jessejames

Well, the bridge is on center, it was just the nut that was off, I knew something was wrong when I put it on there because it was off by just a small amount, and then I saw how badly it was cut and figured out it was just a bad nut, because I know my centerline was dead on. And I did what you said and you were right, the fretboard edges have a slight difference in taper, by about 1/16" (little less than) I like your way of placing the neck, gonna have to use that from now on.

My neck and body centerline are dead on. I use my straight line laser to align everything when I set the neck. On top of that I set the neck on this one. It's already glued in, there is no shimming it. I found that the nut wasn't slotted, or shaped properly. You can look in the picture above and see the improper spacing of the slots between the G, B, and E slots.

The neck has already been set for a while now. I did wait until I had that done before I routed for my pickup or set my bridge.

Set neck, I went ahead and drilled and mounted the bridge. Then I discovered that I needed to get a new nut for it, the one I got was poorly shaped and it would have never been high enough off the fretwire on the first fret on the high e side. Wasn't radiused correctly at all, so I will just buy a taller blank and shape and slot it myself. Look at this thing, just drops off after the D string slot.

I got my pre-slotted nut in today, and the slots they cut are great and whatnot, however, the center between the 3 and 4th slot doesn't line up with my centerline. It isn't off by too much, but I am thinking I need to get a new nut and just slot it myself. I want to set my bridge though, as the slots from the outside to the two e's will probably be spot on with what I would cut anyway. Also, I want a new nut because I only have about 1/16" clearance from the first fret to the bottom of the string. I measured out my 25.5", then used a t-square to square up my bridge, then took my ruler against the outsides and drew lines then measured the distance between the lines on both sides and they came out exactly the same distance, so I know it's square. Then I put strings through and pulled them hand tight to measure the distance from the outside of the fretboard, they look to be about dead on themselves. You think it's okay to go ahead and set the bridge? I just wanted to ask you guys because usually someone can spot something being wrong just on sight. Lots of sharp eyes around here. If you're wondering how I held it in position in the first place, double sided tape......

Pretty cool! Like your mod to the headstock.

Going to be bending the wire and installing the fret wire on my board soon. I bought a slotted and 12" radiused board from stew-mac, and then cleaned up the roughness with 150 up to 400 grit sandpaper and a 12" radius block. I dont have a fret press, or cauls, or anything, I was wondering if I should put super glue in there, and what kind? Also, how do you put your superglue in there? I have read to bend the wire just above your radius and, tap the fret in with a radiused caul and a hammer, then tape around the frets while leaving a small space around the frets and put 2 drops on one side and 1 drop on the other, and the glue gets "sucked up" somehow. This doesn't seem right to me somehow so I was wondering how you did it and if you might be willing to give me some good info.

I would squeeze some glue in the gaps and reclamp the edges. I would be willing to bed it would conform and close that gap. I dont think you would have a problem with it lifting later on either with such a small gap.

Decided to route my pickup cavity today and make sure my scale length was right. Looks like I got it. 25.5" exactly. Plus this thing has extra long screws to help with intonation. Decided to use some franklin's hide glue to set my neck. I have heard not to use this stuff, but I wanted to see how well it would truly hold up, so if you're searching the forum for hide glue and see that this has failed, don't use it! If not, then use away!

It's been a long, tough couple of weeks, but I finally got the neck glued in, have to fill some small gaps with some dust and glue, but the neck is as they say "laser straight"

I know it looks crooked in those pictures, but it's just the way it is hanging along with the way I was holding the camera, it isn't crooked at all. I just noticed how crooked it looked. Thank all of you for your kind words.

Well, I did manage to get something done for him. He had a Gibson Les Paul Recording Bass for years. He was cremated, so I made a stand to hold his urn and remains for the funeral. I started 2 days ago from scratch, and 1 day of that included gluing the boards together. I got his urn, recessed it into the body, and made a stand out of claro walnut. Top is some flame maple I was saving for a 59 les paul copy, and the back is african mahogany. I put the poly finish on it today and am letting it sit in the sun and let if dry. I am getting the typical bubbles of a poly finish, so I will have to rub it out with steel wool tomorrow.

This project doesnt appear that it will be finished. I was building it for my father in law, however he was recently diagnosed with end stage liver disease, and took a turn for the worse after the diagnosis was made. He probably has a week left to live. So this will say as it is. I want it to be how it was the last time he ever seen it. That way he always has something to look forward to.

How did it come out? SR Never built it! Wasn't good enough to do it back then. Probably still not good enough to do it, but when I saw your design I thought it was familiar! Great minds think alike!

How odd! I designed a guitar JUST like that about a year ago.

Pics aren't working. And I love your builds, so please, correct this!

I meant the neck!

No, I dont know, I haven't gotten it in yet. Should be just like the standard tele bridge height. Plus I have high fretwire planned for it. If it is too much, I will just shim the bottom, but it will only be off from the standard tele heel height by 1/16"

Okay, good on the neck heel then. I would rather have it a little low than a little high, I can adjust the action more that way. And it's straight, they're just small gaps. And I am **** about everything lol. I am setting the neck instead of a bolt on, so I just like for everything to be flush. Here it is altogether for right now, just waiting on the bridge to finalize and set it.

Well, I ran into an unexpected problem. I made my own neck pocket template because the ones that this guy sells are WAY off. And I made the template around my current neck, and during my test fit, it fit dead on perfect, I could hold the neck up with the template. So I rout my neck pocket, and it's off by a little, has very small gaps on all sides. Especially the bottom. Nothing that I can't fill in with some sanding dust and glue, but it bugs me nonetheless. Also, my neck heel is proud of the body by about 1/16" as you can see, is that too proud of the body for a standard tele bridge?

All mocked up, haven't seen a reverse headstock tele, thought it would be cool to build. Anyone wanna rout this neck pocket for me? I hate routing them. I have tried the guitar building templates site before, I just dont like waiting for 8 weeks. Never got a set from them, got tired of waiting so I cancelled. And I'm not exaggerating on the 8 week comment. 8 weeks and I never got them.

Got the fretboard cut and mocked up with the nut on there, just gotta wait for the bridge to come in to finalize and glue it all up!

neck mocked up with fingerboard! getting closer!

I went ahead and snapped a photo so I could get your thoughts and opinions. As you can see it isn't off by much at all.

Routed the truss rod channel today. Neck is claro walnut.