Rick500

I'm getting ready to cut the template for the next one... just thought I'd run it by you guys to see if there are any glaringly apparent issues. The incomplete curve at the bottom is the original outline of the bottom of the body, but I decided to bring it in a bit to cut down on the weight (mahogany). I'm going to smooth out the curve on the lower body sides a little, and although the neck is centered correctly on the center line, it has the illusion of being closer to the left side due to the relative size and shape of the horns... I may change that curve a bit. The neck joins the body at the 18th fret on the bass side and about the 21st fret on the treble side. It will be a bolt-on neck, 25.5" scale length.

How awesome is that?! Just beautiful. I love it.

Thanks, guys. My only issue, really, was combining the recesses for the tuner bushings with the thinner carved portion of the headstock. Either one of those separately would not have presented too much of a problem, but getting the recesses to exactly the same level as the carve was tough. This time around, I think I'm going to cut out the carved portion as I did before, and inlay some mahogany there (the headstock will be black limba). Then maybe still recess the tuner bushings, but not as deeply. (In the pic above, the thinner part of the headstock is 1/2" and the thicker portion is 11/16".)

I had an idea for a headstock that's a little different, so I decided to give it a test run today. Ignore the too-wide tuner nut insets. It was a good idea but I think I'm going to abandon it, for now at least. (I just made the headstock; it's not attached to a neck, so no big loss. Just scrap wood.) It did raise a question though, which is why I'm posting. If I was going to do something like this in the future, what's a good way to go about getting the round insets exactly the same level as the part of the headstock on the right that's cut thinner? I had a tough time since the Forstner bit cut a deeper circle around the perimeter. I thought about a spade bit but didn't think it would cut cleanly enough. [Edit: It just occurred to me that I could have cut the whole headstock the lesser thickness and added the thicker part on as an overlay...]

Very nice... I'm extremely happy with the black limba neck blanks I recently got from him as well. (I guess I already said that in another post, but it's worth repeating. )

I know how you feel... Blood, check. Sweat, check. Tears... before it's over, yeah, very possibly.

Being somewhat of a Carvin fanatic (I think I'm up to 13 of them now), I'll add to the Carvin plug and say, Carvin makes the best necks I've ever played. That's a good way to go.

T minus 3 days to new jointer

If you're going to veneer it anyway, you could just use a block of whatever kind of wood you have handy. (If I had any alder I'd send you a piece.)

Someone say limba? I bought a couple of really nice black limba neck blanks from SoundAt11 recently. One of them is flamed. (Oops, thought I had a pic but it's on my other PC. I'll post up when I start building something with it.)

Glad it wasn't too bad. Every once in a while I do something stupid and get a harsh reminder to pay attention.

I haven't bought anything from them except a few cheap clamps and an angle grinder. The clamps are so-so, but I'm very happy with the angle grinder. It's worked perfectly so far and was only $16. Can't beat that. I would not risk buying anything from them that I expected to do any kind of precision job, though.

Fretboard drilled for dot inlays: Although I test-fitted my 4mm abalone dot inlays in a piece of pine, the hole ended up being a little smaller in the fretboard than in the test (more likely, it's just that cocobolo is harder than pine ). So I ran a round file around one of the inlay holes, put in a little epoxy, and tapped the inlay in. It worked okay, but it was a pain and I'm trying to come up with some other way to open up the holes a little for the rest of the abalone dots... Edit: I wrapped a little 150 grit sandpaper around the shank of an appropriately-sized drill bit to open up the holes for the inlay a little. Got them all in today. Did I mention I *hate* working with epoxy? I'm going to use CA next time. (I used it for the side dots and it was fine.) I also was able to fix my little problem with the neck pocket today. (My template slipped a little when I was routing the pocket, and I took away some wood I didn't mean to.) I mixed up some epoxy with mahogany dust, and along with a 1/64"-thick (or so) veneer of mahogany, it's as good as new and fits tightly to the neck. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/rick...neck_inlays.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/rick...body_neck_2.jpg

I'm getting ready to put 4mm abalone dot inlays (and 2mm side dots) into my cocobolo fretboard. I've read from different sources, variously, that black epoxy, superglue, or Titebond should be used. From what I understand, black epoxy is best for filling and hiding any gaps around the inlay. These are just dots, and I have drill bits that are exactly the right size, so I'm thinking black epoxy is not necessary for my installation. Is that correct? Any pros and cons for superglue or Titebond? Also, I've already radiused my fretboard (12" radius). I'm setting the dots into the bass side of the fretboard rather than centering them. Do I need to shim the bottom of the neck (it's not shaped yet) against the drill press table to account for the fretboard radius so that the holes for the dots are at the right angle? Or is it such a small difference as to be ignored? Thanks. (I did search for this, by the way, and didn't come up with anything.)

No worries. It seems to be working fine. I was worried I'd have to take out too much headstock material if I had the adjuster any lower.

Wow. I'm surprised at how good the thing sounded, but I'm not all that surprised that we were all over the board with our guesses.

You might be surprised how close to perfect you can get it with hand sanding.

Oh, also, amazon.com has Freud 7/32" straight bits for about $12.50. Good to know if you're already ordering something else from them that'll make the order over $25 for free shipping (or if you have Amazon Prime). [Edit: I saw the post above after I posted this. I've not used Stew-Mac's bit, but the Freud bit worked perfectly.]

And what made you think that that upside down would work? Think about it ? If you adjust the rod, it will bow backwards to what it was designed for?????(I'm not really sold on the hotrod anyways when they suggest using silcone to install it) Not sure I understand your thought process on this one???????? Can you make me understand????????? Maybe I'm missing something here???? Just asking? MK Well, I thought, "hmmm, it's not gonna work for me right side up because I don't like where the adjustment access is gonna be. Wonder if I can use it upside-down?" Then I came here and did a search and found that it had worked for several people, so I decided to try it. I figured if it worked for Perry, Mattia and Wez, it'd work for me. (Here's the thread: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=28524 )

My first too, so I won't be answering many of them, but I had a handle on that one.

Yes, that'll work. I installed mine upside-down (rod with adjuster on top) to put the adjustment access where I wanted it. I routed from the end of one block to the end of the other, then used a 1/8" radius (1/4" diameter) core box bit to cut the channel for adjustment access.

I'll leave your first question for someone more experienced with finishes, but I suspect it might be some kind of sealer. As for making the edges of the bevel sharper, just round them off a little with sandpaper.

Just freeing up the cash for something I can use now (like that jointer I'm planning on buying in a week or so).

Ah, yeah, you're right. Sorry, didn't mean to mislead. I'll edit the original post. I'm keeping 25 feet of it, which will keep me busy for a couple years at my pace, I would think.

Yeah, I live within 15 minutes of their retail place as well. They're good guys. Can't help on the shipping question, though.