SwedishLuthier

It will work. But you will probably need to replace the bridge too if its made from wood like this one.

I guess you mean 7 mm That is pretty thick. Get it thicknessed or the neck will look odd. On topp of that you might get trouble if you are using StewMac Hot Rod trussrod and an ultra thin neck. To litle wood left behing the trussrod...

Placing a Zero fret where the first fret is suposed to go and cuting of the rest will shorten your scale, as if you were playing with a permanent capo on the first fret. I wouldn't recommend doing this if your intentions wasn't to make a shorter scale neck. Go with the LMII board if you would like a zero fret neck. I think that there is a fret bending machine building tutorial in the tutorial section. An ebony board is harder to fret if you are hammering in the frets. That said, my first fret board (some 15 years ago) was an ebony board and it turned out pretty good.

Yes and yes. Doing inlays on a slotted board is no problem. If it is radiused it is a little bit trickier, but it can de done.

Ah, OK. You mean that a neck should be made out of quartersawn wood mainly because of its dimensional stability. I couldn’t agree more with you on that. But I am under the impression that most people choose quartersawn because they think that it is structural stronger (were resistance to flex is one of the factors) and not because of its stability. In this case I have only seen Mr Siminoff’s test that is actually a test based on facts. On the opposite side I have only got opinions based on, well… opinions, and because I’m an engineer I like scientific facts. I’ll try to get my hands on Hoadley's book and do a search for Al Carrut for more input. It will be very interesting reading I totally agree with you on the use of CF. I use it all the time for the same reason

Ok. This thread isn’t about that experiment, but OK. I missed one number. The quartersawn piece flexed 058”. The test was repeated three times. The same result every time. And the test pieces were square. Actually he used the same pieces flipped over. So the same pieces were stronger flatsawn, compared to quartersawn. If flatsawn is stronger in one thickness I cannot se how it would be weaker in another thickness. If you want to know everything about the experiment I recommend that you get the book. Siminoff have some interesting (interesting, not necessary the almighty truth) ideas about stringed instruments. You don’t have to believe everything he writes but he gets me thinking that we too often just do as we are used to.

Mattia, I'm not going to debate Mr Siminoff"s virtues. Being an engineer by training I enjoy his scientific approach compared to a lot of builder's tendency to walk a safe and known path. In this case I was referring to an experiment that I find very interesting, and that actually proved that Mr Siminoff's test piece of maple were stronger (less deflective under static load) when used as quartersawn compared to flatsawn. His experiment follows all your criteria, unless for one thing: the test pieces were cut from the same plank. The test showed that the flatsawn piece (1/2"x1/2"x4.25") flexed .052" under the load of eight pounds. The quartersawn piece flexed .05". A difference of more than 10%. This makes me doubt the old "truth" that the neck should be made out of quartersawn wood. But nevertheless I'm very interested in the data you are referring to, that prove quartersawn wood to be more stable than flatsawn. Are those data available online? Any good link? And when you say "more stable" what exactly do you mean? I guess more resistant to flex caused by static load. At least that is what I refer to. EDIT: The quartesawn piece lexed .058". Slight type-o

And when they get earpugs they will not be ABLE to listen I'm not familiar with the construction of "toaster" pickups, but if it has a bottom metal plate it might be a good idea to fill the channel to stop the bottom plate to vibrate.

I have no result to share yet, but I’m right now in the process of building a Kasha-inspired dreadnought sized steel string. I have researched this issue (theoretically, reading up on every aspect) for a couple of years and now I feel comfortable enough to try it for real. I would happily exchange information as the build evolve. I might start a “in progress” thread about this.

Some info on quartersawn vs flatsawn neck blanks: I’ve read about a scientific experiment that shows that the strength is actually greater with a flatsawn neck compared to a quartersawn neck!!! The quartersawn test piece flexed over 10% more (static load). Check out Roger Siminoffs book “the luthier’s handbook” for more interesting information about what’s considered “facts” in the guitar building world. For an ultra thin neck I would suggest a laminated neck with carbon fibre reinforcements. I’ve done tests myself to investigate the best possible ways to use reinforcements. Check out the results here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...ndpost&p=216422

Superglue, krazyglue, CA...Its all cyanoacrylate glue

A fellow Swedish builder!! How nice. Try "som marmor" from Nordsjö. Try a search here. Its waterbased and can hopefully be covered with gloss or satin water based finishes like Colortone from StewMac. The surface will not be very smooth and will require more top finish then usual to be able to level it. Start with gloss until you have sanded everything level, and switch to satin for the final layer(s) EDIT: I might be able to help you. I noticed you are living in Uppsala. I have some gloss colortone that need to be used before it gets too old. And I live in Märsta!!!

