mattharris75

I believe I read that the rule of thumb is to have 1/8" below the truss rod. Which means you need .125 minimum. What you have is not .63, but .063, i'm sure that was just a mistype. But yeah, it looks like you need a bit more beef underneath it. Of course i'm not that experienced with this as i'm just building my first neck, but that's the number that my reading has turned up. So if someone more experienced has a firsthand opinion that differs, they may tell you, otherwise i'd re-design the neck slightly if I was you.

Belly cut is done. Not sure if i'm going to leave it the way it is or make it a bit larger. But I do like the smooth curves of it. Also did the arm cut, and did a little more sanding and working the roundover into the body a bit. Plenty more to go on that front, obviously. The actual Skelf guitars seem to have fairly subtle arm and belly cuts, and look great. So maybe i'll leave them that way. I'd really like to give it a more organic look, probably should have used a larger than 1/2" roundover. Oh well, live and learn.

Mmm....I agree with Setch. The blue dragonfly was quite interesting and impressive, but not my thing. This guitar, on the other hand, is truly beautiful to me.

So tonight I got my neck templates rough cut. I also managed to get the 1/2" roundover done on the body. Wasn't as hard as I feared. Much easier than using the pattern bit, since it was simple to take small passes. I've still got some sanding to do to get the roundover nice and blended in, give it a bit more organic feel, but it looks nice so far. Also, I'm trying to figure out the best way to clean the sawdust out of the huge pores on the walnut. I tried some compressed air, which worked on some of the grain but not all of it. It looks so dull right now with all that sawdust in the grain. Anyway, here's a pic. I plan on cleaning up my neck templates this week and hopefully at least finding time to get the truss rod channel routed this weekend.

That's a thickness planer. A Joiner is similar, but works on the edge of the wood. You push the wood against a fence and run it through and it gives you a smooth edge square to the edge that was against the fence. That's what is neccessary for bookmatching tops, or making multi-piece body blanks, or that kind of thing. Really, both tools are what you need to be efficient. Of course you can do it by hand. Tim, I believe, was referring to 'hand planing' and sandpaper initially, thus his reference to a 'thicknesser', which is a thickness planer, as being the alternative.

I may well try lmii next time around....But then the next one for me will be a bass. I'm looking forward to that one...My own design this time around.

7/16" depth actually. I was just using estimates in my post. OK, cool, I think I'm good then. And sorry about the thread jack!

Do you mean the neck depth with or without fingerboard? For instance, I've got my neck drawn up at right around 5/8th's at the thinnest part, not including a 1/4" fretboard that goes on top. (Making my total minimum thickness right around 7/8th's). Using the stew mac hot rod I should have just over 1/8th wood thickness remaining in the middle of the neck once the truss rod cavity is cut out. (the numbers in the previous sentence were rough estimates) Is this not enough? I believe I read that 1/8th was the necessary amount below the hot rod truss rod. Am I just asking for trouble here? I patterned the design after my telecaster neck, which I realize has a single action rod, but I thought I was following the 1/8th inch guideline properly. I was getting ready to cut my neck templates tomorrow. So I guess now would be a good time to get this figured out.

I'm working on the same thing at the moment. Laminated neck of maple with walnut stripe. From searching around here the conclusion i've come to in order to achieve a finish like what you are talking about is to use 'tru oil'. It's sort of as glossy or matte as you desire it to be based on the number of coats and how you buff it, etc. Do a search for it and you will find some info and pics of examples.

This is really neat...I have been working on designing my next project, and wanted to do a headless bass. I had almost changed my mind, due to cost, when I ran across this. It would be really cool if you made some mechanical drawings (with measurements and whatnot)and a material list available for sale for a few bucks. I know there would be quite a demand for it!

Very cool! Love the idea. I have thought about doing something like that myself. Can't wait to see how yours turns out, it may inspire me to actually give it a try one of these days!

All the pics you could want and then some: My Build Will be more pics after this weekend I am sure. Right now i'm focusing on fixing my 1 area of tearout and getting the laminated neck blank prepped. Having to borrow a shop every weekend makes progress a little slow, but it certainly gives me no excuse for not thinking out every step of my build as I have all the time in the world.

Yeah, this is what BiliousFrog recommended basically. I think when I finally get around to building my bass i'll put it in/under the board. But for this guitar i'm going to stick the spoke wheel out the end and possibly have a little machined metal cover for it with my initials engraved in it. Anyway, the hot rod came this evening, and measuring the overall length and whatnot gives me a better idea of how to place it. I believe my drawing is correct, and I will just drill back into the channel to allow for the clearance of the spoke wheels shank and not worry anymore about the anchor area in the wood. Also got some sanding done on my guitar body and it's starting to look really good! Going to get the laminated neck blank sanded and planed this weekend so that I can get it rough cut possibly next week! It's exciting to see everything moving forward!

