Xanthus

Spoke, lots of people like star grounding because there's a much smaller risk of creating a ground loop. Better, maybe not, but definitely easier, in my opinion.

Avdekan, congrats on a picture-perfect star ground!

Ok, bookmarked. You can never have enough projects.

Even if I don't finish half of them.

Those sound clips sound fantastic; very very shocked. Now, I don't know that much about electronics, but would it be advisable for one to hit the front end of this tiny little amp hard with a tube screamer or some other pedal, like he did in the video?

I want to be that guy on stage getting fantastic tone out of a $30 amp and a full stack

Not to derail, but thanks for the advice, John! I'll definitely experiment when the time gets closer. I would love an angled jack, but the lack of clearance because of the proposed bevels makes me bite my nails.

I'm amazed, Matt Give yourself some credit.

I know I've asked this on every build with this feature, but..... Is that jack plate position going to be comfortable/interfere with playing/my hipbone? Seriously considering doing it on my new build, only because I don't have confidence enough in my tools or skill as a builder to shoot a JEM-style 5/8" Forstner bit into a guitar side of only 3/4" thick.

That's some nice blue for your swimming pool!

But in all honesty, that IS some nice blue.

Ah, wax paper.... you might be onto something, Peter!

I had BARELY enough wood to work with to get my 3 laminates (6x36") so I had to cut almost every corner. I could slide a dowel through one area, maybe two since the tenon is going to be buried in the neck pocket.

I think you just solved my problem, Peter! Thanks!

Thanks for the sapele insight John!

Cut the neck lams today and gluing tomorrow. 5-piece bubinga/maple/b/m/b.

Anyone have any tips for keeping the lams stable and in line when gluing up? I'm worried about the glue shifting during drying. Thinking about clamping it to the table, but I don't want to get glued to the table either

I actually like my fretboards a little wide, so the outer Es don't slip off. And my thoughts that you'll notice the extra 16th".... is pretty nil.

And if you're building your own neck, you have that great advantage of making it to your own specs.

The best answer I feel is "wide/deep enough to fit your truss rod." There should be no wiggle room whatsoever. Buy one to use with your project and measure from there. Look at LMII's truss rods. They are thin and shallow and well-constructed.

I would get either Koch's or Hiscock's book on guitar building, if you haven't already, and exploit the forum's search function for all it's worth!

#1 it is for me. It just looks... practical. Or rather, more practical than the rest. That's a hella long neck on #1 though. Bass? Baritone?

Nice granite score there! My dad used to work installing Corian counters and sinks, and those scrap pieces are as flat as can be! I'd have sent you a rectangle sanding block for the price of S&H

I think that if the figure holds up when you finish sanding it, the "cap" technique could work, if you don't mind having flat edges instead of the roundover. Good luck!

Blue burst to black, black on the rest of the body. Ebony fretboard with blue acrylic inlays might save it for me.

Maybe an LP with trapezoid inlays and gold hardware?

I approve the change in neck joint Makes for a much more elegant design.

My vote is still for the one with black binding.

Congrats! That is a simply awesome looking instrument! Record some sound clips for posterity, unless you're planning on making another one. I'm very curious to see how this sounds!

I don't know how well this would work with your build, but you could get another, non-figured piece of maple to put under your 1/2" top. Tonally, it should sound fine. Maybe you could bind the top afterwards in case the glue seam isn't fantastic. But I think you wanted the edge rounded over....

Well, just an idea. Got it from the Warmoth website. Apparently they're doing a similar thing with a carved top, slapping a figured veneer, and binding the edge.

Oh yeah is this wood heavy! I'm pretty excited actually Thanks for the tip, John. It's a 22fret RG styled body, so it will have a upper horn over the 12th fret. I'm not EXPECTING any problems...

With the wood score today, I was looking at their mahogany (all they had was sapele... ). They only had 8/4, but for the price, I was going to grab some. It was s3s but I thought a 2" body would be a bit beefy.

I'm sure it would balance the bubinga though!

After a trip to the wood store, going in a different direction now (but what else is new?).

Scored a great looking piece of bubinga. Doing a bubinga neck with two 1/8" flamed maple lams, and a rosewood fretboard on top. I will have plenty of maple veneer left; might strap a veneer on the headstock afterwards.

I've never seen or heard a bubinga neck, but its reputation is good, so I'm hoping it works out with the mahog body and rosewood fretboard.

The "eye" actually cleaned up pretty well once the finish was on. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the initial pictures.

Major mess-up on my #3 build. Don't know if I mentioned it, but I made a taper template for the neck, screwed it on, and ran it over the router. Well, the screws apparently weren't as tight as they could have been and the router cut the taper a hair too short. I should have been more patient and used the robosander instead.

Basically, I know I can do better. So the new neck is going to be all walnut, 2-piece, with a 1/16" strip of flamed maple (trimmed down from 1/8" unless I can find a piece that thin) for an accent line. I will be using my Stewmac Hot Rod and rosewood fretboard.

I want this to be a neck I'll be really proud of, so I'm going to take a lot of care in making it look pro. I wanted to do more with the flame maple accent than just the stripe down the back. I was thinking of:

-scarf joint strip - I like the look of Daniel's contrasting veneer strip at the scarf joint. The walnut will be 1-1/4" thick, which would place the stripe beyond the volute. By my measurements the strip should hit the fretboard around the 4th fret. Is this too far down the neck to look good? I didn't want the strip to hit the volute, but I wanted enough meat to carve a good one out with the robosander.

-under the fretboard - I will have a 1/8" lip from the board to the body top, because I don't like the strings resting too close to the body surface. I feel a 1/8" accent may be too thick, but split up between the heel and fretboard might be nice.

I also don't want to go overboard with veneer on the neck, seeing as the body is just going to be plain one-piece mahogany and won't get any special treatment. Any thoughts on veneer placement?

I like that idea, Muffin! Might use it in hacking up one of the few factory guitars I have.

In related news, my DC127 Carvin has fantastical upper fret access. Looks a lot like the guitar avdekan posted.

Are you thinking about this for your build? If so, where can you get a Petrucci trem setup without buying the whole guitar?

The limited experience with the Petrucci trem was pretty nice. It was smooth to use and didn't snap back to position as quickly as some others I've used. I don't know if it would hold up to the repeated stress of a hardcore Floyd user though.

If that's from Gilmer I'm shocked. They have a reputation for being a good company to deal with around here. Are you sure that's the same piece of wood....?

That wood is in terrible shape, and doesn't even remotely resemble the first picture. I'm kind of shocked..... Doesn't even look leveled!

As for fixing the wood, I would try and steam as much as possible before going to sand it. Best of luck!

Natural finish PLEASE!!!

Great looking so far

Now all you need is an EET FUK sticker.

I'll pay for the shipping.

Leather dye for ebony, really? Huh. Sweat won't rub that off, right?