SwedishLuthier

Starting to trim the neck to the fretboard Now it's starting to show what the neck will look like with the maple/cedar laminates in the neck joint the neck rough trimmed

so lets get the fretboard going. Laying out the compound frets the slots cut and the board trimmed glueing the board to the neck out of the clamps

slicing of the end of the neck blank for the compound angle neck/head joint and the same thing being done to the head blank (the discolored part is going to be cut away) the head and neck blank glued together and the truss rod installed (and a non-linear time line as the fret board is showing in the background...)

Sandwiching those in between the spanish cedar neck blank and you get this some more cleaning up and you get this (with the maple head blank) some slices of cedar and maple for the head

Cut the veneer to size with a knife and again using tape to prevent splitting and this is what you end up with glueing them together using sturdy iron tubes to make them dead flat and dead straight. I use a good epoxy for this and this is the result (after some clean up)

Normally I don't snap enough pics for a decent build thread, but this time I actually had a few pics and I thought I'd share. I start with the maple/graphite sandwich for the decorative and structural neck inlay. the raw material is maple veneer and thin graphite stock Cut the veneer to length with scissors using tape to prevent splitting like so

NorthStar 8-string triple-compound This is an 8-string ”extended range" guitar with compound scale, compound radius and compound headstock angle. A pretty complex build that is! Many 8-string guitars with two thicker strings than a normal guitar, have quite long scale length to get a decent response from the thickest strings. In addition to that most makers keep the normal string-to-string distance at the nut, making most extended range guitars so that the left hand need to be extended quite a bit more from the body due to the long necks, and the fingers on the left hand need to be streched quite a bit to reach the bottom strings as the fretboard is quite wide. With this guitar we have tried to remedy those problems. For startes the guitar has a compound scale (multiscale). The high E has a 25” scale and the low F# has a 26” scale. This makes the higher strings feeling like a normal guitar at the same time as the lowest strings have a snappier responce compared to what a 25” scale would have felt like. However the playing hand doesn't end up quite as far from the body as on a 27” or longer scale guitar, making longer playing sessions easier on the shoulders. The compound scale also relive a bit of the stress on the hands when playing further up on the neck as the wrist can follow a more natural, slightly rotating movement while moving towards the body To furthermore increase the string responce on the still relative short low strings a custom made string set have been developed together with a maker of exclusive handmade strings. This eliminate the rubbery feeling that short, low tuned strings somtimes can have. In combination with the compound 10-16” radius and the compound scale it makes this guitar extremely comfortable to play. The custom made pickups are a tad hotter than a standard pickup, but have at the same time been designed to produce a clear and defined sound for all playing styles from complex jazz frasings to heavy metal riffing. In the design process we tried to be as environmentally friendly as possible. The Spanish Cedar is FCS certified and the maple i north american. The only wood used that is questionable is the ebony fretboard. For this one a striped ebony was used, and from an environmental point of view that is about 10 times better than going for all black fretboards. On top of that a synthetic ivory nut was use. the main material in this nut is casein from cows milk! To further reduce the impact on the environment a wipe on oil finish was used. The specs: Design:Peter Naglitsch NorthStar 8-stringer Body: Spanish Cedar with a north american flame maple top Neck: Spanish Cedar FCS certified) with laminated maple and graphite reinforcements, maple head Fretboard: Striped Ebony Scale length: 25-26” compound scale, 10-16” compound radius Pickups: StarStruck Custom made Tuners: Grover, mini locking Bridge: ABM single string bridges Nut: Synthetic ivory Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way switch Frets: Jumbo Fret markers: Aluminium, side dots only Full frontal picture: Full back picture Detail picture of headstock, showing several decorative layers of spanish cedar Just a fourth random picture... For a slide show with more pictures, please go here>> Build thread: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/topic/47487-northstar-8-string-build-thread/

If I have only one or two guitars in the pieline/or doing maintanence I'm buyinbg them localy here in Sweden. If I'm boing more than one guitar I often buy them from overseas supliers ar they are quite a bit cheeper to do business with. However that often requires a tax certificate to prove that you are a legit business to get a good OEM discount.As you are in Denmark I think you can buy from both the Swedish wholesalers www.gitarrdelar.se or www.gmf.se

That bass do has some Salvador Dali quality to it. And quite some controls knobs and switches! Looking forward to se more

And you don't have to be rude! I have carefully read all your posts and seen you go off with completely wrong decisions without listening at all What you said was And your current plan will not allow it to play. Period. Over and Out

Oooookay, so this is what we talk about: As curtisa says, I think most of os have problems understanding what level of playability you are shooting for, i.e. should the guitar be able to tune to the right pitch or does it only need to be able to have the strings tensioned enough for the not to slack noticeably. If it is the later, use whatever to stretch the strings to a decent tension, if it is the first, you need some type of "proper" tuning pegs. Simple as that. Even if it is dulcimer tuning pegs that need a wrench to tune the strings. 0.67 a pop it can't be too expensive... As you said in the first post: the question: How do i make the head so you could actually tune and play the guitar? With that in mind you get: The answer: Use proper tuning machines And please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to start a flame war. I'm seriously trying to help you out here, but there are certain decisions you need to make, se above, before we really can help you.

