JohnRossitter

Thanks for bringing this up. I went into my shop lastnight and looked at my wenge again. I think I will try to do a neck-thru with it soon.

Very true. You may also want to look into using individual string bridges. Ibanez and Peavey use them, you can also get them from HipShot. I think they are called MonoRail bridges.

I believe you're referring to Ebonol, which is a phenolic paper/glue laminate, not graphite. Common trade names are garolite are micarta. In many respects, you can work with it like wood. At least as far as radiusing and fretting goes. I haven't had much luck using edged tools on it. I've got a 3/16" garolite fretboard sitting around that I glued up from 3 pieces of 1/16" material. It is not as stiff as wood, but stiff enough, I think, for an experiment. I'm going to try it out on one of the guitars I'm building. There was a discussion here a while back about garolite. You can pull it up with a search for more info. I have heard of micarta. I will look into that. Thanks

ok well that answers that

I have seem some basses and guitars with graphite fingerboards. Does anyone have experience with them? Where can you get stock material? How do you radius and fret it?

I can't remember the name of the place, but there is a small luthiery shop in downtown Copenhagen too. They sell some tools, but by no means what you would get from StewMac.

Priceless advice. It's hard to explain to someone that NOBODY makes the perfect guitar the first time out. We all get the romantic idea in our head about how great it's gonna be, and start spending tons of money on gold hardware, and hipshot tuners etc. It's easy to loose sight of the fundimentals of the woodwork. Honestly my first build was a POS. It was not playable at all, but I learned a whole lot of what not to do, what materials not to use. It took me about a year and about 10 builds to really come to grasp the whole picture. And there is still TONS I don't know about...especially in finishes. But I honestly think thats what makes it such a wonderful hobby for most people. The fact that you have to put tons of effort into it, before you get much of anything out. Andrew, just keep in mind that guitar making is not something you will master in one shot. Experiment, and make your common on cheap wood.

Wow, wow and double wow. Consider yourself lucky, as most of my experiments with wenge ended up with dull tools, and lots of painful splinters. I think that body looks beautiful. It's too dense to give much if any sustain though. I have seen it used in basses more than guitars, and those basses are more in the percussive (tapping,slap) styles. I dont know of anyone who uses clearcoats on it. I have seen linseed and tung oil finishes on Wenge. I have a 5' long 1.5"x4.5" section of it at home I was thinking of making an EUB with.

Sure thing... Just don't hold me responsible

I don't think that large amounts if any of steam are needed. Actually I remember hearing that you can take an iron and put it on medium heat and place it on the fretboard with a tshirt between the iron and the frets. Start at the heel end and warm the wood up. Don't use the actual steam function of the iron though. I believe you can use a puddy knife to wedge between the fretboard and the neck. Take your time and go slow. If you already have a section which has seperated, I would start there. If anyone else knows a better way or more detail, please correct me. Also see http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/removal.htm

Amen to that

Are you wanting to use the same fretboard again or replace it? If you want to use the same one again, I don't know of any other way than heat/steam. But someone else may know of a better way.

Andrew, You seem to be on the right path. If I could advise you on one thing for your first guitar, it would be to go with a bolt on neck. Thru-necks present a whole set of their own problems, which take a good bit of woodworking experience to get right. Bolt on necks are far more forgiving, and in the worst case, you can simply make or buy another neck. I understand your frustration about wood. There isn't much of a selection at the Lowes or Home Depot for what we do. Personally I don't like to buy wood off of the internet, because you don't get the benefit of seeing the cuts before they ship. A resource I use for FREE wood is the scrap bin at my local cabinet builders shop. They are always working with cherry, maple, sweet gum and all sorts of other hardwoods. And if you make nice, they may let you use the planers and band saws when the boss isn't around. Best of luck with your build(s). You will find this to be an expensive and fulfilling hobby. Be sure to post pics.

I'm not saying that you are doing everything wrong, I'm saying don't put the cart before the horse. I guess what I want to know is...do you want to have a custom guitar more than you want to be a builder? I know what its like to want that special guitar. I know how easy it is to tell yourself that if you had the tools, you could make it. The catch is that NO ONE makes a perfect guitar the first time, and we would rather see you make many inexpensive mistakes and keep on learning, than one BIG mistake and give up. If you want to be a builder hang on to your thru-neck. Save it until you have plenty of experience with building. Melvyn's book is great. It has plenty of sage advice, as well as step by step instructions. This forum is also a great place to discuss your ideas. If you just want a custom guitar made the way you want it, find someone on this forum to build it for you, because no matter how much you think you know about it...there is always something more to know about building. For example: The subtleties of joinery, How are you going to do your joint work and not destroy the neck? Grain direction, How are you going to keep your joined body from warping? Pickup configuration and placement, Where are you going to get the best electromagnetic feed from? Noise, How are you going to cancel out noise from a pickup that's too hot? Trussing, how much pull will different string gauges have on the neck, and how will you correct it? Weight displacement, How are you going to make the neck and body balance? Intonation, How will you set the correct scale length for the neck you have and make your trem work with it? I'm not saying that you can't build it, I'm saying just do some more research on the topic before you make a mistake that you cannot afford to undo. Practice on cheap scrap wood in the shop first. If it's an issue of not having time during class, arrange to come in after school, because nothing will ruin a new build like a rush job. Once again, I hope I'm not discouraging you, I just think that you are getting a little ahead of yourself. Take your time, you have the rest of your life ahead of you.

