Bizman62

In my opinion (and I know I'm not alone) a shiny neck can be sticky when your palm sweats. I've tried sanding them matte with some 1000 grit paper and that helps a bit, but what I (and many others) like better is an oiled neck. Some even prefer a plain neck but IMO that will gather your DNA too fast. Thus some TruOil or something similar with potentially some wax to make it even slicker is both dirt and moisture resistant and nice to grab. The body and headstock can well be coated with whatever pleases you. Note that an oil finish is very easy to patch or redo on the neck, just sand it clean and reapply. It will blend nicely even in spot repairs.

If your finish is smooth already, there's no problem to start with a higher grit. If you find out that it doesn't seem to do the job you can always go down to a coarser grit. I had to look what an air sander is and for what I understood it's similar to a (random) orbital sander, only lighter because there's no motor. I've used my random orbital with a hook and loop lambswool pad. A fellow builder uses an automotive polishing machine, the type with a large sponge attached to a slow angle grinder - he fastens it to the jaws of the workbench. If it's intended for polishing it will work, no matter what the convention says.

That's what I've done as well. As you may have noticed the abrasive band tends to curl no matter how you grab it. To prevent that I made a pair of handles as described here:

Thanks but not that one. I mean the one you hold with both hands, the one that makes nice shavings. I guess it's a spokeshave but it looks more delicate than the cast iron ones.

After reading @Dave Higham's post about carving the neck and especially how he sanded it using the "shoeshine" method I remembered that I had made a tool for that! You may ask why bother making a tool but anyone who has done it knows how the abrasive cloth band tends to curl length wise as it stretches around your fingers. To avoid that I simply made a pair of straight handles. Actually several, these are the latest ones made in a hurry. At first glance it may seem just a slot in a piece of wood and basically that's what it is. But: There's a hole drilled at the end of the slot - too little in these - to prevent cracking. And the abrasive band is looped back through the slot - if you're using thinner band then putting the abrasive side inside will add friction and secure the loop. This band is too stiff for that. And there's a stick going through the loop to prevent the band from slipping through the slot - originlly a dyckert nail but for the photo I found a bbq stick right beside me!

Is it a secret or did you use gauze? Or perhaps braces?

I bought mine from the automotive paint store, the picture was grabbed from Amazon by a Google Image Search for "hook and loop sanding block"

I'd really like to see them in real life, there's a nagging in the back of my head saying that your photos don't do justice to the colours! The size of the f-holes seems to be just right to me, apparently you've got the proportions right. Agreed. they're long and visible but they don't look like they'd risk the structural integrity.

Perspective is a funny animal: I had to check the notches one by one if they truly match those on the other edge of your multi-tool! The rasp plane you used for marking the facets is a much overlooked tool, yet it's both effective and delicate. A fellow builder used a 5" palm version for carving the entire neck connecting the points similarly to yours. I'd like to see a closeup of your plane, looks like a tool I'd like to own and master! And I definitely love how you blend the neck into the heel! I've been wondering for quite a long time why it seems to be such a rarity even in high end guitars - or maybe I just haven't watched high enough?

I've used a cheap hook and loop block with all of products mentioned above. One like this, designed for regular 6" round pads but can be used with square ones as well:

I knew that you knew most of that... Another product that I've been using is the 3M Hookit 270J: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40071174/. It's available both as solid square pads and perforated rounds. And finally I've used the https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40071641/ in 3000 and 6000, usually wet. Both of those can hold quite a lot of water compared to paper to keep cool.

I've used some Italian made paper sold at a nearby "inexpensive" hardware store. I've also used the Mirka Abranet mesh wet. A drop of dishwashing soap helps preventing gumming. And of course a light hand is a must! Even with water the friction can produce enough heat to burn the sugar in the wood dust to a gum. The finer the paper, the more friction there is.

Whoa! A 10-20 mil flex sounded like a LOT to me until I checked how much it is in millimetres. Agreed, on a short table even that still is plenty and with larger pieces the issue accumulates. A sled used with the planer is common practice and you can improve it by attaching a sacrificable piece in front of your workpiece. Often the conveyor system tends to lift the piece when it grabs, making the plane chew deeper than expected. That happens with the huge cast iron professional ones as well. Poplar can be a bi**h to level! The fibres are long and strong grabbing in planer blades and in between there's the very soft stuff that seems to sand off by looking at it. Using a jointer is a skill indeed. One might think that a bigger jointer would make the job easier, but at least the one I've been using isn't fool proof. Despite being big, about 3 metres long and sturdy as can be there's still things to consider. It was on the second winter at the course when I realized that the piece had to be fed slowly through to prevent the small waves on the surface and when I told about it I learned that the fellow builders had been struggling with the same issue! Our Master then just said that he may not have pointed that out clearly enough during the introduction of the machinery.

