Guitarfrenzy

I've been using a laser level since I first started building, simply because it doesn't lie to you.. lol If your build is off, then you'll see instantly. But if you use it to align everything before routing begins, then you will assure youself of a properly aligned guitar when finished. Here's a picture of me using it to check everything before the neck was glued into place. You can't see it in the picture but there is a very small center mark drawn out on the nut area, and at the heel area. I use the center of the body and shine the laser so that it hits all the marks and centers each dot marker also. You should also check to see if you measure the same amount of distance to each side of pickup cavity. Thankfully, everything checked out good, so I could go ahead and glue the neck in place. It just gives you the peace of mind knowing that everything will be aligned properly. Good luck.

Like they suggested, draw everything out starting with the bridge string spacing, nut width, and scale length. Like the diagram I did below. This was taken from from my post in this thread but it applies here. First I started off by drawing a perfect centerline that will be a center guide for everything else I draw. Basically you find the string spread for your bridge your using, and the width of the nut you want to use. Measure out the scale length your going to use.. in my case it is 25". Draw out the bridge and nut perfectly centered and distance wise. Now at the nut draw two lines from the outside edges 1/8" in. This is the optimal place for the strings, any closer and you'll have problem with the string falling over the fretboard. Next I drew two lines on the bridge that is the string spread. In my case (2" string spread), I just measured 1" from the centerline and made two marks from each side where the bridge is. Now all you have to do is draw lines to connect the bridge to the nut on each side of the neck, using the two marks you made at the nut and two that you made at the bridge string spread. Now starting from the nut at each end draw a 1/8" line away from the lines you just drew and that is your neck taper. Matt Vinson

I spent an afternoon in the showroom up in PA....be sure to bring a bib with you! ← I've drove up to Springfield, MO to see their showroom, just like you said, very nice. They even had tons of luthier books that I wanted.. If I'd only had much money at the time.. But I did get a new spokeshave, more luthier supplies, and a Grizzly T-Shirt.. lol

I'm like Maiden in that aspect, once I get something started I can't stand not to finish it quickly. Right now I've been doing tons of repair work for people, so I haven't been building anything lately, but I can see that the guitar building bug has attacked me again because I'm really wanting to start another one. The JV-1 took longer than any guitar I've built simply because I had wanted to finish off the other guitars first before I got back to it. I can see how taking a break can help you in some instances, which it did with that guitar, because when I started back everything was fresh again and didn't take me long after to complete it. So, maybe taking a break and working on another project for a while will help you. Just don't push it and burn yourself out when you get to the point you don't care or you get a case of DBIS(Diminishing Build Interest Syndrome) like thegarehanman pointed out..

PRS nuts aren't plastic. They're made out of a material similar to a Graphtech trem Nut, but you're right they're too blocky I'd like to see them shaped and finished as well ← Ah.. ok.. didn't know that, it looked like Plastic to me, thanks for the info. That's not as bad then, but I still don't like the blocky nut and if your going to pay that much for a guitar, shouldn't they at least make it look halfway decent? That's my only gripe, I could understand that on a 600 dollar guitar, but we are talking about a guitar that's close to 4 times that amount.

Looks good to me, just keep experimenting until you get everything like you want it. The main thing is that your work looks clean and professional. Keep up the good work... Matt Vinson

Yes, as I found out Red is the hardest color to capture. I never did get a good photo of my last guitar. If your guitar looks that good in pictures, I bet it looks killer in person.. Great job bro!!

