guitar2005

Wow! Very nice. That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve. Yeah... That's one of the option I was contemplating: Glue the maple veneer to the fretboard first.

Ok, but once everything is clamped, its hard to clean before the yellow glue dries I'm dealing with a 1/4" high piece of cocobolo and 1/8" thick. With CA, I'm concerned about working time.

I'm making a cocobolo fretboard that will be bound with cocobolo and a thin maple veneer (1/32) as an accent line between the binding and the fretboard. I about to glue the maple to the cocobolo binding strip but I'm not sure as to what kind of glue to use. With Yellow glue, I'm worried that too much will ooze out and that it'll be a real b*tch to clean out. Would CA be a good idea? Thanks

I vouch for this method. Simple and effective, this is the way I've done ALL my scarfs (4 in total).

Anyone in Canada/USA do this? I've got a black headstock and tried the waterslide with white backing but the results just aren't satisfactory.

Nice - I guess I'll keep using the scroll saw technique. What kind of blades do you use and where do you get them. I find that getting fine blades is hard. Do the stew mac hand saw blades work on the scroll saw?

Unless the radius block is brand new it will most likely never be an exact match. ... Whatever... Its still a good idea to have the radius block and fret press caul to match as close as you can. If they don't match EXACTLY, its better to have a slightly tigher radius on the board rather that the opposite. With pre-bent fretwire, it should fit snug. Good luck

I guess that one of the key things here is to radius the board BEFORE the fretboard is tapered so that you can guide the radius block along a fence. Make sure you use long strokes that span the entire length of the fretboard. First time I radiused a board, I did it on a tapered board. It worked out allright because I used long, slow strokes but its much easier with the fretboard straight. Another tip: Check the radius block radius against the Stew Mac fret press caul radius. You may find that they're not an exact match if you did not get your blocks from Stew Mac.

I use a spokeshave to smooth out the neck after the roughed out rasped neck is profiled. I follow that with sandpaper. The spokeshave really helps in smoothing things out. To measure the neck profile, I've used pieces of cardboard cut out in the profile I want. I traced the profile from another neck with a profile gauge and traced the profile onto cardboard.

I play with 10-60 strings on my Godin LGX with a set of EMG81/85 pickups through a cranked JCM800 and a super OD in front. Sounds awesome. The extra low end and crunch is really worth it in my opinion. I tried going back to 10-52s on that guitar and it sounds real thin in comparison. Will it harm the neck? I highly doubt it. My Godin has been setup with 10-60s for 3+ years now with no problems at all. I'm in an Ozzy/Sabbath tribute and to play the drop D stuff, those strings help in getting the proper sound. Keep in mind that I tune a 1/2 step down and that Zakk actually tunes an entire step down in some cases. I have tuned the guitar up to concert pitch but then, it gets hard on the fingers.

Epoxy OR plug and re-drill.

+1 I could not have said this better myself. I find that this article by Rich at Ibanez Rules describes action best http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm

Should read : I just found that anything under that,* on this particular guitar, with the way it's been setup, and how level the frets are*, decreases sustain and generates more buzz. Nope - I meant for all my guitars. I currently own 6. The same applies to my previous guitars and probably every other guitar in the world. I should have said I set my action close to 1/16" in my original post. 3/64" is the lowest I go but that's a personal preference. Lower action means less sustain and more buzz - I don't care what you say - I trust my ears. I'm real picky when it comes to string buzz. I tolerate very little of it, distortion or no distortion. That's why I play with heavier gauge strings. Remember that the action is largely dependent on how the player attacks the strings. You could go lower but you need a low radius on the fretboard if you'll be doing any wide bends in the high registers. That's what the post is about - What is the trick to low action? Also, with more string mass (i.e. 10 gauge strings) you can get more sustain and the buzz won't be as prominent.

To me, the trick to low action with minimal or acceptable buzz is gauge 10-46 strings on a 16" radius fretboard. You can get away with using 9-42 gauge strings but to me, it just doesn't sound right. I usually set the action at 1/16th of a inch on the high e and a little over 1/16th of a inch on the low E, measured at the 12th fret. Not sure if that qualifies as low action or not. I just found that anything under that decreases sustain and generates more buzz.

