Guitarfrenzy

I hate to part with it, I never really got to use it, and the footswitch was never even taken out of the box, which cost $50 new just for it. I'm just in a tight for money right now, and it's doing me no good sitting in the box collecting dust. It's in perfect mint condition and paid $599.99 plus tax when I bought it. Everything is just like it was when I bought it, still in the box with manuals, etc. If you know much about this unit, you'll know it's awesome at what it does. Four part hamony, auto-tuner that will keep you on pitch, etc. The sound quality is excellent also. Here's the link if anyone is interested. Ebay Link... Thanks, Matt Vinson

Nice work on the guitar, looks good.

That's old technology.. nowdays you can get your whole brain reprogrammed to play like any guitarist you like. Coming to a brain surgeon near you!!!!

I'd definitely take Mickguard's suggestion and check the relief. To check it accurately use a long straightedge and a feeler guage set to check the amount of space between the top of the fret and bottom of the straightedge. You will want to measure the one that has the most gap, usually from the 7th fret to 10fret, to get an accurate reading of the neck. A range from .004" to .012" is generally acceptable. On a guitar that has a highly accurate fretjob, you can even get away with no relief (.000) at all. Anything more than .012" would make for a hard playing guitar.

You might want to check out GuitarBuildingTemplates' Jem 777 complete templates. Otherwise, your going to have to make your own templates before you start, either by getting them printed off, or drawing them off, before you cut them out of wood. Get the templates right and make sure everything fits before working on the actual guitar wood. It's much easier buying more 1/4" template wood, than buying new guitar wood. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again to you, it's easier sanding the edge of a 1/4" template than it is a 2" piece of hardwood. When you get your neck template ready, then your ready to build. One key word of advice I can give you right off the bat, is to route your truss rod channel first before you taper the neck wood. If not, then you can't use the neck edge to guide your router, be it table or guide, otherwise the slot won't be in center of the neck. Just read everything you can, then read more, then practice on scrap, and finally your ready for the real thing.

Yeah, I'd definitely check against the Stew Mac measurement's you get from the Fret Calc, and it should end up the same as using the method mentioned above. I also like that bridge and it has a very good price on it too. I wouldn't mind trying one out myself, it reminds me of the PRS bridges. Sure you can't individually adjust the intonation, but if placed properly everything should align so the guitar is correctly intonated. Mickguard, I can see a LP Jr inspired guitar in my future.. lol Oh yeah, don't forget to let us know how the bridge works out for you. I'm serious about buying one.

That's a pretty neat bridge. The one good thing is you have adjustment screws on each side so you can move the bridge ever so slightly forward and back in order to fine tune the intonation. To me it looks like the bridge is made to be placed evenly, and not angled. I'd position the screw adjustments so that you can see a little bit of the screw sticking out of the bridge in the post area, same on both sides, then take a long straightedge and measure from the edge of the nut to the center contact point on the bridges little E saddle. Make sure the bridge is kept straight by measuring from the front of the bridge to nut on both sides, so it's not at an angle, and also so it's centered with the neck so that your outer two strings will be equal distance from the edge. Hold the bridge in place, and draw where the post should be. Then drill for your inserts, etc. Shouldn't be that hard, just take your time and pay attention to detail. Stew-Mac has a Fret Calculator that will actually tell where the post should be on various bridges they sell, not sure if it will help you with this one though. BTW you could use my laser method for centering the bridge, and also to simulate the two outer E strings so you can place the bridge in the right location. Matt Vinson

The SG was probably 3/4" thick wood, and glued another 3/4" piece on the heel area to make it 1-1/2" like Doug was talking about. I glued my heel on the JV-1 guitar I built in the same manner and had no problem. It's just a great way to save wood, I even scarf jointed the neck, so basically I made the neck with one long piece of maple that was 3/4" thick. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. I just used a big vise to clamp it together while the glue dried. closeup pic front view after it had dried.. picture of the neck after the added heel wood was tapered... I don't see a reason in the world you couldn't do the same. I would however advise you to use wood from the same board if possible, simply because it will match your wood better and be less noticeable. Good luck.. Matt Vinson

The one I used in the picture above was from Allied, so you was correct about that. I'm suprised they are out of stock though. I think they are really good truss rods and for a good price, I still have a couple left luckily.. lol

So has anyone built the huge sanding drum cnc machine that levels the fingerboard perfectly? If so, I want to borrow it for a month.. lol I wonder if I should sell my Plek machine then? haha

Mattia has you on the right path, routing the CF slots, gluing them in place with epoxy, then later routing the truss rod slot. The tubes like you are talking about are good, but like was already pointed out, they are hollow, which means that they might only be slightly stronger than the wood your removing to place them. I'd definitely go with a solid CF rod, they might be more expensive, but they add better stability to the neck. Just my own thoughts on it though. I have a method I like to use to install CF rods and keep them closer to center to avoid a situation where you might carve to them by accident. I've seen it done before, so I know.. lol I just route out a 1/2" slot, so that the two CF rods and truss rod will fit perfectly. I then glue the two CF rods on each side with epoxy, using the truss rod with wax paper wrapped around it pushed into the slot, to press hold them in place. So far it's worked great on the last two guitars I've built. You don't have to try it, just giving you more options to decide from.

Your headstock angle at 10° won't be a problem at all. Ibanez and many more guitar manufactures scarf joint using method 1 like the picture above. I have used both and had no problem doing it either way, and it's like Mattia said, both will work great, just find a method that suits you.

