Setch

Craft Supplies - Wood, Fretwire, tools, trussrods, finishes & a limited selction of hardware. Very affordable, but of patchy quality. Great for a first guitar... WD Music Products. - Hardware, pickups, electrics, nuts, saddles & pickguard material. David Dyke Luthier supply. - Lots of wood, custom sized blanks, binding, purfling, specialised luthiery tools etc. Very high quality stuff, but not cheap. Hope this helps...

If you're building a singlecut LP junior, by all means add a neck pickup. If you're building the doublecut, be aware that you risk weakening the neck joint by adding a neck Pickup. On the current guitar I'm building I used the LP doublecut Junior body shape, but I shifted the neck so it joined the body 2 frets lower down - this gave me extra surface area on the tennon, and allowed for a neck pickup route without compromising strength and stability.

Ok, I assumed you meant to sand the whole face or back of the guitar. However, I don't see the advantages of a bigger sander if it's just for sanding the edges of the body - Most guitars are curved, so you rarely need to sand large flat areas on the sides. On the rare occasions that you do, a belt sander is much better suited since it sands with the grain, and doesn't create crossgrain scratches. As far as I can see the only real difference with a mega-sized sanding disc is you need bigger bits of sandpaper, and it takes up more room! Eitherway, I'd be interested to hear if it works out...

Problem is speed - if you've used a disc sander you'll have noticed that the edges cut much faster than the center - they travel faster. A bigger disc would make this exponentially worse - a guitar sized sanding disc would cut faster at the edges, and tend to round the surface of the guitar. Also, a disc with that much surface area would be very easy to stall - unless you beefed up the motor, which would leave you with a new problem of how to hold onto the guitar! In all my time looking at guitar building and woodwork sites, I've never seen a super-sized sanding disc, and I'm sure there is a reason - IMO you'd do much better to invest your time in making a drum sander.

ummm..... ...a plane? Set it fine, use diagonal strokes if tearout is a problem, them follow up with 80 grit on a flat block to get perfectly flat. You can also setup a router for thicknessing - lay to pieces of timber of equal height on either side of you body blank. They should be taller than the blank. Then, lay two rigid rails across these blocks, clamp them in place, and run a router across so it removes a small amount from the face of your blank. Move the rails along a bit, repeat, and continue until you've removed an equal amount from the entire blank.

Titebond forms a very thin chemical bond - if you cut a good tightfitting joint. Epoxy never sets truly hard, and forms a thicker glueline, since it creates a mechanical joint and needs thickness to be strong. You can use epoxy, but wood glue is better, dries faster, is less slippy and slimy than epoxy and will create a less visible glueline. IMO epoxy is not the best choice here, or for most luthiery applications.

The problem with a fullwdith neck tennon on a LP type guitar is in the cutaway area. If you look at a strat cutaway, you'll see a small step between neck and body. The Gibson neck flows 'seamlessly' into the cutaway, and this would be very difficult to accomplish with a fullwidth tennon. You will see the problem if you look at bolt neck LP clones, or look at the pictures of an LP junior singlecut in 'Make your Own Electric Guitar'. This also stems from the fact Gibson's history pre-solidbodies was Archtop guitars, which feature the same design in the cutaway, and use a dovetail joint like an acoustic guitar - the LP tennon is a simplifed version of this traditional joint. The fullwidth tennon is generally used on designs where the cutaway joins the neck at a corner (ie PRS, Baker, Quiksilver, Les Paul doublecut) not guitars where it joins as a curve (ie Les Paul, yamaha SG series). Hope you can understand what I'm talking about, it's tough to put into words...

Most cheapo routers come with a set of basic cutters. Most of these sets include a 1/2" flush trim bit with a 1/2" bearing on the bottom, and several profile cutters, such as a round over, roman ogee, 45 degree bevel etc. If you remove the bearing from the flush trim bit, and replace it with the bearing from one of the profiling bits, you end up with a very serviceable binding cutter. It usually produces a ledge just under 2 mm deep, ideal for most single ply binding - I used this tool on the blue guitar in my avatat. I also bought a cheap rebate cutter bit with a 1/2 bearing and 38mm cutter. I then turned mdf rings which are a press fit onto the bearing to allow for cutting different depth rebates for multi layer bindings, I used this very sucessfully on my current work in progress. Also, if you just want a bound fingerboard, you don't need to route a channel at all, just make the fingerboard smaller by the thickness of the binding, and glue the binding to the sides of the board after slotting, but before final radiusing. You will however have to undercut your fret ends, which is bitch without a tang nipper. I undercut the blue guitar's frets with a small file, and then vowed never to do it again, so I bought a sheet metal nibbler and modded it to undercut frets.

