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I still can't decide on this.. I've been thinking about it a lot, at least, as much as possible, given that school's back in.. I just can't decide on what to do with it. And I'm still afraid of screwing it up.

Ditto on the 4X2. Looks great so far; nice design!

That would be interesting on it. But I agree about the neck angle; it'd be hard to work the carve out into the wood towards the horns without one. And I really don't have the funds to buy a new bridge right now, since my router broke and I'm still paying off the new one. Otherwise, I would definitely consider it. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

Yeah, I was kinda thinking that a carve would look a little odd when the wood was just plain mahogany. That might work; I already did a roundover on the back and was thinking of that as an option for the front, as well. Wouldn't the roundover be kinda odd on the horns, though? Mmhm, a tru-oil finish is planned. Thanks for the responses! Spencer.

Okay... I really can't decide here.. I want to do a carve and I built the Sawdust Generator jig to help me do so; I'm just afraid I'm going to screw it up. And I know screwups happen to everyone, and certainly on their first guitar, it's just that the carve is something unnecessary that would look cool if done right, but can ruin the whole guitar if done wrong. This is about what I'd be aiming for: And this is my guitar so far: With neck, et c.: Any advice? Yay or nay? Thanks a lot! Spencer.

Looks great so far, man, especially with what limited tools you have. Keep up the good work. Cheers. Spencer

Okay... I really can't decide here.. I want to do a carve, and I built the Sawdust Generator jig to help me do so; I'm just afraid I'm going to screw it up. And I know screwups happen to everyone, and certainly on their first guitar, it's just that the carve is something unnecessary that would look cool if done right, but can ruin the whole guitar if done wrong. This is about what I'd be aiming for: Any advice? Thanks a lot! Spencer.

Thanks Spencer. I haven't done anything more on this one. The weather isn't cooporating. The temp in the shop last night was 100F at almost 9pm. I don't have the outside temp sensor setup yet but it was probably around 105F heat index. The local football teams are practicing indoors because the heat index on the fields is approaching 120F. It's gotta break soon. I don't remember a more uncomfortable summer in recent years. Stay cool! Mark Wow, that's pretty ridiculous.. I don't blame you for holding off on it. It's hot here, but not quite that hot; it gets around 95 . Hope the weather starts behaving soon! Ditto. Spencer

This is looking fantastic so far; love the design and the top you've got.. It's gorgeous. Can't wait to see more work on this one. Cheers and good luck. Spencer Sorry, accidentally posted twice

This is looking fantastic so far; love the design and the top you've got.. It's gorgeous. Can't wait to see more work on this one. Cheers and good luck. Spencer

I'm honestly not entirely sure what you mean by overhang... If you're referring to the fretboard extending past the neck itself, it doesn't. I didn't actually mean to connect the two cavities though, truthfully.. Accident. xP

Yeah, that's what I went with. Just waiting for the invoice so I can pay the man and get the walnut shipped and on its way. Unfortunately, though, I really haven't been able to do much lately... Sorry for the lack of updates. My Router broke . I need to get a replacement so I can continue and finish work on this.. Not that it can't be done without one. but on my first guitar, I'd rather stick with it. Anyone have any router recommendations? I don't have much money to spend, but I do need a new one..

I've been thinking about that. Since the Walnut or Redwood will just be in that small space (Not all along the neck), I'm not sure it'll work too well. I have to order the wood anyways though, for something I've gotta take care of near the pickups. I guess I can always see how it looks and decide form there. And I do have scrap wood; I saved it for finishing tests and such, so I'm glad I have it. I do agree with you in some cases, about hiding the mistake being the first priority, but I think that sometimes the experimental ideas can be rewarding in the end, even if they're a little odd.. It's hard to say how this will really look right now though. Thanks! Spencer

Am I missing something? If the string was touching the fretboard with no neck angle why would you want to add an angle? This would only make the problem worse. Raising the bridge slightly would alleviate the issue. Lowering the neck would also work as long as the angle was not changed. Keith I think you may be right... I may have misinterpreted the purpose of a neck angle.... Looks like I'm going back and rereading. Raising the bridge, I did try, but it couldn't be raised enough to solve the problem. I thought about getting the router out, realigning the template and lowering it, but I thought this way would be slightly easier (Reshaping the tenon); plus I *thought* it needed a neck angle. I suppose I was wrong on both counts. Thanks! Spencer

Tis what I'll do, with both the plane and just a sanding block. Practice makes... Not perfect, but definitely better. Thanks!

Yeah, those would probably work pretty well. I just wish I had the tools to do either of them. XD And yeah, I'll probably just end up doing that last option. I'm trying to decide whether to use a nice curly redwood (Redwood 1 / Redwood 2) or black walnut (Black Walnut) for both the tenon and a little Inlay I have to do on the front, due to that other screw up of mine. Thanks!