Hope you guys have a great birthday and receive some righteous guitar gifts... lol Matt V

From looking at the pictures he had, looks like he had a guide on each side of the neck when routing the truss rod slot. It's not me, but I have better results just using a router table setup. You might not have access to a router table though. Mattia's tips on using the router is right on... But it was a good thing you decided to use a Robo-Sander to do the neck, at least around the headstock, especially if you was having problems with tearout.

What I'm trying to figure out now, is just how this has saved you any time? If you'd have used a template you'd be moving onto other parts of the build by now, instead your spending your time trying to fix a job you did quickly. Not to be critical, but sometimes when you try to make things easier or faster, you make things harder for yourself in the long run, and the job ends up taking you 10 times longer than if you'd have just done it right in the first place. Take the time to make some good templates next time and you won't be sorry. Again, freehand routing is a very very bad idea!!!!!!

If you have a drill press you might consider buying a Safe-T-Planer. It works good. You can definitely take it down when shaping though. If you have a bandsaw that's setup properly you can actually cut the back of the neck to get it close before spokeshaving, or however your going to shape the neck. Although don't taper the sides first or it will be a lot harder. But you know what, there are a million ways build a neck, just find something that will work for you and make use of the tools you have.

I too have never had a problem with bow using regular Titebond to glue the fingerboard to the neck, but I've also only built probably one neck that didn't have CF rods either. That might be the reason I haven't had that problem, but so far so good. I understand that some of you guys have had that problem before, and we've even discussed it here many times. I think that epoxy is great for gluing a fingerboard in place though, and have thought about switching over to it, just for it's shear strength. I wouldn't advise anyone to use it on their first couple of builds though, since the removablity is much better with Titebond. Then again, if you know what your doing, and have a lot of experience building, use epoxy, because you want it to last and it shouldn't have to be taken apart again. I met an old man who builds guitars, and he only used epoxy to hold the neck of his acoustic guitars to the body, and it's been ok for over 5 years now. Although, I definitely wouldn't recommend someone doing that, it just goes to show you the strength that epoxy has. Here's a picture of his guitar that I took from that visit. BTW, it's one of the best sounding, best playing acoustic guitar I've ever played.

You want me to break apart my two Les Paul's and measure for you? lol Hey man, if you really want an accurate Les Paul control cavity template, then I highly recommend you buying these Les Paul ones from Guitarbuildingtemplates.com. Are you building a Les Paul? You do know that you can come up with your own control cavity layout right? Here's an example of the JV-1 guitar I built. Just figure out the spacing you want the pots, switches to be, then make sure you have enough space for all the wiring that will be used, and draw it out. Then draw out an inside template so that your leaving a lip for the control cavity cover to screw down to. Then make the last template for the actual control cover. It's not real hard since I know you have access to a scroll saw right?

These kinds of necks are why I use CF rods in everyone I build. If installed properly they keep the neck from twisting, etc. This neck was a good canidate for a neck jig job. You should have tried to heat the neck up first with a heat lamp, and try to straighten out the twist first. You might not have gotten it all out, but probably enough so that you wouldn't have removed near as much wood trying to get the fingerboard level. The less wood you remove the better!! Since you've already started sanding away at the neck, then that method pretty much goes out the window. Did you ever get it level? I noticed you said this... In the first statement you said you got it dead level, then in the very next sentence you state that you almost got all the twist out... That doesn't add up.. lol If it's still got a twist in it, then it's not what you'd consider level by no means. If the fingerboard isn't level then your going to have a hard time leveling the frets without removing a lot of material. The better the job you do leveling the fingerboard, the easier it is to get the frets level later on. I'm not sure I quite understand, are you saying there is a visible gap between the fret and fingerboard? If so, then you probably didn't get the fret slots deep enough for the tang after you leveled it. I'd pull the frets and deepen the slot enough for the tang to sit in.

This subject has been discussed many times. I modified my own arbor press a long time ago, the same way as you guys are talking. I Wanna Build My Own Arbor Fret Press (March 28, 2004) Arbor Press (Aug 11, 2004) I think what soapbar is talking about as much as anything is the base dimension, which on the 1 ton press is (5'' x 11'') compared to the 1/2 ton which is (4'' x 9-1/2'').

First off, very nice design, I think you did a great job on that. I don't mean to sound critical, but Home Depot's not a good source for guitar tonewood. I'm with mattia, go ahead and finish this one with a solid finish, because you don't want the grain to show, especially on the back, then later build you another bass out of some good wood. I'm not saying your wood isn't good, but not for a transparent finish.

What?.. everyone scared of downloading a little 100MB file? lol

Are you talking about using a dremel with a dremel bit to route out a cavity? If so, a dremel is way too underpowered in my opinion for that job. If you are talking about using a dremel bit in a regular router, then that's still not a good idea, even if it did chuck up right, it's made to be used with a dremel, not a big router. Just my opinion though. A dremel is good for inlay work, polishing frets, and a few other small things, but routing even a truss rod with one wouldn't be fun.

Actually, the amount the nut is moved on a Buzz conversion is 2mm (.0788"), not the .5mm (.020") your suggesting. What I wonder about, is how the adjustable nut will effect the tone, isn't that kinda the whole point of building a guitar, for good tone?

I've got a factory tour video of Marshall amps that I thought I'd share. It's very good, but be warned... the file is huge at a little over 100mb. Plus it's in a Quicktime format, which I'm personally crazy about, but I haven't had time to encode it to another format yet. Here it is though for anyone who is interested. Marshall Factory Tour Enjoy Matt Vinson