mattharris75

I just don't understand this. If you're doing this for only aesthetic reasons then what is the point in doing it 'ugly'? This is self defeating. Sounds like, if you're not willing to put in the time doing it the right way, you'd be best served not doing it at all.

Thanks guys. Sounds like i'll make an educated guess on the size of bearing to order. May get 2 or 3 that seem the most likely. Chances are i'll need them all at some point anyway. As far as a jig for the binding channel. Anyone have any suggestions other than what I was thinking? Discovering new ways to do things and thinking through problems is great, but sometimes it's better just to learn from the masters. No reason to re-invent the wheel.

Nobody has a clue, ehh?...You bunch of worthless amateurs! Well, if I don't hear differently i'll probably just assume, based on the confusing way that stew mac phrases it, that the .75 is going to be my best bet. And i'm going to go ahead and create a couple of cauls to cradle the fretboard to cut the binding channels unless anybody has a superior method.

That is so nice...Doing a flamed maple veneer and a black burst like that on my MIM Tele is exactly what got me into building a guitar in the first place. That is going to be a beautiful instrument!

OK guys, two questions. First the one in the thread title. I am now planning on binding my fretboard. It's already on the neck, the board is taperd and radius'ed (I know, probably not the simplest order of operations here, and I will do it differently on the next build). I'm looking at the stew mac binding router bit: Stew Mac Binding Router Bit I'm also looking at this curly koa binding: Koa Binding The binding thickness is listed at .080". The bearing sizes they have for the bit don't match up with this size. The closest thing is .075". However, Stew mac also says that the bearing sizes have an extra .012" built in to account for swelling and glue thickness. I realize that the difference may be small, but i'm just trying to pick the proper bearing for this binding to minimize the amount of sanding I have to do. Does anyone have experience with this particular tool and binding combination? If so, which did you use and how did it work for you? OK, second question... Since i've already got a radius to my fretboard, cutting the binding channel seems a bit tricky. I do have access to a router table. My thoughts on a jig for this consisted of cutting a 12" radius on a small piece of 3/4" MDF, cutting it in half so that there are two identical cauls, and taping them to the fretboard so that the neck slides square to the router bit. This seems easy enough, but since I assume this is a fairly common situation I was wondering if any of you guys had a method that is particularly simple or that you prefer for whatever reason. Thanks!

That's some beautiful top wood and a nice choice of neck lams. Looks like it's going to be a sweet bass.

Lets see pics of the tru oil finished body!!!

Got a little more work done tonight. In the body I drilled the hole for the pickup wires to go to the control cavity as well as the hole underneath the bridge for the ground wire. Ended up having to use a masonry bit to finish it out, because the regular drill bit wasn't long enough. But the visually interesting part is this. Got the tuner holes drilled as well as the hole for my custom logo inlay. Also, set the inlay in with epoxy. It's a hair proud of the headstock surface, but nothing a little sanding won't take care of. I decided to err on the side of caution. Better too shallow a hole than too deep a hole. The tuners are wilkinsons. For the holes, the closest drill bit size I could find to the diameter of the tuner was 25/64". Seemed to work perfect. They are all quite snug. Next step is the side dots and getting it fretted. Depending on free time, should have those done in the next couple of weeks. Then it's onto carving the neck, which I admit I'm still slightly nervous about.

Yes, it's a flat bottomed slot, but the nut has a flat protrusion in the center so that it can be used in a flat slot, so that should be fine. I made a shim to fit in the slot last night out of an offcut from my fretboard. It's .05" thick, and looks like it is going to do the trick perfectly.

yup

That's one sweet combination of neck woods. Looking good!

I'm going to push for the recessed bar solution again. It looks clean, and it's easier to install (IMHO) than ferrules. Did you have the recessed bar made (or make it yourself), or did you purchase it somewhere? And if so, where?

