ihocky2

With the narrower profile and the closeups some of those pictures make that neck pocket look like it is for 9 strings.

I know that people have trouble getting a blue stain with holly, and have seen it usually referred to as a fungus problem. I know some people even try to encourage it in certain species of pine to get a blue green color to it. It may not be a true fungus though. My idea for a kiln was to get a few feet of rectangular metal ducting and close off the ends and put some plexi glass in the top to create the greenhouse effect. Drill some holes in the bottom and top to allow minimal air flow, just enough to allow moisture to slowly escape. I can actually get most of the material free since a friend is a tin knocker in the HVAC union. Behind my shop gets a good 12-15 hours of sun each day during the summer. I can see if there is anyone local who has a smal mill or something that might let me through a few boards in with them though. Luckily he will have a chipper on site and it is his sons job to feed the leaves and branches into that.

I have found some wood dust changes color when mixed with epoxy and some doesn't. My guess is that it varies with how oily the wood is. Cocobolo didn't change at all for me, but that is very oily wood. Some Indian Rosewood I had did get a little darker, but not much. When I tried it with walnut, it got much darker. I would guess that the oils help the dust resist absorbing the moisture of the glue. I might be wrong, but the theory at least makes some sense.

I forgot about using ebony or other very hard woods. Even some pieces of ash would probably be okay to go against bare wood. Softer woods I would not try it with though. I doubt you would ever actually pull through the body, but you will be likely to have trouble restringing in the future and the ball could easily become stuck in the wood. I can hear Ed Roman and Zachary now, "I don't use metal ferrules because the impede the true tone of the wood"

My neighbor has several holly trees that he is going to be cutting down with some nice sized trunks, and other than a few hours of my time and my chainsaw, I get it all for free. I searched some info and it seems the general consensus is to get the wood into a kiln ASAP to prevent the blue fungus from growing. If I was cutting down my walnut trees or something, I would find someone local with a large kiln. But I am expecting to end up with enough lumber for a handfull of fretboards, and maybe a few neck blanks, not much more. So it is only a small amount of lumber. Normally something this small would go into the attic and air dry for a few years. But it sounds like that would result in fungus growth with the holly. I was wondering if a small solar kiln will get hot enough to dry at a rate to prevent the fungus growth? I know with a kiln I need to have air flow, but still keep it limited to prevent drying too fast and case hardening. Any advice on how feasible this would be?

You need something other than the wood to anchor the strings against though. There is a lot of tension on the stings that are going to pull the ball ends into the body wood.

I would try it on just one of the nicks somewhere not very visable first and see how the results get first.

Yes it can, Cyanoacrylate is the proper name for super or crazy glue. Usually referred to around here as CA glue. Wood glue can not be used for plastic binding. Wood glue forms a chemical bond with the cellulose fibers of the wood. Wood glue has a very poor mechanical bond, as displayed when joints have too large of gaps. CA is very good for gluing plastic binding. As long as it is ABS binding or another type that will disolve in acetone, you can even use acetone as the glue. Brush a little on the back of the binding and press it on. CA has the benefit of the added adhesive in it, plus the solvents help to bite into the plastic. Either way, scrape or sand the glue surface of the binding to remove the sheen first. Also slightly dampen the edge of the wood, since the wood will try and wick the moisture of the glue in too fast.

Generally around 1/4", maybe 3/16". But don't base your neck off that figure. If you run into sanding troubles and your fretboard ends up thinner, you'll need to compensate on the back of the neck to get the profile you want.

1/2" is about standard for carved tops similar to a PRS or a Les Paul. But a shallower carve means you can use less material. If you are using binding to hide the joint, you can go thinner still. Technically for a carve top you need enough material that you don't risk blowing through to the base wood. If you only need 1/4" or 3/8" to meet that criteria, then your fine. You'll just have a thicker base wood is all.

The StewMac HotRod gets a little too close for my liking. LMII offers a twoway trussrod that uses a shallower channel, I like those. The measurement includes the fretboard.

Check out woodfinder.com and google your location and hardwoods. Skip over the flooring places.

Fender Starndard Strat HSS with Floyd Rose. Charvel San Dimas models.

Option #1 from Kenny is actually easier. Just more expensive sometimes. Veneering over the carve takes some practice and experience.

For the carbon fiber skunk stripes, I take it those are going to be on the exterior for strength and asthetics? Not sure if you are aware or not, but carbon fiber is much tougher to cut than wood, so it won't sand or cut evenly with the wood, and it also dulls out edge tools a lot quicker.

Like I said, not positive on the thickness. An 1/8" difference on the thickness you won't really feel, but could cause trem issues.

Even when they are drilled perfectly straight, those ferrules don't allow much wiggle room. At this point your options are to test fit and see how they got or plug and redrill.

Just make sure by good mask you mean at least a half face respirator with activated charcoal cartridges that are rated for VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds).

I'm not positive on body thickness but I think they are about 1-3/4" thick. Hopefully someone else can answer that better. Which neck do you want? Some have a .790" 3rd fret and .850" 12th fret. The RR3 is .745" 1st fret and .810" 12th fret. The RX10 has a .775" 1st and .880" 12th. And that is based only on what they have listed on their site now. I know there were other profiles in the past as well.

It's tough to judge a lot of ideas from the 80's. For all of the great musical and instrument advances that came out of the 80's there were some pretty bad ideas too, and they made their way onto guitars. One word "DAY-GLO".

That was really not worn that bad at all. Look at what EVH's necks looked like. That might have just cleaned up. The only way I can see to sand that close to the frets with them still on is to sand across the neck. Now you have sanding scratches that are going to be a lot more noticable.

But is it a one piece body? If you are gluing two halves together, you can still use the same technique.

Like always, looking really good.

A better place to start looking for your pickup dimensions would also have been the Seymour Duncan website. They give very good dimensions for all of their pickups.

If you're build from scratch, I would saying drilling into the body and neck blanks before gluing is still the easier way to go. A lot less risk.