Drak

I'm no tool expert, but I think they give the bits numbers for hardwood usage, and normal sizes for crap-ass usage. Call your local hardware store if you can't find an on-line drill-bit conversion chart. They should tell you what it is.

If you use 2 splittable HB's (not EMG's), Stew-Mac carries a 5-way switch that replicates all the PRS options (inside coils, outside coils, all that stuff) on a standard 5-way switch. Just a thought... I don't know anything about Jackson/Kelly bodies, is there a route for a Floyd bridge already, or are you going to do the routing for that? The neck may be 24 frets, but what scale length is it? I hate locking nuts myself, I use Graphite nuts and lube them with even more graphite. BUT you have to have some good locking tuners if you have a chance in hell of it staying in tune. So that's what I do, use graphite nuts and locking tuners with my Floyds. Why do you think you are going to hurt something by bolting your neck on? Is there something about it that is causing a problem?

I see your location is not given, but if you are in the US, I would just save some money and go with ReRanch products. If I had to do one like that, I wouldn't hesitate to go the ReRanch route. I've never used them personally, but I think Bill has gone to more lengths to perfect the aerosol can approach than anyone else I've seen. I think he even has a superior spray can, something about his nozzels, it was something I read once. But he's so well-equipped if that's the route you're going, I think he's really covered his bases well, and is always there to help, the customer support is class-A there.

Yeah Wes. Look up Jason Lollar (Lollar Guitars) He's more well-known for his pickup-winding book these days, but just a few years ago, he was a custom builder (and a very very good one at that) He used to hang out at the MIMF, still does, but just occasionally now, and I remember him going on at length about several necks he had done in Bocote, he loves it too. He's easily accessable, and a really nice guy. Shoot him a mail, I'm sure he'd respond. There's a few others at the MIMF that have used Bocote also (Ellie I remember did at least one) All had great results leaving it unfinished. That is Really shaping up to be a kick-ass guitar! (me jealous! )

Kee-Rist! How much did you pay for that Maple, that's PURRDY!

I love Bocote, most egggsellent choice Smithers! BTW, Bocote does just fine unfinished, it's a great fingerboard wood, very underappreciated. I had plans on doing a Bocote 'board as well one day. Nice job Wes!

Hey There Now!!! BTW, I'll give up my 'source', there's nothing new under the sun if you look around long enough. I lifted my basic idea from the book 'The Ultimate Guitar Book' (Tony Bacon, Knopf publishing) Look on page 175 at the bottom, the 'Status' bass, that's where I got the initial idea for my shape, I changed some things here and there, as we all do. But if you look further (I just did) on page 179 at the Vigier bass, I'd swear this guy Manne took the Status and Vigier and blended them to get his. Nothing new out there. The first thing that hit me about his was it looked more like a bass design moreso than a guitar design, and I think you'd agree if you looked at these two pics, they're both basses. I'd bet he started out with basses and just modified that design for guitar. But it is a classy look, I like it.

I'm sure there are lots of other ways, tutorials, etc. But where I learned was from the Stew-Mac/Dan Erlewine video, 'Tremolo Installations'. He shows how to do Floyds from scratch as well as retro-fitting one into a pre-existing Fender tremolo Strat. Great video, jammed full of tips to make things easier, and the most common mistakes to avoid, and all the tools you'll need. That's my recommendation. My first one I ever did after watching the video came out perfect.

This is the way I do it, although I'm sure there are other ways just as good... You absolutely need a respirator and goggles, the fumes are SO strong for about 5 minutes, that you won't be able to keep your attention on the task at hand, then the glue will dry before you've had a chance to do it right, making a mess... I've found the BIGGEST 'deal' with using CYA is to use exactly the amount you need, and very little extra. Any runny spots or moundy buildups, it takes a Lot of elbow grease to sand it back off, and it's usually MUCH harder than the surrounding wood, so you have to block-sand level (I hate doing that), so it's best to get as MUCH extra off of the instrument as you Possibly can, hence the socks/towels etc for super-quick wipe-ups if some runs off the side or whatever. So, respirator and goggles in place. Playing card or two at hand. Socks/towels at the ready. My default is the Yellow (medium) CYA Hot Stuff. Pour some CYA on and start evenly spreading it around. I use the card to 'guide' it along, and can usually get right up on the very edge without running over the side (I'm really careful, I hate cleanups/sandbacks) Use a light scraping motion to keep it minimal, my card is scraping the wood, only getting as much on as needed to fill pores, not slobbing on enough to put a solid coat on the entire guitar, although you can if you wish. I am scraping the extra off of the top and driving it back into the pores, they will soak it up at first. Laugh if you want , I use my finger to wipe it into end grains along the side. Yes, I have a big glop of dried superglue on my finger for a day or two, but it peels off w/o too much trouble in a day or so (your skin has oils in it which make it easier to remove in a few hours), and there's nothing else I can think of, save a latex glove (maybe I should try that?) that will give you the control your finger provides. But I do endgrains after the rest has dried first, about an hour or so... I try to get it done as fast as possible, I do not go over and over and over it, you would be taking the chance that it will start drying on you before you've finished and wiped off the excess...maybe 2-4 complete coverages at most. I cover the territory a few times, drag any extra off to the side onto a sock, and it's done, within 2 minutes max. My 'goal' is to have it done and excess wiped off before it starts drying on me, within 2 minutes or so. It's like a race to beat the dry-time. If you feel the need to tape anything off first, then do so. CYA's downside is cleaning off any extra, it really really sucks, so do what you feel you need to do to protect anything else, I'm comfortable enough with it not to bother too much...it's all in the control you have holding the card, guiding it, and being in control of what's going down and wiping any extra off quickly and neatly. Any extra you leave puddled or mounded on top you'll have to block sand off, so I don't, I'm actually 'scraping' it along. Once you get the hang of it, it goes very quick and it's done before you know what happened. Best bet is to just do a scrap piece first so you know how it will 'act'. Sometimes you'll need to do a 2nd or 3rd coat, just depends on the pores. PS, I've experimented with using a small paintbrush too, which works, but the glue will harden the brush in about...you guessed it, 2 minutes or so...but if you can get it done before that, the paintbrush worked OK for me too...but I prefer the card now. PPS, don't use it if it's humid, CYA accepts moisture as it dries, and if it's humid, the CYA will become a bit cloudy as it sucks in moisture from the surrounding air, not the nice crystal clear coat we want. There are other situations where I would use the Red (runny) first, like with Ash, which has huge pores and little tiny pores too. I use Red first, then yellow second coat. Just depends. Dries flat and hard as a freakin' rock with no future shrinkback.