Funny this subject came up. Just yesterday, I went to a local Guitar Center to buy a case for my last guitar I built. I decided it was time to try out all the new guitars while I was there. First off, I noticed that the quality on almost everyone of them wasn't very good. I guess it's because when you actually know what goes into building one, you can really spot things (flaws) that you would have never noticed before. For instance here was some things I noticed about the guitars I played. Schecter C-1 Blue Transparent: First off, the nut was plastic and the slotting wasn't very good. The frets was flat and not recrowned after leveling, which I personally like, but some wouldn't. The action was higher than I'd like, and it wanted to buzz even then. I was really shocked at the fretwork being as poor as it was. Still it's not bad for the price. Jackson SL-3 Red Transparent: Again, sloppy fretwork as I found it unbelievable that I could see glue squeeze out on the fret edges just before the neck binding. It looks like they would have cleaned up the Titebond glue before it dried. It was on at least 5 of the middle frets, very unprofessional. The guitar did play better than the Schecter though with less buzz and slightly lower action, but still not as low as I'd have liked. BTW Jackson is now made by Fender, so not sure of the quality differences since the switch but could be a factor. Ibanez RG1570 Blue: The nut action wasn't the best, probably needed lowering or taking out the metal shim from under the locking nut. The action wasn't as low as I assumed it would be on a nicer mid priced Ibanez. The workmanship on the guitar was good though, and overall the fretjob looked great although the fret ends needed to be deburred better.. oww... But overall one of the better guitars I played. PRS Custom 24: Nice guitar but the plastic nut would have to go.. lol I have no idea why they don't at least sand down the top of their nut, it looks really bad and isn't good for the tone. The action wasn't as low as the other guitars, but it wasn't bad either, about average for production guitars. Fretjob was much better than most of the other guitars as was the overall workmanship of the guitar. It played pretty good, but it should for that price. These are just some I tested, but I was overwhelmed with how terrible the action was on most production level guitars.

Mark Knopfler is a great guitarist, he doesn't use a pick either, and the really only way you can get the sound he gets on "Sultan's Of Swing" is to fingerpick it like he does. I highly recommend any guitarist to learn this song, just for fingerpicking skills alone. I had no idea that he was a lefty playing righty though.

Like others have already said, it's really just a personally preference. Go to a local music store and have fun playing all the guitars, and find one that's a fit for you. I personally like a thin neck, with jumbo frets, but that's not for everyone. Since everyone has their own views on what is the perfect guitar, you'll get tons of opinions on this one. That's not a bad thing, but you should still do yourself a favor and go out and try them for yourself so you can see if they are comfortable to you. Good luck Matt Vinson

::crickets:: I absolutely agree. And I'm speaking from a player's point of view. ← And I just happen to absolutely disagree. I'm speaking from my own experience with playing, and setting up guitars. I've only played since I was 9 years old, played all over, am playing in two bands even now, but that doesn't have anything to do with why radius matters.. lol First off, everyone should already know that radius matters even more when bending, that's a given. I'm not agruing that. I'm not trying to stir the pot here, I'm just stating what I have noticed to be true about fingerboard radius and it's relationship with how low you can set action without buzz. Each time the flatter radius can be set lower, why is that? I then came up with a rational theory about it, but maybe I'm wrong, but I still believe that the radius effects the action you can get, even when not bending. Ah.. a nice healthy debate.. It's just good that we can all agree to disagree with each other and still get along.. Matt Vinson

Oh ok.. yeah doesn't look like they have them in black, maybe someone does though.

Yes, you can buy the bearing, but you should consider buying a pattern flush trim bit from MLCS, the #6509 is perfect for template routing for pickups, since it's only 1/2" long you won't have such a deep plunge when making your first pass. It's worth the investment.

Try GuitarPartsDepot.com , they have them.

While it's true that the difference in some radius aren't that much, it still does make a difference on your action, even if it's a small one. My bet is that the 14" Les Paul radius, with all other things being equal would let you have lower action than the 10" one, simply because the string theory I just mentioned earlier. Now there are a lot of other factors too, but from my experience with setup and studying great setups this is what I've determined is true, until someone can prove it wrong. I've also noticed you can get away with lower nut action too with flatter radius fingerboards like Ibanez has. Why doesn't everyone make flatter radius guitars though? Simply because it's not comfortable for some people when chording, that's why a compound radius 10" to 16" like Warmoth does might be the best solution for those people. I don't quite agree with that one. The longer the string the more arc it makes when oscillating. So you would need more room above the frets to deal with the extra amplitude at the center point of the string. Read this ← Not exactly, you see there are other factors that come into this also. It may make it slightly more of an arc, but it has more tension at the same pitch than a guitar with a shorter scale length. Read this article from Stew Mac on how fret scale determines tone, where it mentions less tension, easier to play on Gibson's shorter scale length. You see with more tension (25-1/2" scale) you have less movement of the string to produce the same pitch on a shorter (24 -3/4" scale). Thus with less movement (vibration) the less chance the string will vibrate into the fret with lower action. I'm still open to debate, it's really this kind of bouncing ideas off one another that you learn a lot. Matt Vinson

