orangedrop

Cool design SOS!

Since you can pop the neck off your rig and turn it into a slide guitar, why not make a demarcated board to pop into place so you have a convertible guitar/lap steel?

not on topic at all, but this guiar represents a few firsts for me, the biggest of which is the tensionless neck. There is absolutely NO ( 0 ) none nada zilch zero zip string pull on the neck.

I can tune it to pitch and remove the neck. ( although it wont be in tune anymore, it'll still be kinda like a harp...... )

No, you've never seen anything like it.

Yes, I like stretching the boundaries a bit.

This sounds like a very interesting build...

Subscribed!

Cool thread folks!

This brings me back to many conversations I have had with friends/acquaintance about headstock mass, strings wraps on the post etc.

Great brain food!

I read that slide guys would play the Gibson 12 string necks (335, SG ?) strung six, because the bigger headstock gave a fatter sound and better sustain to the note.

As we see with Wes' spreadsheet, there are cases where this holds true and if course when someone gets a great sound, folks are often bound to follow blindly.

I can't sound like Johnny Winter just by playing a Firebird through his favored amps.

Not until I adopt the proper vibrato and picking technique does the tone approach the master.

Wes, how did you insure the "pluck" of the strings had the same energy applied each time?

Thanks,

John

Up and running...

Best wishes Eric!

That cocobolo blows me away every time I see it, I reeeealllly want a fretboard from that stuff. *drool*

The kingwood looks very nice, any chance of seeing wider images of the figure/more of it?

Thank you,

John

I have a carve top Strat style body from USACG that was a web special and came as a hard tail.

BIG trem fan here and I am going to rout this for one.

I am going to try a Wilkinson/Gotoh VSVG Vintage Trem. and see how she sounds.

If I love it great, if not I'll swap a Glendale into there and put the VSVG on another Strat I have.

Now, here is my request

Would someone please be kind enough to measure from the bottom of the neck pocket (southern end) to the center of the six trem mounting screws on theirs?

Also, another measurement from the bottom of the neck pocket to the holes where the string goes through the fulcrum block hole center.

This will be a great help in accurately setting up the template.

Thank you all,

John

Org,

Great chart...

Thank you for that!

I see exactly why the wood would cup as you say as the fibers shrink due to even drying.

Love the post #, I bow down to your sound advice oh Master

Do you find that slab sawn tends to have the loudest ring for bodies?

I have always looked at this like a drum head, but will still knock on any piece of lumber

to have a listen and see what it has to say.

Thanks again!

Keep in mind that as a piece of flatsawn wood dries, it cups in a way that make it seem as though the rings are straightening out.

I usually try to keep the "bark side" of the wood to the back of the body, so that if it ever got too dry and started cupping, the face of the guitar would be convex, rather than concave. Hopefully this never will happen, but it is a bigger issue on a one piece body than on a multiple piece one, where you can alternate the ring orientation.

While not 100% I can say when we build decks we face the annular rings concave side down so that the cupped boards do not hold water.

Most of the boards shed water for the life of the deck this way but if you have a really ugly plank, it goes nice side up no matter which way the rings are oriented.

Chris, I was hoping it was way more negligible than I though and I could use "The Vanity Factor" in selecting face grain for viewing

I would like to thank everyone for chiming in, and I hope Paul Reed Smith can forgive me. lol

I was wondering if there is sound reasoning behind my thoughts of orienting the annular rings so that the outside of the tree is at the front of the instrument.

My feeling is that the vibrations in the wood tend to collect a bit more towards the top of the hill so to speak.

The other reason for orienting the wood this way, and this is a woodworking habit, is if the wood were to cup it would do so towards the back of the guitar.

My question is, whether or not folks feel there is any vibrational difference, no matter how subtle.

If it matters not at all, we can always pick the best looking grain as the visible side for a laminate body.

Thank you,

John

Very warm sounding!

I take it the bodies are quite resonant?

To give you a referance to the massive size of some of the beams, next to one of my workers

Those guitars look great and I'll bet the wood is very nice to work with.

You are very lucky to have the honor of keeping such rare pieces of America's heritage playing on through time.

Thank you!

1/8" is pretty thin for a fretboard unless you are making a veneer board.

To give you a better idea, the tang length on a fret is roughly a 1/16" so you have to radius the neck before gluing the fretboard in place.

You will need a proper radiused caul to glue it down right and after a couple of fret jobs (if the board gets any fairing out) there will be little left.

Eventually a fret job will incorporate replacing the fingerboard which would really be a bummer!

Can you tell I am not a huge fan of the old veneer (Fender cough cough Fender) fingerboards?

I want a high crown (.055 - both), but I find the 6100 too wide (.110) and the 6105 too thin (.090).

Anything out there that's (.053-.055) high and and something like (.095-.102) wide?

The only wire I can think of that comes remotely close, is Jescar FW-51108 (.051x.108) and these have a soft pyramidal profile.

They do feel good to me and apparently are the fret used on the Anderson Strats and I think PRS is using them on some guitars as well IIRC.

The 6105 is pretty slim, but what about the 6150?

I have played these for about 23+ years and while checking out frets lately realized this is what I had put on my Lead II.

I always loved that neck and so has everyone else who has played it. The frets do not exactly feel short and stumpy in the least.

Worn as they have gotten, you do get a reasonable bit of fingerboard feel now but the neck is still very fast.

It's just your basic template bit - the ones with the bearing below the bit rather than at the end of it. You can get them at any hardware store. I put in some links in the other thread that was mentioned.

Now I just have to wait for someone to call me a smarta$$ for giving you the EXACT information you wanted, despite that it's in the other thread.

To clarify for American catalog lingo...

This bit, with the bearing above the cutters is commonly known as a "pattern bit", and the bits with the bearing on the tip are known as a "flush trim bit"

Now,

you know it all!

Am I in a lot of trouble now?

The workmanship of this instrument is really well done sir.

Everything looks very well thought out, and it is going to be really fun to hear the results.

On top of it all, the wood you ended up with just happens to be loaded with eye poppin' goodness.

The figure and tones look a bit like daybreak in the woods on one of those warm spring mornings.

Love it!

Mark,

That came out beautifully!

Is the vent the same size as the red Tele?

For some reason, on the lighter field with the black binding, it looks BIG to me.

Just a thought...

Have you looked at "The Electrosocket" jack that fits nice and snugly into a 7/8" hole?

It's close to the common round Tele style jack, but it is built like a B.S.H. and the Switchcraft

jack screws into a threaded hole in the cup.

I find the square and football plates look a bit industrial and they also protrude from the clean line of the body.

Thanks for this post...

It was super thorough and I love how you left the pitfalls for us to learn from. BRAVO!!

John