thedoctor

I am so jealous!! My favorite project was hottrodding a Spencer bass! Really worth doing and fun, fun,fun! Can't lose on this kind of project. Sand that old crap off and you will learn a lot about what you're working on. It won't take that long and you will develope some nice, new, soft curves. Underneath you will probly find wood not worth spending much time making pretty but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? I put exhaust pipes(that shoot LED flames) on mine and a whammy bar but that is going a little too far. Try to eliminate the pickgaurd, if you can. Makes them look much better. Let us see your progress!

I buy and rebuild industrial equipment for my main gig and have seen what an unheated building does to metallic surfaces. The corrostion begins when a cool item is exposed to a warm, more humid enviroment rapidly. The moisture condenses on the cool item and starts corrosion. Therefore, if you warm up the item to be exposed slowly to the new temperature, it will not condense. Going from warm to cool ain't a problem but consider throwing your axe, in its case, outside for an hour or two before splitting. Anything to reduce Delta T (temp. difference) before you take it out of the case. Too much info, as usual. Sorry.

Yeah, I tried to get soapbar to stick around but people were messing with his head. Anyhow, the trussrod IS to counteract the force of the strings but is not really part of setting your action once you know the neck-shape needed for your playing style. Soapbar liked dead-flat and that works well for an electric used with picks and effects. A little relief will actually let your action be lower at the 12th fret and still give you a pretty clean open and lower-fret play-style. People get all uptight about using the trussrod to "set the action". Well, it DOES literally level the playing field for type of action you want. Nut and bridge adjustments really set the action. Is that muddy enough?

I don't have any problem with Krylon for solid-color or "bubblegum" bodies. Don't seal before she gets it but don't let her use any non-enamel paint to add graphics. You really need to clear it with one of the water-based tops like KTM-9. They are not a lot of fun. You can use a MinWax poly as a clear but they go on heavy and always have a tint to them. Not crystal-clear but that may not bother you.

Where is my ten-foot-pole when I don't need it? Talk him in to selling that wonder and having you set him up a new fretless.

Who drilled the bridge-mounting holes? How do the strings align with the pickup(s)? There is indeed a good 1/8" of side-to-side on even the tightest of neck pockets. If you feel the company you bought it from won't do anything to help you, you still have a lot of ways to fix this.

I lost some stregth in my left thumb due to a mini-stroke. I found that my left hand would slide away from applied pressure to splayed-attack on the lower strings and realized it was time to figure a way to get more friction going on the neck side of my frettin hand. I got a good deal of orange-peel on the 12-string neck but it disappeared after about 4 weeks. "CURING" I think they call it. I recleared my WASP bass and rubbed the crud out of it after about 5 minutes. Nice, crusty laquear to hang my thumb on for about 2 weeks. Short of deck paint or that stupid sandpaper tape, how can I get a rough, non-abrasive spot on the back of the necks I play alot? Looks/appearance aint no prob.

Yeah, if your dye goes on with a spray method you only need to keep it off the surface. The long-exposure wet dyes need more control but not a spray dye. Alcohol-based? If it is not, what did you use to put the binding on with? Only problem I can think of is aliphatics will take up dyes in the glue joint but doesn't seem to be a problem with spray dyes.

I will be the one to acknowledge your post by saying: what the heck is a JEM body? If this is your first guitar building project you probly need to look at a good kit or follow the reccomendations of people who are up on what you already have decided on. Wanted to respond to put your post back on top of the list for others to look at so ignore my lack of knowledge on the topic at hand. You deserve input from the guys that know what you are asking and they ARE on this forum. They know a bunch!!

She had nine buttons on her nightgown but could only fasten 8.

Yeah, besides trying to stabilize an already supposed to be stabile neck from outside forces(string tension, force of hand on neck, etc.) the trussrod is really there to set the relationship between the plane of the fretboard and the run of the strings. In the simplest way to look at it, it is supposed to counter the pull of the strings but that is not why they came up with cool things like 2-way and self-tensioned one-ways. I see the rod assy. as a way to get the plane you want your strings to sit on while you apply your infuence on them. You would normally need only the tension rods that come on most guitars if you don't mind the wood of the neck being put in constant compression in order to put the neck in the proper plane you can adjust your PREFFERED action TO. I don't like the thought of the neck being in an un-natutral compressive state to take the back/front bow out of it so I can set my desired action. Flat notes and stuff come from that, I believe. Highlight believe. I prefer a rod that exerts it's own back/forth force without involving the wood of the neck at all except for something to act upon. The only reason I am so "****" , no I don't mean that. Convinced. That works. After about 15 years of looking for what I consider "MY" sound, I found it by repairing a neck with a non-compressive trussrod like you guys are discussing. NIRVANA! Where is that registered trademark thingie when you need it?

