sexybeast

Hey man, You ARE a guitarbuilder. It's what you DO. Your work is beautiful, your methods are incredible and your willingness to share your process is admirable. You will one day make your living doing whay you love, just don't stop doing it. Wait'll you see my first project, you'll feel GREAT about your skills.

I'm starting on my first neck, and deciding on a fingerboard radius. I like them nearly flat, like a 16" curve, but I read somewhere that there's no reason you can't go with a flat fingerboard. Flamenco and Classical players do it all the time. The guy's a luthier and says that it allows for really low action as well. Does anybody know WHY fingerboards are radiused and the advantages of radius over flat? Any reasons NOT to go flat? I figure I'm building it, I should make what I want to play, not a clone. Any sage advice?

Thanks to everybody who helped out!! I lopked everything over carefully and decided to go with the scarf joint. It actually falls in a good spot, so it should be no problem. Any suggestions on headstock design?

I'm making a Basswood body body and my question's simple. Does Basswood hold stain well and look good finished or do I have to paint it?

OKAAAAYYYY! I decided on a neck with an angled headstock. It's hard Maple with a stripe of Padauk down the center. Now to glue it up and make the joint. Oh yeah, I gotta design a headstock. I'm sorta' find of the Schecter look. Pictures to follow shortly. Any suggestions about the headstock?

Yeah, my question exactly.

Got it. I'll trim of that hideous sixties-ish block, but stay away from cutting a pocket.

I most certainly did get the name from the movie. Kingsley was the BEST in that! Got an avatar to prove it somewhere... GOT IT!! Here.

HMMMM....

Location of the joint

Monkey grip is in desperate need of work, haven't even touched it since cutting. As for the body, I'm not even attempting to get it exact any more, just into a good set of curves and sanded well. Plus I'm gonna square the sides up this week on the sanding wheel. I'm not sure I can handle a compound radius on my first try. Maybe just a 16?

Ya know, you're right on both counts. The block has to go and it will. I'm doing this by the seat of my pants here so I need some advice. Should I just go and cut the AANJ now or wait until I make the neck. Idea about where neck scarf joint would be. Maybe a bit higher. Think it'd be strong enough there?

That's a nub I left for the strap knob. Check the top view, you'll see. I may just sand it off though. I thought it looked cool but nowI'm not so sure.

Man is that going to look killer! Wood tones and black hardware look awesome. I'm planning a Honey or Amber flame top Maple explorer for my second project, with the all black hardware and binding as well. I had this up my sleeve before I read yours, so please don't hunt me down and kill me for being a copy-cat.

Sorry I haven't replied before now but I got super busy. Thanks for the advice Lovekraft. I haven't gotten to doing the work yet, but I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I do.

It would need to join past the pegheads, a bit closer to the bridge. About 2 or three inches. Maybe, maybe a bit higher, but in the area. It doesn't need an angle, but I could make one. Would it be strong enough there? I could post pictires it it'd help. Thanks again.

I'm about to start on a neck and have 2 decent identical pieces of Maple, but they're just a bit too short . Is there a way to glue them and still male a good strong neck? My cash is short so I'd really like to find a way, but I don't want to waste time and money on a neck that'll snap. I can also laminate a piece of Padauk in between the Maple if I split it lengthwise. Any words of wisdom? Anyone? Bueller?

Body shape Rear top contour Area of neck joint needs to be squared up.. Sorry about the focus. Rear bout contour Monkey grip needs to be sanded to shape. Notice the big zizz marlk from the Dremel. nice. Horn needs to be reshaped after rough sawing Rear shaping from top down. Well, so far so good, I guess. I'm posting this project because I want to show anyone that might be nervous about jumping in, as I was, that all the books you read and advice you get won't put the guitar in your hands. You have to cut wood. This forum has shown me that there are hundreds of ways to accomplish every part of planning and construction and just as many ways to recover from mistakes. Jump in and make something happen. Back to the axe, any questions or criticism? lemme know.

16-17" radius is almost like flat. ← I know. Two reasons for trying it. One, because I'm adventurous and I'm always in search of the ultimate action. Two, I'm lazy and this sounds like a good way to get what I want. We'll see. I may also just transfer the neck from my existing Ibanez, but I think that one needs a little work. One thing at a time, I guess.

That looks really nice so far. I like the stripes too. Explorers are just a super "heavy" body design. I love them. Can't wait to see more.

I got the JEM plans off of the internet and made a nice fiberboard template. Next I bought a hunk of basswood, halved it, glued the halves and sanded it flat. Then it sat for a long time. I cut the rough shape and monkey handle and began shaping. I'm not sticking strictly to the JEM contouring partly because I like a bit more organic feel and partly because I'm a dork with tools sometimes. So far it looks pretty good. I'm doing it a bit backward because I haven't routed the neck cavity yet and haven't made the neck. The body still has a good centerline and flat areas fot routing pickup holes and neck cavity. I'm seriously considering a non-radiused (flat) fingerboard. I've read good things about them and the Flamenco players seem to like it. It supposedly allows for better string bending and lower action. Waddya you guys think? Next question- Since it's Basswood, is it stainable? I really would like to keep it natural but I know Basswood has two faults, it's soft and therefore a guitar survives un-dinged better when hard finished and next it's porous which means it drinks finish and with so little apparent grain, can appear blotchy and, well, bad. I've never worked at finishing Basswood, so any suggestions would be great. Thanks all and stand by for pictures.

Yep, Everything else is the same as in the diagram. I'm sure it's a simple thing to do, but until I get the time to understand guitar electronics more clealry, I just want to get this done. And as far as being the sharpest crayon in the box, I'm actually as sharp as a marble. Thanks again.

Yep. The humbuckers have one wire with white insulation and one bare wire protruding from, and the single coil has two wires, one white and one black. I hope that's better.

Ibanez RX170. I took this guitar completely apart, cleaned and rehabbed it and got the wiring diagram from Ibanez, but the diagram doesn't match the wiring. The diagram shows a red, white and another wire (I assume it's the one encasing the other two) coming from the humbuckers. I have red and the "other one. It also shows the same for the single coil, but I have black and white. The guitar has 2 humbuckers, 1 bridge, one neck, and a single coil in between. There's a 5 way switch, volume and tone. I'm not good at electronics but I can follow a diagram and can understand what I need to if I'm told. This guitar did work prior to my knuckleheadery. Surprisingly sounded and felt good for plywood body and overall inexpensive construction. I'd love to save it. Can anyone give me some advice? I bought it used, so maybe these are after market modifications. Thanks much.