postal

I heard similar to southpa. Cow Femur bones, but I heard bake at some "secret" temp for a "secret" amount of time. I thought boiling for long periods softened bone, but I may be wrong. If you have access to them, you may as well experiment for awhile til you figure out what works best, but SHARE YOUR RESULTS!!

Swede The channel for the binding goes into the neck wood so the binding is the same or nearly the same height at the nut and the end of the fretboard. I do mine that way, Fender basses with binding are done this way too. I think jacksons are this way as well.

I disagree with the above. You should remove the binding first, then deal with the fretboard. Some people/manufactures only bind the fb itself, but others.... the binding goes farther down, into the neck itself. If the binding goes into the neck wood, it will cause a lot of problems unless you remove the binding first. It's usually easy to tell. If the binding gets really thin down at the upper frets it's probably just the board. If the thickness is fairly consistent the length of the neck, then it goes down into the neck wood. Assuming you're going to refin the neck, use a heat gun and heat about 2 inches of binding really hot, then slowly and carefully peel it off, then heat the next 2 inches.... continue all the way around the neck in this manner. If a splionter pulls up with the binding, use a razor blade and cut the wood from the binding, and superglue the splinter back into place.

depends on the specific gieger you're reffering to. The "normal" ones you can buy are most likely a decal. The ones at NAMM were sand blasted through a mask to give it the 3D effect. The ones at NAMM were amazing. The one you can buy..... "eh...."

Something to consider here: Fender, Gibson, etc. buy HUGE quantities of stock. With that comes the power to dictate just what sort of stock they receive. There is no doubt that they are selective with the lot. -Doug Dont think so. They get multiple pallets of wood at a time. When they say flatsawn is fine, the company filling the order would send rift or flat, but probably no quartered because the supplier separates the quartered since it is worth more. Most maple suppliers also filter out the birdseye and flame because they also know it is worth more, but on rare occasion you see a MIM or MIA strat with a flamed neck (regular line, not custom shop). The quality of the wood is dictated origionaly by the supplier, and the factory will only reject it if they find a specific defect, or naturally some models even fender dictate quartered wood, and that is all that is acceptable for that model. I think Eric Johnson strats are all quartered for example. Look at the fender maple fretboards- the ones with a separate fretboard, not the 1 piece neck, almost all of it is rift, some is flat, but you almost never see a good quarter. To the HUGE players, for the most part, "wood is wood" unless they find a defect.

I was cornfused as well until pointed out that it was a double...... Cant properly answer the question until we know WHAT kind of plastic binding. Stew only sells ABS plastic binding, and weld on works fine on that. Nitro binding such as ivoroid or tortoise shell, the common method is to make your own glue by melting small pieces of excess nitro binding in acetone. One enough nitro has dissolved, it will turn into a gel- which you use as glue. There is a 3rd type of binding plastic that I guess is not common anymore.... I dont remember the type of plastic, but duco cement is the preffered glue for that type of plastic. Maybe tomorrow I can find out what kind of plastic that is..... You must match the glue to the type of plastic. You should look at stew mac as they have a decent tutorial on how to do binding. Be aware there will be some minor differences if you use a different plastic and glue though, but its a good general info resource.

I was just given an OFR with the floyd nut and 2 other lock nuts from other companies (forgot which ones) Got them put away for a future project. I'm saying that i have no experience with them yet, but can't you just file the string slots to the radius you want and the string locks will still engage the string properly? I always *assumed* this was the case....

1" blank for a neck is common, maybe that's what you were thinking of?

Naturally I laugh at the cheapo acrylic guitars I see in the local shops. I wouldnt waste my time, and it's been done to death. This is a very new spin, and added an element that hasnt been done. This is what "innovation" IS. The coloring sure appears 3d to me. It probably was cast as a large piece which was cut to body blank sizes. Your ABS and Nitro bindings are done the same way. Have you ever seen ivoroid binding sheet .060 thick 2 ft by 3 ft? I have... That sheet came from a thick block the manufacturer slices to whatever thickness you tell them to. Gotta buy the entire block though. Anyone interested in trying to find plastics like this may want to check with "masecraft supply". They can probably do it, but it wouldnt be cheap. They may currently have plastics in their inventory you may like, and next time they cast that type, could sell you a body blank sized chunk. Note I dont work for them or get any profit out of this, just know about them, and have a catalog.

That's a nice pic of option 2. Without the chip! Option 3 would look like the tutorial. I'm not aware of any pics of option 1. Hope that helps clarify a little. -------edit------ Just remembered- Fender has/had a bass like option 1.... clicky! You get the idea sort of, but this isnt the best example..... This one has black fiberboard between the top and body wood to add contrast and detract attention from the glue line itself, plus the radius doesnt cross the glue line becuase the top is VERY thick, and the radius of MOST fender basses is 3/16 instead of 1/2 like a strat, so the rounded edge itself is smaller as well.

What you're referring to Wes, is the "TLAR" method..... "That Looks About Right!" It certainly has it's place, but this isnt one of them!

Soapy. Fender nut and fret slots are done on the same machine which produces the same radius of the slots everytime regardless of the fretboard radius. A 12",9.5",7.5" whatever fretboard radius all still have the same nut slot radius Because the 25.5 scale necks are slotted by the same machine with the same setup regardless of the final fretboard radius. They have 3 of these machines.... 25.5", 34" and I dunno if the 3rd is for baritone or 24.75" all others are cut on a CNC for the particular scale such as "ministrat" shortscale. Just an FYI....

