New project ideas

[brianloco]

I haven't been able to work on the two guitars today wife's out been busy watching the kids so I've been thinking about doing a full build I drew out a body shape on a piece of plywood I had laying around I'm trying to decide on wood for the body I think I'd really like to do a 24 fret neck but can't find much about making them how much different than a 22 fret is it is the bridge position really the only difference also do I need a joiner/planer to make a neck or can I make do without I'm still a little ways from starting so I have time to plan it all out I'm also torn between a bolt on or a longer tenon neck maybe with the bolt in inserts again not really sure pros and cons difference in difficulty let me know what you guys think to help me along in my planning process


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[Deleted]

do you have a good table saw? My first necks were cut using a table saw. I trued them up with sandpaper stuck to a flat surface. I sanded the wood to fit until I have no gaps. Now if the is a little gap in the center, it's not all that bad. Once you clamp it, it will come together. I think they call that a spring fit.

As far as 22 or 24 frets go... it's not how many frets that determine where the bridge goes, it is the scale length that tells you where the bridge will go. The LP I am building is a 24 fret @ 25" scale. So the bridge will be at 25" from the nut. Or 12 1/2" inches from the 12th fret.

Just keep in mind that the more frets leaves less room for pickups. Say you are going to use humbuckers. Then the pickups will be a little closer together. As far as spacing goes.

To carve the neck out... I started with a surf form (cheese grader) You can get them at Home Depot. I also used a lot of sand paper. I now use a few tools to make my necks. I don't use grinder or sander to form my necks. I now use along with the grader, a spoke shave, a round rasp (file) This is really all you need. I don't like to use power tools to shape the necks. Power tools for shaping can get out of control and cause you to start all over again. So for me I like to make them using simple tools and feel.

I did buy a the stew mac miter saw for cutting the fret channel. My jig has 25" and the Finder scale 25 1/5'. I use to mark them out and I used a regular miter saw box with a thin cut saw. It worked out OK. But I like what I have now a lot better. Can't tell you how many fret boards I messed up before getting the Stew Mac stuff.

The main thing to me on neck building is getting things flat and square. The other part is getting the fret board flat and getting it to be the same thickness on both sides of the fret board. It is easy when sanding with a radius block to get the fret board un even. I like to sand the radius before gluing it to the neck, so I can make sure I have right. I use to glue them on then radius them, but after a time or two of taking the fret board off to put on a new one, it just seemed to make since to sand them before gluing them on. It is easy to get the fret board uneven. But there are tricks to get them even.


EB

[brianloco]

Good I have a table saw at work I can use I'm thinking about getting the miter jig and the scale to make things easier how long of a fretboard would I need for 24 frets


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[Deleted]

most fret boards are around 18" long. So When making a new fret board you want to be longer than that. the way the jig works for cutting slots. Kind of make you need a longer piece.

Then once you make all the cut for the frets you can then cut the fret board to size. If I remember right I use somewhere around a 25" long piece of wood. Just over a 1/4 thick. I have doen this two ways. I have sanded the radius first then cut the slots, and I have done it with the fret board flat. When cutting the slot on a flat fret board you have to cut the slots a little deeper to allow for the radius. But not to worry if you don't get them cut deep enough. You can always use the saw you use to cut the slots to make them a little deeper.

When doing this for the first time I would try it on some scrap wood to get a feel of how it all works. The thing I learned is to keep all the fret boards the same thickness. The reason for that is you don't want to keep adjusting the miter box. for saw depth.

The other thing on the jig... This is what I have done...I put me some marks on it so I can get my fret board on in the same spot all the time. Because the jig is off set I found I had to put the marks on it so I don't run out of fret board when doing 24 frets... HA! don't ask.... LOL!


But if you get one, get the miter box, jig, and saw... I got mine from Stew Mac but there are others out there that sell them too. But they all seem to be around the same price.


On the table saw... make sure it is squared up... Make sure the fence is also square... Cut only thin pieces at a time. and make sure the saw blade is just a little higher than the wood you are cutting. The newer the blade the better. Try and cut the wood in one smooth motion, you don't want to stop in the middle of cutting the wood, it will leave saw bale marks in the wood. Again try out on some scrap wood to make sure everything is the way it should be. Check all cuts to see if you are squared up.
Once happy with the trial run, then got for it...

I hope this helps out... This is stuff I learned the hard way. Until I started making guitars I didn't even know what a router was or how to use one. Little lone a table saw or anything else. Now I have some cool tools and make a lot of other things along with guitars. Never thought I would make a guitar or anything else for that matter.

And it all thanks to Guitar Attack...

EB

[GuitarAttack Forum]

Thanks Eddie!

John

[brianloco]

Thanks this is all really helpful


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[dnic]

" The other thing on the jig... This is what I have done...I put me some marks on it so I can get my fret board on in the same spot all the time. Because the jig is off set I found I had to put the marks on it so I don't run out of fret board when doing 24 frets... HA! don't ask.... LOL!"


...dang another 23 freter..


All really good info Eddie.

I just bought my very first pre-made neck. Seems weird but I wanted to build a Tele copy as quickly and cheaply as possible as a tester in the store where I sell my guitars. Trying to see if familiar shapes sell faster. I got a GFS paddle head for 36 bucks, cheap and fast and it plays well. I'll start a thread although I took no pics of the process.

[Deleted]

Dane, a while back I had this guy selling me necks off of the Starcasteres with the tuners... 30 dollars for the rosewood fret board necks and 35 for the maple on maple. With free shipping. I liked them because they had enough wood on them to reshape the back of the neck. Once I leveled the frets and all that. They are pretty good necks. The guy I use to get them from is no longer selling them. He had some family stuff come up and closed up his eBay store.
But I just could not for any reason not to want to buy them for that price. It was cheaper than I could make one for. And after reshaping them no one would know where they came from. I still have some of my Teles I made with them necks on them. So I see nothing wrong with buying ready made necks. As long as you can get them cheaper than you can make them for...

EB

[brianloco]

So I've started figuring out what I want to do for my first real build I found a nice looking neck that's unfinished for 15 bucks so I couldn't pass that up it has the fretboard attached and tuner holes drilled and it is rough carved so I'll have some shaping to do and It's not sawed for frets or the nut I pretty much finished my body template although I made it a little smaller than I had expected to so I think going to go with a wrap around bridge tail stop to make everything fit I'm trying to figure out a good wood to use for the body any recommendations I don't wNt something too expensive but also not too cheap since this is my first try I don't want to mess up an expensive piece of wood but if it turns out good I don't wNt a cheap piece of wood I also think I'm gonna try and find a 1 piece body blank


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[brianloco]

Also the neck says it's 25.5 inch scale for 22 frets if I wanted to put 24 frets would I be able to? would the scale change cause from what I understand a 22 and 24 fret board are the same size just a different scale right?


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[dnic]

The scale remains the same, when you add frets you need to add more fret board.

[hoz]

I'm just now buying a miter box becuase of a build coming up with some rosewood burl I don't to screw up. Other than that, I was happy just buying pre slotted boards off stew mac. They come 24 frets.

[brianloco]

I'm tossing around the idea of doing inlays on the fretboard still not really sure if I want or not, anyways would it be better to out the inlays before I saw the fret slots or after if I have an inlay that spans two frets would I be able to saw the inlay and the fret slot at the sane time or is that asking for trouble


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[brianloco]

Got my neck and pretty much finished my body template now to continue the search for a body wood


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[hoz]

As long as the inlay material is securely epoxied in, cut the fret slots through the inlay material.