I think the router idea is a horrific accident waiting to happen for most people. Unless you have a big automated setup like those illustrated in 'Make your Own Electric Guitar' you stand far to great a chance of destroying the wood, or something far more irreplaceable. Add to that the fact that necks *do* change radius along their length, so you'll only be applying a preliminary shape to the neck anyway, unless you want a crest at the head end, or a flat by the body. You might get a very repeatable radius, but I think it would be at the expense of a 'good' radius. I think you're better off practicing your neck carving with handtools, and getting in the habbit of regular checking against profile templates. That way you can easily offer a variety of profiles to suit you or your customers needs.

I've used cocktail sticks in the past, they are strong enough, and your can simply route them away later with no worries about cutter damage... Only problem is drilling the holes without the alignment slipping

I was just about to setup for some scarf gluing pics, when I remembered I used a much simpler technique for my last neck, and it was the easiest one I've done so far. first I cut the two halves of the joint, using a jig I developed. I thought it was unique until I saw one almost identical on Martin Koch's guitar building site... Once the two sides are both ready, and fit together perfectly, I got out my big roll of masking tape. Without any glue in the joint, I made sure that the laminations matched up on the headstock face. I then ran a strip of masking tape from the 2nd fret (no fingerboard yet, just an approx' position) to the end of the headstock. This holds the headstock on so you can hinge the joint open. I then opened and shut the joint a few times, making sure I could easily line up the laminates on the rear of the headstock. Once I was happy, I applied a good layer of titebond to the joint and closed it up. The tape held it alligned at the front, and I was able to hold it shut with finger pressure, then apply two of the smallest plastic spring clamps I have (Stew Mac sells them as Kerfing clamps) to hold it good and tight. The titebond gels pretty quickly, so after 5 minutes or so, the joint has lost any inclination to slip, and you can leave it to dry. My previous setup was more complex, and involved clamping one half of the joint to a board, then pushing the other haf into place and clamping. I think the only reason I needed to get that involved was: 1. The glue - I was using a much more slippery glue, which made everything slide all over the place. People claim titebond is slippery, but it far less so than any other aliphatics I've tried, and has a much quicker initial 'gel'. 2. The joint - I wasn't getting the joint perfect, which meant applying too much pressure with clamps to try and close it, which forced it to slide apart due to the forces acting on the two tapered surfaces. Once I corrected these two problems I found it a breeze. I'll use the Stew Mac staple trick next time, it may be overkill, but it can't hurt

Front and back veneers look very smart, and really help the strength, they are also great of you want to hide a scarf joint How do you 'flow' your back-strapped veneer into the neck? Do you blend it out to a sharp point part way down to the first fret, or bend it over a volute? I've seen examples of both, and attempted the former, but I'd love to see some pics of your approach...

pretty easy to do - I used a scarfed headstock on the guitar below. I'll try to do a mockup of my gluing process soon so you can see it - it's a bitch to explain, but simple to do. You can see a faint line accross the back of the head, most of which is concealed by the tuners. The headstock also has ears glued on for width, which conceal the joint from the side.

Do you recommend grain matching for cosmetics, or for structural reasons?

I disagree, when using an angled head, a scarf joint is advisable. Since you already have glue between your fretboard and neck, each lamination of the neck and between the body and the neck, I don't belive that a scarfed head will in anyway compromise tone, and it will aid strength and stiffness in the headstock - which IMO will have more effect on tone than one tiny glue line. One piece necks with angled heads are significantly weaker than scarfed heads, due to the amount of shortgrain in the vulnerable head area, and despite what Ed Roman et al might say, their use is not some guarantee or tonal nirvana. This weakness is not only a problem if the guitar takes a tumble, it can also lead to tuning issues when the whole head flexes. They also waste significantly more wood than a scarfed neck, somethign which is worth consideration given the difficulty of sustaining supply of exotic timbers. I'm not saying one piece necks are bad, I just don't see enough advantages to use them in preference to a well fitted scarf joint.

