are you a fan of death metal or just BC Rich type guitars? I always loved the Mockingbird body but no other BC Rich. The third drawing is cool.

Good luck and let us see pics!

Dave

nsherman, for me, doing the fretboard was the thing I most wanted to do myself. Anyone can build a body and even mill a neck. Do your own fretboard. Do many and get it perfect. Then, you can build any guitar you ever wanted.

Good luck.

BTW,

I used the Stew Mac saw with a home-made Oak fence. Check out my project guitar site and see it.

Dave

www.downinfrontht.com

xebryus, I'll take that as a huge compliment! I'm an IT Manager by trade. I've been a hobbyist woodworker for about 3 years now but this is my first guitar. I'm aided in no small part by the good tools I have. I try and do as much reading as I can about building guitars. Obviously, there's a ton of info on the internet and I'm learning as I go.

Thanks for looking!

Dave

I've made some updates this weekend. Added some new links and some pics to existing links. Mainly work on the neck like dot inlays and final tapering of the neck master and neck itself.

Thanks for looking.

Dave

www.downinfrontht.com

Could you not use a Forstner bit to counter bore the hole because your shaft hole was already drilled? Just wondering. Looks amazing!

Hey, I'm in the process of building a new enclosure for one of my old beat up combos right now (haven't actually cut the wood yet, but I've bought all the supplies). How did you do the piping on the top of the amp? Is that center section of the top a seperate piece of wood that is attatched on the inside or are there just grooves routed in the top to tuck the tolex and piping into? I had decided just to leave that detail off of my enclosure, but it adds so much style. I have to say I'm jealous. I looked everywhere for blue tolex and everyone was either out of stock or don't carry it. Oh, well! Maybe next time.

Great job, by the way.

I was wondering the same thing about the piping.

Two solutions can be:

1) Clamp the neck to the body before you re-install the screws.

2) Get screws that have smooth shafts with threads only on the tips side. This way, the screw will spin freely in the body and grab only in the neck.

My drawing is full size and the body looks fine this way. Maybe I'd do a shorter neck scale but I really want 24 frets at 25.5".

Maybe I 'll cut the drawing in half, stick an inch of paper between them and see how it looks. Or, I could make the body a little thicker so it's heavier.

Thanks.

Dave

Nice to see more progress Dave. What are your plans for the alder? Another JPMM?

Best Regards,

Mike.

Hey DeanZ,

I have a body design of my own that I'd love to do. Right now, my design is only 11 1/4" wide so I'm not sure if I'm done. The drawing looks fine at this size but I wonder if it isn't too small.

Dave

I rough cut the neck last night. I don't think I'll be having a problem with the width of my neck pocket after all. I also posted a pic of the alder I'm preparing for a second body.

Just check the appropriate links on the left hand side.

www.downinfrontht.com

I drew an original body design some months ago but it's only 11 1/4" wide by about 17 1/2" long.

Is that too small or are there other solid-body electrics that are equally narrow?

Thanks.

Dave

My current project is also my first and for me the greatest challenge is the neck. If I didn't build it myself, I wouldn't feel as good about the project. I'd have to know that I could build it myself before I'd feel comfortable buying one.

Hey Matt,

Do you have any pictures of completed guitars? Do you build necks as well?

I think I may have a problem with my neck pocket. I'm afraid I didn't leave enough wood on the treble side of the neck and therefore, the neck well protrude from the body more than I like.

So, I've decided to finish my neck and see where it lines up. If it doesn't work, I'm going to cut a section out of the center of the body and replace it with a new "center" made of a Walnut, Quilted Maple, Walnut sandwich that will allow me to "re-do" the neck pocket area of the body.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

Dave

I think I may have a problem with my neck pocket. I'm afraid I didn't leave enough wood on the treble side of the neck and therefore, the neck well protrude from the body more than I like.

So, I've decided to finish my neck and see where it lines up. If it doesn't work, I'm going to cut a section out of the center of the body and replace it with a new "center" made of a Walnut, Quilted Maple, Walnut sandwich that will allow me to "re-do" the neck pocket area of the body.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

Dave

GuitarMaestro, I am a newbie! I wanted to make my own fretboard because I wanted to learn every aspect of the prospect and I did.

Maiden69, I was influenced by my new Carvin 727 when I did that round over. So, good eye!

Dave

I've already posted a link to my website but I figured updates should go here.

Thanks for looking.

Dave

www.downinfrontht.com

No question, this will be my next project!!!

Beautiful!!!

I'd love some pointers on the tolex part.

Dave

Awesome work. It's really beautiful!

A- Shape the poutline of the neck then glue the oversized Fingerboard on being sure to keep it Straight and centered then final shape the whole thing as one piece

That's how I'm going to do it.

The color is pretty accurate on the left side. I found the paypal transaction for this wood and it was listed as Honduran Rosewood. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. It's known to be harder than Brazilian and Indian Rosewood.

BTW, I got the slots finished last night. I found that by using my homemade fence to get the cut started, if I removed the fence and the depth stop, I could cut much faster.

The depth stop and the fence, plus me hold the the blade lightly against the fence slowed me down. I updated my site.

www.downinfrontht.com

Thanks everyone.

Dave

PS

Next project task: Make a slotting jig for my tablesaw!

This is the fretboard. Does it look like Rosewood to you all or some rock-hard-monster-granite type thing?

Does your neck have a contour?

I'm cutting a non-radiused fretboard blank. It's not on the neck yet.

Thanks for all the help fellas. I'll try some candle wax. Yes, it's the saw with the stop but no jig. Regardless of cutting fret slots, I would have expected that I could go through would faster than it does. The cuts are clean. It just takes so long for it to get there.

Thanks again.

Dave

I'm not really sure. I thought it was rosewood but now I don't know. The saw seemed to cut through red oak more easily. I bought it off Ebay and seem to remember it being Honduran Rosewood. It's very hard stuff.