mistermikev

right on. that's a good option. I was wondering how you'd do an inlay over the curve... that's why I was thinking perhaps a wood replacement. sounds like you got yer plan. look fwd to seeing it.

I would just take an angle grinder to it (totally kidding!). man... if it's stain... I would not think it would be a good idea to try to get it out. Even tho you'd probably only have to go down 1/32" of wood... that could prove a disaster. just sayin.

it were mine... given such a beauty top... I'd probably try to replace the wood in that area and cover it with an inlay of some sort. Esp if you did something there that matched the headstock and tied it all together... but what do I know.

nicely done. yes, frets stand out... nice and shiny. good job.

looks good. that abalone really pops against the black... fb and headstock.

no, I didn't take it that way. it is just your impression of the style - nothing wrong or right about that... just is. wait, did you just say you think hondo is cheap? I am offensiveded.

right on. I love one piece (well two piece w a fretboard right) but for some things multi-lam just seems "more righter", like some of the high end ken smith and warwick basses. def does not look right to me on a strat or tele.

funny, was just involved in a thread on facebook regarding a finger jointed headstock. I said it looks cheap because it reminds me a lot of two things: flooring and moudings. I also think it just doesn't seem like it would be that stable due to the short grain... but what do I know. I guess they did this on taylors for a while... wonder why they stopped because according to the expert on facebook it was a super strong joint and the only reason luthiers don't use it is because it's difficult to do. IKEA... hmmm... wonder where our resident fine furniture expert is? @Prostheta what say ye? IKEA = good or bad?

how dare thee speak ill of the great ikea. you just don't "GET" fine cabinetry. cheap - I could see that... but then again... I look at the early slip matched les pauls and think whao... spendy. I don't really agree with the historical accurate crazy-ness like some of the maniacs over at mylespaul... but have to admit... there is something to that whole not bookmatched thing that looks great on a les paul. I spose we all have to choose our own line between what is generally accepted as 'hi faluten luthery' and 'simple beauty'. I love the look of my hamer's neck, but had a dean bass with veneer strips that looked cheap to me... guess I'm doing it wrong! admittedly this whole conversation has its origin in my plans to build a spector like bass... and I fully intend to put some veneer between the 4 strips of maple ns4 be damned! Guess I'll have to admit that I'm doing it because it looks, well... fancier? I just received some brazillian rosewood strips from b and b rare woods. not black but I think 'close nuff'. also got some beautiful flamed ash... be a shame to use it for accent but only 5 or 6" wide so... think that'll be it's fate on the other bass I'm planning.

I wasn't saying the oak as a veneer would add strength... but more considering it's use as say a 1/4" strip - in place of wenge - to add rigidity. I agree the most one can hope for from a veneer is to not take away any strength but yeah... it's really just decoration. interesting that you think a multi piece neck looks cheap... I wonder if that's a commonly held thought (not necc disagreeing) never occurred to me. the spector basses are all done this way. 4 pieces of flamed maple w o any accent. my hamer steve stevens and a few others. veneer does look nice tho.

missed your post before. Right on. I actually was looking at some 'fumed' oak that is supposed to look like actual bog oak... as I understand bog oak itself is uber spensive. I guess they just take oak and put it in a sealed container with vinegar and the tannin in it turns it all black. Pretty much the sm process as ebonizing. I saw over at 'certainly wood' they have some rather reasonable and long rolls of it so... will likely go with that too. oak strikes me as a LOT like wenge. very brittle, very ridgid, very prone to blowouts. a bit heavier in general and a lot harder on the knives. I like it a lot for guitar wood altho I don't think I'd want to see a whole neck made of it (zero spring)or body for that matter(heavy). it seems like it would be ideal for reinforcement in the sm capacity as wenge. given it's readily available and cheap here... I might have to try turning some of it black to see how that works. thanks for the suggestion.

