guitar2005

Yeah, I just cut the nut blank with my scroll saw as a first pass and did the rest by hand, with a couple of files. The dust wasn't too bad.

A lot of Flying Vs, SGs and Explorers made by Gibson had no neck angle. The fretboard just sat proud of the face of the guitar. As for neck angle, I'll be trying this on my next build. I think the easiest and best way to do it is to angle the neck pocket.

You're saying you angled the neck forward and that fixed the problem? Are all other measurements the same I.e. action, relief etc. I find this surprising.

The 500T pickups are OK but lack warmth. They fine for all out dist but are lacking in overdriven tones and the don't respond well to picking attack I find. Just not for me. You'll info on T-Tops here: http://www.provide.net/~cfh/paf.html

The SD Seth Lover is not potted. That won't work for louder and higher gain music. The Alnico II Pro from SD sounds like it would be the best bet, from SD. Any other brands to suggest?

No - I never said the Alnico II Pro was too bright. I said it is much better but still not as warm a the Gibson T-Tops. I'll have a look at the SD Seth Lover pickup. Is it known to be warmer than the SD Alnico II Pro? Yup, 496R is a ceramic pickup as well and yes, I'll have to balance the neck PU with the bridge PU

I've been struggling with a really bright Gibson 500T pickup in my custom explorer build. I tried taming it with a high pass filter in the guitar's control cavity but it just lacks the warmth of the T-Tops in my Gibson Les Paul Custom and is still very bright. Its also a very high output pickup and seems to sound good with a lot of distortion. Totally sucks on clean and mildly overdriven sounds. The bass strings sound tinny with little body. Granted, the pickups are placed 1/4" closer to the bridge, which doesn't help BUT as a test, I swapped out the 500T for a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II and the sound was much better. It could be a still be little warmer though. The SD Alnico Pro II isn't as warm sounding as the Les Paul's T-Tops from my comparison. I'm not too crazy about the 496R neck pickup either. It doesn't have the open'nes and body that a Dimarzio PAF or PAF Pro has. I'd like to know what you guys suggest. I'm tempted to go to Lindy Fralin and ask him to make me a set of pickups based on my story above. I wouldn't mind a T-Top type of sound like in my Les Paul with just a tad more output. Any suggestions?

I'm really interested in this thread because I've had a similar situation on a guitar but it was a little more localized to the lower bass strings and certain frets. Everything checked out fine. Fret crown, fret rocker test, relief etc. In the end, I chalked it up to the guitar being a little more resonant than my other guitars, leading to the strings vibrating in a wider ellipse as a normal guitar. That's the only explanation I have. I raised the action a little and its fine. Please post a follow up and share your results with the luthier. 99% of the luthiers in my home town suck and they would just raise the action, arguing with you that the guitar is setup the way you like it.

Weird - The upper horn looks too big and... well... weird. IS it the pics?

Easy as 1-2-3: 1- Take frets out 2- Level the fretboard (remove twist by sanding it down) 3- Re-fret Done As a temp fix, you might get away with a bit of a fret dress where the twist is. Make sure you re-crown the fret and get the crown as tight as you can. ... Actually, you could just remove the frets where the twist is located but measurements become a little more complicated that way. Something to consider.

Why two Ebay files? Did that one break down or start losing its diamond grits or something? Nothing to write home about but did it do the job right? Which Stewmac file did you end up buying? The first one was an offset diamond grit file from "the fret shop". I just didn't like it. It didn't do the job right and it was way too wide, even for wide frets. It was also way too coarse. Just unuasable. It gave me more work than anything. The second is the one you mention. Its allright but the diamond coating isn't very abrasive and its VERY thin. I got these files in narrow and medium and they work on narrow to wide fret wire. I'm not sure why anyone would buy the wide fretwire file. For brand new fret work, you shouldn't need the files. I got them more for maintenance

I bought one of those. Nothing fancy and nothing really to write home about. After 2 ebay crowing files, I ended up buying the stew mac ones and they're the best.

Thanx handmade by this: http://www.faktor.co.yu/images/kancelarijs...el%20OF1021.jpg LOL ! Wow! Very impressive. Congratulations.

They don't make what I want in stock form. everything is an option and costs more. I just want a simple neck. Check their wenge fingerboad price - an extra $100.00 over rosewood? http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks....t_vintagemodern Man, what are they smoking? I can get a piece of wenge of that size for 15.00 or less locally.

