guitar2005

Did a bit of work on the inlay with some needle files and a bit of patience. Here's the result: I think its a lot better than what it used to be and it still has that hand drawn vibe to it.

Shredders have always used guitars that allowed great access in the upper registers. That's why you won't see a lot of shredders playing a Les Paul. Also, when shred first started, it was with super strats, mostly thanks to Eddie Van Halen and his frankenstrat. Ibanez, Kramer, Charvel and Jackson started to market these super strat models and sold tons and tons of these guitars. All of the super strat models were based on the Fender Strat, hence the 25.5" scale, bolt on neck and double cutaway. Things have evolved since then and you'll see more shredders playing different styles of guitars these days but the basic Ibanez RG / Jackson Dinky design remains because it works. On a personal note, I would add that a 24.75" scale doesn't leave a lot of room for fingers. I have slender fingers and the shorter scale makes it harder to get clean sounding notes past the 15th fret. I've tried 25" on my flying V and it plays beautifully. Not much of a difference between that and my Fender Strat in terms of feel though... In the end, a lot of shredder style designs comes from what Eddie and Yngwie used. Even Randy Rhoads went to longer scale lengths after the Les Paul with the 25" Scale Sandoval polka dot V and the 25.5" scale Rhoads V from Jackson. Again, better access and playabilty in the upper registers.

I was told that Honduran Mahogany has a sweeter sound and is slightly lighter but that' s not from actual personal experience. I have an African Mahogany Jem that's I'm working on and the wood looks like it has slightly more density and smaller pores compared the the Honduran Mahogany I got for my flying V project. I could be way off here but that's what I noticed from the pieces I have. I understand that the sound difference may not be huge but the density might make a difference on overall weight. This wood is for an Explorer with a 1/2" Korina top. The Korina top will be lighter. Personally, I don't mind heavy guitars as I have a real heavy '74 Les Paul Custom BUT this project is for someone other than me.

I did my first scarf joint two weeks ago and the end result is very good. I looked at a number of different ways to cut the joint including table saw, band saw, hand saw, hand plane, router jigs (describd in this forum). I ended up using my own method - The MiterScarf Cutter™ Here is a pic of the jig on my miter saw: http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202156778.jpg The quality of the cut depends on the quality of your blade. I just have a 40T blade. Also, take it slow and don't leave the blade in the cut for too long or the wood will burn. I'll remove 1/2" at a time. For cleaning up the freshly cut joint, I used 220 grit snadpaper on a flat block of MDF. Here is a pic of the glued up joint (I used Setch's glueup method): http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154714.jpg

Thanks for the info, guys. I guess Honduran Mahogany it is.

I'm considering using Padauk as a substitute for Honduran Mahogany for an Explorer body. I haven' t been to the lumber yard in a while and I can't remember what Padauk is like in terms of weight and density. Since the Explorer body is failry large, I wouldn't want to select a wood that is too heavy. I hear that Padauk is easy to work, much like mahogany. Anyone with hands on experience care to comment?

I put a thicker board on my 1987 Ibanez Jem. The new board is 3/16" higher than the old one. Having said that, it all depends on whether your guitar can accomodate the extra height without looking stupid or having the bridge too high off the body. My recessed Ibanez Edge trem was already very low in its route with the original neck installed with no shims. With the new fretboard, I have no shims under the neck and the trem is at normal height. As for difference in sound, I doubt that you would be able to hear the difference in tone with a slightly thicker finger board. As a rule of thumb, overall thickness of a bolt on neck at the heel is 1".

I personally love my Porter Cable router. I've had it for about 9 years now and its one of the highest quality tools I have. I have the one with a fixed base but they have a new combo pack that has the fixed and plunge base. I use my PC exclusively in a shop made router table. My second router is the classic plunge BOSCH 1613. Soft start, variable speed and single wrench bit changes. I like it a lot and I always use it as a plunge or for when a router table isn't practical like routing door hinges. It doesn't get much use for guitar building aside from truss rod channel routing using my shop made mortising/truss rod channel jig. The soft start feature is a real bonus for a hand held router. Both routers were > $200.00 Canadian at the time I bought them so they're not cheap by any means but they've been consistent performers.

That's a simple experiment. Take a single piece of maple (3/4"x1-3/4"x24") from which you will make one piece which measures 3/4"x1-1/2"x12" and make a second piece by laminating two pieces of maple from the same board together to get to 3/4" x 1-1/2"x12". Firmly clamp both pieces horizontally to something that won't move and cranck a jack under each piece of wood, one after the other and see when they break (i.e. count the number of turns on the jack). When clamping the pieces, making sure that you've measured where the wood is clamped and where the jack is positioned on the wood. You could also go with weights (make the maple support something and add weight until it breaks or cracks) The laminated piece will not break as easily as the non-laminated piece in my experience. This has nothing to do with guitar building - I'm talking from personal experience as a woodworker. Of course, this assume a strong glue joint with the pieces of maple having been properly jointed and seasoned.