they are a little funny over there. cracks me up guys with a whole room full of warlocks! Still it went over pretty well and a few people oogled and ahed at it so... alls well.

that's a great way of looking at it... but for me... I guess I just don't like the parts that are physically hard. I don't mind 32 tedious steps... but yeah... the physical part seems like "less fun" anyway!

oh, I bet the stories he had were awesome. my grandfather was in ww2... he's passed now. I wish I'd asked more when I had the chance.

dang... I bet that's a lotta work... and it looks SO flat. nice job.

that's pretty cool. I'm gonna have to try one of those next time. I just ordered a few reg flex strong for current/future builds and am always thrilled with how easy they turn/welds. not much more than anywhere else and just awesome. I love the idea of something lighter... but it seems like it would require either a special bit or multiple passes with a 1/8". neck is looking awesome btw. how do you keep your backside surface flat like that w just hand tools?

right I'm aware of that... but I would wonder why not just use bulsa wood then? you did say "any type" hehe. I admit I'm getting hung up on a detail that probably isn't going to amount to a big dif. sounds like tulip and/or poplar are fine. you have a very strange uncle to have figured that out! lol

good to know afa dying. I was aware that most are pressure dyed... but thought perhaps it might work ok given the thin nature of veneer. welp... to be sure I have no doubts that it isn't going to blow up in your hands... but more concerns that it would be less strong/rigid/stable as a result of adding something that is purely cosmetic. Not losing sleep over the idea... but just want to make an informed choice. I see that woodtoworks and b and b rare woods have dyed tulipwood/poplar... and I spose I could use that... and I'm sure it would be fine... but then perhaps I should spring the $45 to get a couple strips of actual ebony.

thanks for the reply biz. I had considered glue saturation too and I def think you are on to something there... yet in a little research on this and other forums (see above thread) I'm finding some less and positive remarks. (not the part about fibre, but later the part about using any store bought veneer in a neck. Ideally I'd really like to use wood that matches the quality of wood of the rest of the neck but for black - problematic ie spensive. So... this leads me to my next guess... what if you take some raw wood veneer - say ash, that has grain direction right... and you dye it black. i'm assuming being so thin the black would be soaked completely thru the wood... and it thus would retain the black after cutting?

if I'm not mistaken gotoh is all japanese and is quite reasonable. some of the chinese stuff is good, some not. it just depends... I don't think it's "all bad" or anything. I believe the wilkinson stuff is all chinese and some of that is pretty good... just on aliexpress you will find a lot of things that say wilkinson but are probably neither wilkinson nor good. ymmv.

use tulipwood in a neck lam? I know folks freq use black dyed veneer as accent on lam necks but everywhere I find it it seems to be tulipwood or poplar and while we are probably only talking about 1/42" of that type of wood... it would be the thing holding on to the wood on either side of it so... kind of gives me pause. so my q: if you do lam necks... what would you use for a nice black accent line? sources for dyed veneer specificaly for lam necks?

as tempting as it may be... not sure I'd snag any hardware from aliexpress or china in general... their precision machining is well... not. also their descriptions tend to be anything that will sell. This does not look like any sort of headless design to me at all... unless you ran the strings out the back and to some tuners, but they clearly have insets for string balls. makes me think they just thought 'headless ought to sell it'. I have seen other actual headless bridges from china that appear to be based on the k&m design... and have thought about it... but again... my experience with chinese hardware is that it is problematic. esp under high tension. just one a-holes o so ymmv.

looks like the black is a start of one and finish of another... so one red wire is pos and one red wire is black and if it has an additional black wire it should be ground... but the best way to tell is using a multimeter.

as always... top notch. I bet the guys on the 'pointy guitars' fb group would eat this stuff up. I posted yer pic over there - hope you don't mind. spread the guitar porn I figure.

looking good. kind of surprised you didn't put the rangemaster inside your build... then again GE - maybe not a great idea inside a guitar. Pedal will be a nice combo w those pickups.