CudBucket

And another thing: I noticed that on some of the slots I've cut, the width of the cut is a hair wider at the edges of the fretboard than in the center. This could be from me pushing the saw too hard and causing it to flex.

Dave

to cut my fret slots? I've been trying to cut the fet slots in my fret board with a new Stew Mac fret saw. It's the one with the depth stop. Any way, it doesn't really cut through the fretboard so easily. I'm finding that it's taking way more time than I thought. I've only cut 7 frets and I've put in about 2 hours.

Maybe I should try another (better) saw?

Thanks.

Dave

I got the "Plywood Bit Set" from Grizzly. It comes with 3 bits, carbide tipped, in a wooden box. One of the 3 is a 7/32" bit. It's $12.95 for the set. I also got my 3/4" radius bit from Grizzly too. They are excellent quality. I used the 7/32" bit for my Hot Rod truss rod. Highly recommended bits. You can see the quality of the cuts on my project guitar at:

www.downinfrontht.com

Dave

Thanks for the tip. I never heard that before.

I rounded the body edges tonight. Check it out. I added a "Making The Body: Shaping" link for the new pics.

As always, thanks for looking and for the inspiration.

Dave

www.downinfrontht.com

Thanks fellas. This is a 24 fret 25 1/2" scale neck so I was thinking about 18 or 19th frets would be the first frets over the body.

I'm building a bolt-on from scratch. How many frets should be located over the body (in the neck pocket)? I'm interested in the answer from 2 perspectives: overall strength and scale.

Thanks.

Dave

Thanks, Sledge. I already have it. Looks like the fretboard will need to be rabeted otherwise the string height will be too high. I'll figure it out.

Thanks again.

Dave

Thanks! Finding this site has really got me inspired.

Dave

Hey man! Yeah, ya know, I got two boards of that on Ebay. I love the look and it "feels" hard but works well. I don't really remember exactly what it is. I'm almost positive it's Honduran Rosewood.

I'd love to see pics of your progress. I'm at about the same stage with my guitar. You can see it at:

www.downinfrontht.com

Good luck.

Dave

Hey all! I'm still relatively new here and just wanted to contribute my project guitar site. Already I've gotten excellent help and info here so I just want to reciprocate. My guitar will be totally scratchbuilt. The body is based on an Ernie Ball Petrucci. Here's what I can tell you about specs:

Mahogany body

Slightly flame mapled top (Body is 1 7/8" right now)

Birdseye Maple neck

Honduran Rosewood (pretty sure) fretboard

3+3 Locking Sperzels

Dimarzio Steve's Special and Air Norton

Wilkinson tem

Wilkinson Roller nut (probably. I have it but am not sure I'll use it).

Hot Rod spoke style truss rod

Will round over the body on both sides with a 3/4" radius bit.

Check out my progress at www.downinfrontht.com.

Please feel free to offer any critiques you feel like offering. I won't be offended by ANYONE telling me where they think I'm going wrong. I'd rather know now than later.

This is my first attempt at building any kind of instrument and already know it won't be my last.

Thanks.

Dave

www.downinfrontht.com

One other thing: What should the hieght of the roller nut be? Should the base be flush with the fretboard to get the proper string height at the first fret?

Thanks so much!

Dave

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to know.

Dave

I've searched the forum and haven't found anything. Does anyone have any information about installing a Wilkinson Roller Nut? I can't even find a website for them.

I'm planning to use one on the project guitar I've started but I'm not sure because it doesn't seem that the string breaks the bearing at the front edge. So it looks like that would change the fret positions with respect to the standard nuts.

You can see my project at www.downinfrontht.com.

Thanks.

Dave

I have a Grizzly G0555. It's a great, great saw. The fence and miter gauge come with it for $375. I just bought two suffolk machinery blades. They're great. Much better than the included blade.

Also, I bought the $50 6" riser kit as well. This is one of my favorite tools. It's powerful, accurate, smooth and quiet. A great saw.

Dave

Thanks fellas. Don't worry, I search first always. I hate when people get lazy and ask basic questions for the 400th time. I do have a no. 5 Stanley.

I didn't get a chance to work on it tonight so the tear out still needs to be dealt with. I may try moistening the maple a bit.

Thanks again.

Dave

Just wanted to introduce myself. I just started building a guitar. You can see pics of my progress at www.downinfrontht.com. Be forewarned, I'll be pestering you all for help.

Thanks.

Dave