Um.... ?

Depending on the location and size of the crack, you may be able to repair it with epoxy or CA glue. If you are unable to repair the bridge, you will need to remove it, which can be done a couple of different ways, depending on your circumstances. A picture and/or specific detail of the brand/type/location of fault etc would help in giving more detailed advice. On a good quality guitar, the bridge will be glued with hide glue or some variant of titebond. In this case, you can apply heat to the bridge until the glue softens, then use a thin, flexible, BLUNT pallette knife to get between the bridge and the soundboard. A domestic iron can be used to heat the bridge, though you must be carefull not to dmage the soundboard - cover it with thickish cardboard and/or aluminium foil. By going very slowly you can seperate the bridge, then clean up the area ready to reglue. Do not try to remove the bridge without any heat - glue that can withstand string pressure will not fail under the attack of a spatula, but the fragile top of your guitar may well! If the guitar is a cheapo inport, the bridge may well be glued with a form of epoxy, which may or may not respond well to heating. If your attempts to heat the bridge off fail, your can either route or plane it down till less than .5 mm of thickness remains, then clean the remains of with carefull chisel work. You dont stand to lose much by heating the bridge first, and it may well help, so always try this approach before getting out the plane or router You should also be aware that a cracked bridge is often symptomatic of something more serious going wrong on the other side if the soudboard, like a split bridge plate. Using a handbag mirror you should have a check through the soundhole before you repair the bridge, otherwise you may find yourself replacing it again quite soon!

That sounds like a lot of totally uneccessary work, especially considering Scott has already pointed out the lacquer doesn't stick to the metal frets...

http://user.aol.com/drfuzz/LPJR.HTM

There are several good suppliers in the UK, but don't expect to order wood online - it is a trade which has variable supply, and where price is often not standardised - you will need to phone people up to check whether they have stock of the timber you want, and in the sizes you need. It isn't like buying books or trainers... get used to it or find another hobby, because that's just how it is For hardware, check out WD Music products UK. You can order on the site, or request a catalgoue. For reasonably priced wood, try Craft Supplies. They have a specialised tonewoods division, and you can request a free catalogue via the website. I've used both suppliers, and find them to be pretty good, though craft supplies can be slow on occasion, particularly if they are waiting for fretwire or other stock they source from an external supplier.

On a Les Paul you can plane the neck angle onto the top of the guitar, then use the angled face to run your router on when you cut the neck pocket.

I imagine that the presence of the Gotoh logo was a msitake, given that he seems to sell gotoh tuners fairly regularly, and many traders like him use templates to create their adds. That said, the text left me in NO doubt whatsoever that these were not gotoh tuners. In eBay land you have to read carefully, caveat emptor etc.... You can take the matter up with eBay, but I don't think your case is particularly strong. Apart from the logo you had no reason to believe they were Gotohs, and he never explicitly stated that they were. Your best bet is that he helps you out because it was his mistake which misled you, but I doubt he wants to swallow the expense of shipping and import duty just to foster goodwill... Finally, not wanting to rub salt in the wound, but Stew Mac sell genuine Gotoh's for $30.55 - $20 less than you payed, assuming you paid the 'buy it now' price. I can't help but think it was an ill advised transaction from the start, unless his shipping was extremely competative!

Word of warning - if you are going to try this, don't be like the guys in the pics above: WEAR AN AIR FED MASK OR CHARCOAL FILTER!!! The life you save may be your lungs

Actually, no. Les Paul necks often end up at as much as 7 degrees, since you have to take into account the carve of the top. Bascally you need to consider the top of the binding the top of the guitar, and consider the thickness of the top (above the binding) as part of the bridge height.

Snag the cherry - it's good stuff. Oak is also useable, but not so popular or well regarded. I've got a shed full of cherry airdrying from a gale a few years back. Should be dry by 2006!