postal

How do you expect to push the bar with no tools and no shop? Realistically speaking for *most* people, a double neck is double the effort, double the cost, and double the disappointment. Sounds harsh, but seriously, a double means you have twice as many things that can go wrong, and twice as much money invested. Unless you're an accomplished builder with a decent amount of experience it just seems like a bad idea. I was in Dubai in 1996. Interesting place. Got a really nice suit tailor made there.

I have some very nice flamed soft maple I was going to use for fretboards- but quickly changed my mind thinking it's too soft for that. Unfortunately most of it was already thicknessedand half of them have fret slots cut in them, so the wood is *almost* useless now. I've decided to resaw them and use for binding. Should be ok for a neck. But it may move quite a bit with changes of the seasons.

I did a carved top thats only 1.33" at the thickest. Used modern fender strat bridge, 90 degree 3 position toggle and mini pots. Had to grind down the trem blocks a LOT to get that bridge in there.... In retrospect, I shoulda just used a TOM... In my case, with the carve top and recessed matching electronics cover, that 90 deg toggle *BARELY* fit. No chance of getting a strat style blade switch in a thin guitar- Those are really tall. Building thin can be done, but it's a PITA. Mine balance great because the body is wenge/zebra- Even as thin as it is... it's got some serious heft to it.

Yeah- I did the same once. My GF was in the garage watching me... She started laughing at me when I didnt have any room left to add "one more clamp" I had in my hand and try to figure out where to crank it on.... You sure it was titebond you read about? Thats a normal procedure for veneer glue which is completely different. I personally would never try it with titebond- I just dont see how you could get a nice tight line that way.

I think you can get away with a smaller radius if the fretboard is prepped correctly. You need to "ramp" the upper frets. During leveling, sand the upper frets- say from about 17+ bring em down more than the rest. Level the frets as normal, then scrub 17+ a lot more, applying the most pressure to the last fret. This keeps them from fretting out during bends, but is still plenty level enough for normal playing as well.

Style of headstock wouldnt matter at all. *EXCEPT* A thinline style body tends to be very light, so it could be prone to neck dive.... keep the head small and use light weight tuners. I forgot- real thin line tops are either .200 or .250 thick- but as I said... I forgot. Basically 1/4" though. Much thinner and you risk the wood bending or sagging.

Hard to get hardware and electronics to fit. Also the body tends to weigh a lot less than normal so you need to take balance into account. Hardware/electronics is the main reason though. Some people like thinner guitars, others dont- as far as comfort goes- it's just a personal preference as to what someone is used to- a thin guitar will put the strings closer to your body.

Sounds good. Thanks for taking the time to check into this for us.

I know how to lam a body, but I'm no expert on it. I believe that a lam neck is easier to achieve a minimum clamping pressure. I think a body is much mor difficult to achieve the same pressures without a veneer press or vac bag system. Having said that, I think that it may depend on the material itself as well. You're talking about wood that is dyed black yes? I think that 2 thin wood veneers would have better success than 2 layers of "fish paper" or whatever people call that black paper these days.... has to do with how the glue is soaked into the material and moisture wicked away from the glue- I *think* generally however, that most of the moisture from wood glue gets absorbed into the thicker layer of wood, since the thin veneer becomes saturated. Now putting 2 veneers next to each other, would require a much longer clamping time to let the moisture absorb from between the veneers- through the veneer and into the next layer of wood - IE the top and back... If you're talking about real wood veneers and have a veneer press or vac bag, I think you'd be ok if you leave it clamped/bagged for a full day. Normally gluing with titebond in a press or bag is a 1 hour deal, but this would take up to a full 24 hours because the moisture would saturate the veneer itself and need to work into the other wood for the glue to dry... If you have access to a veneer press or vac bag, I think it can be done fairly easily. Without a press or vac bag, I *think* the results would be less than spectacular. The easiest and most straightforward solution is to buy veneer in the final thickness you're after. However I do want to point out that I'm not an expert in this subject. I laminate my necks but I'm not an expert on thin veneer and lam bodies.

Finally! I'll get a cutout for my "junk"! (A small one!)

I think this is just Fender and how many come from the factory - I think there quality control is lacking. My friend in the UK a while back bought a Texan Special Strat - and basically it was a nail! Fretbuzz all over the place unless the action was rediculously high! Needed a whole fret job and total setup - very poor and one of the reasons as much as I like Strats I've never have and never will purchase one. Compare to numerous years back when I bought my last guitar the Peavey EVH signature it came from the factory perfect the shop literally fitted strings and setup the intonation and it played (and still does) perfectly. Lets face it no mass produced guitars will be perfect everytime regardless of what 'quality control' they preach - same in mass production shop floor situations. Been to NAMM a few times and inspected many guitars from many brands. Factory fresh best picks to take to the "big show"- most brands did zero fret work. Almost no one takes the time for a cheaper guitar. Find a USA Jackson and feel the neck/fret ends. They do spend the time on them. Very impressive work. Fender fret ends are better than many other brands, but they still suck. One thing to consider though from your post- Assuming we're talking about a USA made- not mim or southeast asian import.... The guitar was built in corona calif which for all practical purposes is a desert. 40-114 degrees with humidity at 7% most of the time. Shipped accross the pond to dank wet cool UK... Think the temp/humidity *MIGHT* play a role? Truss rod adjustments must be a real PITA on that flimsy flatsawm maple fender too because of it. Note that I am NOT defending fender- I hate them with a passion- I worked in that sweatshop full of idiots for over 3 yrs. I know better than anyone how poor the quality is. I only mention this stuff because I live a whopping 12 miles from there also in the "desert" and if I shipped one of my VERY nice neckthrus with a GOOD fretjob and low action to the UK, there would probably be an acclimatizing period, and some adjustments would need to be performed because of the temp/humidity change. I do hate fender, but thought you might like to know that they tend to scrap in the neighborhood of $300,000 worth of materials every year. Necks/bodies with mineral stain, warp, crack, human error. You'd be really surprised digging through the "scrap pile". Heck I have a strat headstock sitting here. It's *THE* fanciest/most dense birdseye maple I've ever seen in my life.... the headstock has a custom shop logo decal on the back.... they sawed the headstock off and scrapped the neck just because they didnt "need" it. Looking at it- maybe the nut slots are spaced wrong, but changing the nut is simple- They cut the head off and threw the neck in the trash- I got the headstock with finish and CS logo sitting here- Like I said- Best piece of birdseye maple I'd EVER seen too- shame really. On the other side of the coin- I think regular F* fenders are junk- I wouldnt own one- You know that in 2007 (last year I worked there) they made over 100,000 units in the corona plant? Cranking them out means quality goes down. I got fed up and called in "sick" enough times to get fired. Now I make *GOOD* guitars at home. Oh- the local best buy in Riverside ( a few blocks from my house) was one of the 3 trial stores for musical instruments. They actually carry midrange to higher end stuff in the stores and strings and a few pickups.

