al heeley

Thx guys! My favourite piece is the little Prostheta bloodwood and copper inlay on the 17th fret.

I thought about fitting a red LED inside the truss rod access cavity in the head, then having a cover made of frosted plastic or something that would glow a back-lit red when you plugged the cable in. It could connect to the battery in the main ctrl cavity by means or a pair of copper strips built in the neck joint/pocket. I might think about this next time to incorporate the wires running up inside the neck, between laminates. A bit gimmicky but it might be fun playing on a dark stage.

2 things to look at in the nut:

1) slot too wide = rattle/buzz when you play string open

2) slot angle too shallow. Needs more of a 'knife-edge' at the front of the nut (fret-side, not tuner-side) to vibrate true, not a channel that runs parallel to the fretboard.

I'm a big fan of natural oil finished if its a nice piece of wood - might look a little different for a LP shape rather than the normal high gloss and/or burst

Some more progress this morning. Neck trimmed flush (pocket routed deeper) and the electrics all wired up.

Neck given a few wipes of Tru-Oiul - more to follow.

I also inlaid a little copper-ring bloodwood circle into the headstock.

Now just waiting for the machine heads, then the nut can be cut, and frets levelled. Then she's done

Here's another shot of the body/neck

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/neckin.jpg

Heh, thanks guys, the brass/bloodwood dot really does finish off the fingerboard nicely, I'm really glad the MOP dot popped out, but for good measure I may sink a match8ing one into the top of the headstock as well.

That is looking very sexy

Yep its a great tip and once buffed up the bloodwood really shines bright red. Looks superb as an inlay. I used a small diameter (4mm) copper tube and left the plug of wood in there, then with a hacksaw blade cut small sections off as inserts - voila, a wood inlay set into a copper ring.

Why only the 17th? Well i'll come clean i suppose. The MOP inlay popped out when I was hammering a fret home and I lost it! Then I thought I'd try your tube bore method and use it to fill the gap. ;D Looks really great, now on my next build I'll be making all my own dots this way.

Hey Prostheta, I did a special inlay for you:

Here's the bloodwood set in copper.

I think the longer the tenon, the more stable the joint, and since it was coming pretty close to the pickup rout it made good sense to continue the neck into there.

Sorry no eggs in this one, more of a face-on shot with the hardware positioned and fretwires cut, ready to be bashed into place with the heel of an old shoe.

it's a bolt on. The maple was about an inch too short to be comfortable for a thru-neck so I went for a bolt-on which is so much easier (for me) to tweak and get the action perfect, compared to a set-neck.

Tonights progress; fingerboard trimmed, radiussed, slotted and dotted. Body has acquired a jb bridge pup and a mini three-way toggle.

Wierd perspective tricks with these fanned fret and staggered bridge builds, the photo makes it look like the pickups are skewed but they are perfectly perpendicular to the centre line.

I have a few MOP inlay circles left of various size, and was going to add some sort of extra design at F12, but with the small and simple circle markers against the dark ebony, i think it looks a lot more classy.

Another view

Fingerboard arrived, nice thick slab of ebony. Almost feels like stone. Started cutting the fanned frets.

Thanks P, the bloodwood headplate was received quickly. I'm undecided on this - it is quite red compared to the body. Also could do with being an inch wider.

I might try and rout out one from the remaining Sapele and see what it looks like.

[Note to self for next build: I'd be happier with the pickup an inch or two further back, and about quarter of an inch wider neck to play with where it joins the body.]

I agree with you Xanthus. It takes more than a silly shape to count as a groundbreaking design.

Thanks mate- the headstock is nearly ready to receive the bloodwood.

Bass: the neutrik jack socket recess was hacked out by chisel shortly after shaping the the body. A dangerous 40 minute operation if you ever see me with a chisel, and a long way off the slick build of the Dingwall which is really an outstanding bass build, but I'm learning and progressing all the time.

I have an urge to run some wires inside the neck to light an LED mounted into the headstock when the jackplug is inserted. Maybe it's too late to build this in for now, but I'm tempted.

Rule of thumb: intonate with capo at first if you're having trouble. If that work easily, look at your nut.

That's "Rule of Capo", not "Rule of Thumb"

Thx guys, this is useful information. I can afford a little more but not a lot. In my view, it's worth spending £60 on something that is useful enough than wasting £40 on something that will not be adequate.

You need to have a look thru the articles on this site:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/index.php

They are better than nothing, know its limitations and decide if you can work within those parameters.

That's really what I'm after: a way of knowing their limitations based on the comments of people who have experience of using them.

Does anyone have/use one of the budget table-top types of drill presses for working on guitars?

I'm thinking of the type of thing they sell in the UK DIY stores for £39 - £49. Are they better than not having anything or are they a waste of £39 as they are not up to a serious precision job, speaking as a hobbyist user rather than a pro or semi-pro luthier, that is.

Yes, you can get Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil from a good gun/fishing shop or online. Try a google search for Tru-Oil UK - you'll see also Luthier Sypplies and David Dyke stock it as well as a load of gun shops.

Well the magnet does not vibrate, but a moving metal object in a magnetic field will cause the flow of electrons, ie: current. Vice versa, electrons flowing through a coil of wire will cause a magnetic force. But Tim is right- the weaker the magnet and the less the coild of wire, or the greater the wire resistance is, then the weaker the signal will be.

Thicker wire is a bad idea because it will have more resistance in general and you won't physically be able to wrap so many coils round the magnet. You will end up with a weedy pickup with very low output. You will be forced to use the heaviest gauge strings possible and have them set so close to the pickups that they will buzz and choke. And all the girls will laugh at you. It's true.

Nice work!

Some more progress today. Finished off the neck join rout and pickup cavity rout.

Got the bridge saddle recess routed and the saddles fixed with the thru-body clamps (yes, these hipshot triple locks are a real PITA to fit).

Got some maple ears glued onto the headstock and the shape cut and sanded. Some more work on the neck volute.

Hope my fingerboard arrives in the next day or two so I can make a start on the fanned frets.

I also really need to make myself a 14" radius sanding block for the fingerboard.

Pleased with the neck joint- nice and snug without feeling the wood is being put into compression.

Another shot

+1 for Rick - I redid my Warmoth truss rod cover recently exactly like this, with a couple of tiny neo magnets holding it down. Now you can just pop it off with your thumbnail if you need to tweak the truss rod, and it holds really strong with no rattle.

Body routed for neck and MM pickup.

Can anyone suggest a neat method of getting the dog-ear semicircles nicely cut into the wood, where the pickup fixing screws go?