Alright, thanks a lot! Yeah, I was thinking about doing the contrasting veneer; I'm probably going to get some black walnut soon. But, do you guys have any tips on getting the tenon completey straigh and ready for gluing, since I couldn't seem to get it right before? I just kinda have to be careful with it at this point. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

Okay, so I'm building my first guitar (http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=43533) and I drew everything out to see if I would need a neck angle, which turned out to be about .3 degrees. I figured this meant that there really wasn't supposed to be one, so I just had the neck slightly above the body to compensate for the bridge height. Unfortunately, things didn't seem quite right when I tested the neck height and everything with a string hooked up to the top tuner on the neck, which was clamped to the body. The string was touching the fretboard to a decent extent and I thought I should try to incorporate a very small neck angle... This is where the fun begins. I started sanding part of the tenon off at an angle and it became uneven. So I went at it with a hand plane instead and... I kept having to take more and more of the tenon off to try to even it out, and at this point (I'm retarded...) The tenon of my bolt-on neck is pretty much literally flush with the neck itself.. I'm doing an oil finish on the neck and body, all of which is mahogany. So, I can't just glue an extension of the tenon on (Even if I did, I'd have to continue planing it, or *something* to try to get it flat and ready for gluing). Now, I'm thinking of taking some of the depth of the body off and just living with the neck... I don't know what to do... Any ideas? It just sucks that no matter how cautious I try to be with everything (Reading countless forums, Melvyn's book...), I still screwed a couple things up. They're fixable, I think (hope), but, still... I really appreciate it!

Okay, I did what you guys suggested and used a straightedge to guide the router and finish up the pickup template. I got the cavities routed a couple of days ago, and.... I screwed them up. My first bad screw up, but I think I can (kinda) get around it. Pickups Routed: The thing is... I marked the position for the bridge pickup by measuring from the saddle start position of the bridge, rather than the front edge of the bridge... SO, the rout for the pickups was done partially directly below where the bridge has to be... Arg... I'm going to just redo the pickup rout in the right spot and then inlay a nice darker, contrasting wood into the spots where I screwed up. Hopefully it'll turn out alright! I'm thinking black walnut right now, or maybe redwood.. Not sure though. Any suggestions? Cheers!

Hate to tell you but, the template you made won't work with the humbuckers you are using, because they have wide feet and the template bit doesn't cut right into the corners of the template, I am guessing the bit has a 0.8 cm radius? You need to make a template like this Buter is right, taking the time to trim your template edges is worth it check out this template Your guitar is looking really great, I am looking forward to seeing how you go. I actually added approx. 2 mm to each measurement for the pickups so that there would be room for the curve of the bit. I tested and the pickups fit in the template quite easily; I was just going to have a little extra room around the edges... Would that not be a good idea to do? Yeah, I think I'm going to do that before I carry on and use the template. Thanks for the support and advice! Cheers. Spencer

Yeah, I do agree with you there. And that's a great idea... I had thought of using rulers to keep the router straight, but along the edge of the base of the router, not with a flush trim bit. Thanks! Yeah, I see what you mean there. The little extra curve in the lower horn Cheers. Spencer

Alright! Half update... Hopefully tomorrow will bring something a little less monotonous. I got started on the carving jig, and I need a few nuts and bolts from Home Depot for mounting the router before I can finish it, but there's not a whole lot left to do with that. I also finished (I think. Hope ) the redo of the pickup cavity. There are some minor flaws that will be carried into reproduction of this on the body, I know, but they're things that are protruding from where I really want the carve to be, so I'm just going to shape them up with a chisel on the mahogany after the routing. I got the placement of the pickups decided, and got the bridge placed.. A little mock up. Any feedback or pointing out of anything is very welcome. Cheers!

Yeah, I saw that in Melvyn's book. That's what I'm hoping for, since it'll be a good bit easier. I did try it out on my practice body before (With no angle), and the strings felt fairly loose for some reason, when I got the action high enough to not buzz.. I don't know why..

Thanks a lot! I know I'm going to screw something up, but I'm trying really hard to not do so

Alright! Sorry the updates have been so slow. I finally got Melvyn's book in the mail and have been reading that. Found my neck angle to be .3 degrees... Doesn't seem right. I don't know though, I did it twice to make sure I was doing it right and there could always be none. It seems .3 is really too small to incorporate and that it'd just be best to elevate the neck slightly to compensate for the bridge height. Anyways! Neck pocket cut: I made a template for my humbuckers and then decided to redo it, since there were some minor flaws I wasn't really happy with. Well, better to mess up on that than the guitar. Still working on the redo right now. Just some info I didn't give out before... 24.75" Scale Hardtail Bridge 1 Vol, 2 tones, and three way switch Carve top (Hopefully. I need to build the jig and make sure I have a design I like) Bolt on neck (If it wasn't apparent from the pics) - 22 Frets - Ebony FB - Mahogany I THINK I'm going to go with a deep red stain, rather than a tru-oil finish, but I'm going to do both on some scrap pieces first to decide.. Cheers! Whoops... Forgot the pictures at first.. Sorry the Quality's not that great. The camera I usually use has a dead battery right now and I'm not sure where the charger is