edited out fo' yo' pleasure c-!

I do mine exactly the way Wes outlined above, with the bass side being set back 3/16" from scale. When I use TOM's, I do angle my neck pocket for some pitch, just seems like the right thing to do when using a TOM in the first place, even on flat-topped solidbodies. I just use my Stew-Mac neck router template and stick a little round shim under the middle as a 'seesaw', and stick another smaller flat shim under it near the neck when I get the right pitch, it's just as easy to do as routing a normal neck pocket...

If it's really only 1/8", I don't think anyone will ever notice at all.

As long as you center the switch lever in the middle nicely, I'd leave it the way it is. Actually, 1/16" would be too thin a slot I think, the lever would 'bind' on it by the time you applied all the finish...I think 1/8" is closer to right than 1/16" would have been. PS, don't forget to drill your mounting screw holes and slap the switch up in there and check for OK operation, make sure you made the slot long enough and the lever doesn't hit wood before it makes good contact in pos. 1 and 3. I find to make everything work right, I have to make the switch area pretty damned thin (about 1/8") in the back cavity, else the wood stops the switch from travelling as far as it should...and I go lightly with the water stains on top when I'm around that area, I've had that little thin area do a bit of warping on me when I applied the stains 'too wet', then you go to sand everything flat, and you can sand thru that area if it slightly warped 'upwards'...

OK, how much for 8 pieces, that's how many I need for a pie-plate topper.

Shania Burns. You know, the Tri-Sonic Bison model.

Thanks Erik. I'm gonna go slap on 'Discipline' right now!

That's great veneer. You could do a 'pie-plate' with it. Make the bottom (base) of the neck pocket the centerpiece of the 'pie', and cut your pieces triangular, fat (about 4-5 " wide) at the bottom and thin (about 3/4") at the point. It looks great. It's my spinoff design from the 'complete pie plate' which is completely round and used on tabletops. You'd love it.

Shania, any day of the week...

Over the years, on other forums, I have seen this question get raised time and time and time again, it seems like it's a great question that lets everyone weigh in no matter what their personal experience (lots of times, none at all, just pure conjecture...it's fun!) simply because no one really has any answers, so the game is open to everyone who has an interesting idea or opinion... I look at this question now as more of a Rorshach test, it tells me more about the poster by what he says more than about chambering, it makes for interesting reading. I've chambered several of my guitars, mine being done very similar to Setch's pic, and even tho I've done it several times to different guitars, I still really have no answer at all in the end. I just enjoy 'fahtin' around' with it. It makes the guitar lighter obviously. What it adds to or takes away from in resonance, sustain, tone, or whatever I don't bother even trying to deduce really, I just like doing it. I have seen some of the most seriously insane, 8 paragraph analytical, scientifically-based answers by people who have never even actually built a guitar (still working on their first one) themselves to this question...Go figyuh!... I have also seen some small-time builders spend a lot of serious time studying with this subject, and they have very interesting and coherent observations, but again, not really 'repeatable' (meaning you could do the same thing to 2 guitars and the result won't be identical)... So...does it make a difference? Yeah. Can anyone really quantify what it does? Not really to any serious extent... I think it's just a popular 'faddy' thing to do these days as the boundaries of what you can do to a 1 X 2 X 1 3/4" hunk of wood before you slap a neck on it is becoming a bit limited, and companies have to keep coming up with nifty little ideas to keep you buying their guitars year after year... But I still do it to mine a fair amount of the time.

Do you have a ballpark budget you have in mind to do it?

Nitro! (but only if you are shooting it)

Go absolutely berserk with it, go Postal all the way, take it as far as you can within your present abilities to be able to finish and one day, play it again. Sky's the limit. But try to pick out a design you will be happy with 5 years from now also.

WoW to all the above.

Yes. The soft Lanolin contained in Dove soap will soften the Maple and give it a beautiful, lively, effervescent look!

I considered making a solid-body out of the 1 3/4" remainder, and although it would be pretty cool, it almost seems like a waste, if you know what I mean...I'll probably wind up whoring it out as long as I can! I see a Dobro top (always wanted to make one of those, I am a stone-cold fool for slide) Acoustic top Carved top Solid-Body top at least that much...she's a hawg sizewise! And like I said, the guy's got more for sure, and the fact that he's willing to re-saw it for $5.00 a slice is a really great deal.