Bizman62

According to the article the carved relief is even better than the one created by the truss rod as it a) can be made asymmetric i.e. more on the bass side and b) the location is better as the truss rod adds relief to the entire neck while the carve should have the deepest point at the 5th fret. That said, I've never done that myself and I've never experienced the issues you have despite having the action low. The carved relief on a guitar should be about 1.5mm at the most so raising the bridge and loosening the truss rod as you've already done should easily fix the issue with the cost of higher action. So most likely not that either...

Ask me why I thought about that...

There's no "normal" way. Whatever works for you to get a structurally sound end result is right. If you dye before fitting the binding filling any gaps with natural or dyed dust and glue can be easier. If you fit the binding first and have to fill gaps, they won't take the dye as well as plain wood. If you manage to get the binding air tight, either way works equally well. For masking the natural binding the first option to pop into mind is masking tape but as you know, the dye will creep under the tape no matter what. Covering the binding with lacquer is a much better option. If you don't need it elsewhere, clear nail varnish will do instead of a gallon. You can leave the lacquer on no matter what you use for finishing the rest of the body - even if you use oil. I guess the rubbery coating they use for masking stone prior to sand blasting might work as well. I've seen that being used for writing names on tombstones, they wipe it on and let dry, then cut and peel the letters open and finally peel the protective shield off. Then again, a gallon v.s. a tiny bottle with a brush...

You've obviously done your homework well! The article was published on paper back in 1999, telling that the carving is not a new invention but it's rarely seen outside bespoke instruments built by highly experienced luthiers. Is it possible that you've started overdoing the carving? A bug crap having drawn an extra decimal dot in the wrong place or something similar?

Works for me, though. Weird.

I've read an article where they discussed carving a relief to the actual fingerboard to get the most uniform playability along with the lowest action. It even read that the carve can be deeper on the bass side. Unfortunately the article is in Finnish only.

Doesn't the name already give a hint of that? Sub Zero... Anyhow, if I've understood your issue correctly your high E string follows the red line? If so, you can try shimming the neck pocket as shown. The illustration is highly exaggerated for clarity. If there's any space, all you may need is a piece or two of a soda can. Start with a piece long enough to cover the two highest frets. If that's not enough, add more layers - for a wedge shape cut the slices to different lengths or fold the slice. If there's absolutely no space for the tiniest wedge, the destructive method is to carefully reshape the upper side of the pocket starting from the 19th fret. In that case you'd have to widen it at the opening side, leaving the pickup end as is - or if you're more of a visual type, turn the triangle.

Congrats for a win well earned!

That is an option, however I've already bought the rattle cans and I'm curious about the quality of those... Also, according to our Master at the class the Crimson shots didn't seem to mix too well with 2k. I guess I'll try with a very weak mix with amber and alcohol. And I still have some scrap pieces.

@ScottR, if you mean adding the dye into the lacquer, that's unfortunately not an option for this build. The workshop has no spray booth, only a space they use for finishing. This one being an experimental low budget build in many ways will get a rattlecan clearcoat (Lidl) on the body and headstock, the neck will be oiled with what's left of the Crimson Guitar Finishing Oils.

Just now I noticed the extra hole in the headstock! Nice for hanging on the wall, all you need is a nail...

Changing the nuts sounds like a good plan. The thick round bolts as nuts clearly take the highest point way too far back. Looking at your bridges, aren't two of them hollow? If so, cutting a slot and adding a fret might also help to get the fine tuning right. That would raise the strings a bit, so additional tweaking would be required if you take that route.

There was some progress a week ago, I took the time to sand it properly and redefined the control holes since the slider pot I was planning for a blender never arrived. So Tone-3way-Volume it will be. I also dyed it using Cherry Red Crimson Stunning Stain Shots mixed with Denaturated Alcohol. Today I sanded it back once more, as the dye work looked too blotchy. As I had found some cross grain scratches that annoyed me the resanding was double justified... Another try with the Cherry Red, mixed with some black at the edge made it look mahogany. Now that the dye has properly dried it doesn't look that fancy but when wet... Yummy! I'm still hesitant about the top - some amber might give it a vintage look but would it ruin the subtle spalting? Natural or not natural, that's the question...

For a diddley bow it still lacks something...

There's a simple explanation: @curtisa lives Down Under and it's common knowledge that everything there is upside down compared to the Northern Hemisphere. Is this yet another proof of the US citizens' poor knowledge about geography, @mistermikev?

That fretboard really is tasty! Back in the day on a road trip with a friend we looked at the forests with an "artistic eye" - he was making terrains for a game - and noticed there's at least fifty shades of brown. Your guitar looks similar, very natural and organic.

Just for the record it also helps drilling long stretches without squealing.

As that's sort of a trapeze layout on those, a bridge you can slide to the desired distance and angle is sufficient. That's what has been done on archtop jazz guitars 'forever' so that's no redneck engineering.

Seems you've found at least one culprit! Well done! Yes, the scale is measured by the free string length and the leaving edge should be the highest point of both the nut and the bridge as shown in the illustration below. Also note that the measured scale length isn't accurate, it only gives you a starting point to find the right distance and angle for the bridge. The thickness of the strings, the action and your playing style all affect to the tuning.

Wow, that's a pretty piece there! Wiping the oil off of the surface with acetone prior to gluing might help.

Not necessarily, you can also pull the frets off, fill the slots with veneer and re-measure and re-cut the slots.

That applies to most of us here. Questions like this can trigger the thinking process to re-evaluate our own 'known good' methods as well so asking is a way to improve the skills on both sides!

Welcome to the addiction! To me your issue sounds like your paper template is not accurate enough. The reason can be in the printing process as there can be options like 'scale to fit the printing area' which easily can make the image up to 10% smaller than intended without you even noticing. WIth such a misprinted template you still can get the 12th fret harmonic spot on as it's halfways of the scale but especially the upper frets will be off as they're so narrow. ½mm off does less harm on a 35mm fret than on a 15mm fret. A fret calculator as @MiKro suggests or just a simple chart telling the distance from the nut to each fret would tell you if your template is off.

@Drak just yesterday I was thinking about this project and remembered how we carved moulds for acrylic sheets which we heated in a regular electric oven. At around 0:50 you'll see how much pressure they use for a Höfner bass laminate:

I'd like to join such a meeting as well... Having @Gogzs with us would make Berlin, Germany the location. Guess I'll pass this one, though, until the big C has been tamed.