tdog

Yo! Mushy!!!!! Are you sure you didn't have the blade in backwards!!!!!!! HA!!!!! Seriously....A dull saw blade is a very dangerous tool......Safety, unfortunatly, does not seem to get discussed around here very often......SAFETY FIRST!!!!!!! A quick true story about table saw safety.... A well known home builder/remodeler( He is a client of my exotic wood supplier) in my area was cutting one last piece of trim for the day on his job-site table saw......Could have been a slightly dulled blade, a rip fence out of alignement, or maybe just fatigue....Regardless, the workpiece he was ripping, violently kicked back on him, catching him in the groin. The impact was enough to cause tremendous pain, doubling him over. He tried to catch himself from falling by attempting to brace himself on the table saw. His hand slid across the table and then into the saw blade.... running the blade right between his middle finger and ring finger all the way to his wrist. The poor guy almost bled out......After 9 or so operations....he has very limited used of what used to be a hand...it looks more like a birth defect now.

First....I'd have built the neck myself for the learning experience. Nothing better than learning a new skill.....Remember knowledge is power Second....After you break down the price vs materials vs hours of labor.....I'd bet that this neck was built at far less the minimum wage.....Work smarter not harder.

Slaughthammer.....You may have great difficulty bending Ebony.....It is a very dense but brittle wood. Concerning yor import taxes and duties......I have sent wood and other things to clients in Germany and avoided these duties by declaring the items as gifts, thus they enter duty-free.....or at a very reduced rate.

Skibum......Birds Eye Maple is hard maple and it will respond well to dye, despite the Warmoth website.

Ash is not a resinous or oily wood...it should not be a problem to dye. I have about 30 or 40 sq ft of dyed ash veneer and it is very evenly colored....It may have been dyed in a pressure vat though. I know furniture makers......myself included....who have dyed ash with no problems. Also, in my years as an artist(working with wood and metal), I've never heard of ash as being difficult to dye or stain. BTW....Thanks for the compliment on the tele....It screams! I hope you guys get it sorted out.....This sort of thing can be terribly frustrating.

I've been using aniline dyes for over 10 years.....I never quite warmed up to the concept of putting down any sort of basecoat, be it shellac, sealer or anything else, before the dye process was completed! Surely someone out there could find flaws in other methods, but aren't dyes supposed to be applied to wood?....afterall, you objective is to dye the wood, not the sealer...it is no wonder streaking takes place. Here is a pic of a tele I built a few years back using water based aniline dye..... http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=2958 http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=2973 No sealer was used until the dye job was completed.... If I were finishing this guitar, I'd sand it down and skip the lacquer or sealer until I've dyed the top. Use CA as a grain filler. Be sure to dampen the wood before you apply the dye, this will help prevent streaking. It is like nearly anything else, ask 5 guys how to do something, and you'll get 5 different answers. This process works for me, it may work for you.

Fender4me....What part of the world are you in?.....I can hook you up with a blank of Honduras Mahogany for a decent price without having to buy the entire board. I'm not a dealer, but have a ton of great wood and from time to time sell some of my stash to either thin the lumber racks or offset my costs. Shoot me an e-mail, if you are interested, and give me minimum dimensions. I have Hon Mahog in 8/4 @ 22in wide, but I'll rip it to your specs. I also have some nice BM flame and quilt maple. ........Why not use Corian or Ivory.....I have deer antler,...I'm not sure if it would be dense enough, though. tdog@nauticom.net

Soapbar........Head down to your local hobby store and you will find a great selection of super glues, epoxies and accelerators.......This stuff is the "favorite fruit" of model airplane builders. The brand name is Bob Smith Industies, but may be packaged generically with the hobby shop's name on it. I recently bought a refill sized 8oz (I think) bottle of accelerator for @$11 and it will last me for 6 months. An 8oz bottle of superglue is @$16.....If you buy an 8oz bottle, you can store the unused portion in your freezer almost indefinately. If the internet is your prefered method of procurement.....try Lone Star Models.....I've bought from them many times.

Pop the neck...there should be a date stamped on the heel of the neck and sometimes in the neck pocket itself.....Also the pots are dated.

Olive wood is a very dense and oily wood with more moves than a high school cheerleading squad. You wouldn't believe the amount of movement that Olive wood exhibits!!!!!....... You can joint and plane a board and the next day it could be twisted and far from flat! It is definately not "instrument grade" wood. Even when kiln dried, the radial and tangential movement is too great.....although a veneer layer for a top or back should pose few or no problems. If you are a wood turner, it is great for bowls and such...it will take a glass-like polish. ......I remember seeing an awesome entryway table a few years ago that was built using olive veneer....but it was veneer.

What kind of pickups are you planning to use? The best sounding rock'n'roll guitar I ever heard was a friend's 1960 Les Paul Jr.....with 1 big bad P-90!.....A MONSTER TONE!!!!!! This is saying something, because I was playing a '59 Les Paul and a "55 LP......the LP Jr. totally killed and there was no maple on that guitar.

I'd bypass the cabinet scraper and use a..... say..... .011 razor blade as a scraper.it will be a bit more flexible so as to conform to any contour on the body, but you still must be very careful, because the thin nature of the blade can cause a chatter in the scraping action.

