mistermikev

I think you might be able to get close... just depends. on most of those saddles they are built arched so you are really only taking it off the edges for the first 1-2mm. all in all if the combo of all should be enough to get you there and if not you can always do what AD suggested and recess it. I'd only do that as a last resort but higher on the list than removing the neck or fretboard.

looks really great btw!

it may if it's out of whack... but an 1/8" is unlikely. hold down the first fret, and the fret where the neck meets the body... check halfway between... should have just enough space to fit a fender thin pick- almost stratight. if too much then tighten, if too little then loosen but IMO never more than a quarter turn in 8hrs. Once that is perfect all you can do is lower the bridge and nut afa you can before you get buzz. if it doesn't go down far enough at the bridge you could file off some of the bridge where it meets the round nut... or make deeper grooves in your saddles. At that point, on a set neck, that's all you can do other than steaming off the neck and redoing the joint/angle or perhaps resetting your studs. EDIT: or maybe installing jumbo frets you could make up about 1/32"

my uncle was a chef. he always said a dull tool is more dangerous than a sharp one. that has stuck w me. hand tools are something we often forget how dangerous they are... perhaps don't respect them enough. good point. I worked in a cab shop when younger and I can't tell you how many old timers would just have to show you their hands to send a message. I don't use earplugs enough. then again my marshal is more likely going to ruin my hearing... or my shotgun! it's a good reminder! mods - I probably shouldn't have posted this in this forum... probably should have gone under a dif catagory so sorry for that!

personally I don't like router tables. i know any tool can be used safely or not safely and there are times when that IS the tool to use (putting cove on 3/4x3/4 stock) but I prefer not to use. that said... I've had a 1" x 1.25" bit come out of a 1.75hp router while I was holding it... not fun. if that happens - throw your router away from you and run for the power! you won't be able to hold on to it anyway and you don't want it anywhere near you! Even when you do everything right something can go wrong... so it's good to think about a plan for cutting power in advance. mine isn't that great... just everything plugs into a powerstrip that is nearby and has a simple off. ok so horror stories please!

over at talk bass. Gentleman was running something through a jointer and slipped off the wood... lost 2/3 of his pinkie. (no push stick) this hit me like a ton of lead. I go through stages of comfortability with tools...when I haven't worked for a bit I'm probably a lot more safe as I'm hyper-aware. That said you can be doing everything right and have a collet break on your router, or saw bite on a knot. Just wanted to relay... as stories like this are invaluable in terms of reminding folks to think about it. I certainly benefited (or feel like i have) and hope to pass that on.

thank you for sharing your build/methods/info with us.

roger that. seems like a good plan. the other issue is inlay and binding... not sure what i'll do there. i've got some good idea tho and for that I thank you!

i think you know what it is.. hehe.

i spose like anything else you have to find the way that works for you. seems like spray first would be best... how did you prevent overspray in the fretslots?

ok u went too far... jk.

well if you are gonna push the limit... your gonna need a change of clothes! hilarious. ok, now I know I can let the real me out... expect much more fart humor going fwd!

i like that idea. have always liked that carvin and frankly any carvin from the 80's/90's. Unfortunately the pics I saw of this body prior to top showed about a 5/8" wall at the edge... meaning I couldn't cut it down much w/o having to reconstruct an edge. I have been toying with the idea in the back of my head to do a piezo bridge tele with a cedar/spruce top and herringbone binding. I've seen schematics for the preamp from old ovations... with a little tweak and a splitter/blend circuit it could be cool to mix with passive magnetics. I don't know if this is the body for that or not... but it's going to happen at some point! Probably on a bass first tho. good call!

I would agree. I love p90s and personally love them underwound. folks always look for the overwound but the beauty IMO is the bigger coil area making it fatter and the underwind making it brighter. then again I've like overwound too... can't hardly go wrong.

no worries... sm here... bathroom humor is my forte. I am apparently out of practice tho... 44 going on 4 here so.

ahhhh the shart. got it. had no idea. I'm so out of touch.

um... I have to admit: to me it just means to finish something... what does that mean over there? hint please!

thanks for the reply. Perhaps it was a case of follow through. The body joint seems pretty decent. I agree... a good body blank with a lot of work done for $40... seems like a pretty good deal to me. maybe do a radius top and add some quilt... some binding... could be a pretty nice guitar. a fun project anyway... have some nice flamed maple for a bolt neck that would pair well... just need to snag the right fretboard.

