Rista

Isn't 45mm a little too wide? AFAIK, the nut width is usually 42-43mm.

I drew this up quickly in Coreldraw. It's a comparison between a 12" and a 9.5" radius. There is a 0.34mm difference in height at the edge of the fingerboard between the two (this is at a 56mm fretboard width which is how usually wide the neck is around the last fret).

I guess I just can't get over the fact that it can be done and I didn't do it right. But, I think I found a solution. What about routing the sides of the fretboard off and installing rosewood binding? That way, I'll get another chance to drill the holes properly AND it will nicely hide the fret ends which I like a lot. As I never planned this, I have to ask, is there anything that I need to know before I start doing this? Things like keeping the glue out of the fret slots and tips like that. I'll slice off two pieces of rosewood from a fingerboard blank. How wide is wood fretboard binding usually? Is 2-3mm alright?

I did use a fence and all other dots came out fine except this one Now, I think I could fix this by drilling slightly bigger (2.5mm) holes over the existing dots (2mm) but the problem is, where am I going to find 2.5mm diameter plastic rods. Even if I do find them, am I just asking for more trouble doing that?

I don't know. Perhaps it's more visible in person than on pictures. Or it's an illusion. I didn't think a 0.15mm difference would be visibile but I can see it Damn. You should have said that earlier I did it on a drill press which is usually very precise. I really don't know what happened as all other dots are centered well

So, I installed the side dots. But, I'm not 100% happy about it. Here's why: http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2171/dsc02264fc1.jpg http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2246/dsc02266cj9.jpg (the fingerboard hasn't been glued on yet, that's why there is a gap between it and the neck) The right side dot on the 12th fret is very slightly off. If my measurements are correct, it's 0.15mm (3/500 of an inch!) higher positioned than the left dot. Now, I wouldn't mind at all if it was any other fret or if it was off horizontally but when there's two dots close to each other, it's visible. How accurately do you guys drill those holes? Is this acceptable? For some reason this is driving me crazy although the difference is very, very small. The fact that the right dot is located at the part of the rosewood that is lighter in color and gives an illusion that the dot is more off than it really is doesn't help either Any advice on what to do now? It's bothering me and I see no way to fix it. Not really crazy about the idea of making a new fingerboard just becase of this either. Am I just being too picky?

Today I cut/routed the part of the tenon that goes under the neck pickup: http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2232/dsc02245yc4.jpg http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2501/dsc02252vj2.jpg As you can see, the joint is pretty tight. I can hold the guitar by it's neck easily (I haven't glued the neck in yet). Also worked on the electronics cavity some more: http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/519/dsc02254yy4.jpg http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9931/dsc02255dk7.jpg Not much but it's better than nothing Still waiting for my drill press. I hope so as well! I'm thinking of buying some more mahogany that I can get for a good price. It's large enough for like 4-5 bodies and necks. So, as soon as I finish this project I'll start another one.

Progress! I had some free time during the last couple of days and decided to try to save this neck. Well, here it is: http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3052/dsc02228uq2.jpg I'm very satisfied the way it turned out. I did take some time but it was worth it as it would take a lot longer to build a new neck. I also routed the electronics cavity: http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5193/dsc02209yw0.jpg When I fix my drill press I'll make some significant progress. I want to drill the holes for sidemarkers before gluing the fingerboard on.

Now that you mention luck... I also bought a new router last week and it's been a total disappointment. 5 times more expensive than my old one and 10 times worse. Oh and my drill press which has worked perfectly for over 20 years, does not anymore, since today of course. I used to have problems with tear-outs too but I practiced on scrap a lot at first. By using tips posted on these forums I managed to rout this body and neck with no tear-outs whatsoever. Don't think it would be worth it unfortunetaly. It would probably be more work than to make a new neck from scratch 'cause I already shaped the headstock and volute. Thanks! Although situations like these are frustrating, I won't quit. This is my first build and I'm already addicted and have plans for future projects I'd need either maple or mahogany as I like both tonally. The problem is, I live in Croatia and shipping costs alone from Canada would be expensive. I think I can get hold of a piece of maple but I'll have to find someone with a jointer/planer to machine it for me. Thanks for your offer though, I appreciate it Now that I look at it, perhaps this neck could be saved but I'm not sure I would be happy with it. It seems it's only the lower "horn" of the headstock that is broken. The upper horn is somewhat damaged too but somehow the whole headplate area seems intact (which if true is the most important since this is where the tuning machines go). I could route the whole headstock off with a flush trim bit following the headplate and then glue the missing pieces just like gluing peghead ears on. It would be strong enough 'cause this part of the headstock is cosmetic only and would save me a lot of trouble but I'm still not sure whether to do it. I really wanted this guitar to be "perfect" and by doing this it won't be alhough I could probably make it not visible.