Well, my mistake was obviously assuming that the two components would work together rather than measuring. Not a big deal, just one more confirmation that everything needs to be planned out. Fortunately, nut height is a pretty small and easy thing to fix. I've determined that if my nut slot is .14" at the edge, then it's probably about .15" at the top (estimating here, since i'm not at home and can't measure). Which means an additional .050" for the fret height and .030" to clear the frets and I need a .23" baseline nut height. So, looks like the flat bottomed 1/4" nut they sell would be the way to go, except for the fact that it's not slotted, and I have no desire to slot my own nut. So, either I find a pre-slotted nut of the right string spacing and height, or I make a small shim out of scrap rosewood to go under the nut. Seems like either route will work out OK.

The nut slot appears to be the same depth as the fret slots. I'm using #1866, the pre-slotted nut. It's listed at 3/16" thick, or .1875". But I measured it out to about .20". Perhaps this is part of the problem, the extra .05" depth from the unslotted nut could make the difference.

OK guys, I feel like i'm going crazy. I think I must have been test fitting my nut about halfway down in its slot, because when I went to mock everything up as I do every few days I noticed that the nut looked really low in the slot. So, I decided to take a few measurements. At the edge of the fretboard the recess for the nut is .14". The total height of the nut at this same edge is .18". This is not including the slots depth. My strings are going to drag on the frets at this height. The fretboard is a Stew Mac 25.5" fender style board. The nut is the Graph Tech fender nut that Stew Mac also stocks (12" vs 7 1/4" radius oddly enough, but I assumed a little slotting would do the trick). Is it commonly necessary to have to shim the nut higher in its slot, or am I missing something obvious here?

Very cool design, looking great so far! I did my routing in the same order you did yours, and I don't think that's uncommon. It will work out fine. Can't wait to see it finished. Good luck!

Well dang, I was wondering where to get a black plated jack like that. I ended up ordering the chrome one from Stew Mac. May have to order one of these now to complete the black hardware theme. Thanks for the info Rick!

Rick, check out this picture of my pickup cover: Pickup Cover It's not mahogany, but the center section is walnut which also has very open grain. I got a very smooth finish on it without grainfilling. And if you are interested in a black grainfiller, just do what I did. I stained the wood a couple of coats of black, then sanded it back so the black was only in the grain. I applied a thick coat of tru oil for the first coat. Then for the second coat I wet sanded with tru oil and the 1200 grit micro mesh paper. I then continued to apply regular coats, and after about every half dozen coats i'd wet sand it smooth. Once I was happy with the smoothness (somewhere around 15 coats) I wet sanded one last time and put in two very very thin coats on top to give it a nice shine. The result is this: The pores in the wood were totally filled and I had the cool appearance of having used black grainfiller.

I've seen people compare walnut to mahogany more than any other wood.

The Exploder!!!

I may do that as well, once I get done finishing the neck properly. But i'll do the full treatment on the sides of the board. I'm pretty happy with how the tru oil finish has turned out on my pickup cover, beautiful finish. I posted a link to a pic of it in my build thread. Tru oil is some good stuff, i'm still halfway considering it to finish the body, but I think I want a bit more of a dipped in glass look.

Thanks guys. The fretboard is rosewood, BTW. I will just carry it to the edge of the fretboard as I had originally intended.

I'm planning on doing an oil finish on my first guitar neck built from scratch. The neck is unbound, so my question is this. Is it recommended to put a finish of some type on the side grain of an unbound fretboard? I know it's not exactly end grain, but wasn't sure if there was a compelling argument one way or the other, or if this was just a matter of personal choice. I was planning on oiling the side grain simply for aesthetic reasons, if nothing else, assuming there is no reason not to.

Got some work done over the July 4th holiday. Made the pickup template and routed the pickup cavity as well as drilling out the hole for the jack. But before doing that I had to make sure that my pickup still fit in the finished pickup cover, and it did. Pickup in finished pickup cover Everything is going well progress-wise. I have a few custom little things that i'm working on as well as cleaning up some things on the neck before I try to fret it. My stew-mac order with fretting tools should arrive tomorrow!

My P90 came with foam rubber pads, but the principle is the same as springs. However, that's still a pretty limited amount of adjustment. So yeah, the depth of your route is pretty important. Of course it can always be shimmed if it is too deep. One of the reasons I haven't cut my pickup cavity yet is I haven't determined how far from the strings a P90 should typically be.