brian d

Try this: 1) Place the neck in the neck pocket and measure from the bridge to the nut. We'll call that number "x". 2) if x is more than 24.75 inches, then re-rout the neck pocket x minus 24.75 closer to the bridge. If x is less than 24.75, then you have more of a problem. Brian D

Shorter scale means less tension on the strings for the same guage and pitch. Playability is personal...do you prefer more space between frets (long scale), or looser string to bend (short scale)? Shorter scale guitars have warmer tone. Some say this is because of the looseness of the string, others say it's because the nodes of the harmonic overtones are closer together, so the pickup picks up a wider range of overtones. Scale length doesn't have to change the length of your guitar. An inch of difference from nut to bridge can easily be made up in body and headstock. Brian D

Does the new neck fit into the existing neck pocket? If so, put it in place (you don't have to bolt it in yet if it sits firmly in there) and measure from the nut to the 12th fret and then measure the scale length (nut to saddle). If the scale length is twice the nut to 12 measurement (+/- room for intonation adjustment) you shouldn't have a problem. If it isn't, you'll have to rout a new neck pocket in a position where it will be.....or move the bridge to a position where it will be. If the new neck heel doesn't fit into the existing neck pocket, you'll obviously need to re-rout. Regards, Brian D.

The 24th fret will sit exactly 3/4 of the distance from the nut to the bridge. The actual distance will depend on the scale length (ie distance from nut to bridge). The 12th fret sits at half way, so if you measure to the 12th fret and multiply that by 1.5, you'll get the length of the fretboard to the 24th fret. Add a bit more (about 5-10 mm) to get the full length of the fretboard. You need to have the overhang over the body. The nut needs to stay in the same position relative to the bridge, so the extra length of fretboard goes over the body. Brian.

I have some great looking Goncalo Alves wood, with beautiful deep colours. Problem is, that when I plane off the outer layer, the wood underneath is a bit plain looking. Is there a way to speed up the oxidisation of the wood to get the rich colours back after sanding the wood? Thanks, Brian.

Very,very cool. Not only can you calculate what the neck angle should be, you can play around with the parameters to see what changing each one will do to the angle before actually drawing the plan out again. I have a couple of questions though: For the fret number where the neck joins body, do you go by the join on the treble or bass side of the neck if the cutaways are different? I assume that the height of the fingerboard at neck join is measured from the top surface of the FB to the top surface of the lam/top at the level of the fret in the first question. Is that right? Should that height remain constant from there to the end of the FB? Thanks in advance, Brian.

It's a TonePros System 2 Nashville style. I don't have the actual bridge yet, so I took the measurements from the website, and got to 17.5mm (just over 2/3 inch) from the top of the body to the saddle. I'll be happy to hear if I'm way off, but the thumbwheel is 0.125", the bridge itself is 0.421" without the saddles, so I guestimated the height of the saddles plus some space for adjustment (0.134" together). I too was surprised to see such a high angle. Brian.

yep, It's going to be a 3/4" thick goncalo alves top on a 1" thick swamp ash body (for a total 1 3/4" body at its thickest) 6 degrees is a lot....that's why I'm looking for ways to reduce it. Cheers, Brian.

The idea of recessing a bridge to reduce neck angle was mentioned on another thread. I'm at the planning stages of a 24 3/4 inch scale, extended tenon set neck joined to body at fret 22, 6 string. When I draw out the side at full size I find that the neck angle comes to 6 degrees. (Thanks to Perry Ormsby for his diagram in another thread that shows how to do this part of the design) (How do I attach an image to show the design?) I can reduce this angle by raising the neck relative to the body, but then the connection between the neck and the tenon becomes very thin as the tenon will stay below the 3/4" lam top. So, what about recessing the TOM bridge? On the pro side, it would reduce the neck angle, and bring the strings closer to the bridge pickup, so it doesn't have to sit high of the body. Are there any cons? It's string through body, so I don't need to worry about the height relative to the tailpiece. How would I go about recessing a TOM bridge? Thanks in advance, Brian.