How is the action (string height over frets)? Is there a rattling sound to the string? Is this appearing ONLY on the high E, or is it most pronounced on the high E and lesser on the rest? Check for loose parts. Start with the string pin in the bridge. Does it sit firmly in the bridge? How does the bridge bone feels in the slot? If it is slightly loose the sound is altered. Is it plastic? Have it changed! Tap slightly around the perimeter of the bridge to search for glue joint failure. The sound will be different from the normal, solid “thud”. Just a few of the things that comes to my mind. Maybe some one else have better ideas.

Or use ordinary humbuckers... Changeing scale length will alter the feel of the guitar, so using 22 frets seems to be the best solution.

I did a three pickup Tele with Swamp Ash body, Maple neck and ebony fretboard. I wound the pickups myself. The pickups are one T-90 and two S-90 like Steven Kerstings http://www.skguitar.com/ or Harmonic design. They give me the treble from a Tele but the mid punch of a P-90 (well not all of it, but quite a lot). I love the sound of this guitar. The only thing I don’t like is the mid pickup. I have made a new “standard” Strat pickup for that position, but I haven’t got around to replace it yet.

I haven’t done a regular purfling with shells, but I have made a wine with MOP laid into a channel I cut in the fretboard. I used ready cut MOP strips that I broke into pieces and glued into the channel. Pretty much the same thing as inlaying MOP in a purfling channel. It is much work, especially to get the joints to look nice. But I can tell you, it is very rewarding. My advice is to work slowly, and to pay a lot of attention on the joints between the strips. I rushed things at one part and it shows.

In his book “The Luthier's Handbook”. Roger Siminoff describes an experiment were he replaced an glued bridge with a floating bridge and tailpiece. The result was, among other things, noticeable lower volume. As Setch said, an archtop is made for a bridge that vibrate up and down on the arch and a flat top with glued bridge is made to rotate the bridge to get the top to act like a air pump and thus amplify the vibrations from the strings. The Siminiff book is very interesting reading. I’m basing my first acoustic around some of his ideas.

I havn't worked with acrylic/plexi/whatever in a guitar bodie, but I would also like to try it. I have always wanted one of the Armstrong plexi guitars. I've heard that they sound pretty good, and the looks of those guitars...wow. But you need nicer looking pants if playing one of those

The string tree holds the stings into the nut. You can use staggered tuners from Sperzel. With those you do not need a string tree.

I’d get the offset files. It’s possible to do a complete crowning with just the 300 grit file. If I don’t have too much crowning to do I go for the 300 grit directly. And the offset file has one more advantage. You have both the straight part and the offset part to work with. This gives you more length to wear on, and the straight part that I THINK gives a little more control, compared to the angled part of the other files. I wouldn’t worry to much about just having two widths. I use these and I often find myself using the larger side on all but the thinnest frets.

I hope that you have already thought of this, but the pickup placement isn’t the most critical issue you have to deal with. If you are putting on a new, longer neck the placement of the BRIDGE need to be changed, if the neck pocket is identical with the original body design. If you have this covered already: sorry for bringing it up.

The up and then down again thin makes me a little less sure that it is the dove tail that is collapsing. But it could be so that the up first up part is due to the neck joint failure, and the down part is just the makers attempt to lessen buzz with a slight down hill at the end of the fret board. OR it could be some extra compression on the fret board caused by the joint failure that makes the fretboard (and probably the top) to bulge out a bit.

I would stay away from the area between the neck and the bridge. My main concern isn’t the sound, but the over all structural strength of the instrument. This area take n the full force of the strings, and I believe that if you remove as much wood as you would with the StewMac 18V battery box; there is some risk that you weaken this area to much. Of cause it is also influenced by the body shape and so on. With enough mass surrounding this area it can of cause work very well, but again, I would stay away from it.

In what direction is the hump? Is it like an angle in the fret board as if it’s about to fold itself at the neck/body joint? This can also be described as the fret board has an uphill from the joint. If so, the guitars need a neck reset. The problem is caused by the dove tail joint disintegrating. This is probably glue failure caused by high temperature when the guitars were left in a car a hot day. Frank Ford is a master on those issues. Check out www.frets.com He also has some very interesting tests regarding glues and temperatures.

It’s actually not in the centre you should remove more wood. It’s in between the edges and the centre, but I think you figured that out... I'd get a radius gauge before I'd go any further. Also use a long straight sanding stick to avoid unevenness in the fretboard. With those tools you can get a flatter board, but still keep a consistent radius.