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doug

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Everything posted by doug

  1. One of my customers uses a type of acrylic which gets some kind of hard coating in an oven under high pressure. When done the fingerboard has the toughness of glass, is dark gray color, and very nice to the feel. I think the coating is something related to ceramic. He's a PHD chemical engineer so I am not sure exactly what it is for sure he puts on. The problem with them is bonding it to wood. Though only one side gets the coating, getting it to stick to the neck presents a challenge for him. I know he used a wood veneer on the bottom of the fingerboard which he bonded to the acrylic using another process. He gave me a long scientific explanation at the molecular level why the acrylic won't bond to wood directly. His process worked and he made 1/2 dozen LP Jr style prototypes.
  2. I know. It's Quartersawn Ebony I'm looking for, a bit harder to find than Maple or RW (10" rad.) . Order it from LMI or Gilmer. You take your chances with Stewmac by the looks of the boards people have sent me here and there. -Doug
  3. True... One doesn't really have to go out of their way to find a quarter sawn fingerboard... -Doug
  4. All woods have characteristics of their own Some woods are called "stable" in the woodworking community and others are not. For example, hickory is deemed "unstable" yet basswood is considered "stable". Regardless of the species, wood movement is inevitable. It's the art of working with those expectations that makes all the difference. For example, you don't force a board flat. Rather, you work the irregularities out of it leaving the natural stresses in place. Aging the stock lets the lumber normalize so future movement is mitigated. I too pick fingerboard wood based on grain figure. Grain orientation may in some cases be secondary. -Doug
  5. ?? with all due respect... It is common for fingerboards to be quartered. Grain patterns are more pronounced. The varieties I stock (pau ferro, ebony, rosewood, santos, madagascar ebony, and palisander) are all quartered or pretty darn close to it. As for stability, I have to interject. Good wood is stable, no matter where it was cut from the log. Quartered and flat sawn woods shrink differently, that's all. So for a fingerboard, a flat sawn one will shrink in thickness, where a quartered one will shrink in width. -Doug
  6. That rosewood is going to make the neck pretty stiff as it is. Are you sure you need the CF? More of a 'want' in this case than need I think. To answer your question directly though, adding CF stiffens the neck and so does laminated construction. (you know that already) I doubt that removing some of the glue line in lieu of CF is going to weaken the neck at all. Since you'll be filling the gap around the CF with high quality epoxy or other non-PVA glue the neck should be just as strong. -Doug
  7. Most woodworking or 'home stores' have foot long 1/4" hex bit extensions. I use them all the time when making furniture, plus they come in handy for sorts of other uses. I have a set of these. The bits can be changed to whatever size you want. For hard to reach hole locations I use a 12" Dewalt extension and one of the above countersink bits. It will work perfectly for what you want to do, just stop before the countersink hits the hole. -Doug
  8. If you have a 24 fret 25.5" scale neck it's going to be about 19-3/8" from nut to end of fingerboard. Then you'll have some routed out space in front of the bridge. The studs are like (forgive me it's been a while) 3/8" - 1/2" in front of the high E saddle. All this combined reduces the gap between the end of the fingerboard and your trem cavity. As long as your E saddle lands where it is supposed to related to the nut, then whatever space you have left in between is what it is. -Doug
  9. One thing to keep in mind is that only high quality epoxies will harden. You're typical 'garden variety' found at home stores will remain somewhat soft. Since wood glues create a bond stronger than the wood itself, I am simply curious about why epoxy might used instead. Is there an advantage? -Doug
  10. People order it all the time... The feedback I've heard is very positive too. I have several customers that order it every time. It looks cool with bloodwood or maple laminates too. Wenge laminates are also popular with them, but over all the neck looks darker. It's all in your taste. Be careful with your 'oil' finish choice... it can become gummy if not properly maintained, applied wrong, or an incorrect type is used. There's loads of info about that on this forum. -Doug
  11. Very good point... there is really more to getting a neck that fits a particular body than just it's width. To can be a confusing topic. To fit a Fender proportioned body (Warmoth's specialty) the nut to end of heel distance is fixed. That means at the same scale to increase the number of frets means the fingerboard is longer. Thus, it sticks out past the heal that much more. -Doug
  12. He might have a good chance with an over the counter neck then. Funny, I have an ESP guitar right here and it's 2-1/4". There are such subtle differences with bodies even from a single company that long ago I stopped taking it for granted. Even with Fender replacements I've had some customers say that the new neck has been a "little" loose or too tight occasionally. I figure it's better to take the guesswork out of it by having the body on my bench before making the neck. -Doug
  13. Interesting... goes to show how many differences there are with guitars. It's the single biggest reason I have customers ship their bodies to me when they want a new neck. Other than a Warmoth made Jackson copy body, I've never had one in here with a narrow neck. My comment is based on that experience. Best thing to do guitar101 is to measure the widest point of your neck pocket. You could also contact Warmoth and ask too. -Doug