Update: Just a couple a days ago I received the truss rods that I ordered. Somehow they first ended up in Hungary before they had to be shipped again to my country Anyway, as I finished sanding the headstock I put the neck into a vise to fine sand that cove into the headstock. After a long time of careful sanding, just when I was pretty much finishing the headstock somehow the vise loosened, the neck fell down and top of the headstock broke Hours of work just gone in a second Not only I'm now completely demoralised, but also don't have enough wood for a new neck AND don't have the access to a thickness planer/jointer that I used to do.

Just like ESP explorer, KL explorer's scale length is 24.75".

Rich: mine is Bosch, not Hitachi But you're right, it shouldn't be sloppy. I would only expect cheap chinese routers to be sloppy and it seems it's the other way around I went to the store this morning and tried more routers of the same model and they all behave like mine does. I tried cheaper Bosch models without the fine depth adjustment knob which I thought could be causing this, but they are the same too. At that point, I was ready to add more cash and buy something better and then tried a $600 blue Bosch which is better but still wiggles a little. Now, I may be a little too picky cause it's not like the router wiggles by itself - you have to put slight pressure in order for that to happen but I still think this isn't right and I'm unhappy with it. I ended up keeping the same router cause I didn't want to exchange it for anything else over there... except for $30 routers which are like my old one just rebranded, and just like my old one, don't wiggle at all

Yeah, I noticed most plunge routers work like that. It's logical that one side of the router could wiggle a little since the locking clamp locks only one of the plungers. But, I find it really strange that my $40 router (that even comes with 12 router bits for that price) is almost perfect and doesn't wiggle at all. I didn't expect perfection, but for a much higher price, I thought it would at the very least be just as good. Oh well, I'll see tommorow. I'll try more expensive models too. If they wiggle too, I'll keep mine cause aside from this, I really like it

When locked, the lock isn't easy at all. It seems to work well and it's the other side which doesn't get locked that's causing the trouble. Don't know if that makes any sense. For example, when I try to push the router down while it's locked, the left side (where the lock is located) doesn't move down but the right one does a little. That means the angle of the bit will change and will no longer be 90° relative to router's base. That isn't a problem for pickup and electronic cavities but when I rout neck pockets I want it to be as close to 90° as possible. Yeah, I bought it from a store. I'm gonna take it back tommorow and try another one. Hopefully it's just mine 'cause there aren't many choices there. It's either cheap chinese stuff or very expensive Bosch and DeWalt models.

The lock button (or whatever) is located at the rear side of the router. When I snap the lock all the way over it does help a little but it still moves. Actually, it's only the other side, where there is no lock that wiggles a little. That would all be understandable if it wasn't for my $40 router that's nearly perfect in that regard

Just got this router: It's not anything special but it's a huge improvement over my old chinese el-cheapo. More power, soft start, constant electronic, fine depth adjustment etc. However, when I lock the router at desired depth, there is still a little "wiggle" in the plunge. It's not much but it doesn't happen on my old 5 times cheaper router. Is this "normal" or should I return it and change for something else? I don't have much options though and blue Bosch is out of my price range.

