Jdogg

I've never used a pinweel trussrod so I'm a little Leary about using this one... hopefully it turns out ok. if not i'll just build him a new neck... lol... I bought it from Canadian woodworker. it's the "beaver" brand I believe. it's listed for $530 but I think it was closer to $350 when I bough it..... must have been a sale as they were just starting to carry them at the time..... it comes unfinished so I slapped it together and slathered on a coat or two of tung oil in an afternoon. it's been a rock solid workbench for me. I'm REALLY happy with it... top is very flat and it was 1/2 the price of anything else I could get locally. The vices aren't quite as nice as the lee valley quick release $400 ea units. but they're plenty nice and work very well for what they are. I've got zero complaints on it.

I was waiting to see this one complete before I commented as I wasn't 100% sure what to make of it. that's certainly a colorful feast for the eyes. not my style... but certainly very cool. I'm curious... what kind of music do you play on a guitar like that....

you certainly have an eye for design.... each of your builds is... uniquely yours... any background with art school or design of some sort?

Thanks Knightro, I'm making the move over here as someday I'd eventually like to sell a guitar or two... which seems to be blasphemy over at SSO. if you've sold a guitar, you are a professional builder and therefore must quit your day job, build full time and pay to join their dealers section.... I really should get my name changed over here tho... I've had this account since before I started using Deegatron....

Finally got a bit more time in the garage today. got some good progress too. Got the outside profile of the neck done and then proceeded to cut the trussrod slot. I'm using a spoke wheel truss rod on this build... gotta say, they're 10x as much work as a regular LMII trussrod... so I'm not sure I'm impressed... doesn't help that this one is from ebay so it's not 100% super quality... Pics from today... I'm really happy with how the headstock lamination is looking.... I think that'll be badass once everything comes together... yeah....

I would also like to know how this is done. looks awesome!

as absolutely sweet as that would look... sadly I have neither the skill nor the itty bitty dremmel bits to pull that off... the spider alone severely tested my skills and tools... let alone an itty bitty strand of silk.... I am however waiting to surprise you with my idea for the top... if it works out... LOL.... if it doesn't I may just have to sand it off and keep my big mouth shut!

So, I haven't posed a build here in a while. figured i'd post this one as I think it's rather fun. Got the green light to start the build early January. been prepping stock and waiting for parts to come in since (had to buy some stuff from china to save $$$). Specs are pretty simple 22-3/4" scale length. maple / wenge neck Alder body black hardware SPIDERMAN theme... cuz my little guy's crazy about Spider-Man. more to come soon.

I absolutely love this build... but the threads on that switch stick out like a sore thumb.... put some washers under the switch until it's at the proper height plz.

Just a suggestion... add some Carbon fiber bars to the neck. that should make it overly stiff. that way you should need to adjust the trussrod to introduce some relief... at that point in time the trussrod is acting upon the top of the channel at the nut where the redwood wood below is thinnest / weakest. it would be acting upon your fretboard at the nut and on your redwood in the middle where it's a little thicker / less likely to bulge... bit of a risk tho, if the neck blank becomes too rigid it may make things worse and you'll have a blowout in the middle of the neck.... Just my 2 cents tho. love the build... good luck!

Love the shape. I think the pointy bits on the pickup cavities will have you pulling your hair out.... best to put a radius there so its easy to rout... but otherwise I REALLY like the design... don't worry too much about "tonewood" and how it'll sound... it'll sound great... perhaps not EXACTLY how you imagined it would... but great in its own way... and that's the important part....

Following this build. looking great... Did you stress test the trussrod you actually plan on using or did you test another rod? I would expect at least some deviation in quality from rod to rod from china.... but I'm a bit of a pessimist sometimes. that being said, you don't want to cause a failure down the road by overstressing the rod during testing... tough call...

