guitar2005

A bit of progress on this. I carved the neck and applied some sanding sealer on it.

One of the things I've done in the past was a partial refret. Remove the frets where the problem occurs + a 1-2 extra ones and re-surface the fretboard, refret and you're done. My preference is to re-fret the entire neck but sometimes, when the customer doesn't have a lot of money or time, a partial refret is the key.

That's the main criteria for buying tools for me and why I stick to known brands with a good service reputation. Rigid, Delta, PC, Grizzly, DeWalt, Bosch whatever.... Get the one that feels good in my hands, hits your price range and get the most quality you can afford.

For cutting a body outline, a Jig Saw may not be the best choice. Do you have access to a scroll saw?

I have a bosch Jig saw. Love it. The table mounted router is Porter Cable and the handheld is Bosch. drill? I have the bottom of the line corded DeWalt. All tools work great.

I would use a french polish type of finish to achive that. As for color, you could use the old steel wool in vinegar trick.

Nice. What kind of machine is that?

Beautiful!

I learned through experience to avoid mixing finish types.

$300.00 isn't so bad for a pair of new pickups but I never heard of these pickups before.

No need for a robosander. You need to cut closer to the line so that the router works less and another trick is to simply take out 1/4" at a time on end grain. I would definitely keep that as a clear body. Personally, I would sand that out on the belt sander. There's no way anyone could tell if you do it well. That, or just re-route with the template moved up a bit.

The stew-mac fret tang (the part that goes in the fret slot) is always the same width, regardless of fret size.

I always thought that CF rods were complete overkill in a guitar neck... and this proves it. When fretting hardwoods like Ebony, the fret barber from stew mac could be a good idea.

Epoxy.

I've used pre-slotted Stew-Mac boards as well as my own boards, slotted with a Stew-Mac saw, fretted with Stew-Mac fretwire and what I noticed is that with harder woods like Ebony, I almost always end up having some amount of back bow after fretting. I let the neck rest a little after fretting and apply some moderate pressure in the middle of the neck to let things settle. After a couple of days, the amount of bow lessens and sometimes dissapears. The amount of variance depends on the neck stiffness. For example, a 1/4 saw piece of maple with have more resistance to back bow, as will a laminated piece. I've used maple a couple of times with Wenge and had no issues. The thing is, anything you do on the neck will affect its straightness. I try to start with something that is a flat as possible but there are always some adjustments to do after fretting with hard words. Rosewood isn't as bad as Ebony.

$300.00 - Are you serious or joking?

I'd use lacquer thinner and wipe it off.

Tell that to Fender, a company that has used millions of flatsawn boards for necks over the years. To the OP - If the walnut is straight and you put the maple in opposite directions, it will have the least potential for future movement. Two CF rods will make the neck harder to adjust so consider that efect too. Totally agree but do ensure that each piece in the lamination is flat and properly seasoned to your workshop.

OK - thatnks for the sarcasm. I know that some of you have ultra low action, which is why I asked. As soon as the neck is fretted, all bets are off and I'll have to re-level but I like to start with a good base. I have the most accurate tools I can find but you are correct in saying that even my Lee Valley straightedge does not have 0.001 accuracy. I do check for flatness with said straightdge and some feeler gauges. So what kind of accuracy do you guys strive for?

Are you serious or joking?

When I build a neck, I always try to ensure that the fretboard surface on the neck is flat to within 0.001" before fretting, same thing with the fretted neckwhen checking the fret tops. This seems to give good results but I still occasionally need the odd fret that needs to be adjusted. What do you guys do in terms of precision?

+1 - scale 'em down. +1. Those pics are way too big.

All I know is that most pro's can't setup a guitar like I can and it can be frustrating.

Removing the top on such a large surface is doable but will be a pain. humid cotton with a clothes iron over it to soften the glue and a wide metal scraper is all you need. You'll probably have to re-surface both the top and body when you're done. The gaps you have there are quite large. I would just add binding if the gaps weren't so big. Just make sure that doesn't happen when you glue the fingerboard on the neck.

I'm not sure I understand.. How does a nut that's too high cause buzzing? Wouldn't one that's too low be the cause? In any case, how can I be certain? If the nut is cut too high, when you set the action at the 20th fret, you basically have to overcompensate at the bridge to bring the action down because the nut slots are too high. Press the string at the 3rd fret so that the string touches the 2nd fret behind your finger and measure the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 1st fret. you should have approx 0.01".