What's the problem with recessing the bridge? With a TOM bridge and a neck angle, the bridge pickup always seems to sit high above the body of the guitar. If you recess the bridge it would alleviate that issue. How does a recessed bridge put the body in the second rate instrument box? (not trying to be argumentative....I want to know so I can avoid dooming the guitar I'm currently designing that I thought about recessing the bridge) Regards, Brian.

I'd say that you should look at the way the string lies over the poles of the pickups. Move each string side to side on the saddle until you see that it lines up with the centre of the appropriate pole of the pickup, and that's the place to notch. Not sure how you notch it. Maybe with nut files (which come in sizes according to the string size) that way you get the correct diameter notch for each string....like on a nut. Hope this helps, and that those who know better will correct me if there's a better way. Brian.

I know that chambering a solid body can be done to lighten the body of a guitar, but what effect does it have on tone? Regards, Brian.

I read that article. What I got from it was that the top has to be lighter and smaller than for a steel string archtop. In terms of bracing, each luthier seemed to use a different type of bracing, and it wasn't clear from the article what the reasons/advantages of each one was. I was hoping to pick the collective brain of the group to get some guidance of how to choose. Maybe nylon archtops are at a stage where it's all trial and error and I'll have to just flip a coin for bracing type and hope :-) Regards, Brian.

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure whether to put an under-saddle pickup, or something like an Baggs I-beam. But there's lots of time for that decision. I don't want it to sound like a steel string archtop, so it's not a problem that it won't. If I understand correctly, the archtop aided in projecting the acoustic sound, so there will be times when I won't need the pickup at all (hopefully). While a flat top nylon string will be much easier to make, I think and archtop will just look so much cooler. If I'm going to invest the time to make it myself, I want something unique, not too much like something that can be bought off the shelf. What would be the considerations in choosing top wood? Bracing...X, parrallel,K? Cheers, Brian.

I'm considering making a nylon string archtop with a pickup. I'm not looking for a classical guitar sound, but something with a look and feel that's more jazzy, and the final sound will be somewhat a surprise. In my searches, I've found that very few luthiers have made nylon string archtops, but a few have experimented with them. What are the reasons against nylon string archtops that make them so rare? Brian

The McNaught concept is for set neck, not bolt on. The mortise is cut into the body wood before the lam top is put on, and not all the way through the body. This means you don't see bolts, and you don't see the neck tenon either from the front or back of the guitar. There is a similar concept on Zon basses http://www.zonguitars.com/zonguitars/necks.html . It seems to offer the same advantages as through necks in terms of carving the heel for access to the higher frets. How high (thick?) would the neck tenon need to be? If you have a 1 3/4" total thickness of guitar, say a 3/4" lam top, that leaves one inch of body thickness. If you leave 1/4" of the back, that leaves only 3/4" of tenon thickness. Is that enough? Can you leave less of the back wood under the tenon? Do you need to use a thinner lam top in a case like this to allow a thicker tenon? Brian D.

Hello Matt, I, like you, have greater joy than ability with guitar. I've started guitar making this year and I can help you with a couple of your questions. I don't know where you can get kits, but e-bay is a good place to start. You can get separate bodies and necks from different folk, often for real bargains. I bought a decent strat neck for under $40. Check out this site for similar. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...0&rd=1&tc=photo I'm carving my own bodies, so I don't know where you can get them, but I can tell you that wood with more closed grain is easier to paint. That would include alder (which is a pretty standard strat wood) which is a fairly cheap wood compared to others. For good cheap pickups, look at the GFS range on e-bay (look up guitarfetish as the seller). There is a wide variety of styles of pickup which are very reasonably priced. Look at the reviews on Harmony Central too (http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data2/GFS_Pickups/) to see which ones suit your needs. Guitarfetish also has some hand made knobs, but I don't know where you can get custom made ones. Remember that anything that is made especially for you will be MUCH more expensive, so you may be better off getting something ready made that is close rather than breaking your budget on knobs. Good luck, and let us know how you get on with the project. Brian.

Hi all, This is my first posting to this board, so I hope this question is in the right forum....if not, please let me know. I'm looking for advice on how to make veneers from a piece of wood. I want really thin veneers (1/32 -1/40") from the same piece of wood that I'm going to use for the fingerboard (Pau Ferro wood). Do I need special equipment to get a uniform thickness? Any advice? Thanks in advance, Brian.