Rick500

You may not intend to ever adjust the truss rod after initial setup, but odds are you will have to anyway. Seasonal changes in temperature and/or humidity will most likely make it necessary to give the truss rod a little tweak once or twice a year.

Just kind of popped into my head: A thin layer of ebony or similar (or of one of the laminates in the fretboard) between the (slightly thinner) fretboard and the neck might be worth trying next time, as a decorative touch and to maybe save the fretboard if it has to come off.

Thanks, guys. I cleaned up some unevenness in the end of the pocket and got the fit really close to where it should be. It's still not perfect, but it's within 1/16" now. I'm either going to take the curve out of it and put a block in it and reroute the end, or try the epoxy and mahogany dust method. The sides are tighter than I thought. They fit perfectly tight with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper between the neck and the side of the pocket. I'm going to put a piece of mahogany veneer on each side of the pocket to tighten that up. Anyway, the next one will be cut with a template of the neck instead of just straightedge router guides. The pic makes the end of the pocket look worse than it really is; it's partly the shadow of the end of the neck.

Yeah, hold out for the larger band saw if you can. I have the 12" Jet and it's a great saw, especially for an entry-level band saw, but I wish I could put riser blocks on it.

There's a list of others' kit build pages, many of them with oiled finishes, here: http://carvinbbs.com/viewtopic.php?t=36

I'm not sure if Woodburst stains are unusual in this respect, but they're made with tung oil, so I figured it would be the best option for staining under tung oil.

The one on the left is koa (old school streaky koa from the mid 90's ). The right one is swamp ash. Here's another pic of the koa guitar (it's a Carvin DC135). There's some step-by-step info on how I finished the stained guitar here: http://aias-inc.com/rick/carvin

Here's one I stained with Woodburst bing cherry and then tung oiled (Minwax tung oil finish). The one to the left is a factory finish, but is also Minwax tung oil finish (no stain).

That's a beauty! Nice work. I would not have thought about going for a shape such as that, but it sure turned out great.

I'm 35, but I stopped feeling different as I aged, at about 19. Not a bad thing at all. (Eh, except when I participate in any kind of physically demanding sport... in which case my body reminds me I'm not in fact 19 anymore.)

I have a 12" Jet band saw; it's the best tool I have. Everything is solid and of good quality. (I wish I had bought at least a 14" though.) I use Cool Blocks and Timberwolf blades and would recommend both.

Well, the gap between the neck and the *sides* of the pocket, if I don't move the neck up to make it tighter, is very small, maybe 1/32". And in that case, where I don't move the neck, the gap at the *end* of the neck is probably 1/8" except for the one spot where I routed outside the pocket, which is another 1/8". I'll have to put the neck back in the pocket when I get home and see how big all the gaps actually are rather than relying on memory and then make a decision. But if there's more than 1/8" anywhere I'll make a template, epoxy in a block of mahogany, and route it again.

Thanks for that! I'm leaning toward trying the epoxy & mahogany dust method you described. Before I do that, though, how thick a layer of candle wax do you mean? I'm assuming as thin as possible while still covering the masked areas. Alternately, I wonder what would be the consequences of moving the neck away from the bridge as I described before (I haven't positioned the bridge or the pickups yet, so everything would move away from the end of the body a quarter inch), leaving the quarter inch gap at the end of the neck and laying in a small mahogany cavity cover. At first thought, it seems doable, but I don't know what the tonal and structural implications of not having the end of the neck contacting the body would be. I think the epoxy & mahogany dust is probably my best bet; just exploring alternatives. Thanks again.

What type of white paint would you mix with the epoxy? Or does it matter?

Everything's been going very well with my first build (Strat-ish, mahogany body, was going to be routed from the rear and have two direct-mounted humbuckers, hardtail bridge), but now I'm having some difficulty with the neck pocket. Not surprising, probably, since it's the first one I've tried to make. I laid out the neck in its correct position and transferred its outline to the body, clamped up a couple pieces of straight maple, one on either side of the neck, and another piece at the end of the neck, to serve as a guide for the router with a template-following bit. I routed out the neck pocket and it looked great at first (and still does, mostly), except that the small piece of wood I used as the routing guide at the end of the neck, was only held down with double-sided tape and it ended up coming loose and moving down toward the end of the body about 1/8", and I ended up routing outside of the shape of the end of the neck a little. So I have three problems now: 1. There's that little 1/8" nick outside of where the neck pocket should be. If this was the only problem, I'd probably just forget about it since it's going to be under the fretboard overhang and I probably won't be able to see it. 2. I should have put a layer or two of masking tape along my routing guides, to make the neck pocket super tight. I didn't, and the neck doesn't sit tightly in the pocket unless I move the neck up (away from the bridge) about a quarter inch. The angles of the sides of the pocket are correct; the neck will fit very tightly if it's moved this way. My first thought was that the finish that will be on the neck and neck pocket will take up some of the slack. And I'd just mount the neck a quarter inch up from where I was going to (there'd still be 2.75" of neck pocket that way), but then there'd be a quarter inch gap at the end of the neck. Any advice here? If all else fails, I'd front route the guitar and put a figured maple pickguard on it, but I'd like to avoid that. 3. The curve at the end of the neck is difficult to match in the neck pocket (I mean I'm having trouble routing out the end of the neck pocket to match the neck), because I didn't plan ahead enough when I decided what type of routing guides to use for the pocket. I don't have a nice curve at the end of the pocket to match that of the neck, and now I'm not sure how to get it (or even if I should try now, due to #2 above). Next time I will make a template from the actual neck rather than trying to get close and then trying to tweak the end of the pocket by hand. Any advice is appreciated. This one's a big learning experience, so I want to take the time to not only learn from my mistakes, but also to learn how to fix them.

I don't usually go for pointies, but I like that body shape. Good luck!

Must...resist...commenting on "you're." (Just a friendly ribbing. I know it was just a typo. )

There are some radius gauges you can print and cut out at the following link: http://www.kinman.com/html/toneWorkshop/radius.htm

A few pics from Carvin's booth: New NS1 MIDI classical: http://www.carvin.com/namm2007/images/NS1k-steve.jpg V220 & Ultra V reissues: http://www.carvin.com/namm2007/?day=19

Out of curiosity, how much epoxy did you have to use to get two coats on that? I have a little 2-part tube of maybe 4 ounces, and I'm wondering how much that will cover.

Thanks. Yeah, a spokeshave is on my list. Any recommendation as to what type? I've seen at least a half dozen different ones on eBay.

Yeah, I think there's some truth to that. If you look at some of the black hardware at Stew-Mac, there are shipping restrictions to EU market countries because those pieces of hardware are not RoHS-compliant.

I like streaky ebony too.

Carved the belly contour this evening. I set out to do it with an angle grinder with a 60 grit flap disc, but ended up doing it by hand with a rasp and sandpaper. This is the first hand carving I've done on anything, ever, and boy did I have a great time! I was worried I was gonna screw something up, but the contour practically appeared on its own with minimal help from me. Gives me a lot more confidence for when neck shaping time rolls around.

I'm assuming the aluminum tape that's been mentioned as acceptable, is the type sold for the purpose of sealing ducts? (Not talking about "duct tape," but the aluminum variety that is actually used on ducts.)