Rick500

(Answered my own question. There's a tenon in Melvyn's book that's 70mm long. Never mind, carry on.)

Speaking of set necks: The one I've planned out has the tenon going into the body about 89mm (3.5"). That's most of the way through the neck pickup cavity. The tenon is the entire width and depth of the neck. Is that a reasonable amount of tenon to have glued in? Here's a not-to-scale drawing:

I always use black. If I were to do something in blue, I'd use chrome, but that's probably the only exception. No reason, just what I like.

I asked once before and was told it wasn't a good idea, but now that it's been brought up again specifically with mahogany in mind, my curiosity is renewed: My current project guitar is mahogany, and I want to Tru-Oil it, but being mahogany, I want to grain fill it first. Either dark brown or black. (Anyone have a pic of black-grain-filled mahogany?) I really dislike working with epoxy. Will CA cause an issue with Tru-Oil? Opinions seem to be mixed. Someone responded before that the oil would probably not penetrate into the wood after CA was applied, but my understanding is that the CA will only remain in the pores and not on the surface.

Some of his eBay listings are funny. What the heck is "solidwood?" Never heard of it.

You mean a bezel (mounting ring)? If so, try this: http://www.universaljems.com/cart/rings.htm

I wasn't around at the time, but I read the whole saga a couple months ago. Wow. Just, wow.

I'm certainly willing to give rasps another shot. Any particular recommendation as to a good one? I don't mind spending $20 or $30 if it will help. [Edit: I just looked at leevalley.com and woodcraft.com and see a lot of rasps in the $50-$70 range. Any good but less expensive options? If it comes down to it, I'll spend the $50.] [Edit again: I just found this thread, but my experience with cheap rasps is counter to the advice therein.]

I see the reflection of a Donnie Darko poster in the guitar top. One of my all-time favorite movies. Good stuff. The guitar looks good too.

Just as long as you find something as close in color to the body wood as possible, it should work fine. I did the same thing to my first neck pocket, by the way, and it came out great. Can't even tell there was a fix.

Some veneer of the same wood as the body, glued to the sides of the neck pocket should work.

Did you specifically ask Aaron about the possibility of a reverse 7 headstock? They make their 7-string in a lefty version, so the CNC machines will do the headstock lefty or righty.

Thanks. Already taken care of; I bought this piece and "the good piece" (flamed, even!) at the same time.

Any ideas on sources for a decent Japanese hand saw with a .023" kerf? I'm really unhappy with my Stew-Mac fretting saw. (Only tool I've bought from them that I haven't liked.)

It'd really be advisable to have the neck in hand when you're making the neck pocket.

I started out building my first one as a modified SG (body shape was a little different; had a longer bass side horn, etc.). As I went through that build, I decided it would really be beneficial to have a "model" to reference, so I stopped the SG build and started building a Strat type guitar (I have a Carvin Bolt for reference). It may not be the same for everyone, but it really helped me a lot. Of course, you could always find a detailed CAD plan and print it out life size, and have all the same reference points. I have a full-scale drawing of my Strat build, but it was still nice to have the supplemental guidance of an actual guitar to look at as I went along.

Sounds like you may have the same Ryobi table saw that I have. I've never been impressed with it.

Actually, I just finished a fretboard where I did exactly that. The inlays are just dots though, so nothing crossing the fret lines.

...but I can't believe how nice this neck blank I just took out of the clamps, looks. Thanks SoundAt11 for the awesome black limba. And this isn't even the "good" piece! (That's a little padauk in the middle.)

Yes, it can be done.

You can get a Carvin kit for just over $400, nothing further needed to make it nice.

You'll be surprised at how naturally curves just kind of pop out of wood once you get the feel for it. I just bought a Microplane over the weekend, and I have a spokeshave, files, and a rasp as well, so here are my comparative impressions: I love the spokeshave. I bought a cheaper one (a Stanley, it was $20 or $30) and tuned it up so everything is as sharp and flat as is possible. It works great. I've found that even set to take off as little wood as possible, it's best not to use it to get extremely close to finished dimensions. (At least not at my skill level.) No sawdust is a big plus. I don't like the rasp much, but maybe it's because I (again) have a cheap one. $8 or something. I just don't see anything it can do that I wouldn't prefer using a file to do instead. It leaves quite a rough surface, and I can't control it as precisely as a file. . No sawdust, though. I have a singlecut and a doublecut file, and I use them constantly. The neck I'm currently building, I started shaping with a spokeshave, then moved to files and sandpaper. Worked nicely. I haven't used the Microplane very much yet, but it seems to be somewhere in between a rasp and a file. It's not as coarse as a rasp, but more aggressive than a file. I'd use it instead of a rasp, but I think I still prefer files.

I'll try and get a pic later. There are Cool Blocks and a bearing guide, top and bottom.

My Jet 12" bandsaw is my favorite power tool. I've never had any problems whatsoever with it, and it does exactly what it's supposed to. I love working with it. The blade that comes with it is not great though, so I put a Timber Wolf blade on it, as well as replaced the blocks with Cool Blocks. I wish I'd gone with a larger one, but it's what I could afford at the time, and at under $350 (it was on sale at Woodcraft) it was a bargain.

I've been really happy with my $349 Ridgid planer. ($379 now I think.)