iluvteles

Dry fit of the gold EMG's 81/85.

The wife gave me this morning to have a bit play. This build is coming on well now.

I had rough cut the neck pocket and pickups months ago and now have done the final cuts.

I'm please with the progress today.

Thanks Muzz, I'm starting to get the warm feeling about this build now

I took Wez's advice and the Ebony has came up well. I'm heading in the right direction now after a run of bad luck.

Frets now bashed in and the ends super glued. Tomorrow I'll file the ends flush and fill the holes in the fretboard fret ends.

Thanks for the link to RAD's build. yes it did turn out nice. Then I started to look at all the older build threads and having a few bottles while doing it. There's some great builds and builders out there

Thanks for the advice. I had a look for RAD and Hand Of Doom but could not find it. Was it an old post?

Abalone dots inlayed. Some of them went below the surface so they are not flush to the fretboard but they'll have to do as I'm not making another neck.

Scallopping complete. No disasters there.

I'm not really sure what to do next. The Ebony I got from Stew Mac is not jet black so I'm thinking of putting some black dye on and then a couple of coats of Danish Oil on before I whack the frets in but I'm concerned that the dye and oil will mess up the abalone and white plastic side dots. Help needed.

Thanks, I was doing well then 3 necks later and its still not right but getting there.

I'll be inlaying the abalone dots next. Just hope I dont mess up.

Thanks for al the advice. I'll do it as its this neck or nothing.

Thanks Scott. Do I put the CA in now or after I have installed the frets?

Pestvic, glad you like them. I do them this way because I'm not very good at doing the ends so I stop before I reach the end of the fretboard

Today I've scalloped neck no 3 from the 17th to the 24th frets. I'll do final sanding and shapping when the dots are installed.

However when I profiled the fretboard to the neck it has revealed that the fretboard has not stuck down tight in some places. I AM NOT making a new neck so it will have to do. I am thinking about putting some black epoxy in to fill the gaps.

Thanks Pestvic. I have decided that I'm going to scallop from the 15th to the 24th fret and maybe a little bit deeper. They are currently 0.75mm deep but I think I'll go to 1mm.

Neck number 3 made and the fretboard is square this time. I've been using neck number 2 to practice scalloping. I'll profile the fretboard to size then decide if I'm going to do the same on neck 3 "the good neck" or just leave it un-scalloped. I'm unsure again.

I'll not be gone long. Just one week before I even look at this build.

I am a bit of a drama queen but I want to build perfect guitars that have the wow factor.

See you all soon.

Thanks for all the advice but as RestorationAD said "I personally couldn't stand knowing it was off. It would drive me nuts" Its got to come off. So off it is. I'm also going to have a little holiday from guitar building as I'm rushing it and making mistakes through fustration. I was doing well on this build but its getting to me so time to step back.

I'll post when I have good news on progress.

Chins up

Lee

Its not for a customer. All for me to add to my too many guitars.

There are no inlay dots yet.

It moved 2 to 3mm sideways at the nut but only 1mm at the heel.

Everybody seems to think it will be OK to use.

Thanks Muzz but.... I think the Owl and the Fox just do not want to made. I've only ruined neck number 2. I was using pins to stop glue slide but the fretboard slid anyway. Photo shows the fretboard not square to the neck.

£30 Stew Mac board now no good.

Option 1. Give up the Coco Gold EMG start aka The Owl and the Fox

Option 2. Steam the Ebony board off and glue a new one on

Option 3. Build a new neck again

I've only went and cut the headstock left handed. I'm such an eeejut. Although I dont think it looks so bad.

Today I've profiled the neck but I still need to final shape the headstock. Also reduced the headstock down to 14mm thick. On a whim I've shaped a volute on the back. I dont know anything about volutes or how to do them so I just did this. If it turns out pap I'll just cut it off.

Todays progress. Scarfe joint levelled off and trus rod installed. I'm a bit off center with the trus rod but as we say up north "a man on a flying horse wont notice"

Got the Ebony compound radius fretboard from Stew Mac today. They ship super fast. USA to UK in less than 48 hour.

Started work on the new neck today. I already had the neck blank as I made 5, used one, sold one so had 3 spare.

Cut the scarfe joint, milled it flat and glued it up.

Thanks for the advice Muzz. I'm just not very good at the hand work of building. I'll just put it down to learning the craft

The edges are about 4mm thick. I suppose I have nothing to loose by trying to flatten it out.

I could try it but I think I'll sand through the abalone dots. There is not much left of them.

I have always struggled with fb radius so I was thinking about buying a pre slotted and pre radiused fretboard. Problem is I cant seem to find any pre radiused to 14" to match my Schaller 14" radius bridge.

Stew mac do pre radiused boards but they are 12". I dont know how a 12" fb will go with a 14" bridge?

I have some 12" rosewood stew mac boards but they are 12" but I think they will work with the Coco body top. Or I'll have to go with the Stew Mac 10 to 14.5" compound radius if the 12" wont work.

I feel a little under experienced with radiuses so if anybody wants to chip in feel. 12" fb versus 14" bridge?

I have a few options 1) Take the board off and replace it with another Wenge board and just do it all again.

2) Buy a pre radiused board as its the radiusing that I'm not good at. I may so for the compound radius board 10 to 14" from Stew mac.

As for the remaining fretboard thickness, its about 4mm.

I'm tending to be "liking" the Ebony compound radius board from Stew Mac eventhough its a bit expensive by the time it ships to the UK

Well this is the fretboard radiused, slotted and abalone dots inlayed. It looks good on the photo. Too bad its going to be ripped off and started again.

The radius is 14" but changes to about 5" at the slot ends that will give raised sharp fret ends, also the board has been sanded more between 3 and 12th frets so its bowed.

Its a shame and I'm as angry as hell but I have not spent all this time and money to have a fretboard that I'm not 100% happy with. I'm going to leave guitar biuilding a few weeks until I calm down.