Stolysmaster

I was wondering the same thing...doesn't make much sense to me to put a massive "ding" or "scrape" in the finish after doing such a beautiful job of restoring it. To each his own, I guess. Does anyone know what kind of machine he used to do the carve on the top? I'd sure like to have one of those. I'm really pretty scared of doing that part after I build my body. I've never carved a top before, and after looking at many "in progress" pics from others, I'm tempted to try it with a spoke shave. Is there one preferred way to do it over other methods?

Thanks!! Boy, I feel pretty stupid for not figuring that out on my own.

I ordered a 16" radius on my fingerboard, but I was planning on using a Gotoh TOM bridge after I make the body. It recently occured to me that the bridge is probably made with a 12" radius across the saddles! Is my only option to file down the middle saddles? That would be a pain in the butt, and end up looking like crap!! What should I do?

That sounds like a neat idea! But won't you have to be very careful to sand JUST ENOUGH on the edges so as not to sand through the top, but sand enough not tohave any Black Limba on top of the "binding" from the side view?

I'm going to be ordering my body wood from Larry at Gallery Hardwoods, but he does not have Black Limba available in 2 1/4" thick stock. I have not found anyone that does. So, if I want an all Black Limba body I will have to laminate two pieces togther to get enough thickness in order to end up with 2 1/8" thick before I carve the top. So, here's my question: Should it make any difference in tone if the two pieces glued together are the same thickness, or if the top is the thinner of the two pieces, or the back is the thinner of the two pieces? If the top is the thinner piece (like a Les Paul) the bridge inserts will make contact with both pieces, on either side of the glue joint. Does anyone have reason to believe that one way will sound better than the other? Or am I being ridiculus for being so ****? Disregard the 2 3/8" diminsion in the title of this post, it should read 2 1/4".

I say go with the SG. It looks great in your cutout. Besides, my personal preference is always ANYTHING but a Tele; well, just about anything.

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll check ebay, but since Larry Davis at Gallery Hardwoods has been recomended to me by three different people now, I think I will probably go with something he has. As for needing at least a 1/2" thick piece, I remeasured both of my 1982 Ibanez Artists, since that is what I'll be making. Their tops are carved with a difference of 1/4" from the center of the top to the bottom edge of the guitar. Since I want to leave 1/8" of top thickness at the bottom edge of the guitar, have 1/16" of carve relief more than the factory ones, and have enough for planing & leveling, I think Mattia is right! I'll start with a 1/2" top! I just don't want any more maple than is necessary for asthetic purposes.

Does anyone have a good source for curly/flame maple that does not cost a fortune, or where I don't have to buy a piece that is almost 2" thick? I am looking for a bookmatched set where each piece is only about 5/16" thick, or a single piece about 3/4" thick that I can split myself. I've looked at the Gilmer site, and most of what they have is way too thick for what I need. The guitar I want to build does not have that deep of a carve on the top, and I don't want to use any more maple than I have to. The back and neck will be Black Limba, and I want as much of the tone to come from that as possible.

It sure as hell CAN change the sound! I have stripped and refinished three 1982 Ibanez Artists JUST for the purpose of changing the sound! You see, it all depends on what type of finish is on the guitar originally and how thick it is. The Artists that I have refinished had that Polyester crap finish that they used in the early 80's, and it was literally 1/16th of an inch thick. YUCK!!! That is a beautiful look, but totally SUCKS for tone. I refinish them with nitro lacquer, and not too thick. Boy, what a difference. Much more open and crisp, faster attack, better high end, and more articulate all the way around. Even if a guitar is refinished with the original finish material and thickness, it can still change the sound(usually for the worse) because some finishes take a long time to "dry out" and get hard. I believe that the harder the finish the better the sound, all other things being equal. I think that is one of the reasons that plastic finishes just do not sound as good as lacquer or oil. BUT, this is just one guy's opinion!

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I will go with a standard type neck pocket, Peter, because as you say, it is much more straightforward and simple. I will just have to be extremely careful not to chip off the outer edges of the ends of the pockets. They will come to thin points with a standard neck pocket design. Myka, Thorn, McNaught, and David at Soulmate, don't have to worry about that problem because their guitars all have squared off shoulders on either side of the neck. As I explained in my first post, mine WILL NOT! The cutaways curve up to meet the neck without any shoulder at that point. A standard neck pocket will leave the edges at the very end of the pocket delicately thin and easy to break off! I guess I could cut out the body with a 1/16th to 1/8th shoulder on either side of where I'm going to cut the neck pocket, and then after the neck is glued in, sand it down along the curve to meet the body. And Idch, I think you are right on the money about building a perfect template first, and then practicing a lot. As far as not having a pitched neck is concerned though, you can have them! Yes, with a TOM and tailpiece design like I'm building you need to have an angled neck, but even if I did not have to have one, I would want one! I find that there is a noticable difference in sustain because of the increased string anlge on the front (neck) side of the bridge with a pitched neck.

