doug

Wow. $1640 for everything, then only $100 for pickups? Woof. Why bother with all that expense only to use toy pickups? Yep, finishing, fitting, fine tuning, and setup drive the cost. One reason I primarily concentrate on the necks is economics. It keeps me extremly busy, and I don't have to redirect my efforts to all the time consuming little things that go into a complete unit. Sure I still make them, but not nearly as often as I might have to otherwise. -Doug

It's just the nature of wood, and good repair practice too that's all. Endgrain works, just need to be a little more careful with the screw tension. -Doug

Thanks for the plug Devon. You're right, Mailman needs to do some homework. -Doug

Dowels are ENDGRAIN. Not good really. They'll strips out even faster. You should make plugs with the correct grain orientation, then glue in place. No worries after that. -Doug

Purpleheart makes real nice fingerboards. I use it a lot too. the dust doesn't bother me any more than other wood dust, but dust mask is always a good idea. Be careful of the slivers. Purpleheart is real hard and the slivers will getcha. -Doug

You might thin down pearloid pickguard material so that you only have the pearloid left. Then laminate it onto the top of white covers. Because the pearloid and the white are so closely matched you won't even see the edge. -Doug

Use an online fret calculator that will allow you to print. There is one called winfret I think. Also LMII will do most anything for slots, but I highly recommend Custom Inlay over LMII. I have them do all my custom stuff. - Doug

I have a question for those of you who may have bought guitar tops from Buzz Saw intl. on Ebay. Was it dry enough to use, or did you need to get it kiln dried after? They have some cool tops, but few if any say kiln dried. They are just listed as seasoned. And thanks xebryusguitars for that great list! I like Durawoods/3Dhardwoods too. Great people. EW and Gilmer are cool as well. Gallery has nice stuff, but the guy is somewhat off his rocker I think. You can never call him. -Doug

Bloodwood is great. I make out of all sorts of hard exotics. It'll sure plug up your sandpaper fast though! Wenge is used too, but the grain is very open and feels rough. Depending on how you finish it off though it can still be nice. Keep an open mind, it's half the fun! -Doug

I'm partial to the Schaller locking model. They are real nice, and consistently smooth operationally. -Doug

I don't know the exact angle for the Explorer specifically, but you can calculate it based on your desired bridge and its height. -Doug

Jig Here Here's my old jig loaded up with a fingerboard being shaped for binding. first make the FB the right size for the neck, then make it smaller just by the thickness of the binding on each side. Hope this helps -Doug

Rule of thumb is to bring your high E string saddle out most of the way and measure from that. That string will usually be right on or just a hair longer than your scale length. Don't go excessivly far out though because you might only need to bring it back in 1/32 or so. Then you'll have room on your bridge to bring the remaining saddles back as needed. Hope that helps. -Doug

Ouch! That one looks dangerous! I like jigs that secure the piece. I'll see about taking a picture of my old crude one that I described yesterday for you. -Doug

It's sort of simple really. Take a flat piece of MDF or particle board and rip it straight maybe 7" wide and 30" long. Just enough to be safe and steady. Don't move your rip fence after ripping it to width. Sorry no pictures tonight. I'll just describe the clamping part. Make a couple of rocker type clamps from 2" wide 4" long pice of something hard like maple. Add a small piece of wood across one end so it will "rock" unevenly. Drill a hole in the center for a long wood screw. Now you have sort of a tee. Make 2 of them Now use those to hold your fingerboard down to the main large piece you ripped earlier. Put lines on your fingerboard where the cuts need to be and clamp it down. Be careful of the alignment of course. Then rip. You'll only cut the fingerboard because the edge of the mail board has already been sawn off and acts as your reference point. So I'm sure this is confusing, and I'm sorry, but I hope it helps. You might search "make a taper jig" or something like that in Google. There might be pictures or drawings already. -Doug

If you're routing it use a large diameter bit like a comon 1 1/4" template bit. First saw the excess off down to about 1/8" from yur target width. Then rout. Using a template for fingerboard shaping is best. You can make it on a table saw, then attach the fingerboard with carpet tape to it and rout. Alternatively, you could use the table saw to make the whole taper as it's a straight line anyway. After glueing the FB on, use a sanding block 6" or so long to touch up any overhang, and create the finish profile. This will get you nice straight edges, and you won't gouge the neck itself with a rotating sanding device. -Doug

for the pickup wires it's best to use a long spade bit. you can get those at any hardware store. drill from the neck cavity towards the bridge a straight hole. then use the same bit to make the hole through to the control cavity. -doug

it doesn't seem like a small knot would matter. if the knot is large then it might be an issue. many neck woods have tiny knots here and there like BE maple, mahogany, and korina. even plain maple will have small ones. thought it is best to have clear wood, this small "imperfections" typically make no difference. removing frets, removing the fingerboard are not simple tasks so you might want to consider your options. of course, if you manage to ruin it in the learning process, you're not really any worse off in the end. experimenting is how we learn, right? -doug

Durawoods is a good source. Plus, you can ask him about the stuff not listed. I've bought several pieces from him. They were all top notch. You can go to the website and the pieces are pictured there. He usually has stuff that's not listed yet too. I just tell him what I want and he always has it. Ships t he same or next day too. -doug

that body looks a bit out of proportion. just my 2 cents -doug

yes. my god that guitar is beautiful. i'd have to say that is my favorite guitar i've seen on this site. and i wasn't saying that either of these guys copied anything. i was just saying what they reminded me of. ←

oh. about the tuners...interesting perspective bout them following the countour or not. the tuners really are not at all in the way of eachother. i'll move them around a little since they are not pinned in place yet, but i don't think it will work. the handles will hit the headstock maybe. i'll keep you posted. -doug

thanks for all the comments and crtitque! let me explain a couple things: no dye on the headstock because it's not my favorite thing. i like the wood to show natural. though admittedly it would look good dyed too. the inlay on the next one will be unique. maybe a scene of some sort. i've pondered the idea of a dagger inlay spanning 7 or 8 frets with the handle part at the 12th fret. i chose the LP style this time simply because i like it. -doug

that's the problem with gold kinda sorta. i use dunlop guitar polish. never furniture polish because of the silicone content. stewmac has preservation polish that is also great stuff without silicone. are you going to replace the parts and try not to "ruin" the finish going forward? what you have now has already been compromised. I found that careful use of chrome polish works wonders. hope that helps. -doug

Good call. At first I thought the neck pup was reversed to, but it's not. Now you've go me wondering so I will check the magnetic poles anyway to be sure. According to Dimarzio there is no right or wrong direction. However, as we know, if coil tapping is done, we need the poles in the right phase or it hums. -Doug