Stewmac has a fret position calculator. You just need to know that the scale length of a strat is 25.5": http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Fretting/i-fretcalc.html

A tremolo for a headless guitar would of cause work, but you stated that you already had ordered the bridge. If 99$ are too much for the steinberg tuners, be prepared to shell out at least the double for a speedloader Floyd Rose bridge, and just maybee get your money back for the bridge you have already bought. Traditional friction banjo tuners are also available, although you need two sets... http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Banjo_tuners/Grover_Champion_Friction_Banjo_Tuners.html And those are a real PITA to use. In the end you need to consider this: Is this a prop or a real instrument? If it is a prop (your suggestion to use acoustic guitar strings to save a buck or two suggests exactly that) you can attach the strings at the head with dry wall screws and forget about the rest. If you on the other hand want this to be a "real" instrument, dont be cheep and try to get a good working instrument and then save on things like tuners or bridge.

Strange guitar... Right, its a prop. I think you should have a look at the Steinberg gearless tuners: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners/Steinberger_Gearless_Tuners.html or geared banjo tuners. All of them are "straight", meaning they do not have an angled worm gear (I think thats the name anyway) so you don't have to have tuner pegs sticking out This will nevertheless be a very hard to play guitar. The part on each side of the fret board will hinder the hand to reach the neck and make playing extremely uncomfortably. And the gun grip at ~12'th fret will limit upper fret action. So more or less (and please take this in the right way): why bother with the tuners as the guitar will not be really playable anyway?

I have the new edition too... The main advantage of the double action rod isn't the easy installation IMHO. It is the added functionality that is like car insurance: You hope that you don't need to use it, but you pay for it anyway. If the neck for some reason in the future develop a back bow the double action rod might save the day (or the neck). I've done a few traditional trusrods, but I moved to double action 15 years ago. Never looked back.

Page 117 and 118 if you have the first edition of the book... If you want vintage accuracy you need to do it more or less like in the book. However most builders around here favor the double adjustable truss rod over the single action, and almost everyone use a rod that fit in a straight rout, not a curved rout. I use a double action rod. My advise if you decide to do the fender style is to draw everything our full scale, I think it will be quite clear then. I think most, if not all, measurements are in the book and when you have them drawn out you can easily fill in the blanks. If it doesn't work out, let me know and I can probably draw it out in CAD. However I'm really busy right now so it might take some time before I can help you with that.

Outch! Thats Kinky, Pics please...

If you ask me, anyone that posts their work on a public forum is doing some self promoting. Shhhh! Don't expose me like that!

I've sen time calculations for CNC cutting of fret slots and as the bit that is needed is so damn thin you need to go really slow not to break it. If you are doing a "regular" fretboard you are much better off with a miter box like the one from SM. BTW and OT, I got the new version from them as the old one was starting to irritate me (several reasons, most of all the bronze "bearings" holding the saw to tight or to loose) and I must really say that it was worth it. The new version with the ball bearing guides are so much better. Slotting a board in like two three minutes with perfect repeatability. Great stuff. As is your method Carl. I'm impressed of you guys that do the slotting by hand. I have recently only done it for multi scale fretboards and I think I spend like over an hour on one board.

both pouring tha gasoline and throwing a zippo into the puddle here... I mostly agree to that. However a neck jig use very helpful when doing repair jobs on factory made necks that twist and such. However, on a new carefully made neck made from good material, I have never had a use for my neck jig or have had to use the "Rick Turner" method (what I mostly use today, in favor over the neck jig)

I use KTM-9 exclusively and have never had any problem with ash. However I don't get it really, you have already dyed the wood and now you wnat to grain fill? I would have grain filled before dye. As it sits right now my only advise is to go heavy on the KTM-9 on the back so that you can very carefully sand everything flat. Brace yourself for something like 15-20 coats to get the pores filled. The only alternative I se apart from that is to use clear grain filler if you can get that. Crystalac had some that I sill have half a bucket of that work fine with KTM-9. but apart from that I haven't really seen anything like that.

Hello and welcome to the forum. My first reaction to this post was that is is a bit SPAM-ish. The concent are a bit self-promoting and I was quite hesitant to go further to klick the link, especially that it was one of your first post. However the video was interesting and you have a distinct building method that I don't think I have seen before. Nice! A bit more about the production method and wether you run a custom/semi custom shop or a full production operation would have been more informative and have meade the post a bit less self-promotive. We are a quite tight comunity and we are a bit protective regarding spam and selfpromoting as there are a few full time builders here, a couple of "semi pros" like myself and several (very competent) amateurs on this forum. Your competence will be apretiated if you are willing to share ideas, production methods and other things freely. So once again: welcome!

OK, thanks for the info. Might try them out as I have minor issues with the current version.

I level the fretboard after it s glued onto the neck and after the bulk of neck wood has been removed. I have noticed that if I sand the fretboard level when I have the neck blank thick and nice there will some times be some movement when I remove wood from the neck and if I sand only after the neck have reach its final shape (not finish sanded, but nearly) I have considerably less movement and I just need to slightly kiss the tops of the frets after they have been seated properly. It also add the bonus that, when I clamp the neck upside down to shape the neck, the fretboard is flat and it is much easier to clamp it solid. I'm not saying that my way is the only or the best way to do things, just sharing what I do...

I have built a neck jig and occasionally use it for tricky fret jobs on necks that are straight when the strings are off, and twist under string pressure. However I more and more tend to use Rick Turners method, level the frets with the strings still attached. For my builds, I don't have any problems. Probably because I over-engineer the necks...