My Fender Strat Ultra is in dire need of a re-fret. I've had it ten years, played it lots and had the frets dressed a couple of times. The frets are pretty low at the heel. I think that it may even need a bit of fingerboard planing at the heel. For now, I'd like to get a replacement neck for the guitar while I fix the original neck to minimize downtime - I need the guitar 'cos I'm in a working band. I've got other projects on the go and just don't want to spend the time of figuring out how to make a Strat neck out of 1 piece of wood plus the fingerboard - its just not my specialty and don't have templates etc. With the price of an atermarket neck at around $129, I don't think its worth the hassle of making my own from scratch. The specs are Maple with walnut skunk stripe, ebony board with pearl dots, 12" radius, headstock truss rod adjustment. Unfinished would be fine. Does anyone know where I could get such a neck? I'd like something nice 'cos I could use it on a custom build... eventually.The specs don't have to be exact but I really want the 12" radius, headstock truss rod adjustment and ebony wood (something like wenge could also be cool) So where could I find this? I tried www.relicmasters.com and he has exactly what I want except for the truss rod adjustment and he won't make me one. Would anyone here be willing to make me one? A modern 90's Fender decal would be nice too, just t complete the look. Please help!

Yeah, what greg said.

I like the headstock veneers. Are they ebony or wenge? Do you make the veneers yourself or do you buy them?

As super nova said, the neck angle is in relation to the bridge height only. For the ferrules, you can place them anywhere you want really, as long as they don't touch the bridge when going towards the body or the string length is enough to cover the distance between the back of the guitar and the tuners on the headstock. Having a sharper angle (closer to the bridge) will give you a slightly tighter feel. I also believe that it may improve tuning stability. I prefer the ferrules closer to the bridge.

He wasn't up front and honest about it - none of the 'imperfections' were shown, all the photographs were of poor quality and too far away to see any detail. Is it fair that the person might be disappointed? That's why so many people here warn against people selling their guitars for a while, because it's happened many times before and the buyer is the one who gets stung. Marketing BS is still BS, doesn't make it any more true, and it still smells like s***. And most of the hobbyists/tinkerers on this board whose work I want to emulate and respect I don't think would be satisfied with that. But hey. Yeah, I sure as hell wouldn't want to buy this particular body... but the ebay'er that bought it, did so knowing that if the pictures were blurry, they were probably that way for a reason, no? Buyer beware is what I say. As an ebay'er, there's no way I would have bought that body. It just looks/feels subpar... for me. Much of the bodies sold on ebay are crap anyways. Just the quality of the pics makes the whole thing look subpar and is a warning sign. If its not avenger selling bodies liek this, it'll be someone else.

Wow, Wow and Wow! This is exactly the kind of project I'd like to do someday. I've got a bit of backlog though so it'll have to wait. Love the wood and binding.

Supernova - I kind of agree with you but at the same time, avenger was up front and honest about the quality of his work in the auction. For the person that bought it, yeah, he might be disappointed but that's what happens when you buy a guitar body from an unknown ebay'er with unknown rep. The chosen for tone bit... LOL! Who cares. Its all marketing BS anyways but its not because he didn't know what chechen was that he didn't think it could make a nice top. For avenger though, its a good deal and all the power to him. I'm sure that most hobbyists and tinkerers would be satisfied with his work.

I say good for you in selling that body for that price. That's pretty good.

I just bought a burnisher from lee valley. It gives the best results.

What do you mean by "hump at the heel"? I'm not aware of this phenomenon, and although it sounds self explanatory I'd like to hear a more in-depth description, if possible. Also, are you suggesting that re-oiling the neck every year or two wards off "the hump" from plaguing your bolt-on guitar? They also refer to this as "fenderitis" Basically, its the neck/fretboard going up near the neck/body join. common with bolt-on guitars. Re-oiling won't help. This happens on completely finished necks too.

Even though the warranty is void for an oiled neck, it shouldn't be a problem in terms of warpage. Even finished necks can warp. My 1987 Ibanez Jem RB has an oiled neck. I never had a problem with the neck warping but it did develop a hump at the heel, like every other bolt on neck out there. I just re-oil the neck every year or two.