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Hey guys...Here's the situation: I'm currently working on several guitars right now and their work ranges from general repair to fiber optic installation and so on. I'm interested in going more in depth with building, but I'm going slow and doing a little at a time. Right now, I don't have the tools to fully (and more importantly, properly) construct something like fretboards. It's mainly the fret slotting that's holding me back so far. Anyway, I'm looking for tworeplacement fretboards with the following options: -Ebony -24 3/4" scale -radiused Now I've searched here and have read a few conflicting things about places like LMII and others. The ones stew mac sell won't match with the fretboards I'm replacing (ESP 24 3/4" style). So havin said that, can anyone suggest some places to look into where you have had good results and also fit my criteria? Thanks! MJ

Very cool! I just made a template of my ESP Explorer. Maybe I can do the same and put it online... MJ

Hey guys...What kind of glue do you suggest for attaching fretboards? Someone told me gorilla glue would work well, but as I recall, it foams and expands a bit...Thanks! MJ

People have been asking how much I would do it for and I'm honestly not sure. I would be up for it, but right now I'm just playing it safe until I've got a few fully completed ones under my belt. The price for just a fretboard would be lower than a full install since there's less work from not having to remove/attach the fretboard to a neck but I only have access to a few new fretboards with limited options (radius, inlays, woods, fret size, etc). I do know a fellow that might be able to make me some replacements with any features someone asked for though. But if I were to just throw out a price based on what I've done so far, with all the materials, wiring/switch, and new fretboard, maybe around $75-100. But once I get that far, I'll see what people think of price ranges... I will say that if I were to do it, I wouldn't charge $450 like the other places...and they only use LEDs in the neck The main reason I chose to do it on my own was the crazy prices I've seen. But once I get further along with everything, I'll give it some thought in terms of prices for materials and time (which it takes a lot of, unfortunately). I'll have to get back with you on that one. My camera cable has run away, haha. But basically, the strands are held together with heat shrink tubing and then go into a larger piece of HS tubing which is on the LED. The strands line up flush with the LED face and then the HS tubing is warmed up to secure it all in place Yeah, the only thing I'm still looking into is the power consumption if it's running on a regular 9volt setup. I've got several guitars with EMGs wired at 9 or 18 volts, so I have a few options for testing it. I've thought about that and I'm looking into it If it's all small enough and reliable, I'll give it a go. That would be sweet! Maybe some kind of weird pully/potentiometer setup... Definitely possible. Either as centers in the existing dots or to light up the entire thing. They shine very nicely within pearl. I've got some really cool inlay ideas that would incorporate fiber optics, but unfortunately I don't have any inlay experience yet. MJ

I've been pretty busy lately and this isn't a huge update, but I thought I would put up a few pics. This is still the same cheapo testing neck in all pics, so please ignore the wood filler and misc holes I've got two gauges of fiber and I'm waiting on a shipment since I ran out of one gauge, so I should have everything up and running pretty soon. So far, things have been falling into place very nicely and I think I've got everything figured out, including a few different options like wiring it directly to the EMGs so that they light up when you are plugged in (and you can use a switch in the cavity) or using a push/pull pot to turn it on/off instead of a mini toggle. I personally like blue the best. Red, orange and white also work very well. But the others I have (purple, green, yellow) are not as bright so I'm shopping for some more LEDs. MJ

Hey guys...Yeah, the fretboard in this pic is nowhere near finished and it's not going to be. It's the very first one I used to try out LEDs awhile back and I keep it around for testing a few different ideas out...until there's no more wood left, haha. The finished LEDs, once flush and sanded, DO look nice but IMO they aren't as nice as the fiber optics. I am waiting for several spools to arrive and once they do, I plan to start on the fretboards that I have prepped. I've got just about everything worked out in terms of routing, positioning, etc, so hopefully it goes well. I'm buying from http://www.thefiberopticstore.com/ They cost a little bit more than a few other places (but not much), but they take online payments so I went with them. MJ

Awhile back, I started to install LEDs into a few fretboards...Well shortly after I started working on them, I stopped. I found some good info on fiber optic strands and the tools I would need to use them for my fretboards. I'm still in the process of getting the materials and tools, but the sample I have is pretty cool and I'm definitely gonna use Fiber Optic instead of all LEDs. The LEDs are nice and large, but that's the problem there. Even with the mini LEDs, they are still pretty big compared to your average side marker. They light up nice and bright (And by changing the resistor you can change the brightness) but you can see the white center. On the other hand, the Fiber Optics are very small and they have a nice, clean, pure look. They really are a lot nicer to deal with. All I have to do now is figure out the routing since you can only bend them so much Here are a few pics that I took. My crappo camera doesn't even come close to capturing the nice solid colors. The fiber optic is on the 2nd fret and the rest are LEDs (I'm not using this neck on any guitar, it's my testing neck. It has more holes in it than a 15 year old at the Warped Tour). I just checked the pics and they appear very dark on this computer. They were fine on my laptop and camera, so I'll try and fix them later.... MJ