I would not recommend Zebrano for use in a neck. It is a fairly dense wood, but it can be brittle.....It is surprisingly stable, but can develop small, almost microscopic checks or cracks, even after a finish has been applied. I've worked with Zebrano for about 10 years and it would make a great top for your project, but experience tells me to stay away from it as a neck material......There are many other better choices available.....I just would not run the risk of those tiny checks.....only 1 could compromise the integrity of your neck. I'm sure you could build a laminated neck with Zebra, combined with other proven woods, and it would work well......but why take the chance.........The is a lot of mechanical force working on the neck. ......my 2 cents

The seller in the auction you provided the link to, has had some fine wood for sale on Ebay for about the last 10 months or so. If you want it, you should put a high proxy bid in, because this looks like some prime stuff! If I didn't need a new digital camera, I might place a bid myself! I've seen some of his billets fetch over $500!!!!!!

Dugz Ink......Nice job on the tutorial....I was wondering how long it would take for the correct terminology to "surface"!......(get it?).....surface?

WOW!!!! This sure has been a fun thread to read. All these guys are saying is... "knowledge is knowing where to find it". Yeah, nice mahogany is tough to find, but the bigger heartbreak is mangling a beautiful piece of wood because you don't have all the skills needed to build the instrument. Here is my one time only offer........1 Honduras Mahogany body blank 2x14x22 for 37.50+UPS shipping.......I am not a dealer......I just have a great stash of wood......I'm in PA, so shipping in the Northeast should not be huge $$$$$. Email me if interested.....I don't want a hundred e-mails and a gazzillion questions....if you want a body blank, I have 'em. Greg

Here is a link for HOK paints........$235/pint for Chameleon colors. http://www.autobodysupply.net/houseofcolor/houseof.htm

Derek......Check the Warmoth website....There is a page dealing with neck woods....There should be enough info there. I have some red canary in my "stash", but haven't had a chance to use any......It is hard and heavy with a decent tap tone.....for what that's worth! BTW.....Did you get my reply from the other day?

I've posted at length on this before......CA works well......You may want to go to a hobby store and get your CA there......The 8oz bottles from Bob Smith Industries cost about $16......Soft spalted wood drinks a lot of CA......Depending on how soft your wood is.....you may need nore than a 2oz bottle of Hot Stuff. Another option is CPES....Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer.....it is expensive but works great. http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/product.html

Better product?......More versatile? I guess I'll have to try resawing some macassar ebony fretboards on a jig saw! LOL!!!! C'mon.....A bandsaw is the safest, most versatile saw in any shop.......Both a jig saw and a bandsaw have their strong points, but it is an apples to oranges comparison. If you are building guitars, a 14in bandsaw is almost a necessity. On the Rigid bandsaw....I looked at one at Home Depot the other day and I must say that you get a substantial machine for the money.......For only about double the money of a good jig saw, you can have a much more useful tool which will make life much easier in your shop.......I personally have 3 bandsaws....an 8in Delta....a 14in Delta....and a 36in Powermatic(Griggio).

....These dimensions are both taken at given points along the contour(taper) of the neck...It does not address the question of overall thickness....only the taper or the depth of the neck along the first 12 frets.....The wood for a bolt on neck of this type(Tele), Starts out as 4/4 stock and is milled to a finished thickness of 3/4in....Then a 1/4in fretboard is added........The depth at the first and 12th frets is irrelevant at this point.

Measuring from the back of a Tele neck......(which starts out being milled flat.......then the contour of the neck is shaped)......... At the headstock.....9/16in........At the heel.....3/4in......plus the thickness of the fretboard....1/4in.....For a total 1in, as AlexVDL stated. The thickness of the headstock can be drum sanded to the 9/16in dimension.....thus giving the arc towards the fretboard. A sanding drum of 2 1/2in or 3in (about the diameter of a beer can!) should put you in the ballpark.....I can't recall the exact size needed.

HOLY CRAP!!!!! First we are making riser blocks out of wood and now routing aluminum.....At one point someone actually asked if they could chuck a sanding drum in a router!!!!! I've stood back now and read some amazing posts, but I have to say...... YOU GUYS ARE NUTS!!!! IT IS AMAZING THAT A FEW OF YOU STILL HAVE ENOUGH DIGITS LEFT TO ACTUALLY PLAY A GUITAR THAT YOU BUILT! I gotta tell ya....Safety is paramount when working with tools...power or hand......The common denominator to a vast amount of the posts on this board is...."How can I build this guitar for nothing"..... or ....."What is the cheapest way to do this".......I've yet to read anything about safety. .....I've got a suggestion for a poll....WHO HERE HAS ALL THEIR FINGERS? Go ahead and bust on me if you feel the need, I'm just glad that I've got nothing to do with your major medical insurance. Moderators.....delete this if you want, but someone has to post using a cautionary tone....maybe someone will wake up and save themselves from serious injury.

Grainger is usually overpriced......You can probably find a 1/2hp motor at a used appliance or salvage yard for $20 or $30......Good Luck!......That is a common motor, so you should be able to find one.

If you are patient, a good 14in bandsaw can be found at a garage sale for next to nothing......As with many used machines, check it over thoroughly.....Certain parts that need to be replaced, will turn a great deal on a used machine into a headache! Also check out auctions and estate sales.