A friend of mine used them on one of his guitar he built, and they are suprisingly good. I think they are Gotoh without the name.. lol

But if you go with a higher guage you also have wider strings to contend with, so that's a factor also. Which is the biggest factor? We need further scientific testing.. haha Also Soapbar made a point that I think is interesting. He mentioned that a Les Paul can have great action, which is very true because each of mine does, even with the shorter scale of a Gibson. What's different though is that your dealing with a true 12" radius which would effect how low your action can go. Since most Fenders have a 9-1/2" radius, it's hard to really compare scale length between the two, and the difference it makes. You know Robert we've both talked about how a perfectly flat fingerboard, no radius, was the best for ultra-low action with no buzz, but we both know it's a compromise to playing comfort. Most people find it hard to make chords on a flat fingerboard without any radius though. My theory from all this is that everything determines the action you can get. How? Radius - Probably makes the biggest difference. I determined this by playing flat fingerboards that was setup correctly, and noticed you could get ultra-low action without buzz easily. My reasoning for this, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that when you pluck the string, it vibrates more in the direction back and forth from the way the string was first picked, thus if you have a flatter radius the string won't hit the fret since it's mostly vibrating parrallel with the fret. The more radius you have, the easier it is for the string to vibrate into the fret. I hope this makes some kind of sense. Scale Length - In theory the longer the scale, the lower you can set your action all things being equal. Fretjob - Of course this makes a huge difference, a level fretjob is a must for low action. These are just some interesting things to discuss when bored.. haha Anyway, a PRS has a 10" radius and 25" scale length, which might not be the most optimal combination. Since the radius is rather round, much like a Fender, but doesn't benefit from the longer 25-1/2" scale length. A Gibson has a shorter scale length also, but it makes up for it by having a flatter 12" radius. Just something to ponder on..

I have Lace Sensors on my 66 Mustang so they should be quieter than the old single coils but I got a lot of noise out of those crappy switches they use. I replaced them once but they are starting to crap out again. ← Yeah the switches on this guitar really need replacing, I cleaned them the best I could, but I'm definitely going to suggest that he get them replaced. But, yeah it's a rather noisy guitar, and the switches are terrible.

Thanks, I just decided that since I was going to have to disassemble it, I'd take pictures so everyone could see how they was built back then. Interesting facts that give it away as a 1965. Kluson tuners for one. It was the first year they had the bigger headstock. The tremolo has Pat Pending on it, later in 1966 they received a Patent number. The date on the back of the pickup.. haha Speaking of the pickups, they are very noisy, is that typical of an old Fender single coil?

I just finished working on a vintage Mustang guitar, and thought this would be an interesting read for some of you guys. 1965 Fender Mustang

Great tips, and like was already mentioned, get it as straight as possible by turning the truss rod and checking progress with a long straightedge as your guide, then level the fingerboard. Also if your interested in building a neck jig, you can find the basic plans at my site. Here's the link... Build A Neck Jig

It's no different than most things going on in the US today, they already admit to listening into your phone conversations. link.. So what's next? If you sing some lyrics to someone on the phone, will you get thrown in jail? lol

First off, I thought PRS guitars had a 10" fingerboard radius. The flatter the radius, the lower you can get the action with all other things being equal. That's why Ibanez, Jackson, etc. can have less relief, lower action too. So I can see what he's trying to explain to you, but that doesn't mean you can't have good action on a PRS, that's just nonsense. I agree with the rest of the guys, you might need to take your guitar elsewhere to get the setup your wanting. Good luck.

Levon Helms the drummer,singer, for The Band was from my home state Arkansas though. Just interesting fact I thought I would throw in there..lol.. Anyway, Rush is one of my favorite bands period and they more than make up for Celine. UMMMM.. we'll after watching the video I'm not so sure.. hhaha

I like the new logo too Idch, errr.. Mickguard I mean.. man I'm gone a couple of days and everything changes...