Ditto on the location of the neck joint not affecting the distance between the neck pickup and the bridge...The scale is FIXED! If you move the neck up on the body, you have to move the bridge up too. Personally, I'd go with the 4", I think the 3" makes the guitar look like it has too much wood between the bridge and the end of the guitar. It kind of looks unbalanced to me. Also, consider where your forearm will rest when playing it. What would be more comfortable? Bottom line...which look do YOU like, you have to live with it and play it!

Being a newbie, I recently posted my question on the “work in progress/finished” section, and then realized that I should have posted here to try and get more responses. I did get one helpful response though. I am going to build my first guitar using a pre-made neck from Doug at Soulmate Guitars because building my own neck on my first project seems just a bit too challenging. Maybe I’ll build my own neck on the NEXT one. This guitar will be a carved top, all Black Limba, Les Paul with symmetrical double cutaways. Unlike a LP Special, where the neck meets the body at a clean 90 degree angle on the sides, this design seems to be more challenging because of the curve at the neck joint. Just like a Les Paul Standard, the cutaway curves up to meet the neck; on both sides for my guitar. This means that I cannot simply cut out a neck pocket the size of the end of the neck, slide it in, and glue it. I will have to cut out a tenon about ¼” smaller than the neck end on two sides, and rout a correspondingly smaller mortise into the body. This appears to be the only way to achieve a smooth neck joint. I have been told this is how all regular Les Pauls, Flying V’s, and Explorers are done at the factory. I will have to do this very carefully, so as not to damage the pre-installed fingerboard. It was suggested to me that I use a sharp wood chisel and be VERY, VERY, VERY careful. If I do it with a wood chisel, I still have to come back and sand that cut uniformly straight and evenly smooth to get a tight neck joint. This seems like a pain in the ass! What if I turn the neck upside down and ROUT out the area under the fingerboard edges to make this “inset” tenon? After that, I would sand down the back of the tenon at a 3-4 degree angle to get my neck pitch. This seems like it would be a lot easier to me. Am I missing something here? Please help with some suggestions.

If I extend the entire neck joint position toward the headstock it will move everything else(pickups and bridge/tailpice) in that direction too because the scale is fixed at 24.75. The result would be a guitar that does not look quite right, don't you think?

Thanks for the tip! If I use chisels, I suppose I'll have to do a lot of sanding(electric) to smooth that out the under side lip of the fingerboard that it will create. I know how important a tight glue joint is here. I guess the way to rout the mortise is to trace around the tenon on template material, then cut the template uniformly INSIDE that trace line, apply the template to the body, then rout the mortise into the body. When cutting the bottom of the tenon, I'll have to remember to build in a 3.5-4" angle for my neck pitch! If anyone has any ideas about what not to do or not to forget, I would appreciate you letting me know. I'm going to be reading over as many of the past posts that might apply to this project as possible. The specs on my new axe will be as follows: black limba neck 22 6150 frets '59 roundback neck shape pau ferro fingerboard w/ trapezoid inlays 24.75" scale black limba body w/carved black limba top cream binding natural finish on back transparent dark cherry finish on top two HB pickups w/5-way strat switch two volume pots one tone pot TOM bridge & tailpiece

Looking for some help here. My first project is a Double cut LP, but not a Special. It will be a symetrical DC, like a LP Standard with two equal cutaways. Pat Travers has played one for over 20 years(custom shop, I guess). Anyway, I'm going to have Doug at Soulmate Guitars in NY State make the neck for me since this is my first one. I'll make the body, carve(sand) the top, bind it, rout the cavities, glue the neck in, and spray the finish. I want the neck to join the body at the same place it does at the cut out on a LP Standard(18th fret?). If this were a LP Special shape, like a Thorn, I can see how it would be easier, but it's not. The neck has to be flush where the inside of the cutaways curve up to meet it. This is my dilema(sp?). Does the neck tenon have need to be smaller than the neck all the way around starting at the 18th fret? And therefore, the pocket has to be cut smaller accordingly. In other words, I can't just cut out a neck pocket to match the un exposed portion of the neck like I would with a LP Special shape, right? Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about here? (I'm not sure I do). I think all regular LP's, Flying V's, and Explorers are built this way, right? That is, with a neck tenon that is smaller than the actual neck. OK, if any of you are with me so far, then how do you cut the hidden portion of the neck out on the two sides and bottom and leave the fingerboard that continues on toward the bridge undamaged? And, how long should the tenon be? Past the neck pickup cavity? Thanks