guitar2005

That sounds a little excessive. all you need is to extend into the humbuker cavity. That being said, is there a neck angle to worry about on the PRS design?

I have a 1987 Ibanez Jem RB that's I've been using regularly since I bought it new in 1988. The neck developed a small crack behind the nut several years ago... I never noticed until the luthier that did a setup for me told me about it. He put some super glue in the crack and I have never had a problem since. I even went through replacing the fretboard and the stress of doing that did not affect the crack.

Wow. That's really nice! I like the fact that its an original design and it actually looks good. The shapes are well balanced and I like the top. It looks like a pretty thick body... How much does it weigh? What kind of finish did you use on it? Is the neck a bolt on or a set neck? Why is the bridge pickup so far away from the bridge?

It comes down to having a depth to 18.9mm near the neck pickup (toward the bridges) and a depth of 19.4mm at the end of the end (towards the headstock); assuming you have the original neck heel joint. If you're building a Jem with the all access neck joint, the measurement at the neck pickup will of course be slightly higher.

Regarding routing the body, make sure that you route the neck pocket at an angle (or shallow enough) as per the original jem specs. It will make for a neck joint without shims.

Do NOT, I repeat, Do NOT use a cheap floyd. You will regret it. The cheap ones will have tuning stability problems, the fine tuners won't be so fine as you'd like them to be and the knife edge will wear out quickly.

The Ibanez Edge route will not work for the Floyd Rose trem. I would get an Ibanez Edge off of ebay - Its a better trem anyways. If you insist on using a Floyd, make sure you radius it to follow the fretboard radius and use Floyd templates for routing the trem cavities.

I personally do not see a problem with a bolt on on an explorer. I built a V with a bolt on and the neck pocket is so tight, I consider it to be as good as a properly built set neck guitar. Next one will be a set neck, just to see if there are any sonic differences. With a bolt on, I think that if the heel is properly contoured and the neck fits right, it should be stellar. F.M.

Check this out. This guy lives in my hometown, here in Ottawa. http://www.zacharyguitars.com/071199pics.htm Personally, I don't think that pine is strong enough for use on an electric guitar. Pine dents really easy.

Huh? This sound like a weird question.... All woods have "pores". Have you ever played on a rosewood board?

Nagam in Montreal on Diab street specializes in veneers. They have the widest selection you will ever see and they supply pretty much everyone. F.M.

Same here. All my projects have the pickups mounted directly to the body. Small black screws with a small spring, around the screws to keep the pickup stable and adjustable.

Up keep is not a problem for me. I re-oil once a year. It takes no more than 5min. Then apply a wax if you want. Tung Oil does harden over time and does provide protection.

Staining lace wood is a bad idea but if you really want to do it, you'll have to bleach the wood first - What a shame though... I'd leave it natural.

I prefer natural maple necks - meaning a Tung Oiled neck. I have a 1987 Jem that came with a Tung Oiled neck from the factory and its been my favorite neck by far. The feel of the neck is real smooth. When you're playing a show and you're under the spotlights, it will get dirty and you will have to wipe it down; but that can be said of any neck.javascript:emoticon('') I just finished building a Rhoads inspired V with a natural maple neck that I tung oiled after having sanded it down to 1000 grit. The cool thing about a tung oil finish is that changing the neck profile is a piece of cake. I just re-profiled the neck with the neck still on the guitar and with the strings still on. Sanded it back down to 1000 grit and applied a fresh coat of Tung Oil. When I finish a natural neck, I go an extra step. I buff the neck with a diamond buff, followed by a caranauba wax buff. This makes cleaning the neck easier because its smoother and helps in keeping the neck stable during humidity changes with the seasons (thanks to the wax). My two current projects involve building a Jem neck and an EVH neck. The Jem Neck is Birsdeye Maple with a Jatoba core (beautiful piece so far) while the EVH will be plain maple with a walnut stripe and beautiful birsdeye maple fretboard that I've been hand planing down to 1/4". Both of these projects with be tung oiled then buffed. This shows you how much I like the feel of a natural neck. javascript:emoticon('')

Three things, 1- Check that the locking nut is firmly screwed to the neck. This is the cause of most tuning problems on floyds. 2- If the kinfe edges are worn, you may want to file them just enough to make them sharper. 3- If you have a floating tem, I higly recommend a HipShot Tremsetter.

I would avoid the Lace Sensor blue, red or gold series of pickups. In my opinion, they don't sound like single coil pickups at all. Try the holy grails as suggested above or something like the new SCMs by Fender. Dimarzio has an amazing line of singles with the virtual vintage series. There are a lot of options out there. F.M.

I wasn't talking about mass produced guitars... although I found that Godin guitars have amazing fit and finish. I was trying to say that a well built bolt on should have a snug fit in the neck pocket. Additionnally, there should be NO finish in the neck pocket or on the neck where it makes contact with the guitar body. That's why I always tung oil my necks. A good set neck should be the same - snug fit - The only difference is that one is held by glue between the body and neck, while the other is wood on wood with bolts. People tend to think that set necks are superior - In my opinion, that is not the case. They're different designs that each have their merits. The only advantage I see with a set neck is upper register access, although with the Ibanez all access neck joint (AANJ), bolt ons have made a huge leap forward.

Yes. I love it. It came std on my Fender Strat Ultra, along with locking tuners and a Fender Floyd (no fine tuners).

You're putting the cart before the horse. The fine tuners are there because of the locking nut, not the other way around. GBT ← Yes! that's exactly my point.

Sorry, but when I build a bolt on, the neck doesn't come right off when I take the bolts off. A good bolt on neck should have a snug fit. If it doesn't, the neck pocket to neck heel joint wans't matched properly. Now that doesn't say that gluing in it is a good idea. I think think that wood on wood is better than having glue in there.

There's no point in having a full floyd bridge without the locking nut. With only the locking tuners and graphtech (or whatever other non-locking) nut, you'd get the same results as with someting like a wilkinson trem or the fender floyd (no fine tuners). The floyd only makes sense with the locking nut because it has the fine tuners. Without the locking nut, the fine tuners aren't really useful. Get a good Wilkinson or Fender floyd (like on the strat ultra)

Why bother gluing the neck in? With a bolt on, you get wood to wood contact with nothing in between. Provided you have a good neck joint and pocket (tight), the bolt on should be excellent. If you want a set neck design, the design the whole thing as a set neck to start with.

This may sound stupid, but here goes. If I wanted an exact copy of a tele, I'd buy the cheapest tele body I could find off of ebay, make templates from it, measure everything and sell it back on ebay. Teles are easy to find and going this route would ensure that you get the best measurements possible. As for making a plan and templates from pics, I did it for my last project. Its a Randy Rhoads polka dot V guitar. I got a picture of the original that was as straight as possible. Although the final result is really good, I'm sure its off in terms of general geometry. It was a good execrise though. Basically, I made a Randy "style" guitar. Not a copy, not a replica.