Thanks. My fret slotting jig was inspired by n8rofwyo's Table Saw Shooting board tutorial which can be found HERE Mine's different because I didn't have a table saw so I made one (I built a table for a circular saw, like this one. Basically, it's a "shooting board" with small wheels on each side that slide on rails. I used a sliding roller door system that I had and I'm very satisfied with results (don't know if all this "roller door" talk makes sense in English, that's what we call it over here). Everything else is as usual. You need an indexing pin to use with your templates (can be seen on the slotted fretboard picture that I posted. it looks crude but it works and I've modernized it a little since then ) I made the templates myself, but you can buy them from Stewmac as well. And then all you need is a tablesaw blade with .023" kerf. I got mine from Stewmac and although it's expensive, it's still well worth the money IMO. When you have all that, cutting the slots if pretty straightforward as explained in n8rofwyo's tutorial. It takes me like 5 minutes to slot a fingerboard and the best thing is, everything is precise, cuts are perfectly parallel to each other and depth of the slots is uniform.

I've been working on this guitar for months already and now decided to post some pics. I'm very busy and don't have much time for my project so that's why it's taking so long Anyway, here are the specs: Mahogany body, KL/ESP explorer shape 3 piece mahogany-maple-mahogany neck, 13° headstock angle Set neck construction Ken Lawrence style headstock 3+3 Sperzel locking tuners Schaller TOM bridge, Gotoh tailpiece 24.75" scale, 22 "Medium jumbo" frets, 12" fingerboard radius Graphtech nut EMG-81 (bridge) and EMG-60(neck) pickups No inlays All hardware in black color Unfortunetaly, my hard disk failed recently and I lost pretty much all pics that I was taking since I started building Here's a few that I managed to save: Here's the neck after laminating mahogany and maple and cutting the truss rod channel: http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2524/dsc01410ue5.jpg Neck with tenon very roughly cut prior to routing (cut with a handsaw, didn't have a bandsaw at that time and was scared to go anywhere near the line ) : http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/8756/dsc01436nm6.jpg Routed tenon, and also neck routed to width although that can't be seen here: http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/7345/dsc02113hc6.jpg My fret slotting jig: http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3549/dsc01924qc1.jpg Slotted fingerboard: http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/1264/dsc01928uh1.jpg That's it. Here's some pictures as of right now: Body and some closeup neck/pickup pocket pics: http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3210/dsc02162ko0.jpg http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/1383/dsc02163iq8.jpg http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/2924/dsc02164tl2.jpg http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/2985/dsc02165ax1.jpg Body + neck pics http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3808/dsc02133ba5.jpg http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/9859/dsc02148bia6.jpg http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2739/dsc02149bmu7.jpg Headstock: http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/9675/dsc02153sr3.jpg As you can see, everything is still pretty rough especially the headstock which needs more carving and sanding. I'm waiting for double action truss rods that I ordered to arrive and then I'll glue the fingerboard on, glue the neck in and carve the back of it. In the mean time, I'll drill tuner holes, route the "ears" of pickup cavities, drill the jack hole etc. I'll post more pics when I make some significant progress

Hehe, no. I bought it for fingerboards because this is the only lemon oil that I could find here. Just tried it on some scrap and it seems good I guess. It does smell like lemon but the smell is very mild. I can only smell it if I stick my nose up close to wood.

I got one of these: http://www.drhauschka.co.uk/productinfo.php?product=59 Can I use it to oil rosewood fingerboards? Or are there different types of Lemon Oil that are suitable for that? Thanks.

Black Limba is the same as Black Korina. Ah, OK, I didn't know that. I'm pretty positive that that KL has a Black Limba/Korina top.

Isn't that Black Limba?

The intonation on the drawing is correct. I used the bridge position just to illustrate how much the body shape is off compared to the original. But, as long as you're happy with it, that's all that matters. Good luck

No, I'm using another ACad file viewer. It should be the same for all. You download the .dwg file and open it in the program. Here's a screen shot of what it looks like: http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2711/plan9zw.jpg Notice how far back the tremolo routing is positioned compared to a real Kelly: http://home.planet.nl/~hoek8617/Diesel/gitaar/2.jpg

I don't have AutoCad (I'm using some freeware AutoCad file viewer) but those plans don't look very accurate to me. Judging by tremolo routing and pickups position, the Kelly body appears to be too small. The RR body also looks weird and the gap between the TOM bridge and metal plate for string through holes seems bigger than it should be. Perhaps it's just the program that I'm using that's displaying it incorrectly since it's not a real AutoCad. All guitars are neck-thru BTW.