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A friend of mine scored some aluminum guitar bodies for free, didn't steal them or anything. He knows nothing about guitars, but his brother told him they were velenos and worth a lot. Turns out they weren't. However, They are well made and only seem to need some buffing, electronics and bolt on necks. Some are anodized or powder coated, some are raw, some machined for tremolo and some for hard tails. The question is value? They are difficult to put a price on, though anyone who is halfway established can save a ton of time and money and have nice playable guitars for sale. How much do you think might be a fair price. Pics to follow, having trouble with photobucket.

How do you finish your fretboards?

The problem seems to be wood movement. Once I am happy with the fret work I use fretboard oil and that is all I do. Like a lot of other places, It is very humid in the summer and super dry in the winter. I always get fret ends sticking out in the winter, even on guitars that I dressed last winter. Let me add that this occurs on builds from scratch that are kept in the house. I have an old epiphone that sits out in my shop, which does not have constant temp control, and deals with all the temperature swings fine. I have used ipe a lot, but also maple and rosewood. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Ah, an old rock climbing/bouldering trick for fixing flappers. It's been so long that I had forgotten about the super glue trick. Thanks for the reminder.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one pukko. I dont know how it is with anyone else, but When people find out I build they always seem to think I must be some awesome player. I always laugh and say that I guess you could call it playing. And since I am not a good player, final setups are especially difficult for me.

That sucks. Hope you heal up quick.

About those fretboards, I like the middle one. I know the dots go a little too far off center, I just think they look cool in that light streak.

That must be the one Scott.

Wow, looks great. The back of headstock veneer blends in very nice. I like your fret marker dots. What are they? They look like a black dot ringed in silver.

It is a tool. It doesn't not make you a great guitar designer or builder.

That piece of bocote is killer, kinda busy but I love it. I have a couple of questions for you about the cnc. Did you build it or buy it ready to go? How long have you been working with it? Do you like it? The reason I ask is that people who use a cnc always seem to point out how much there is to do after the Cnc does its thing. Is it mainly accurate repeatability?

Looking forward to watching this one to see what you do with that top. Also, not a fan of zebrano, but I seem to remember a green dyed explorer type thing in a thread a while back that I thought looked pretty awesome. It may have been from killemall. Anyway, keep up the good work it's looking good.

Really nice clean work. The burl top looks great.

Man that looks great. I love the headstock and the body contours where you exposed the bubinga.

Thanks Scott. It's no "not your mommas" strat or anything. That guitar is really a stunner, but I am pleased with the way mine turned out.

Sounds like a cool guy mike. It's always nice to hang out with someone like that and they are humble and down to earth.

Thanks for the kind words about the guitars, for sure a lot of love goes into them.

Maybe I will drag it along next time we go down there. There are a zillion great spots down there for guitar pics.

Here is the finished product. Went with Seymour Duncan everything pups. They sound great. Struggling a bit with the final setup, but I'll get it.

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Scott, I must say that guitar is awesome. Real classy looking. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.

Nice slotting system. Makes me regret junking a similar old dewalt radial arm saw years ago. I had run out of space and never used it. Thought at the time it would make a great boat anchor. Now that I have more space, I really regret that move.

Sorry about the double post, can't seem to delete it.

Yes the food there is unbelievable, my brother in law is a chef down there so thanksgiving is quite a culinary treat.

Just was checking out some mike zito, real smooth and clean player. Kinda reminded me of Robert cray.

I know a little tab and sonny, my wife grew up just outside of New Orleans so we are down there a couple times a year. I haven't checked out zito, but I have seen you talk about him in some of your threads. I have a day alone in the shop, so today is the day. I will seek out zito right now.

The binding looks fatter in the pics. It will come down a little more today as I shape the neck.

You like the north Mississippi all stars?

I know a little tab and sonny, my wife grew up just outside of New Orleans so we are down there a couple times a year. I haven't checked out zito, but I have seen you talk about him in some of your threads. I have a day alone in the shop, so today is the day. I will seek out zito right now.

The binding looks fatter in the pics. It will come down a little more today as I shape the neck.

You like the north Mississippi all stars?

Hey Scott, I figured you were a fan of them, from having read bits and pieces of your blues and BBQ thread. Yes Derek is a phenomenal slide player. You ever check out anders Osborne? Another top notch slide player out of New Orleans.

Thanks for the inlay compliment. Doing inlay is one of my favorite part of building. The binding is just over an 1/8", a bit wide.

So, this is my new fretboard to replace the nice rosewood one that was damaged in the radius jig. It was actually the original test board. Here it is with the pearl all cut and being laid out.

Here it is all inlaid with the ipe' binding on it.

For sidetracked the other night and stumbled my into front row for tedeschi trucks band and the black crowes. Great show.

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Trying out some early morning layout as a hangover cure. Double checking string layout and neck angles before firing up the tools.

Got the headstock and neck taper cut.

Here is my neck pocket jig

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And the whole thing dry fit. It took a bit of fine tuning, but a nice tight fit has been achieved.

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My goods from stewmac just arrived and I have a day off, so it's out to the shop for some fretting

Agree with robbinst, very nice lumber. That top is sweet.

Thanks for input guys.

I don't have any pups for this build yet, just looking into my best options for it. I like Swedish luthiers suggestion/description of wiring the hb in parallel. I was looking this morning at JB jr. And thinking this might be a nice option. Also checked out the hot rails pup on YouTube which kinda sounded pretty metally. Looking for a warmer bluesy sound.

Thanks SL, I don't think anything Is a no brainer. I struggle with electronics and setups. I've only been building a few years and any advice is always appreciated.