milhouse

Thanks Ripthorn. I think that i will be in the vicinity of a woodcraft tomorrow, so i will grab some mixol and give it a shot.

I just built a rear-routed, swamp ash strat and i've begun the finishing stage. I'm really happy with the results, as its the first body I've made incident-free, so I'd like a little advice on the finish before I go too far down the wrong path. I am shooting for the brightest transparent white i can achieve via a wipe-on stain. I purchased Minwax water-based white tint base from Home Depot and wiped a few coats... It's nice - kind of a slightly-brighter Mary Kay finish. I really wanted a brighter, transparent Arctic White finish though. I did a few tests on scrap and got really nice results by thinning Kilz latex primer with water. 2 coats on the sample pieces and the finish is exactly what i wanted. Do you think its a bad idea to use this on the Strat? I'll be doing a wipe-on minwax poly finish. Any advice? Thanks.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Prostheta - when you say 'cleaning up the rout straight', what does that mean? Do I just square off the hole i created, or do I chop that whole section of the body off and match it up? i really want to keep this body clear, or stained with no filler (kind of like those black Washburn N4s). Would either of these options work?

I was working on a body this weekend and hit a snag. Its thin (~1.25" thick), and carved, and although i tripled-checked my measurements, I miscalculated and busted through the top while routing the control cavity. Any advice on how to repair this? Thanks in advance. Pics...

Thanks again to everyone for the replies; I'll order a few shallower rods from allparts and start fresh. I think I'm going to take a shot at salvaging this neck anyway, because I can definitely use the practice. I have no expectations that it will result in anything but a learning experience though. Guess its not quite time to quit the day job...

Thanks. So something like this - http://www.wdmusic.com/18_in_truss_rod_allen_nut.html? Any other sources that you can refer?

Thanks, dude. I'll keep that in mind for the future. The fretboard I used was just over 6mm, so using a thinner board probably would have bought me enough room. Live and learn, I guess...

Hello all. Longtime lurker, first-time poster. Big thanks to everyone who takes the time to post - I've absorbed an incredible amount of information (and inspiration). Anyway, I'm in the middle of my 2nd build (1st neck) and have hit a snag. The neck went together fairly well - truss rod installed, fretboard glued on, neck tapered to size, fretboard radiused, etc. I was thinning out the back of the neck when I broke through the bottom of the truss rod channel. It looks like about half the length of the truss rod route was too deep. I was shooting for Ibanez specs (18mm thickness at the first fret, 20mm at the 12th), and used a Stew Mac hot rod. Stew mac says their rod requires a 7/16" deep channel (11.1125mm). So, in theory, there should have been plenty of wood left behind the rod. The route was admittedly a little sloppy (I was between routers, so I used my old dremel), but I thought it was going to work out. Guess not. The neck is currently at about 21 mm thick; there is about 9mm of wood between the bottom of the rod and the back of the neck. So... If I were to plug that channel with a filet, would the remaining 6mm (9mm - the 3mm i have left to sand) of wood behind the rod be sufficient? The truss rod's force is exerted against the fingerboard, not the backside of the neck, right? Any tips for gluing in the filet without the glue binding up the rod? Or is this a lost cause? Should I just consider this a learning experience and toss it in the firewood pile? Thanks guys. I'd appreciate any guidance that anyone can offer.