Rick500

Just got a reply from Grizzly about their truss rods (that was fast): We appreciate your interest in our H6031 Truss Rod. This item measures approximately 0.370" in depth.

I wonder if India ink would work?

Thanks; I hadn't thought to check Grizzly. I e-mailed them asking for the depth of their truss rod. I'll post here if I get that information.

I've been using StewMac Hot Rods, but now I'm looking for something (2-way) that doesn't need as deep a channel. (Hot Rods need 7/16".) LMI's is an option (3/8" deep), but they're a bit expensive at over $24. Does anyone know of a US source for Gotoh's 2-way truss rod? Any suggestions for others?

So far... (I'll move it to In Progress after this post) Rough cut: Neck blank glued up (black limba/padauk/flamed maple/padauk/black limba): http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/rick..._blank_done.jpg [Edit: Moved to "In Progress" forum here...]

Oh, right, didn't catch that.

Looks like that's not the original nut. The closeup seems to show that it's protruding a significant amount from the bass side of the fretboard.

I'd probably just put a 1/2" top and a 1/4" back on it (or some combination thereof).

You could make a template of your current body, then retrace it with a big washer (let the washer follow the body and put your pencil inside the washer) and make a larger template. Then just use your regular template bit.

If you wanted to practice on something, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do it with something inexpensive like a 2x4, but assuming you're talking about a 2x4 you get a Home Depot or similar, that's going to be pine, which is not suitable for a guitar neck. It's much too soft. You need some sort of suitable hardwood: mahogany and hard maple are the most common. You'll have to take a look at the plans to see what the minimum dimensions of the blank will have to be.

I don't follow how that would make any difference in the thickness of the body. Are you concerned that it's presently not thick enough for a bolt-on neck joint?

I'd probably move the low E side down 1/8" rather than move the high E up.

I used to work in a restaurant, and we used those for cooking spray. They do help with hand fatigue, but the ones I've used would eventually get a drop on the plastic piece that pushes the spray button and interfere with the spray pattern.

You usually have a fraction of an inch of adjustment room for intonation. How far off is it?

Go to Photobucket.com, set up a free account, follow instructions there to upload, then you'll see a line below each pic that starts with an IMG tag in square brackets. Copy that line and paste it into a post here.

Keep in mind it's extremely heavy. It's great for fretboards, and I've seen entire necks made from it (they must weigh a ton), and even tops.

In theory anyway, it doesn't seem like it should be any different than fret calculations on the traditional side of the nut. You'd have to pay some attention to having a breaking edge on both sides of the nut

Heh... I just went back and read your thread. Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind, except walnut on the outsides and maple in the middle. (Mainly because I already have a big enough piece of scrap in that configuration and I already know it looks cool. )

Thanks. This is my first one built from scratch, and I'm going slow and being as meticulous as possible. I've learned a bunch from building this one. I'm going to do a Tru-Oil finish on it. I'm going to wet sand with Tru-Oil to fill the grain, as a couple people suggested. I'm just about ready to start sanding and finishing... just have to get the nut installed and slotted, and build a couple of mahogany humbucker rings (I may even make wood covers for them...was thinking walnut with a maple stripe might be cool). I put a divot in the headstock to neck transition while using a sanding drum with a handheld drill (dumb), so I'm still deciding how to fix that. I can't really put a headstock overlay on it as-is, since now I have a not only curved, but curved and irregular surface. I'm thinking I might be able to just take the thickness of the whole headstock down to the lowest level of the "error" and put a relatively thick mahogany overlay on it.

Have you figured out the positioning of everything (bridge, pickups, etc.) on the guitar yet? With a 25.5" scale and 36 frets, the last fret will be at about 22.32" from the nut. You're only going to have about 3" between the last fret and the bridge.

Figuring a very rough estimate of an average of 2" per fret for a 6-string fretboard (which is not completely accurate but in the ballpark), 36 frets would be 72" or 6 feet. You'll need more than that to account for overhang, waste, practice, etc. (Are you going to be able to use that many frets?) The function of the truss rod is to reinforce and adjust the neck, so its length is selected based on the neck length. Of course, the neck length will vary partially based on the scale length, but also on other factors such as the location of the body/neck joint.

Cool! I've started a black limba/padauk/flamed maple/padauk/black limba neck with a cocobolo fretboard. Black limba and cocobolo look sharp together.

Don't forget: nut screws for truss rod cover and control cavity cover strap buttons w/ screws output jack string-through ferrules, front and back if needed

Use a pattern bit with a bearing above the cutter, and make your template deep enough that the bearing will follow the pattern and the blade will only cut into the body the desired depth. As in this pic which I borrowed from routerbits.com ... but with a thicker template. [Edit: Oh, did you mean, how do you use templates to cut both the cavity recess and the cover? I asked that one myself not too long ago... I ended up making a template for the cavity, another for the recess for the cover (since I didn't have appropriate-sized bearings for using one template to cut the cavity and the recess), and a third for the cover itself, then just fine-tuned the cover by hand sanding it.]

I've heard that mineral spirits will turn it brown. Hadn't heard that tung oil would. Here are a few more opinions: http://www.woodworkstuff.net/OakPurpHrt.html