Joshua, Don't get discouraged. You are just getting some advice you were not planning on. That does not make it bad advice. If anything ALL of us want our builds to be perfect and awesome. But what you need to learn (as the rest of us are/did) is the perfect build takes time. I dont care if your woodshop teacher invented the CNC, you simply will not get it right the first time. What we don't want to see is someone not get it right the first time and throw their hands up in the air and say that this guitar building thing is impossible. If you are just hankering to cut something on the CNC, just make a body by itself. Don't ruin your neck! Besides, if you are doing this in woodshop, there are dozens of other tools you can use.

Yeah, I don't see a need to lubricate a router bit bearing. I have one where the bearing seal broke off, and collected a lof of dust in it. I just threw it away, as you dont want a ball bearing flying at you at 7000 RPMs

Joshua, I wish you the best of luck with your build(s). I don't want to seem negative, but I think that most of the people here are telling you correctly. There is a huge difference between using a CNC for a body blank and using it to carve around an existing and expensive neck. I you are hell bent on using a CNC then CNC the whole thing, not just the wings around the neck. Also keep in mind that this form is MOSTLY comprised of people who are hobbyist builders who build guitars for the sake of building. For many of us myself included it's not the goal we love, but the process. So you will encounter a bit of hesitation from a lot of us when a first time builder wants to take a lot of shortcuts into building. (Not that CNC is a shortcut, it is an art form all to itself, but you don't have any experience with that either) If you just want a custom guitar built without having to do any work, call a luither. If you want to build a guitar because you would enjoy the process of taking a bunch of un-cut wood and turning it into a work of art, then slow down. Read some books on building. Try to understand why we do the things we do. Learn the balance between what is nice to look at and what is functional. And finally, a honest word of advice. Your first 4-5 guitars will be ugly and have many mistakes (CNC or not). This is a hobby that takes time, money, blood, loss of relationships and patience. If you really want to learn to build guitars, try this: Return the neck and other parts you have ordered. Buy a Saga kit and fully assemble it. This will teach you the fundamentals of assembly Next Buy a body blank and neck blank from Stewart McDonald. Build your own guitar BY HAND from blocks of wood. This will give you a better understanding about: Shape, Weight distribution, ergonomics, PLANNING, Electronics design, the world of fretting and intonation, finishing and the sense of a job well done. Then Build another from scratch. Then another Now, if you still like the idea of building a guitar, go talk to your CNC operator buddy and work on it together. I hope this does not discourage you from building, but this stuff take lots of practice and time to get right. You will find that this can be a great community for serious builders.

You may also try wrapping your tuning machines in a thin layer of electrical tape.

That sounds more likely. Is this for a guitar you are building or one that already exists? If you are having this problem with an already built guitar, you may want to call the maker to ask them about it.

I don't think that it has anything to do with electromagnetics at all. I use them to dampen the pickup socket and make the pickups seat better, but as for sonic and or electric purposes, I can't see it would make one bit of difference. Perhaps you could find a lead sponge

That might be overkill

Did not know that...interesting, Thanks

You can get sheilding paint from StewMac. You can get sheilding tape. You can get a power conditioner for your rig.

Yeah, I think that some may have missed the point, in that this is a single billet of basswood. It's a neck thru design, and no scarfed headstock. So it's a single cut making the entirity of the EUB. I plan to use dual carbon fiber rods from bridge to nut. Yes the wood is properly dried. It's also been sitting in my shop for 2 years waiting to become something. I don't expect it snap, as its going to be a short scale 4 string. I hope the carbon fiber rods keep it from bowing. Its an experiment to begin with, I want to get the design down with a softer wood and then remake it with some shedua I have in the shop. Most professional EUBs I have seen do have compound radius fretboards. I also plan to fret this one.

You are probably right abouty it being too soft. I'm mostly done carving it anyway, so Ill finish it and chalk it up to experience if it fails.