On another guitar building forum, they say that origional titebond (1) dries harder than all the others. This prevents creep which happens over a LONG period of time. Elmers carpenter glue is very good, but titebond is better. So- 1 titebond origional 2 elmers "carpenter" glue 3 epoxy/hide/gorilla for special uses. Oily woods like cocobolo, gluing fretboards so water doesnt back bow a neck, etc. There is no place for titebond II or III in guitarbuilding. Elmers white glue submerged in water for a few minutes will release. Whoever claims white/yellow glue submerged for 2 days still holds... I dont believe it for a second.You want your instrument to last the long haul- spend a dollar extra and get the RIGHT glue for the job which will hold up over time. Now, if you're in a foreign country, and cant get a certain brand, things are different I understand, but still get the best materials available to you.

Looks a LOT like the Jackson "Demon". I wonder who was first? oh wait... it's an Ibanez... always 2nd.. Naw... I dont *KNOW* who was first... but ibanez isnt exactly known for their origionality... Warwick Vampyre That's cool! Looks like a good start for a design mod. Alembic may have used this as a reference. That purple burl is wild!!!! Sweet looking shape and woods! And I hate purple, but that is awesome!!!!!!

I failed 2nd semester geometry... Cant help with your question of design and geometry...LOL! Just remember that the design has to be playable. It has to be thick enough to hold the electronics. It has to be thick or big enough to BALANCE correctly on a strap. Being comfortable to play while sitting can be a big consideration. Fret access is more important to some people than others. To meet the above *REQUIREMENTS* guitars become rather limited in shape. All too often I see someones sketch of a new design, and it's obvious the guitar wont balance and will neck dive like a boat anchor. This means it is a failed design. Might look really cool, but if it cant be played comfortably, it's worthless except to decorate a wall. It's pretty easy to mod a shape you like. A little more work to start from scratch, but many "scratch" designs look like some popular model thats already been done. Just how many variations can one perform to a "V"? cut out here or there- change the angle- change the size- change the back between the points of the wings one of several ways... but its basic shape/design are the same as the origional flying "v" with very few exceptions. (moser being the biggest exception) You could make the same arguement for single cutaway and double cutaway. It's really hard to be origional and have a functional shape at the same time because there are so many design considerations. I'm not trying to discourage anyone- I just want to remind people of the things necessary for a successful shape.

Hard to tell but it looks like where you went through the top is very narrow. I'd spindle sand the body a bit where you went through and recut the binding channel and rebind.

I think it would depend on the material and your gluing skills and equipment. Unless you have a veneer press or a vacuum bag setup it sounds too risky to me. Just my opinion though.

I'd go for 12 and maybe a 16 if the price is good.

By the way, The width measurements are from centerline of course.

RR- upper wing 21 1/4" long x 9 1/2 wide lower wing 17 1/2 long 6 7/8 wide Kelly- upper 17 3/4 long x 8 9/16 wide lower 17 1/2 long x 7 3/16 wide My templates were copied off of jacksons actual working templates at the factory in corona. I didnt copy a KV, but I just started a KV and simply used two large wings from the RR. I dont know if its a correct size for KV- but sure appears correct. I do have the doubleneck KV template but its of no use to try and recreate a KV with it- too different in the center sections- I think the only other jackson templates I have are soloist and demon... so other people reading this dont go asking for the "world".... Mine are only on paper and MDF so I cant provide any files or plans either.

Normally you add the color to your clear finish, and spray it on. This provides a nice even color that cant be done by staining the wood directly. You would spray on the fretboard, frets and all, and scrape the finish off the frets when dry.

I've bound jackson style headstocks using a router table and binding bit. Jackson headstock binding is only about 1/8" deep. Should be plenty of headstock left for the bearing to ride on. I had no issues.

That ebony FB sure looks strangely like cocobolo.. Interesting project though.

Level the frets, then "ramp" the the 17th on up...IE.. grind down those frets a bit more than the rest after levelling.

MIA with walnut, the neutral spot can be a couple of turns, then you should feel it snug up... All the other styles of fenders, when tightening, you should feel them snug up. Since you have the option of returning it, I'd agree.

MIM strats are that way- So are the "bullet" style 60's or 70's era, and headstock adjust basses too. The nut will come off if you keep unscrewing. The modern style MIA with walnut is different. It just depends on what style of neck this guy has.