I *think* he measured it wrong. I think if you can see light it would be off by more, and that is bad.

I think it's one of the coolest, most innovative guitar related ideas in recent history. Really like it. Plastic probably sounds like crap, and those awful colored pickups gotta go, but the idea is bitchin!!!!!!! I would love to know how to make something like that. Those of you that dont like it, maybe you want to pay $29,000 for a beat to hell old relic of a $250 red guitar with black and white stripes on it instead? Something really cool and new for $6K... something boring and beat to hell for $29K..... What are you guys complaining about exactly?

Most Jackson guitars are .745-775 at the nut, and have zero volute. You're woried about nothing. If 1"thick is normal... try a guitar instead of putting frets on a baseball bat! --------edit---------- Headstock thickness depends on the tuners you use. Plan on 30-40 thou less than maximum thickness because of finish. This would depend on the type of finish though of course. 1/2 to 9/16 is the normal range for a finished headstock.

I dont have one for comparison, but I know *MANY* people that love them. People that have them rarely say they like a floyd more than the Kahler. Floyds/Kahlers are very different from 2 point strats since they are double lockin push pull affairs, while a strat 2 point is a single locking dive only *normally*..... (Yeah I know they can be set to full floating..... I have 2 setup that way with a 3rd under construction.... I'm saying "normally" they are not... for all you "correction Nazi's" out there! The only hang up is the price. Otherwise you have nothing to worry about regarding tone or quality. Just ne sure you have the correct neck angle for that bridge, as it's different than for a 2 point strat.

I think Southpa is close, regarding surface gap, but 90 deg is not critical. In Fryovanni's pic, the 2 pieces are laid together with the edge to be joined matching--- in a "closed book".. If this was joined at 87 degrees to the top surface.... both sides of the book would be off angle identically and still fit perfectly tight as long as the jointed edge is perfeclty flat along it's length. It is therefore critical that you work both peices together as Fry shows. I would be dissatisfied with .002 gap, but roughing up the edge with 80 grit *may* help hide the line. I hear many people use this method, I do not. I go straight from power jointer to glue, but jointer setup and its use is very important.... and yes, I clamp the pieces together in a closed book, and pass both through the jointer together.

MDF templates are the norm. Plexi/lexan are nice because you can see the wood underneath- This is very helpful when working on figured woods, but otherwise just a "nice to have"... "isnt my template prettier than yours?" kind of thing. Look around a few places have free pattern downloads to help you make your template, but I dont recall where of the top my head.

I use a surface ground aluminum sanding block with 3m 400 grit sticky backed sandpaper. Goes plently quick, but not so fast that its difficult either. Then touch them with 600 grit. 600 scratches are easy to polish out. I think most stones would be too slow for my patience.... I only have fine diamond and 2000-4000 japanese waterstones.. I wont risk uneven grinding of the japanese stones to level frets... Those are for quality edged tools only.

I dunno the name brand, but I have a larger diam (about 3")drum sander for a drill press with a bearing follower on the bottom for patterns. Sounds like just the thing if tearout is your main concern. Other than that the MOST usefull sanding tools are, osc spindle sander, RO sander, and if you have the money, a pedestal sander with inflatable drums..... These look much like a buffing machine, but have sanders instead of buffing wheels. A 6" inflatable drum on one side, and a 2"ish inch one on the other should make quick work of most projects. The inflatable drums are not cheap, but when you know how to use it properly, are extremely usefull. A strat with a 1/2" radius, you can press softly into it and sand the flat side, or press HARD on the radiused edge itself, and it conforms to the shape of the radius to sand the radiused edge. If you get one of these, an osc spindle sander is almost useless. Without this tool, an osc spindle is highly recommended.

You can look for a router "pattern bit set" from rockler. It is a bit and collet set to cut matching patterns. It has a 1/8" cutter and can get very tight corners. You will need to use the collet set to create patterns for this system which isnt too much work though. EMG routes look very clean and tight with setup. It's very usefull for electronics cavity covers too. Otherwise, I would say to chisel the corners.

The "curvy" edge you are referring to is a 1/2" radiused edge.... It is a portion of a 1" circle which equates to a 1/2" radius.... You will NOT be able to bend a veneer over that edge. It aint gonna happen. You have a few limited options...... 1 glue the top according to the tutorial, and the edge will show with a glue line at the radiused edge.... 2 same as 1 but have it painted with a sunburst to hide the glue line. 3 cut down the edge of the body to get rid of the radius, and call it a "dinky". Jackson "dinky" is actually the same exact size of a strat with the radius removed with the exception of the lower cutaway being larger still to give better access on a 24 fret neck.

The inlay at the centerline should be just about flush with the top of the board when glued in, then sand the sides down to match the radius of the FB. This is what the others above mean. I just typing it all out to be sure you know.

Right off the bat, I don't mean to insult you, but clearly you are not capable of replacing the nut. If you cant tell between a flat and radiused nut slot, or that your new nut is too high and dont know what to do about it, then filing the string slots is going to go VERY badly, and you should pay a competent tech to replace the nut for you. Not trying to sound like a personal attack, Just my honest opionion.

Thep. Interesting...... I;ve seen something similar before, but I don't think the wheels were raised above the worktable, and woodchips would be a serious issue.. Yours seems to overcome that problem, but I dont see how you get a "Z" axis. How does yours tilt for height? One wheel on each side and the entire assembly tilts on the wheels, but I see another wheel on the rail towards the back....