ghostdive

Kinda funky, I love it!

I find it helps to leave everything the same place every time I use it - which is, I think, over there about halfway down the pile of stuff...or maybe I put it in one of those boxes...hmm...

Richlite top, very interesting...looking forward to seeing this take shape!

Very nice! I love being off-road, I'm always telling myself I should get back into it. I like my two too much right now to switch. 2001 ZX-6R 1982 KZ750N

Calling it done for the time being. Overall I'm pleased, it's very fun and inspiring to play! Definitely have some little tweaks to do but not right now. I had more trouble than I'd like to get into with the wiring, but in my defense, the components I cooked were already well-done from my poor soldering skills in 2015 or whenever it was. Nitpicks: -Intonation is sharp; I suspect the neck moved back a couple millimeters when I glued it, so next build I'll drill for the posts after that step. I may and likely will fill the holes and redrill in the future, but it doesn't affect the sound terribly as-is. -Jack is not in a good spot. I didn't have any better ideas and I'll live with it (I usually play standing anyway) but moving forward I'll work out a better solution. -Due to the string angles I'm winding half of the strings the opposite direction; it's mildly annoying and I wish I had a solution. I considered switching to 3x3 tuners but I think there would be a weird-looking gap in the keys and the eyes for the screws might collide on the back. It's minor. I think altering the geometry for this headstock shape on future builds will remedy my issues. -Neck is a little thin for my liking. It's more fun to play than any of the other guitars around me, but I like a bit more meat it seems. I didn't consider myself someone who cares about neck shape until now. I may record a small demo at some point, but you get the idea, it's a guitar!

A week after I applied the teak oil it still reeks. I think it needs some touching up but I might wait a few more days then switch to shellac - I'm very sensitive to smells and I'm itching to get back to finishing this instead of playing my other guitar. Playing is the worst part!! The neck is straight now, by the way - according to my homemade notched straightedge. I expect I'll have much more success setting it up this time.

I'd hoped to avoid it but here I am. Ramp at the end is just about dealt with, and a heat session yesterday has taken care of the rest of the unevenness down the neck. Earliest I can pick up the rest of my fretwire is Monday so I have some time to triple-check and sand up to snuff.

If you're feeling lazy like me, you could cut a filler piece of wood for the cavity so that the bit doesn't wander.

Lately I work evenings, and I had a spare set of gauges anyway, so a sip of coffee and I hopped to it.

Greatly appreciate the input. The filed feelers worked great! .020" at the first fret, .060" at the 12th, with .010" of relief on the high E and .012" on the low. Tried leveling out the ramp at the high frets but I'm out of material to take off. Considering I don't really play above 17 on the bass side I'll live with it for now, and at some point in the future I'll fix it for reals. Re Prostheta on the last page: All of the woodworking, neck shaping aside, has been done in sub-freezing temperatures in an uninsulated garage - far from ideal, and I expect some movement after each change to the piece. Shaping was a big bite so I'm not too surprised or torn up. I don't really notice neck shape when I play, so I was happy with it thicker, but I needed less stiffness for proper relief - not going for a specific profile or anything. I'm not interested in making a bolt-on for now. I'm confident that I'll resolve these issues and any I may have moving forward. In spite of them, I'll consider this build a success (presuming I don't set it on fire during finishing).

I think two reasons: 1 - Stored tensions in the wood; I think in the future I'll at least have the neck nearer to final thickness before gluing the fretboard, as I ended up removing a large amount. I may give future necks a quick curve with a 1/2" roundover bit as well just to help it along. Somewhat related - next build I'll fret the board before gluing. 2 - I had clamped and heated the neck a couple times recently in an attempt to cure the backbow introduced by too-tight frets. It did help a bit, but I think it may have introduced...other problems. The treble side of the neck is much closer to straight. I have some tricks to try on the bass side and I'm thinking I can level out the high-fret ramp - if that fails I'll do something else. P.S. - for the record, standard wood glue with both surfaces scuffed at 80 grit is holding strong on the Richlite. I keep expecting the board to pop off but at this point I think the truss rod would snap first.

It's been about ready for final sanding and finishing for a few days now, but I've been focusing on getting it playing okay. It does now - play okay - but not to the standard that I would like. After getting the neck as thin as possible without getting too weak, it now has decent relief. However...I'm having an interesting issue. It plays fine with acceptable action (nut height aside - not ready to drop $150 on files) but it looks weird. Seems like too late to be discouraged though, so I'll either address it or live with it as a glaring maker's mark.

