doug

WOW WOW WOW... I say go for it. Or, get some wood and test it. Not for sound of course but how it feels. Then, if it's acceptable shoot the body with light coats. Now there are paints available that have very similar look, but would go on much thinner. Just a thought. As for tone, well there is something to be said for the effect woods have in the overall tone. I'm sure it's no surprise to you. Who's to say it won't sound good? Will it, won't it? Guitars made of all sorts of things sound good to someone. Is the way it sounds everything, or is the satisfaction of doing something different just to look at worth more to you? There are guitars with the pickups isolated from the the body completely so as not to introduce any "body" coloration. Is this wrong? Does it sound "bad"? Likely it sounds different. Is different a bad thing...? -Doug

One: You could rout a shallow binding channel, bind it, then sand the binding off back to the original shape of the body. This would give you a decent line that might look like purfling and hide that pesky glue edge. Two: You could find some place with a big drum or belt sander thin the body for you, then add a thicker real wood top glued on using conventional methods. Then you'll have an entirely different look, but you might be happier with the end result. -Doug

The color of Matt's ROCKS!!!

You could glue two Graphtech nuts together. One vertical(like normal) and one flat to take up the space. If you shape it right the seam will be invisible. Slot the vertical one and you should be good to go. Alternatively you could get a small piece of corian from a counter top shop. They should have lots of little pieces and scraps kicking around. Offer somebody a free lunch for a handfull. Ebony is an age old nut material too. -Doug

Ebony works well and doesn't bother me as much as pau ferro. Rosewood actually is irritating, but not too bad. Funny, we all have certain reactions to different woods. In my experience, ebony holds frets really tight. Pau ferro is even harder so they stay in that well too. Maple is a bit "softer" feeling while I'm pressing the frets in. Rosewood seems to feel like maple under the press. Ebony, pau ferro, and rosewood are well suited for oil finishes and remain natural feeling. -Doug

A neck doesn't need to taper. People ask for a uniform neck thickness many times over. There is a distinct feel to them. Don't confuse thickness with width. An electric neck does taper in width from nut to last fret (most of the time), but it does not have to taper in thickness at all. -Doug

I supply necks both ways. (electric) Typically they taper, and it's just sort of natural that way. I prefer a neck that is close to the same thinkness all the way and so do many of my customers. It's personal preference like the rest of the guitar. -Doug

I would think the crack is due to some other factor. 1/2" is pretty normal. -Doug

The epoxy isn't for the finish, it's to fill holes if you have a polyester coated guitar only. I'm sure there are forum members familiar with what's available for actual finishing in the UK. - Doug

Paint stripper. Polyurethane will disolve, lacquer will desolve, polyester will do nothing. It should be fairly easy to remove the finish if it is not polyester. If it is then you might look into West System resin, or high quality epoxy to use as filler. Do not buy the crap from a hardware store or chain lumber yard because it never actually hardens. -Doug

Oooh that's a problem...can't very well thin the headstock when it's already finished. Stewmac has drawings of most if not all of their tuners. It's a great reference when looking for tuners if you have never used a particular model before. -Doug

Okay, so it's not "traditional" for the most part.... SoulMate Model 06 Burst Korina body and neck 5A quilt top Burst dye Schaller locking tuners Ebony fingerboard with abalone flame inlay (Custom Inlay did the inlay) DP 100 pickups (DiMarzio) Gotoh 510 bridge Set neck 25-1/2" scale -Doug -PS- I'm no photographer so the top does not have depth in the images like the real thing. I tried.

There are many different lengths of posts even among a single manufacturer. I use schaller locking, or Gotoh 510 Delta locking tuners, which require 1/2" headstock thicknesses. Gotoh has sets with longer shafts that work in thicker headstocks. Sperzels need a 1/2" thickness also. Why not just adjust the thickness of your headstock to 1/2"? Then you could use almost any tuner. -Doug

Finger joints have been used for a long time too, but the V method has artistic possibilities. -Doug

I missed the point to. I had the big fat carbide jobber in mind...

Ha, I had forgotten about that one! Great suggestion. That brass stuff is pretty hard too. -Doug

The scarf is not dead flat on end grain. Plus the headstock is the side of the board, and no end grain at all. This joint works very well and has stood the test of time on countless guitars... -Doug

+1 for the scarf joint. Woodworking 101: Endgrain to endgrain joints should be avoided. -Doug

It seems that no matter what approach you take there will be a hole a bit larger than you need. Also, when done the hole should be invisible (so no one but us knows your little uh-oh). I have two suggestions to offer. Use a small inlay burr in your dremel to grind the the screw out from one side, but keep all the "damage" under the area covered by the tab. Fortunately the hole in the tab is always bigger then the screw which is going to work to your advantage. You won't need to grind it all the way outbut you can try. Then fill the hole with a whittled down sliver of the base wood. Another way would be sort of "fudging" it. Using the same process above, make room along side the broken screw for another. Fortunately the hole in the tab is bigger than the screw shaft. Once you have made sure there is at least a pilot hole deep enough for the screw, you can insert it carefully along side the broken one. The result will be invisible since only the head of the new screw will be slightly tipped or off center. There are other hollow screw extraction tools, but they are generally too big. Like the others whove mentioned this, I can't stress enough the importance of pilot holes! They are a must with small screws and hard woods. Hope it all works out. -Doug

Check your PM. Don't know till you try.....

Yeah padauk!! Great stuff..... Do your best to keep it out of sunlight. Use an oil with UV filtering. It will stay orange longer. I have a piece I did 5 years ago and it's deeper in color, but not dark brown yet. -Doug

The 7 string will feel wider, and maybe 'bigger' simply because it is. However, it may still feel similar. Mostly it depends on who makes the neck. Many companies use CNC to shape them so it could be very close if they have the profile already programmed. Other's (like myself) build them by hand and can get them pretty close usually. You might have to alter the final back shape to your liking. Warmoth has a bunch of neck profiles shown on their website and one of them my resemble what you now have. It's likely that the builder would need your current neck as a reference, unless they are already familiar with what the profile is like. That specific question would have to be asked to the company you choose to make the neck. Everyone does things different, so I don't think there is a magic answer. -Doug

I've got a custom 7 string neck listed on Ebay if you want to see how one might look. Herer's the link Since it sounds like you might be using a FR bridge it might not be of any use to you, however it should still be a good reference. Anyone who makes custom necks should be able to hit all or most of your requirements. -Doug

Distribute the pressure along the neck when gluing. I use hefty clamps, but shoot for even pressure. Still should sand the fingerboard though.

The gluing process leaves the fingerboard a little uneven no matter how careful you are. Thus, you really should level the fingerbord along its length. Start with 320 on the radius block, prep your fret slots, then tidy up with progressively finer grits until it shines. Ebony is easy. Fretting an already perfect fingerboard makes the frets end up looking much better and requires very little dressing. -Doug