Batfink

Recon stone !

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...pic=19048&st=15

Yeah - more hassle than it's worth, go buy some instead.

Jem

Mattia, your right of course.

Looking at it frets 1>10 i would say are acceptable but up from that it's a complete dogs dinner . I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment (when am i not ), but i'll try to take a trip to David Dykes on saturday and get some more fret wire and when i get paid i'll get some end cutters and grind them flush. Also i must look into a drill press as well as i can't possibly see me being able to drill the tuner holes at 90 degrees by hand and also the bridge i'm planning to use is string through and again trying to do the ferrule holes by hand is a disaster waiting to happen.

Jem

OK, i'll try to keep this updated with progress reports and the odd picture.

This weekend i've managed to get a few things done.

Fretting: This is my first fret job and there's some good news and some bad !

Firstly, my choice would have been to press these in but i have no easy access to a drill press so i decided to use a dead blow hammer and hammer them in. This went reasonably well for fret's 1>9 but after that i had problems in that it seems that i didn't cut all the slots deep enough and ended with some sitting proud. All in all the fretting looks a mess but it's all part of the learning curve and i now know that in future i must set the saw to cut at least .5mm>1mm deeper than the tang rather than setting the saw depth exactly for the tang depth. To be honest i think the only way to go now will be excessive fret levelling - if i was more experienced i'd rip the whole lot out but then again if i was more experienced i wouldn't have made such a monumental cock up in the first place.

Next up was a headstock veneer to cover over the scarf joint. I ventured down Timberline, who are less than a mile from my house, in search of some ebony but Bob didn't have anything small enough and i couldn't justify (afford) walking away with a £30 peice of ebony so i plumped for a black pressure dyed veneer of non specific species: £2.70 for a peice 4"x36" ! This was glued using a smear of titebond and a spring clamp. When dry i trimmed it with a scapel and sanded the edges flush and i think it looks cool enough.

Whilst i was at Timberline i had a dig around in the offcuts bin and out popped a stunning peice of cocobolo 2 1/4" x 8" x 1/4" for the princely sum of 50p ! I've used a peice of this for the truss rod cover and i've purposely not inlayed this as the whole thing could start to look like a banjo With this in mind the jury's still out concerning any inlay on the headstock.

With only the machine head holes and the side dots to go before i start shaping i'm rapidly coming to realise that a drill press is high on my shopping wish list.

Jem

Depends on what finish you're actually applying but if your painting then it should be a clear lacquer of the same type as the colour coats ie: cellulose clear over cellulose colour.

Thanks for the support guys. I did the inlays - again not the best i've done but i wanted something a bit different. To be honest it was 'inspired' by an inlay by Ron Thorn although his is light years ahead of mine but that's the wonder of CNC and actually knowing what your doing.

Re the scarf joint. I followed Alex's tutorial on how to do a simple scarf joint and whilst the glue was drying i looked at it and suddenley thought i'd put it back to front so to speak but checking on the tutorial it's as Mattia says, there's two ways to go either on top or down below. I'll veneer the front face but will probably leave the back depending on what sort of mess i make of the shaping

The main thing though is: if you've always wanted to make your own neck and are too scared don't be. Grab the bull by the saw and go for it, the only thing you've got to lose is your dignity and perhaps the odd digit or two

Jem

Okay, i have no woodworking experience past putting up shelves and fixing the fence but i, like many here, have had the desire to build my own guitar for some time now. Like others i have read that nice Mr Hiscock's book and trailed the internet looking for as much information as possible BUT in the end all this did, in a perverse sort of way, was put me off with my mind awash with thoughts of bandsaw's, planners and other such woodworking exotica that i NEEDED to start my project. It got so bad that after starring at a neck and body blank for almost 8 months i was really questioning myself on if this was such a good idea or not. Anyway after reading some re-occurring posts about people who 'thought' they knew what they were doing i had a moment of clarity and thought 'well hey, whats the worse that can happen - i waste a $10 peice of maple'. OK, thats not the worse thing that can happen but i just fired myself up so i much i picked up a rip saw and without further ceremony proceeded to decimate my neck blank. First off, cut about a ten degree angle for the scarf joint (badly), square up the cut with a surform (not so bad but not brilliant) and glue the two together (went reasonably well). Next i cut the truss rod channel out with a chisel (again, not the best idea i've ever had) which was a bit scrappy but it's reasonably straight and the aluminium U section's in there good and tight. Next, with coping saw in hand i rough out the general shape and taper keeping well away from my lines. Hmmm, looks a bit of a mess but nothing that an hour's work with a surform, microplane and sandpaper couldn't (within reason) fix. Check my lines and glue on the fretboard, match taper and that's abaout as far as i've got after around 12 hours work with nothing more than a surform, a microplane, a coping saw and some sandpaper.

OK, the reason for this rather tedious post is hopefully this may help other's out there who, like me, have no woodwork experience and also have picked up so much conflicting information about what you need to get started that they never do.

Jem

PS: I'll be taken commissions soon for necks and bodies - like TEN YEARS soon

Feel. I always liked Kahler's from the engineering aspect but i must say that in the heat of battle Floyds have a much better feel to me and no matter how much you wind the tension up on Kahler's they still always feel marshmellowie to me.

Jem

I'm with Perry, even just buying 4-5 oz's directly from Australia i halve what it would be from the States.

Jem

Check out your local automotive paint factors and you'll find anyone worth their socks will be able to mix most solid colours for you (no metalflakes or anything racey like that though) and my local guy also tint's nitro as well if you want a trans finish.