After clamping and heating, I've made a slight bit of progress - still needs the truss rod adjusted for maximum relief to play, and the treble side isn't as serviceable yet. Definitely do not think extra reinforcement is needed if you're using richlite, and lesson learned on the fret fitment.

I fretted after gluing the fretboard, and I think this may essentially be the issue...I don't have a feel for how difficult it should be to press in the frets, so maybe it was not supposed to be as hard as it was...sigh. I'll keep taking off material and see how it looks.

Neck is glued in but barely profiled. Truss rod has more range, but I'm afraid if I try to go any farther to correct the bow I'll strip it. Might this come out as I take more material off? Tune up a couple steps and let it sit? African mahogany, dual-action truss rod, richlite fretboard, 27" scale.

I'm awestruck and inspired.

It's the wrong time to be agonizing over control locations but I have been since yesterday...I placed them by feel in order of importance, so I'm happy with that, but aesthetically I should have thought more about keeping them closer to center. Not a big deal but definitely something I'll remember on my next build. Still undecided on the jack location. When I'm plugged in I prefer to run the cable under the strap for security, but I also play seated sometimes and don't want it to interfere with that. Thinking maybe top-mounted near the controls or a recessed Strat type on the upper wing...or something.

Made the most of my day this time. I'm still in disbelief that it's coming together okay. No major mishaps today! -Bridge and tailpiece perfect first try -Fret markers done (toothpicks!) -Roundover started (sad about the scorching, I was being too slow) -Nut roughly filed into place -Controls done, cavity in process (need to make cover and recess) I'll do more thorough tweaking to the truss rod/nut/bridge once the neck is glued, right now it's just the strap button screw holding it on. Intonation is perfect though, and I'm excited to play it soon. Last major thing before neck glue-up is pickups. For now I'm using these from my first full-size guitar, a Washburn LP-style thing. Half the time I play unplugged anyway, not in a rush to have nicer ones. I'm indecisive about mounting; either plastic rings, which will slightly increase their visual size and may look better with the larger body, or wood-mounted for style points (downside - buying a 3/8" pattern bit or getting way better at chiseling). I'll think it over as usual.

Chiseled the nut slot and glued it in to check string alignment with some thread. If the bridge I buy has 2" spacing I'll have just enough space - it looks small, but checking my real guitar it's the same distance to the edge of the fretboard. The neck is on straight (triple-checked) so it seems I just ended up making it asymmetrical towards the bass side...oh well, a learning experience. I can get away with moving the bridge up to 6mm to the left to compensate, if I get a bridge with wider spacing, but I would like to avoid doing so if possible...shooting for a happy compromise of 1-2mm. I feel like the next thing I build will come out way better! So much so far that I would do differently. Edit: I /could/ try to add a sliver onto the fretboard to remedy the situation, but I don't know how I could possibly make it look good. Something for me to chew on.

A little bit, but the guitar it's inspired by meets the body at the 17th fret too. I haven't done any shaping of the neck or behind the pocket yet but I can reach all of the frets without much trouble (long fingers). Suppose it isn't too late to narrow the body towards the top...but at the same time it looks and feels fine to me, so I leave it. Maybe when I make the white one I'll change it up.

It closes up just below the surface, it's fine. I'm still having trouble with squaring edges. Anyway, did some work today. Neck isn't glued yet, waiting for a bridge to be super sure that it's straight, but I'm fairly certain that it is. I checked with string. Frets 19-24 don't flare out as much as they should. Bit nervous about that but nothing I can do at the moment.

Boom. This thing is gonna be so sweet. Freehanded it cause I hate using the router, even in a table. The glue joint is pretty massively visible but I am not bothered! Next up is the dreaded neck pocket. Or the dreaded neck carving. Or the dreaded fret installation (saw needed to clean out a couple slots). Or the dreaded body roundover.

P.S. - here's a thing I threw together back in the day. I brought it out figuring I could use the tuners for a mockup, but they're way the wrong size. It would be a lot cooler if I had tried harder, but I much more enjoy winging it instead of things like measuring or jigs. I'll make a new body someday, complete with a neck that's on straight.

After much walloping with a rubber mallet, truss rod adjusted hard both ways, it seems solid - so naturally I decided to mess up drilling for the tuners. I'm laughing it off, not losing my mind, I swear! If the tuners fit I'm not even gonna fix it, I don't care. If I must, so be it. The A string hole is about .5mm off-center towards the low E. Which I guess is not a huge deal. Sigh. Headstock thicknessed successfully, so I'm running out of things to do before fretting. It's decided; I can no longer put off making the body.

Your work is super impressive.