82cabby

Thanks for the feedback. I will check LMI also.

Thank you! I will look into both. Do you find the stainless hard to work with?

Hi gang! I am in the planning phase of my third build and my goal is to make a tele thinline inspired guitar with a bluesy-country sound. I would very much like to hear any input you might have: Here's what I'm thinking: 1/4" thick figured maple top on semi-hollow Ash body, Maple neck w/25.5" scale, Maple fretboard 12" radius (from stew-mac), Gotoh Modern Bridge for Tele (stew-mac), Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Pickups, Fender Deluxe Locking Machine Heads, medium/higher fret wire (stew-mac), hotrod truss rod (stew-mac). Design wise, I am thinking of a white or cream binding on the body, none on the neck. I am going to try my hand at a bit of inlay, nothing fancy, just something simple to get my feet wet. I am picturing a stained or dyed body and natural neck and I am leaning towards no pickguard. Where I am looking for the most guidance is the wood. I have ash and maple left over from a previous project so I am inclined to use that, but if there is a compelling reason to use something different it's not too late. Any hints, tips, suggestions or thoughts?

So I had a friend of mine over this weekend and we came up with a question neither of us could answer... If a bridge has a fixed (not adjustable) intonation, can it only be used with a specific scale length (24.5, 25, 25.5 etc)? Or is it possible to use a bridge that was designed for a 24.5 inch scale length on a 25.5 inch guitar? Any thoughts?

Thank you for detailing the process, that is a big help! If we go with a neck angle that is the way I will proceed.

Not for you maybe!! A little intimidating for me though....but I know I can do it, just a matter of taking it slow. So if I angle the bottom of the neck pocket on the body (seems easiest), is it ok to install the bolts perpendicular to the back of the body, even though they won't be perpendicular to the joint between the body and the neck? I know we are only talking about a really small angle, but I don't want the thing to shift or open up a gap between the heel and the body. Thanks for all the help!

Hi all! I have a question about neck angles on bolt on necks. I am working up to my third build. Two of my buddies liked the idea of building their own guitar, so we are going to work together and we will end up with three of basicly the same guitar. Now here is the issue: I am looking at building a Tele Thinline style guitar with a few changes. One of the things we are looking at changing is the bridge. We would like to have a more substantial bridge than the traditional tele bridge so that there is a more comfortable place to rest your hand. One possibility is a Bigsby and one of my buddies would very much like to have a wraparound style bridge, preferably one just like this PRS: It appears with the bridges that are our first choices, the guitar would probably need a bit of a neck angle. However, I REALLY want to have a bolt on neck as it allows for some tweaking with shims if absolutly necessary. Obviously shims are not the best way to go, but at least with a bolt on you have the option down the road. Soooo, here are my questions: Can a bolt on neck have a neck angle? If so, exactly how do you design the connection? (I can figure out the angle itself,it's the bolt on part that has me stumped) and / or Can anyone recommend a bridge that would lend itself to a zero neck angle but still give you a decent place to rest your picking hand? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

With a lot of help from everyone here, I have finished my first two guitars! Well, almost finished. I still have to make knobs for the one on the right. I already know a lot of things I am going to do differently next time. Hmmm... next time..... I'm thinking Telecaster.....

So when finishing the one with the maple fretboard (Haven't decided... Lacquer... shelac... both... neither) I mask the fret wires themselves only and then on the maple neck/ebony fingerboard I will mask the whole fingerboard. Right? I've come this far and don't want to mess it up now! Thanks for the help.

Hi all! I appologize in advance for the rookie questions! I am working on my first builds. I have two necks that I am working on at the same time. One has a maple fretboard on a mahogany neck and the other is an ebony fingerboard on a maple neck. I am at the stage where the pre-radiused figerboards are glued to the neck , but the frets are not installed, the neck itself is not contoured. My question is, in what order do I do the following things? I think I have it right but I want to check: Final sand the fingerboard Install the frets Contour the neck Finish the fingerboard (for the maple one only) Finish the neck Install neck on guitar Seem right? Thanks!!

Sure, why not? You're basically making a pickguard of wood built right into the body so it should all go together fine, pretty much as it was designed in the first place. I wouldn't route the whole back out though, just what's needed to get the pickup in there and a single rectangle route just deep enough for a cover plate. I'd start with about .2" face thickness and see if the pickup seems to mount ok or not. I'd try to stay at least .125" final thickness depending on the wood you're using. You could also see if the pickup will mount in a pair of pickguards stacked up and measure that for reference... Better yet, do a mock-up with some scrap wood and you'll know exactly what to expect when you get ready to cut the actual body. Good suggestion on the routing. I can definately do that, I'll just make three templates. One with three openings for the pickups, triangle shaped, to go from the back, one rectangle to route out for the cover plate and one with the openings from the front. .2" sounds easy, .125" will be delicate but I can do it. I should probably route the pick up openings in the front first, then the pickup openings from the back and then the rectangle for the cover.... seems like the easiest way to see the face thickness I have left. The wood is ash, and I will definately try all this on scrap first. I am also making two of everything as I go so first I have been testing a setup on my 'practice' neck or body, making adjustments and then doing the operation on the 'good' version. I figure with this stage, and with fitting the neck, I'll do a test run on scrap, then on the practice and then on the good one. Can't hurt. I am using a hard tail bridge. It might be possible with a tremello, I think it would depend on how thick the body is.... Thanks for the help!