Hi and welcome to the addiction! Here's my thoughts, not stone carved by any means: 1) - First and foremost, find the centerlines on both the neck and the body! When you know that, you can clamp the neck in place for further adjustment. - Most likely you'll need a wedge shaped shim if the cavity and heel are true to Fender specs. You don't know until you have the bridge to measure with. A long metal ruler as you mentioned in the video is the right tool. - I don't think the small angle would matter significantly even if you attach the neck before shimming. After all, there ought to be some wiggle room in the screw holes of the body so that the screws only grab to the neck when tightening. 2) - I wouldn't use anything other than wood for filling the gap in the neck pocket, especially not with expensive woods. - Again, wait until you've got the bridge. There's a slight chance that you only would need to fill the short cutaway side of the pocket but you can't tell until you've got the bridge. - With the bridge in place and the neck clamped you don't have to string it up, The two E-tuners in place you can use basically anything starting from knitting yarn or sowing thread to align the neck with the bridge. You can even use a small line laser if you have one! Or lay a long straigth edge ruler flat on the fretboard with the edge on the string grooves of an E string at both ends, repeating for the other E string line. No matter what you don't need to tension the makeshift strings more than what's needed to keep them straight. As with any wood, sand with a very light hand. Only let the chips of the sandpaper dig halfways into the wood so you'll have space between the grits for the dust. And dedust your paper often. If you're worried about the drill cracking the wood, start drilling backwards! That prevents the bit from chewing into the wood and splitting it. Lubricating the screws is good practice, all you need to do is to turn the screws into wax or soap, that will make the threads slick enough. Any semi soft wax or soap will do - table candles can be too brittle but graveyard candles are perfect! Although beeswax would smell nicer...

What @curtisa said. I've used or given to other builders half a dozen or more Chinese $5 ones and haven't experienced or heard any issues. Agreed, the workmanship isn't as polished as in some other makes but they look very similar to the (un)branded ones sold for $20 at luthier stores. Even the trained eye of our Master couldn't find any difference or immediate issues. Take the inexpensive one as it's of the right length and test the action properly both ways before installing to make sure the welding is solid.

Mirka make a vacuum connectable hand sanding block in their Abranet series. I wonder if that could reduce the issues? The basic one: http://www.mirkareseller.co.uk/abranet-abranet-sanding-blocks-mirka-abranet-70x125-tool-plus-p120-abranet-strips-p-91.html?osCsid=555rmh633nru4gtu9bbsvrdl91 And the kit with changeable curved bottoms: http://www.mirkareseller.co.uk/abranet-abranet-sanding-blocks-handblock-kit-198-velcro-p-57.html

Sometimes the solution is too obvious to see at first glance. Actually I did the same with my double cut 24 fret LP Junior without even thinking about it. Even more, I didn't even think about the "original" location, I just measured where the intonation line should be. I had to compare my LP profiled guitars to see how it is and it's really hard to see the difference. So far I've used the same body templates on three: the double cut 24 fret, a single cut 24 fret and the semi-hollow 22 fret. Measured from the bottom to the bridge they're all similar! Yet the cut in double cut is down at the 23th fret while the curve of the others start at the 19th or 20th fret respectively. And I can't tell if any of them is more neck heavy than the others.

Interesting indeed! I've never thought about measuring the natural harmonics and comparing them with the nut-to-tuner lengths! It made me wonder if a locking nut would eliminate that ringing? Also, a barred chord would change it all, wouldn't it, as it changes the scale length similarly to a capo?

BluTack works well as well.

Thanks Scott! I had to take yet another look to find out what it was and I still struggled until I looked at it at the right direction. My initial impression was close, though, with a girl and water... The composition of the centre part has surprising resemblance with the dynamics of the mermaid drawing!

A carving guide for the heel!!! Why haven't I ever thought about that? Much less in the way than the guitar body, much less risk for ruining the body!

A fellow builder does that for the bridge stud holes and they don't seem to melt with the chemicals we use.

I take my shavings from the class with me as Saturday is also the Sauna day and use them for starting the fire in the sauna stove. Sometimes a fellow builder has done quite a pile and asks me if I want their shavings. For garden use I get plenty enough from cutting my firewood logs into choppable pieces. The coarse sawdust keeps the compost bin in the kitchen nice and dry similarly to the sawdust on the floors in Wild West Saloons... And I've got several sacks full of that for the whole winter!

Didn't know that! Funny thing is that I've got an Applause short scale Strat with the fretboard flush with the heel end and an original Fender neck of an American Standard from 1994 with a protruding fingerboard. Both have the adjusting nut at the headstock. Thus the "wrong" scaled one is truer to the original than the later original.

What, isn't that common practice? Over half of my factory built guitars have the overhang.