yes, he said: he didn't like the top and was going to do something else. come to think of it... and going off the images he had on cl that I only saw yesterday... there might not be anything there in the upper bout for a strap button. That would be an easy fix if/when I chop the top off. also, the top is real thin and there are a few minor blemishes... perhaps he scratched it? I don't know why he wouldn't just rout the top off and go with something else. could just be one of those 'knee jerk' reactions to sell? thank you for your response! yeah, the top is def too thin. it's an acoustic top. seems a waste to cut it off but it def doesn't do the back justice. I think you are saying make the top of the back a top (if that makes sense) and I thought of that... be a shame to waste the thickness but it'd make a nice top I think... would have to see it. I'm thinking I might do a radius on it and add a quilt top. I'm not crazy about the shape of the upper bout. might try to reshape it a bit.

so... guy listed this on craigslist and I snagged it today. top is 1/8" cedar, body is solid quilted maple. $40. Figured there must be something wrong w it?? It's cut semi hollow and I'm not crazy about the cedar top... probably route it off and go quilt. Def a beauty piece of body tho and kind of an interesting take on a tele. 3 lbs 10 oz. anywho what say you? score? not score? meh? would you have bought it? I think I'll get $40 worth of fun out of it anyway! so... guy li

I came, I watched. It's interesting to see how dif we all do things. lots of dif ways to skin the cat. afa tips... don't have much to offer but I will say, it was hard to keep interest watching you sand for so long. You might consider editing and speeding parts like that up. Then again, I barely can keep my attention when i'm doing that let alone watching someone else! also, I could watch a 30min video of those woods. very soothing! reminds me of where I'm from... a long ways from the city. cheers!

I enjoyed your choices of background music immensely! Kind of cool that it feels like we're hearing the voice that goes on in your head while building. Makes me think of all the things I think about while building, but never say out loud. In fact I'm pretty sure all of those thoughts are written somewhere in my plan... then re-figured on the fly as I'm too lazy to open my plan! The build is looking great... I figure once you get the truss rod in... you are home free... so how doe sit feel to be homefree?!

NAME: The Sweet Spot - Blue MATERIALS: neck is flamed maple sourced locally from superior hardwoods the body back is 1 piece khaya mahog sourced locally from peterman lumber the top is 1/4" quilted maple I got from downhomewoods the fretboard and headstock overlay are gabon ebony from allenguitar mother of pearl inlays were pendants I bought on etsy SPECS: 25" scale length | 12" radius | set neck | 17 degree headstock | heel adjust via fretboard | 30" radius top | Tru Oil finish PARTS... PICKUPS: a mix from 3 different handwound sets from bootstrap pickups. CONTROLS: 1 volume, 1 rotary 6 way, and a push-pull active-mid-boost. Bourns pots, oak grigsby switch, stew mac 6 way, switchcraft jack FUNCTIONALITY: 6 way mode switch serves up all sorts of parallel/series and inside/outside combos... approximating tele, strat, les paul and prs like sounds. TRUSS ROD: Allied Lutherie spoke wheel double-action TREMOLO: Gotoh/Wilkinson VS100 2 point TUNERS: Sperzel trim lock FRETWIRE: Evo gold medium jumbo NUT: Graph Tech TusqXL AMATUER/PROFESSIONAL... I build for the love of it. Building is my "shelter from the storm", my therapy (about the sm price and a better value IMHO)! This is scratch build #3 for me, so in short... I'm all amatuer! BACKGROUND... I have some woodworking experience as a young man, have built 10 or more partscasters. BUILD LOCALE... This was built mostly in my garage... assembled in my home office, and finished mostly in my kitchen (thank you honey and sorry about the table)! BUILD GOALS... This was built for me... I wanted to pick features that would challenge me (nailed it!). The radius top, the binding that would move in two dimensions, the truss access via the fretboard - these were all things I had never done before and wasn't sure I could do. There were times I wanted to ask questions, but forced myself to think on it and see if I could solve it. There were times I gave up and asked for help (BINDING among others!). Fortunately, when I've stumbled, many of the members here have lifted me up, encouraged me, and even cheered me on! Thank you all! INSPIRATION... I've wanted to do a 4 pickup strat for a long time. The idea festered in my mind for a while and finally worked it's way out! My favorite positions on a strat are 2 and 4... aka the "sweet spots", but I also like a high output bridge pickup and hum cancelling for when I do heavier noodling. I've tried higher output bridge singles in a strat but that seems to compromise the mixing of the coils (the higher output coil always dominating). I've put in a strat sized humbucker, but they don't sound as good split. I've used a full sized humbucker with two singles, but it feels like you compromise that strat 2 position a bit. All perfectly great solutions by the way. I chose to compromise a little more on the humbucker sound (after all, there is the physical separation and the magnetic poles instead of bar mags). I felt like there might be less compromise in terms of the strat 2/4 sounds with a four single coil setup. SEE MY BUILD THREAD BY CLICKING HERE VIDEO DEMONSTRATION (click play below - would love your feedback!):

sounds fun and fat.

yes.... what he^ said... beautiful and what's next!