As far as scribing the lines, I'm referring to the curvature of the fretboard. You technically cant really glue a flat inlay down to a curved board.... apparently this is much less of an issue than I am making it out to be because you seem to be doing it just fine. For the radius Jig I was thinking about some sort of adjustable height for the middle piece that swings... couple that with a gauge block of some sort to get it setup at the correct height before you put the router in and it should work fine as long as you can find a way to hold the neck steady without having the clamps get in the way.... does however seem like a lot more work vs your approach... but the advantage would be a perfectly level fretboard after it's glued to the neck... perhaps I'm overthinking it as any MINOR leveling after the fretboard is glued down wouldn't be a major issue.......

Well, that about sum's that up. is it any more difficult to trace the inlays out with a scribe vs a flat board? I'm rather tempted to build one of these contraptions but with a few mods so I can use it after the FB is glued to the neck blank.... I think that would make it even more accurate.... spose it's likely not too bad if a pre radius'd board is glued to a flat neck blank... and nothing moves... hmmmmm..... yeah, I think i'mna try it your way... cuz my way sucks....

Out of curiosity, how do you handle fretboards with inlays (other than dots obviously)? I'm assuming this method would chew up the inlays if done before radiusing? I do like the idea of a machine cut radius but I'm not a particularly huge fan of inlaying on a pre-radiused board (might be the only option in this case tho....?

I was referring to the height adjustment grub screws (2 per saddle) There is significant downward pressure here exerted by the string tension. the downward pressure is supported by the bottom of these 2 grub screws. it's just not enough area and the screws dig into aluminum. Trust me... you want something just a hair harder.... or maybe a harder alloy of aluminum would be okay.... I used aluminum square bar out of the cutoff bin at the local metal supermarkets and it was just a hair too soft...

Looks like a flat plate with holes drilled / tapped for those string saver saddles. just be sure you use something hard enough like SS or plated brass /steel... Aluminum is just a hair to soft and gouges from the height screws.

OOOOOooooooooo Dat grain..... that's hot! I cant decide if a tummy / forearm contour would ruin the look or improve upon it.... I suppose we'll see shortly. I'm assuming this will be clear coated and not painted?

That's 100% fair. use what works for you right??

Emachineshop is a vendor based program for custom machining is it not? i wouldn't expect that to be as powerful or as easy to use as strait up AutoCAD. Have a look at a little program called Draftsight. it's VERY similar to the big expensive AutoCAD but it's freeware. I use AutoCAD at work and Draftsight at home for guitar stuff. At least for 2D stuff it's like playing a beautiful Les Paul, but your not sure if it's a genuine Gibson or a really well made copy. they're that close. They even have some of the same negative quirks with the snap mechanism....

I hadn't thought of the distribution of force... that actually makes a lot of sense... they're also significantly easier to install... I use 6mm threaded inserts as I found the standard 10-32 doesn't fill up the screw ferrules enough for my liking... You have to drill and tap the holes in wood like wenge to avoid massive splitting.... even when you tap the hoes... it still makes a mess... I've been thinking about epoxy gluing in a brass slug and then drilling and tapping... but figured that may creep out of the hole given enough time and an accidental stay in a hot car or something... my current design doesn't allow for T-nuts due to placement near the truss rod... but I've been thinking I'd like to rework my heel design anyways... or I could just trim the flange on the T-nut to get er closer to the truss rod slot... all food for thought... thank you... this got my brain going....

Question... Why do you choose the T-nut over the threaded insert? I just feel like there are a lot of advantages to the threaded insert as far as placement is concerned and want to know your thought process.

ohhh wow.... ohhhh goodness.... I do belive Im getting all hot and bothered.... That backside looks absolutely fantastic....

Try over on AX84.com. They've got plans for a 1x12... just double it and stick the two together...

So.. another small update on this one... I was able to make the lmii glue work as a filler... but i'll never do it again.... it didnt turn out perfect this time... but much better than last time.... I went searching store to store for hours for a "sanding sealer" and found nothing.... I think next time I'll fill it with a clear brush on finish... or try the mat mod podge.... level sand and call er a day.... this has just been an incredible nightmare..... either way... it's ready for my buddy to do the burst with his airbrush.. then i'll hit it with a can of clear over top and call er a day..... hopefully.... The neck on this project is also nearly complete.... I'll post pictures of that soon...