joshatatlasstands

Does the bellow instructions sound accurate? found it searching the web this morning...I do intend to use a tune-o-matic bridge with roller saddles, but since I will use a bigsby I won't need the stop piece. 1) Measure the distance from the "string side" of the nut to the center of the 12th fret. This measurement MUST be within 1/64". Do NOT use a tape measure. 2) Using this distance, measure from the center of the 12th fret down and make a small mark on the body... a big mark will destroy the precision needed. 3) From this mark, go another 3/16" down and make another mark. At this mark draw a line parallel to the frets. This is where the strings go over the saddle. We'll call it a "saddle line". 4) Take an accurate straightedge (not a yardstick or hunk of wood) and hold it against one side of the neck. Draw a line that intersects the saddle line. Repeat with the other side of the neck. Make sure that when you draw this line the pencil lead is tilted towards the straightedge so that it is drawn as accurately as possible. 5) Center the bridge, drill the holes, install. If you are installing a tune o matic bridge and tailpiece, make sure the tailpiece is 1 1/2" from the bridge.

cool, thanks y'all I just got word that the neck is on its way in the mail, should be a couple days, then I'll be out in Nashville at the Music City Guitar show for the weekend. It will likely be almost two weeks before i am ready to drill the posts for the bridge, but I'll make sure and get a second opinion befor I drill it out. I think I'll stick with butternut without a top, I'll check out some or your how -o threads restorationAD, when I can break free from the amp stand emails etc. i spent the whole day in the shop and didn't cut a single piece of wood, just boxed up stuff and fixed broken tools and gear...on the bright side the AC30 is up and running again since the volume pot kicked the bucket at the last show. I've plenty of time to decide on this but this butternut body is 1 7/8 inches thick right now, I hand planed it so it may not be exactly the same all the way around, but both sides are flat at this point. I'll have to check and clean it up some to make sure it is the same all the way around. I think i like the oversize body right now. If I keep it thick it will be the thickest SG I've ever seen. That will mean my arm contours and bevels will be a bit different as well...Maybe an arch top? anyone ever seen an arch-top SG, like an LP? Will i meet anyone from here at the music city guitar show this weekend in Nashville?

lol, yeah interesting, may turn out like patchwork:) anyway, so I've been thinking about guitar necks and decided to tackle building one myself once I learn more about how to do fretwork and truss rod work. may be a while before I get to build my own neck due to the amp stand business taking up so much time. I am thinking I want a Mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. I found one that I like, not a hands-on purchase though it is the wood type i want and allows for some headstock fabrication. i ordered it today, maybe not the best prefab neck out there but for a first build it should allow me to learn, I don't wanna screw up a top quality neck before I learn how to do this so I'm gonna try to keep the cost (time as well as $$) down on this one and just learn from my mistakes. Here is my first hurdle/concern, I hope to do this without a template, thus I have to find where to put the bridge. I intend to have a bigsby on it so a saddle is not an issue. I think I need to measure the inside to inside distance between the nut and the 12th fret and double the length I come up with for the total distance from nut to saddle point inside to inside. Is this a good way to find out where to put my posts in after I route the neck pocket? I guess depending on how the saddle pieces adjust I will need to move the posts forward or back. I also want to use a roller bridge to help with the bigsby. probably a tune-o-matic roller setup. I'm thinking I will use oversize hardwood pickup rings and leave the scratch guard off all-together because the wood will be so nice looking it would be a shame to cover it with anything.

OK, I've fiddled around with hardwood amp stands for two years now and loved it. It's time for my first guitar build. I am so lost it's funny. here is what I'm hoping for: butternut one piece body, possibly adding a book matched walnut top or mahogany pinstripe inlays on the top. Dark pick guard and fretboard...no idea where to get it or how to fit it to the body yet... chrome hardware and passive buckers, though if I knew how to get more of a ES series sound out of a solid body by using a specific pickup I would. this is the body, I still have a good half inch to clean up all the way around it, but was thinking I should finish the back and top first??? gonna need someone to wish me luck on hthis one, testing the waters with my first ever guitar build! Josh

finished it tonight:) took me 2 weeks

Thanks!

Thanks man! It's my first ever doing the dye process like this to pop the figuring. Learning a lot on this one.

Thanks ScottR:) for this custom Vibrolux cab:

Got it sanded to 320 and the undercoat on today, gonna sand it off in the morning. The top coat will be the color of the Pen blank sitting there

The arches are so you can open and close the guitar stand panel with your toes:) Should have it sanded and ready for the first coat of dye tomorrow evening:)

Gonna have a brown Analine water soluble dye and a re-sand before the final coat. Finding this the most difficult wood I've worked with thus far, but I busted through the toughest part today with sanding the interior of the base. The bottom two pictures of this first post are just glossy from the water where I wiped it down with a wet washcloth to raise the loose fibers. I'll take it up to a 320 grit tomorrow and it should be ready for the dye. I'll make sure to use distilled water and apply it when it's warm. Is this the right approach?

This one was built for a 4 speaker cab and separate amp head, though I have no idea what guitar he plans to use:)

Sheesh! this stuff is touchy! I'll try the 52-60 degree angle with the hand plane on some scrap tomorrow. I think I did a great job so far and want to get my glue joints finished before I f**k with it much more. I have a good flat surface right now and don't wanna mess that up with sanding etc.

Here's the beginning of my next build. The wood I'm using is pretty sweet. Wish I could book match it but I want to retain the thickness as much as possible. I'll start milling the legs today hopefully. Curly Maple is a difficult wood to plane for me, I'm trying to change my angle of attack with the blades and hand feed the planer to reduce tear out. I'm wondering if I should hand plane it at a 45 degree angle too.

I've got a lot to learn before I'm ready to tackle a guitar, especially anything acoustic. I'm gonna branch out into guitar stands and music stands very soon. I just finished building my steamer box yesterday so I can do some wood bending:) I'll probably try it out today, but I have a lot of radial bending jigs to build before I can really start a serious build. I'm hoping to incorporate some wood bending ito the stands as well when I get good enough at it:)