dave

so I guess it's a good thing that that piece of wood got lost in the move?????

Just before I moved house (about 4 months ago) I decided "that's it! I'm gonna build my next neck instead of buying one!!!!" so I started a section of my site (check it) to narrate its progress (only this page works - the others were never created!). Anyway, that piece of wood got left at the old house, and I still never found out what kind of wood it was! So I was driving around recently and saw a skip on the street with some similar wood in it - I guess it used to be roofing joists or something so I did some checking online and it seems that roofing joists are generally some kind of pine.... do you guys think pine is strong enough for a neck? If not, where else can one source suitable timber at free or very-low prices? btw I'm in the UK.... If I went to a reclamation yard and perused say the maple section, what would I look for? How would I know that "this" piece is more suitable that "that" piece? I really want to build a neck from scratch, but sadly funds are quite limited at the moment. I guess it's OK to use (ahem) "inferior" woods for body-building testing, but I guess neck tests & first-attempts, etc really need the right kind of wood from the start due to their important job in the grand scheme of things.... or am I wrong????? btw... I got five lovely pieces of nearly-flat rosewood for fingerboards from Ebay (they used to be wooden flooring lol) for less than £10 so I've got plenty of meterial to play with at fret-cutting and inlay time!!!!! Thanks guys... this place is great! Dave

check out FretCalc... you enter the scale length, number of frets and not only does it give you the measurements, but you can also print out an actual-size template that you can (temporarily ) stick to your fingerboard while you score fret positions with a knife, prior to sawing the slots. Good luck! Dave

yeah that's a bit steep innit

Bailey Guitars It only takes two or three weekends, and the results look pretty good :-)

Hi there.... Once Brian & the rest of the gang have given you some pointers on what to get, you might want to try Screwfix and/or MachineMart for tools. Their prices are great and ScrewFix in particular do next day delivery cos everything's always in stock :o I got a scrollsaw for small cutting jobs (like scratchplates, etc) for about forty quid ( :o ) from MachineMart and a bench-top bandsaw from ScrewFix for well under a ton ( :o ). I better go before I overuse a smilie Good luck! Dave

I was just reading an old review of the Warwick Thumb Bass, and saw that they used to allow individual string height adjustments in the nut by using slot-head screws as the nut. The string sits in the slot, and you can raise/lower the string height by removing the string and screwing/unscrewing the screw as required. I thought it was kinda cool so did some searching, then found there's a new version. They call it the Just-A-Nut II. Here's what it looks like.... Anyway, I thought I'd let y'all know about it in case it's something you might wanna use.... maybe some of you engineer types could use this as a springboard for some kind of (almost) infinitely adjustable intonation system...? Hope your weekend is going well Rock on Dave

Well you didn't so here's dave@sharpfour.com my email too thanks, Dave

There's also Pincotts. They use the American AllParts catalogue, but are based in the UK. Cheers, Dave

Yep - Bumblefoot is the band, and Ron's the mad axeman. The song "Dig Me" from Three Of A Perfect Pair by King Crimson features Adrian Belew playing a fretless guitar. And as for black fretwire... maybe strips of ebony would suffice...? Or sawdust + glue + black paint/stain/dye?

Thanks guys! Some great feedback! The flatmount trem is an all-in-one unit. There are two (used to be) strong springs under the bridge, and a major chunk of wood was hacked away to fit it. There's a picture of how it *used* to look (trying to post a link now...) here. You can see where I've bolted it to the body's top. The pickup there is a Kent Armstrong Motherbucker - two stacked single coils in one unit, one is a PAF+ and the other is a Super Distortion. I've rewired the scratchplate to have single/off/humbucking for each pickup ;-) The back of the guitar is smooth - no routing or cutting has been done at all cos everything is fitted into the front. And yes, I know it's pretty sad to paint such a Godawful colour scheme on such a lovely piece of wood! All I've done to it since are strip it bare and cut a big semicircle behind the bridge so it sits on my knee better (think the Steinberger Strat-style guitars). Anyway, having a cut-down Floyd block sounds like a cool idea, although I have some power tools so sticking some more wood on the back & re-routing etc isn't a scary option either! Thanks guys, I'm gonna have a think and see what I come up with! Oh, and by the way, the guitar's a little oddly shaped cos I'm a lefty, but prefer the balance of a righty upside down! LOL Cheers, Dave

Hi guys, my first post!!! Rather than give you my guitar-building history (it consists mainly of bought parts anyway ), I thought I'd dive straight in and ask a question.... One of my guitars is a hardtail. It's only a hardtail because when I first built it I put on a copy of a Kahler trem (remember those?!?!). After a year or two the springs lost all their springiness so I had to literally bolt the bridge's top to the face of the body :o Anyway, the body's really thin (even though it's one lovely piece of mahogany)... I guess it's about an inch and a quarter.... would it be easy for me to attach another piece (probably on the back lol) so I can stick a Floyd-licenced in there? I know I'll need to fill in the flat-mount routing, but that's no big deal.... What kind of wood should I go for? What kind of glue should I use? How many clamps? etc etc etc Many TIA! Dave