Bilious, I see what you're saying. I'm not too concerned about whether the adjustment wheel extends past the neck or not. Frankly, I like the way both methods look. I was thinking i'd probably use a custom cover over the notch in the body anyway, maybe engrave it with my initials. Really, what I am most concerned about is the routing of the rod channel. However, I think I found a picture from Digthemlows first bass build that answers my question. Seeing how he has done it, even though it was a neck through, shows me that I don't have to be concerned about an anchor point on the body side of the rod. So, when the rod gets here, I'll figure out the exact channel length and how far to stick the spoke wheel out the end of the neck just by lining up and measuring the actual part on the neck and not worry too much about getting it in my drawing. Anyway, thanks to you and Xanthus for the help.

Someone out there must have a simple and concrete answer to this. I know i'm probably overthinking things, but I don't like cutting wood when I still have questions in my mind.

You're on the right track. But I would love to get some confirmation from someone who has physically done the process!

You could hit it with a white or gray primer first to cover the underlying color if you feel that that might be an issue. I suppose that depends on the chemical makeup of the paint. Some types show the base color through more than others. Unfortunately I don't have the expertise to help you with that.

I read the same thing on the stew mac instructions. However, what it does not say is whether or not the cut you make to allow for the clearance of the spoke wheel shank overlaps the truss rod route or needs to be offset from it with an additional amount of space to give you an anchor area. That's what i'm not clear on. But thanks for the attempt. I do plan on having the wheel itself sticking out into the body, like in the links you posted. I personally like the way this looks, and I figured this would give me a little more strength in the headstock area since i'm not doing a scarf joint.

I've searched the site fairly extensively. I've scanned Melvyn Hiscock's book, and i've even looked at the Stew Mac instructions on their website. Unfortunately I can't seem to find an answer that gives me the confidence I need to route my truss rod channel. I've attached a picture to help describe the info i'm looking for. I ordered a spoke wheel Hotrod from Stew Mac today. I'm doing a single pickup guitar, and am cutting the neck out of a 3 piece laminate blank rather than using a scarf joint. I figured that giving these factors using a body end adjustment would be the natural way to go. As you can see from the picture below, in my CAD drawing I have currently placed my truss rod channel all the way at the body end of my neck. This is what i'm not sure about. I haven't been able to find any concrete information concerning where to place the channel laterally. In Melvyn's book the pictures all show an 'anchor' area where the truss rod is held in place by the wood on each end. This makes sense, but several pictures i've found on this site seem to indicate that people route all the way to the end of their neck when using hot rods/double action truss rods and a neck end adjustment. At least that's how it seems based on the pictures, but I get the feeling that i'm just missing something here. Basically i'm a bit confused. So, the bottom line information that i'm looking for is this: Utilizing a Stew Mac Hotrod with a spoke wheel and body end adjustment, do I need to move the channel in this drawing farther toward the headstock to have an anchor area, and if so, how much? I've pretty much found the answer to every question i've had about guitar building by searching this site or reading Melvyn's book over the past few months, and I feel stupid to ask, but I just haven't been able to find this exact piece of information. So anyone that can give me a concrete answer, i'd really appreciate it!

just rough them up. Knock the finish down so it has some tooth and the paint will stick.

Wow, I was a bit skeptical of the initial red color of the stain, but the end result is beautiful and rich and classy looking. Nicely done!

If you want a cheap wood, go for poplar or basswood. But seriously, read the tutorials on the front page of this site and pick up a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's book, Make Your Own Electric Guitar, and you'll find about 90% of your answers.

Buy a piece of poplar or basswood or something pretty cheap, and just trace the shape of the P Bass body on it. That way you have a guitar that looks like a P Bass, which is obviously what you want, but you don't have to fool with stripping the old body and filling all the old cavities. Ultimately it would probably be less work and would certainly give you a better result.

So, I made some serious sawdust tonight. I managed to get a 3' x 7" 5/4 hard maple board this morning at the hardwood center. I planed and ripped board and found a piece of walnut that would work and did the same to it. So now I have my neck wood ready to be laminated: So that went smashingly, and up to this point everything had exceeded my expectations in terms of how smooth and wonderfully it was all going. But this was the moment of truth. I double side taped my template back onto my body, broke open my shiny new 1/2" pattern bit and with fear and trepidation, went to work finishing the outline of the body. This by far was the most difficult part of the build so far. I was tense the entire time. When I finally emerged from the sawdust I had something that resembled a finished guitar shape. But not without a few minor issues. I had a couple of small divots in a few areas, but by in large these will be easily sanded out. The only gut wrenching moment was as I was cutting around the upper horn, suddenly a chunk, which seemed massive at the time, went flying off into the pile of shavings below. I stopped the router immediately and managed to find it and save it. In the following pictures you'll see that i've already gotten it clamped and glued back in. Hopefully that will fix most of it and I can just carefully sand it all out. So, other than a few stubborn areas in the end grain that will require a fair amount of sanding and the one ocurance of tearout the only other problems were in an area where the carve for the belly cut should pretty much take care of them. I was fortunate in that most of the small problems will be coverable with just a little elbow grease and some sandpaper. But all in all, this was a good learning experience with the router. Although, i'm a bit hesitant just thinking about the impending 1/2" roundover. Anyway, here's the pics: Routed body, front Routed body, back So, in the next few days i'll get the neck laminates glued together and print out the patterns for my neck, the design of which is undergoing a few final tweaks, and then get to work on cutting out the templates for that.

You could use a router with a small roundover bit.