I was thinking of going from the bottom so that the opening in the front of the body is as small as possible. I am going to make router templates for the front and back based on the single coil template.

Hi all- I'm on my first design - build here and need some help figuring out the pick-up mount. I am working towards a strat style set up with three single coils, however I would like to avoid using a pickguard. I could mount the pickups directly from the front and run the wires through to a cavity routed out on the back. But if possible I would like to mount them from the rear so that as little of the pickup shows as possible. In this post: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=21324&hl=rear routed&st=0://http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/i...routed&st=0 Dylan did an amazing job mounting a gibson pickup. I would like to do the same with Fender's single coils. What I am thinking is I will route one access cavity for all three from the rear and then three openings from the front for the pickups to project through. I could run bolts through from the front and use either tubing or springs to keep the pickups at the right height. I would then cover the opening in the rear with a plate. I guess my questions are: 1) Is there any reason I can't do this with fender single coils? They have that triangle type tab, but I can't see how that is a problem. 2) How much thickness do I need to leave? I would like to leave as much as possible but if I leave too much then the pickups will be to far from the strings.... Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks!

He is suggesting that you cut fretboard in two pieces at 22 fret and then join the pieces back together. Ah! I get it. So I'm not ending the fretboard just short of a slot. Got it! Thanks, I would have screwed that up for sure. I'm slow but I'll get there eventually....

Thanks for the information everyone! I should have been more specific about the drawings, I printed them at work on a large format printer so its on one sheet of paper, not tiled. Also I added dimensions and checked those with a ruler when I printed it and they are accurate. Based on SwedishLuthier's comment: "However the distance from the nut to the 12th fret will be exactly half the theoretical distance from nut to bridge, i.e. 12 3/4"' I placed dimensions on the drawing from the edge of the nut closest to the fingerboard to various points on the twelfth fret. They are as follows: Nut to fret wire at 'beginning' of 12th fret: 12 3/64ths, Nut to center of one of the two dots in the middle of the fret: 12 27/64ths, Nut to fret wire at the 'end' of the 12th fret: 12 51/64ths. "And I would not recommend simply cutting off the higher 3 frets. The heel of a Strat is 0.5" to the end past the last fret, and the distance from the 21st to 22nd fret on your board is only 0.425". So if you just cut it you will have a slight flat spot. A better thing to do would be to put a fret saw in your 22nd fret slot and saw it all the way through, then butt the two pieces back together and glue them up. The seam will be nearly invisible if you are careful." Stereordinary, I'm sorry but I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Are you saying I should place the 'left over' fingerboard on the body? Sorry for the simpleton questions, but this really helps. Thanks!

Hi all! I have the first of what I am sure will be many dumb rookie questions, so thanks for your patience. I am planning to build a strat type guitar as my first build. I was planning on going with Stew-Macs Fender Scale Compound Radius fingerboard. I have the 50's stratocaster drawings from the download section printed out full size and two things jumped out at me.... first off, the fingerboard in the drawing has 21 frets and the fingerboard has 24. Second, the fret spacing on the drawing gradually varies from the fret slots on the fingerboard. Not alot, but it varies. I know the nut to bridge distance needs to be dead on for the scale length. The fingerboard I have is for a 25 1/2 inch scale length which I thought was standard Fender. So here are my questions (again, sorry for the rookie questions) Are the drawings from the download section titled 50sstratocater for a 25 1/2 inch scale length? I can't really just measure it because the drawings don't show the neck and body together. If so, do I just cut off the highest 3 frets to make the fingerboard fit on the neck? Thanks in advance for your insight and advice!

Good advise!!! I hadn't thought about doing that but I definately will. Thanks.

Hi all- I am a long time woodworker / furniture maker about to take on my first guitar build and I could really use some feedback / input / critique of what I am planning here. I am trying to make a very bluesy sounding stratocaster type guitar that is not too complex for a first time build. I have the scale drawings from the download section here and several good books to guide the build. I have printed out the drawings full size and made the templates and here is my tentitive plan: Body: Ash. Shaped based on the downloaded drawings. Routed to accept a pickguard loaded with 3 single coil pickups and a bolt on neck. The body will be painted using a sanding sealer then automotive primer, two-part automotive paint and an HVLP gun. I'll rub it down and buff it out. Neck: Figured maple (I just happen to have have a beautiful piece in the shop), Stewart Macdonald's Fender compound radius finger board and hot rod truss rod. Finished in lacquer on the maple portion. Nut: Black Tusq nut for fender style guitars, again from StewMac, pre-sloted 1-3/8" string spacing Bridge: Washburn hardtail roller bridge - strings go through body. (I can get one for $10) Pickups: maybe either stock USA fender or the Tex-Mex style.... here I really need some help. So what do you think? The woodworking doesn't scare me, but I want to make sure I'm not setting myself up somehow with incompatible or poorly choosen parts. Any thoughts?