The inlay does look kind of rough but my first inlay isn't all that great either. I'll be doing some practicing on scrap before I commit to the fretboard. I'm not sure I understand the process you're following. It looks like you routed the fretboard to accept the inlay but do you have the inlay ready? For the neck, you don't need much clearance to cut to shape right? What is the limitiation?

Current http://www.jemsite.com/jem/necks.htm 1993 http://www.jemsite.com/tech/img/t_nkwd3.jpg 1997 http://www.jemsite.com/tech/img/t_nkwd2.jpg

Hard to tell from a picture whether its good or not. The back definitibely looks like the two pieces were not jointed before glueup. The front looks better aside from the bottom part. For a natural top, there should be NO visible gaps.

Lion's claw is CNC. There is a tutorial on making a Lion's Claw but I never tried it.

Refret it yourself. Patience is key and preparation is important. Make sure you have the right tools and get the fretting book from Stew Mac. I just had my last "pro" refret done a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have the fret tang nippers or the time to do the work myself before my next show. I've done refrets before (unbound fretboards) so I know how to do them but this fretboard was bound and I needed the work done in a week's time. When I got the guitar back (1974 Les Paul Custom), the strings were 1/4" off the fretboard. When I lowered the action I had buzzing all over the lower registers (frets 1-11). I tell the guy that the neck now has a backbow from installinh frets with a tang that was too wide He tells me to bring the guitar back. When I get the guitar back, The buzzing is less noticeable but he filed down the frets to less that 0.03" !$%! from about frets 2 to 11. The orginal size was 0.05". I still can't believe it. This is a guy that does this for a living - a PRO! What a waste of time and money. I'll redo the job when I have a bit of time. Learn to do it yourself. Its worth the time and investment in the tools. just be PATIENT.

Neck angle is drawn wrong. You need to draw a string from the bridge to the nut and find the resulting neck angle that way. You'll also need to know the height of your bridge with room for a bit of adjustment. Very nice work on the body so far

Seriously though - Redo the joint.

Quick update. I realized today that my body template is wrong. The width at the neck join is too narrow. I'll be redoing the body template this week. I'm condering to go with a full width neck tenon (EDIT Nov 22 - Decided to leave the neck tenon as is) for better strength and stability. That would mean redoing the body template accordingly. What do you guys think? Here's a pic of the headstock template done: http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...0/202173173.jpg

Arghgh! I had to trash the Birdseye/Jatoba neck I had started because when I cut the scarf joint, the neck became 5mm too short... I guess I can use that neck blank on a 22 fret guitar. Live and learn I guess I glued up another neck - Maple/Walnut/Maple this time. For the headstock, I laminated Birdseye Maple/Maple Core with a Lacewood veneer on top to match the body. Here's a pic of the layers being glued up: http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202156755.jpg Here are some shots of the scarf joint being cut on my miter saw and being glued up. The cuts need a bit of cleaning up with either sandpaper of a #4 plane. http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202156778.jpg http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202156717.jpg http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154739.jpg Here's a side view of the scarf joint after shaping on the router table: http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154714.jpg The headstock frontal view - I suffered major tearout on the end grain at the tip of the headstock and had to re-shape. Lesson learned: Never attempt to route tight curves on end grain I think that I may have moved a little too fast and I maybe went in the wrong direction on the router table. I also think that I should have cut closer to the router template to remove as little material as possible. I'm really happy with the end result. I really wanted my own shape instead of the Ibanez design but couldn't draw out anything I liked. I like my custom shape For final shaping of the tip, I opted to cut real close to my line with a scroll saw and sand the rest out. Much easier and less dangerous that way. http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154701.jpg http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154687.jpg Here's a shot of the entire thing: http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL912/43163...3/202154697.jpg I've had to redo my neck template which was also a little frustrating but better the template than having to redo the real thing. I've made a lot of mistakes but am learning quick This is my first neck from scratch. Next steps are routingg a truss rod channel, adding a fretboard and shape neck contour with volute. I've got the black stain for the lacewood and I'll be putting an order for some grain filler from Stew Mac.

Buy your press locally, make the caul and buy the inserts from Stew Mac. To make the caul, follow this link

You can use scroll saw blades, but again, the problem is finding a good selection locally.

I get a lot of stuff from http://www.widgetsupply.com/ Excellent selection, good prices and cheap shipping plus I don't have to drive around for hours to try and find a place that has the jeweler's saw and blades in stock. http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/jeweler-saw

Very nice. I like it a lot. Original design and well executed. You really need to fix up the f-hole cavity - Maybe paint it black?

I'll add the X at the very end, when it is inlayed. No point in doing that now. For the mouth... I'll draw something out and see what works.

I'll try a bit of 220 grit sandpaper - Its really tough to get it smooth on the ribs though. I tried with a Dremel but sandpaper seems to work better. Thanks for the tip. I'll post the results when I'm done with the smoothing.