  14. Though I'm not a specialist with factory guitars, what I have learned is that Fender width necks are narrower than most others. The Jacksons I 've been commissioned to make necks for have all been of the more common 2-1/4" heel width. If I recall the end of the neck is squared off too, not curved like a Fender. -Doug
  15. Incra tools ROCK! They are absolutely essential for neck taper layout, and for tuner hole locations. Just a quick reality check: Now, that being said.... we can only get just so "close" with non-CNC woodworking. Cut me a board 1.389" wide (the first pass) on a table saw using just the .5mm pencil line. Even the time tested marking knife has it's limits. In the context of high precision, the width of a .5 mm mechanical pencil is a mile. The cut could be made either side of the line, or in a best case scenario split it. What is "close enough" for woodworking in this case? Good layout is extremely important. Once a solid baseline is established, we can judge tolerance. Great tools are a must if a high level of accuracy is required. For fret slotting I only use CNC made templates. I can't imagine trying to layout a whole fingerboard then run the risk of making a slot just a little off. -Doug
  16. Actually, this is exactly what I do. Neck and fingerboard are the same size. My comment may not have been clear enough. What I don't finish is the back profile until the fingerboard is on. I leave 1/8" of the back unshaped, which is that very last bit along the edge where the fingerboard joins. This way, the neck shaft and fingerboard are exactly the same width and taper. (important with bound fingerboards) The blocks line it all up and keep it there. I also pin for the initial position. The blocks act as a little extra protection from shifting. -Doug
  17. Here's a tip: don't shape the entire back of the neck until later. Leave 1/8" or so flat on either side, which should be parallel with the fingerboard edges. Once you clamp (assuming some sort of fixture/setup to accommodate clamping from the back) you simply need to place small blocks on either side of the neck and clamp. This forces the fingerboard to stay put. I place them at the heel, middle, and nut. After several hundred necks it's still 100% effective. Be sure to use something like wax paper between the blocks and the neck to keep from sticking. I actually coat the blocks with sealer then they don't stick. -Doug
  18. Maybe it's just the way it looks in the picture, but the color seems profound and dark. Is is wet? Should be fine with a dark dye though. Those large dark growth rings will show vividly with a light dye, or no dye finish. Maybe a dark cherry, or deep black might be good. Using blue dye on yellowish color wood makes it turn green so be sure to test. Book matching flat sawn wood is a challenge at best. -Doug
  19. Unless your top is real thick and you're using the 3/4" long pots, there should be enough play in the control hole for the control shaft to lean some. You then have to make a 'tilted' surface in the control cavity for the pot. This can be done in a multitude of ways depending on what tools you have handy. Forstner bits have their own drawbacks, yet can do a perfect job if the setup is right. I think the hardest part is figuring out the tilt, so you might have a bunch of test fitting to do until it works out right. A Dremel tool is useful for these sort of things too. There is a flat disk sander attachment that I find pretty handy in a lot of ways. In my opinion either recessed or tilted controls look good. Some may think tiled controls look odd. It's your guitar though... -Doug
  20. Consider this: The truss rod should be on center within reason. In reality, a hair one way or the other is not going to be a show stopper. With the truss rod off center too much, the whole neck may bend unpredictably if a lot of tension was applied. Double action truss rods work to bend the neck and are sort of "stand alone" in the way they work. If your accuracy is less than perfect, then this type of rod would provide some useful 'fudge-factor'. If your neck is accurately made, then the truss rod will have little to no tension after the guitar has been strung. -Doug
  21. I've had several customers send templates to me for one reason or another over the years. By far the nicest of the lot are from the aforementioned Guitar Building Templates site. Nice clean edges and accurate cuts is what I noticed right off. If you want to make a copy guitar, then you'll be in good shape with one of those. IF you choose to build your own neck... well, do it right. Buy the right tools, and work with caution. The neck is crucial to playability so it should be as perfect as possible. -Doug
  22. It's important to be sure your slots are clean and deep enough right to the binding. I do a lot of them, and it's a foregone conclusion that glue from the binding will be in the slots. I clean and verify every slot using THIS TOOL. Hammering presents the added headache of spring-back. You hit the fret, then it pops back up a little. This enlarges the area where the barbs should grab causing the fret not to "stay put". By pressing (my method too) even pressure is applied to the whole fret setting in place with no vibration. I grind the underside of each fret so no tang is showing on the part over the binding. Dremel with 3/4" wheel is perfect. Don't hammer the very ends of the fret too hard either because they will bend downward creating an uneven playing surface. You'd have to do a lot of leveling if that happens resulting in lower frets. -Doug
  23. I'm with Rich on this... Dead flat necks seem to allow lower over all action. Larger strings sometimes need more space between them and the fret. I usually setup with .09 - .042 unless the customer specifies a larger size. I do the setup right from the start so there's little opportunity to do a side by side comparison. There are a lot of factors involved too. -Doug
  24. These work really good, but you'll need to be careful. Clean Slots
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