Jem

I would say the essential tool is a bit of experience !

I've very little woodworking experience, like virtually none, and i've been staring at a neck and body blank since the beginning of the year perplexed over what tools i need to get the job done. Over last weekend i snapped, after talking to my neighbour who's a builder about making a 10 degree cut to the neck blank so i could achieve an angled headstock, he couldn't really help me apart from telling me to saw it carefully (no sh-t !) by hand, so i grabbed a rip saw and went for it - obviously the cut went askew and i ended up with a VERY off angle cut. While i sat there staring at the two peices wondering if i should just hit the credit card on Warmoth's site and forget the idea i noticed my Surform (£4.99) sitting there giving me the old 'come on then' and a moment of clarity ensued. Thirty minetes later and hey presto two angled pieces that (almost) perfectly mated together, grabbing clamps and Titebond i set about joining the two in unholy union. A couple of hours later and it's clamp off time, the joints solid and looks good apart from a 1mm gap at one edge - continue my mind tells me so with coping saw in hand (£3.95) i proceed to carefully (staying well away from my guide lines) cut the main neck shape out designing my headstock design virtually on the fly. A short while later, covered in sawdust and sweat i stand back and take stock- hey, it doesn't look too bad at all and the gap that i had on the joint was only at the very outer edge and the joint that is left is perfect. Pick up chisel and route the truss rod channel, again not the best idea i've ever had but after about an hour it's done and the rod is reasonably tight into the channel (U section aluminium one). I spent the next hour or two tidying up the cutting with Surform, Microplane and sanding block and the neck blank is complete.

Now, i know the 'proffessional' people on this board, if reading this, are already reaching for either valium or a shotgun to stop this mad idiot from going any further in such an amatuer fashion BUT my point is that you don't need a fully equipped workshop to make a start on your own guitar but you do need a heap of time and at least some degree of patience.

Personnally i've read just about all i can about making guitars over the past year or two and i think a few of you out there who, like myself, have zero woodworking skills find themselves in the same boat worrying about the conflicting opinions about what you need to make a start so much so that you never do make a start. In the end i just needed to really push myself and the way i looked at it was even if i'd made a complete mess with the blank it was only £5 worth of maple and i must have learned something in the process. OK, will the headstock snap off as soon as i string it up - perhaps, will the truss rod do what it's supossed to do - perhaps not, am i proud of myself i've ACTUALLY made a start - absof--kinglutely !

Jem

PS: will it be entered for GOTM - absolutley not, but at least now i've started down the road and perhaps someday i'll be happy enough to enter one.

...is there anywhere in the UK that offers the same range and quality of warmoth? let me know if you've dealt with them and how good the gear is too...

In a word..............No !

Jem

There's IMHO no comparison between Schaller and the cheap cast stuff from China, quality is what quality does. Oh, obviously you know that Schaller made the original's for Floyd Rose as well.

Jem

This has been covered quite a few times plus there's quite a few tutorials / discussions about inlaying on here (hit the search button). One thing to consider is that if the board is fretted these will need to come out so you're looking at a total re-fret before you start.

Jem.

On the tutorials Brian shows a really simple way to make you own fretwire radius block using not much more than two bits of wood, a ruler and a Dremel. I must admit that i haven't come to installing the frets yet but they all look pretty well the same radius to me after being bent on the block.

Jem

Sounds like a sensible plan.

£250 was offered to me buy a shop

Standards kick around UK Ebay for around £150-200, less in Europe

Would it really devalue it?

If you know what you're doing, no

If you don't know what you're doing, yes

Jem

restore it as it could be worth quite a bit in the future, certainly a lot more than I wanted for it recently.

I don't want to wee on your parade but i doubt very much whether prices on Westbury's will ever go into hyper drive and i think £250's pretty well top buck for a Deluxe and IMHO refinishing it will devalue it rather than revalue it.

Jem

I had a Custom S back in '82, i wish i'd nver sold it especially for what i got for it in '84......virtually nothing !

Jem

Wow, thats killer! What is the green material?

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Looks like recon Malachite to me.

Hey do you  haveany idea where i can get a Fender 72 reissiue pickgaurd? I live in the UK but i can order form the us if i have to.

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Whats wrong with Allparts or WD's in the UK to name but two without using any brain energy !

Jem

Cheers I thought that without having them they may damage the finsh and things of that nature.

Anyone know where I can get my hands on new screws in Europe? Ill have a look in town tomorrow, the ones on it now arent very long anyway.

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A 'DECENT' hardware shop, you know, the brown dust jacket variety.....all to few and far between now but a complete mine if you can find one.

Jem

Well i'm about to start my first 'from scratch' build and i've been staring at the neck blank for over three weeks, i've re-positioned the truss rod about twenty times and have swung from angled headstock (whoops, don't have a bandsaw) to straight about as many times as well and i still haven't had the balls to make my first cut

Jem

Lots of people do this already, it's very handy for doing Celestial types of scene's. Larry Robinson does this quite a lot...well actually he uses anything that isn't nailed down !

Jem

Hamer, when they made bolt on's, used to angle the back of the body at the heel joint on it's Californian's (perhaps also Diablo's and Centaura's...i'll have a nose tonight) so it is possible. The only thing i will say is, by enlarge, all Californian's we're either Honduras Mahogany or Broad Leaf Maple so i'm not sure if basswood would be strong enough not really knowing anything about the strength of relative woods.

Jem

Oh, just a thought. Remember that your guitar was made to take the neck screws at 90` with it's big block so be carefull not to shave too much off or the neck plate may not sit right as the screws will be at too much of an angle.