No you don't. Just tell me the function of the switch and I will tell you if I got one. 3 pole switches are unheard of in my applications. I think you might be looking at the switches as 3- terminal rather than 3-pole. JUST A SEC. i'M GONNA MEASURE one . Damn cap-lock. Looks like 1/2" mounting hole and I have several that will switch series/paralell or coil-tap. No charge just let me know.

rhoads56, Now this is an opinion-oriented discussion, isn't it? Don't go off the deep end but you do have valuable opinions of your own. Trussrods do twist around the axis of their placement and cause of this, some people hedge their bet with two in certain cases. Warmouth monster plank bass necks have two parallel(spelling?) one-ways to try to control any rotation from the wide spacing of 6 to 12 strings(Iknow, 12 is too many) and I don't think it has any use in a neck that is made of anything but cardboard. The thought of fixing a channelled/boxed rod in exopy or whatever IS counter to common sense and, I'm sure, doesn't help keep a neck in decent playing condition. But people like Fender and Carvin have been putting their necks in compression for years, fully aware that this ruins the sound of certain notes. As Arlo would say, this is a song about notes. I know that there are about 18 ways to skin a cat and only about 10 of them are fun so lets chill and let the other 8 ways be heard. God, I am so full of CRAP!! Forgive, please.

Godin, you the MAN!! Didn't know the problem but knew the answer! Once again, you the MAN!

Dugz Ink, I thought you were kidding with that link but you were serious! They are push-push! Now I have to stock four more pots! Thanks a bunch! You have got to tell me about that guitar that is your moniker on your posts! Please!

Yeah, I have worked on a couple 19th century(reputed) balaliakas that had slanted frets and I saw it as a low-tech way to solve some major intonation problems. Go patent water or air or something. Maybe sex. LGM, have you really set any guitars up with this cause I would think it would take a lot of learning to get used to the scale differences you said are prevalent. I'm fasinated. Ok, so how do you spell "fasten8"?

Does EMG know you are doing this? I don't blame you! I use 600 grit wet/dry with water and get a very nice matching bunch of mold-lines just like they do. Make sure you rub in the same direction as the existing lines. If not EMGs, sorry for intruding.

x189, you ain't gonna believe this but I have a bunch of little C&K switches that you want to put in there that have cool OVERSIZED barrels and handles! Same dang switch but oversized barrels! Let me know the electrical configuration of the switches you want in there and I'll look to see if I got a match. The barells are longer too so that could be a plus. All got hardware with em too. Came from DigiTech.

I guess this is a coninuation of another thread that I didn't see but having just gone through a similar deal I thought I'd muudy the waters abit. Isn't there enough room to get an Allen wrench rod nut in there and still get to it with a swivel-Allen? Maybe a shortened Allen wrench? If not, heel adjust IS a good idea but you might want to go the extra step with the side-trim wedge Warmoth now uses on necks that have the High-E side open like yours does. If you preset the neck with a little tension on the rod before you assemble it to the body, you will have(should have) enough adjustment from the side to cover string-guage changes and such without ever pulling anything back apart. It REALLY is a simple modification but requires one 1/4" hole drilled at the right-hand side of your neck before you put the fretboard on. Sorry I jumped in late. Ignore all comments if not appropriate.

Sorry, but it probly is your pickup. I have had tone pots do this when the wrong capacitor was installed but more often, the pickup has become unpotted/loose in the windings or developed an insulation issue. Push stuff around with your finger while a string is played and see if dampening the pickup with your finger doesn't make it go byby. If it DOESN'T, jump your pot out to the setting that causes trouble. Open for treble, shorted for bass. Could be that cap is wrong. It has always been the pickup for me and I have no expanation for how the "tone" control brings it out. There are some really sharp guys on this forum that can tell you why but it is beyond me.

Catnine is right. The Martin-style is THE way to go if you are making a new neck. For repairs, I would ABSOLUTELY go with the single-acting two-rod LMI. It puts the correct load on the neck and is a breeze to reset in old slots. Don't forget the bathtub caulk! I found that gluing the fretboard back on with a small amount of your original problem solved(back/front) really helps keep the neck out of a large truss-related load. And, what is $20.00 compared with the trauma you and your guitar go through when the crappy rod fails?

Titanium actually welds quite nicely but the fold idea is better cause yout would be working with, say, a .015 to .023 sheet. I vote for 6061-T6 9ga. aluminum that is not fastened down to the neck except at sparse intervals. Put a contact mike on it so you can hear all your near-misses and dudes. (duds?) (dudes?)

I think 10 to 49 or 10 to 52 is the best all-round for non-bending(using da whammy). If you use the whammy a lot, make sure your nut is not too tight for these strings and use some nut-sauce or whatever on the nut. If this guage changes your trem plate angle, be sure to reflatten it with the spring adjusters. If I undershot the question, my apologies.

Minwax has never been real good at seperating their products out according to what they are to be used for. You may have got some of that trim and final-coat stuff that the lumberyards seem to have in abundance. 3-4 days to handle and dust specks up the wazoo. Never trust a lumberyard dude under 50.

Godin. I can't believe I remembered you name without writnig it down. Anyway, you said you we going for a burst but you only mentioned the color green for the sides or back, I don't remember. First off, that product you had the link to is a dye, not a stain. I live on dyes and adding more layers does nothing to darken it. I think you need a green stain so you can adjust the darkness with successive coats, to a point. Next, I really don't know that satin and non-satin feels any different on necks. Maybe it does but once it is rubbed out, I think its about the same. Might have misunderstood you, too. Finally, I can't believe you are going to go for a green burst on the top! Sounds like an incredible idea to me but I don't see as many guitars as I shuld. Maybe its more common than I think. The dark color you got shown for the nitro topcoat would be the best or maybe only way to get your burst to look right on that green but I am scared of nitro. Things happen way fast when it has too much color in it. Have you burst with it before?