solomon684

Good score on the wood, I'm jealous!

the one on the far right is quartersawn but the others are flat sawn should i use one over the other?

Fender necks are flatsawn maple. Quartersawn is more stable with changes in humidity/temperature. It's up to you, but if flatsawn maple works on millions of guitars, you should be fine with that. Regardless, you're set with neck blanks for a few upcoming projects there.

thats and understatment i ended up buying a whole lot more i now have 6 mohagany body blanks 3 maple body blanks and a bunch of mohagany and maple neck blanks like in the pics easily enough to make a dozen necks

all for just over 150 bucks and i now have enough for a lifetime of guitar building (or a least a while)

anyone interested in buying some it would be nice to make some of my money back then i could call this build the "Freecaster" HAHA

I'd definitely be interested in buying some of those mahogany blanks, they look amazing. I tried messaging you but it said you cant receive the, so e-mail me at solomon684 [at] gmail.com with the price please

Nice job with the math, just proved my idea impossible

Not impossible if you want to make your own fret wire. It takes me 10 minutes to radius a board by hand, I dont think that is such a long time.

How does it take you only 10 minutes to radius a board by hand, do you have a jig or something to help? Im using 60 grit on some indian rosewood, and set up some rails to keep it in a straight line (which aren't too sturdy, so I still have to radius pretty slowly or the rails move), and its still taking me pretty long

I dont know anything about leaf and stuff, so I have no idea what you mean haha but I'd love to do a guitar with a finish similar to the front

Nice job with the math, just proved my idea impossible

What if instead of going through the tedious process of radiusing a fretboard (I do it by hand and it takes forever), you just keep the board flat and radius the frets with a block and sandpaper one they're on the fretboard? Obviously this wouldn't be a good idea with a small radius and small frets since it would take a lot off from the edges, but if your using jumbo frets and a 20", or maybe 16" radius, could something like this work? If its possible, you could level the frets and add the radius at the same time, and in less time

The front looks awesome, but I dont really like the back as much. It kinda has a different look to it

Where do you get all your wood from? All that figure is just amazing

And am I crazy or did you change your username? I ask because I haven't here in a little while....were you PRS Tait?

Jeez, that thing is nuts. I dont know how you can even stand up with that thing

Yea, the top is fantastic

Looks great man, I really like the inlay

I have a cannon photo printer (ip6600 iirc) and I first printed out a 25.5" scale on three sheets, overlapped 2-3 frets on each sheet to get it lined up perfectly, taped it together, and compared to an unfretted LMII 25.5" fretboard. Matched perfectly. Tried the same thing on an old 1960s Teisco bass with a weird scale length (I think it was 28.75") and another perfect match. Is it that good of a printer, or is it off by some immeasurable amount? In which case it probably wouldnt matter too much. Im now using this method of using CAD and printing for a 26.5" 7-string template because it has worked so far

I dont think the search function is that bad, it works well for me all the time, so I dont know why everyone says its not so great....you just gotta know how to use it

I stopped screwing around a long time ago and started doing all my fretboards with ACAD. Its the easiest and most accurate method I've encountered. There are plenty of drawing programs out there that you could use to get the job done. Make it 1:1 scale, print out in 2 sections and tape them together. Then cut out and tape onto fb wood and etch w/ ruler and sharp OLFA or X-ACTO knife. And marking the slots is a lot easier before the board is tapered.

This is what I do to and it works perfectly, but after I print it out, I just tape it to the board with some masking tape and slot away in my miter box instead of etching with a knife. Works perfectly for me

I messaged ya about getting one of the mahogany blanks

I've never played a scalloped neck, although I've always wanted to, I've heard it's sort of like a different instrument. It can be harder to play certain chords because if you put too much pressure on your fingers than certain notes can go sharp? But I'm sure it's an easy adjustment to make once you get used to it.

Yea when I scalloped the whole board, it felt really awkward playing chords, and it was kinda difficult. I was never able to get used to it on the first couple of frets

i used a cheap set of rasp and files i got form lowes then sand paper wraped around any thing i could find and tones of masking tape you want ot make sure to put a couple of layer on each fret to start and replace often it really helps to protect the frets. btw i think theres a tut on the main page it gave me a bunch of ideas.

i did the whole neck and it just didnt feel right i ended up useing the pickups and some of the other parts of teh gutiar on other projects btw it was one of those dirt cheap deans you see for like 80 bucks live and learn it was fun and i killed a lot of time doing it.

Yea i just used one round file, and some 60 grit sandpaper, took a while but wasnt too difficult. Masking tape is definitely important cause it can destroy your frets

I was thinking about trying to scallop a cheap neck and see if i like the outcome because i'm a big malmsteen fan and i love the vibrato sound he gets, anyway i've got some questions.

First off I'm alittle confused because I have heard people say it makes it harder to play fast and other people say it makes it easier, is it just opinion? different for different people ect.

secondly, i've not got much experience with files, so is it an impossible task i'm setting myself...

any advise?

Its supposed to make it easier, because you dont have to use as much energy to play notes, so its easier to play quicker. The reason people say its harder is because Yngwie Malmsteen once said in an interview that scallops make it harder to play, but thats not true. I scalloped an entire fretboard once and I didnt like it, but some people do, so its partly personal preference

Its not too hard, just take your time and be careful. Take off a little wood at a time, because you can always take off more but you cant add it back. You can draw a line on the side of your fretboard for even depth to help you

If linking to other forums isnt allowed, Ill remove this link, but here's a very helpful scalloping thread

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showt...d.php?t=1059109

I think a tut about how to make mockups in photoshop/gimp would be good. Keiskae isnt always the best and is limited, and I'd love to be able to use photoshop to see what different wood combinations, stain colors, etc would look like. Would have to be a very long and detailed tutorial though, and how to do it would vary depending on what program your using

I'm gonna say it again... I like it a lot better than it did before. Nice job man

Depends on the application. Most consumer-grade epoxies like that will do the jobs stated, but are too thick for things like filling voids and coating fretless boards. A couple i've used in the past set slightly plastic also, which is fine for laying in CF rods I guess. Pound for pound, this gear is cheaper plus it's of a low viscosity and will fill the voids in my Maple very easily without much persuasion.

Thats basically the only problems I've had with it....that its too thick to fill holes and small gaps, and its a bitch to sand. It really takes forever to sand level, and its gets annoying quick. Maybe I'll order some of this stuff soon and give it a try

Not black, but a really dark orange. I actually wouldn't call it orange, almost like a root beer color. Then I sanded back pretty far to make sure the orange was nice and bright.

I remember on the green one you did recently, you stained it really dark green then sanded that back. How come you use a really dark version of the color instead of black? I ask because I've read to use black, but you don't and your finishes always look fantastic, especially that orange, it looks amazing

I see people mention that brand of epoxy a lot... is it really that much better then the 2 part epoxy from a hardware store? I have this stuff, got it for a few bucks, and it seems to work great

I thought it was looked good before, but this looks much much better. I love it.

I'd recommend saving up for a better one instead of getting a chinese ripoff....you'll be much happier later on when it stays in tune like its supposed to and doesn't fall apart on you

I think if you lighten the purple a bit on the 3rd mockup, the dark and rich one, it would look amazing. Especially considering the grain will be more visible in real life

What did you use to darken the fretboard, just regular stain? It came out really good