Randy Rhoads came up with the "Rhoads" offset V with Grover Jackson while he was at Charvel guitars. Because of the neck through construction, headstock shape, ebony board, Block inlays (white trem model) and shark fin inlays (black TOM model) and it being so different than anything Charvel made at the time, Grover Jackson decided to launch the guitar not under the Charvel name but under the Jackson name. The Rhoads V was the first ever Jackson guitar. The Kramer Vanguard came years after the original Jackson V came out. At the time, Randy had already passed away. The Vanguard is a cheap copy and resembles in no way the Jackson V. Like the others said, the Floyd on that guitar will be of low quality and will eventually give you tuning stability issues.

I hope there's going to be a difference. Don't know how close to a hard tail the fixed Floyd is going to sound, though. That's why I started this topic - just wanted to share some thoughts and get advices from people who have done this before. The difference in tone between hardtail and fixed floyd resting on the body is inconsequential. You will never be able to compare the difference in tone between the two because there are too many variables (unless the guitar was originally a hradtail, then converted to floyd and you have before/after recordings done with the exact same setup to base the comparison on) . I guess you should word you question differently. Will the floyd degrade the sound quality, or "tone". The answer is no. If you like the tone of the guitar, buy it and if you don't leave it - as simple as that.

Never tried the tremolno but I have been using the hipshot tremsetter for years. Great for a fully floating bridge but I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for. Will the bridge be fully floating or setup for diving only? If the floyd is resting directly on the body, I doubt that you would hear a really noticeable difference in tone and to say that one is better than the other is really subjective and depends on the kind of sound you're going for. All my floyd guitars used to be setup resting directy on the body. I now have Ibanez guitars or customs with the Ibanez Edge fully floating trem these days, with the tremsetter (a must with any fully floating trem). There's also the fender floyd that can be setup (almost) like a hardtail.

Great work as usual. You are an inspiration for us all. I see that you went for a bolt on... I thought you mainly did set necks, like the WOMD.

WOW! I'm really impressed, especially considering the fact that you're just beginning to do inlay work. Truly inspiring. As a fellow beginner, I see that I'll have to start practicing some more. again... wow! The routs are nice and tight too. How much time did that take you and were you able to get it right on your first attempt?

Scale length makes a bigger difference in tone than bolt-on vs set neck in my opinion and experience... Has anyone here ever thought of gluing a bolt on neck that is tighly mated to the guitar body and then used some dowels in lieu of bolts to further secure the neck? I always felt that it would make for a nice design, expecially with square dowels in a contrasting wood.

+ 1 except for the nightmare part I always felt that wenge was harder than hard maple (at least the maple I've used). I think it in part depends on the actual piece of wood.

I've used tempra paint. Again, very little is needed.

You've gotten good advice so far. Here's what I can add. If you've never done fretting or inlaying before, go with rosewood (or a similar wood) that is as uniform in color as you can get so that when you fill the inlay cavities with epoxy, there is no apparent difference in color between darker and lighter streaks. Ebony is very hard to install frets in but as others have said, more forgiving than rosewood for inlays. One tip for inlaying in rosewood. Mix in some rosewood dust with the epoxy filler and lighten the mixture with a bit (very little) of white paint. Without the white, the filler will always be darker that the surrounding wood. When macthing color it ok that the epoxy mix is a little darker than the wood because the surrounding wood will darken over time anyways. I apply tung oil to rosewood get the depth of color and somewhat seal the wood.

Great. I'm not going to pursue this discussion any further. All I will say is this: I've worked with Ebony (when I changed the fretboard on my 1987 Jem) in the past and yes, it takes more effort to get right because of the hardness. We all agree on that. For some reason, it just doesn't take me hours to radius an ebony board to a 16" radius. What's so hard to believe in that? I'm not going to reply with personal "you are xyz" style attacks.

Whatever... to say that it would take several HOURS to properly radius a board (not thickness the board) was overly exagerated; ebony or not. Bottom line: Radiusing by hand is an option when shopping for a fingerboard - That's all we're trying to say here. Of course, there is more effort involved. End of story. I stand by my www.warmoth.com recommendation for ebony boards. Great product but 10" radius only. Could be radiused down to 12" or 16" easily... if you're handy and have a little patience, regardless of method.