FV-1 (set neck) - my first ever build

[Griffo]

OK, everyone, here we go. My first guitar build ever. A custom mahogany body, mahogany neck, set neck V kit. No hardware, as I'm going to supply my own. I'm thinking of finishing it in a solid color....leaning towards an automotive color like Honda's "Hampstead Green." I've been going back and forth on bridge options and I think I'm going to go with a Dusenberg Les Trem treolo unit (they mount the same way a regular stop tail does) and a roller tune-o-matic bridge. I've got all my sanding supplies on order, so I can prep the body and neck while my hardware slowly trickles in as budget allows. Seeing as how this is my first build, I will assuredly be asking a TON of questions on here.

The body looks in good shape. There's a few glue spots and blemishes that would make it difficult if I wanted to stain the guitar, but I'm going solid finish so no worries there. No dents or cracks. The neck looks good as well, but I do have a concern about the neck heel. It seems that the treble side of the neck heel is a full 2 mm thinner than the bass side (see pictures below). Not sure if this is normal or not, and if not, how difficult it is to fix without screwing it up further. I also want to confirm with the experts (that means you guys) that the neck pocket is not too big for the neck heel (there seems to be a good amount of wiggle room when I seat the neck in there), but I'll save that question for my next post. For now, lets take a look at the thickness variance in that neck heel:

Treble side:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1567357...posted-public/

Bass side:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156735...posted-public/

[Simon Barden]

The fretboard itself looks a bit thinner on the bass side. Can you measure to the top of the fretboard at each corner? I'd guess it may only then be 1mm or less out.

I must admit it's not something I've checked before.

Some of the necks do have rather a loose fit in the pocket. I've had to stick a piece of veneer each side of the neck pocket on the EB4 bass. Easy enough to do. I found that a marquetry pack from eBay was the easiest way to get a reasonable amount of veneer without it costing much.

[Griffo]

Sure, I'll measure the fretboard when I get home this evening. Here's another photo of the neck heel where you can clearly see drop off in wood on the bottom of the treble side.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1567357...posted-public/

[Simon Barden]

Hmm. The left side in that photo seems to bulge out a bit at the bottom. And the bottom right-hand corner seems to have a slight angle to it, which is probably why the height seems to vary, though the rest of the bottom of the heel is flat, so that shouldn't be an issue once glued. Measuring off the photo, both ends seem to be the same height (allowing for the bottom right-hand angle by drawing a line across the bottom of the heel). Once it's in place, I don't think there'll be too much to worry about.

[Griffo]

Okie dokie. I'll post more photos once I temporarily clamp it in place and see what you guys think. Thanks!

[VonScott]

Welcome Griffo! I’m new at this too, so probably won’t be able to help much, but there’s heaps of very knowledgeable people here who will. I love the les trem, will be interested to see it on a V

[Sonic Mountain]

If you use the 'share' option on 'Flickr' and just copy and paste the code between the image tags it will appear in your post. If you quote this post you can see what I mean. You just need the 'img' and '/img' code in square brackets either side of the link.