Alex's IB-7

[AlexL]

I would have thought by altering the angle of the neck horizontally at the joint the tiniest bit this would alter the string spacing, and you would aim for the spacing to be consistent both sides all the way down.

All good, the clamp is just holding the neck in place, no glue!

So are you saying just see if I can angle the neck fractionally so that (measurements for example) at the head end both strings might be 3mm away from the edge of the neck, and at the body end both strings might be 4.5mm away?

[FrankenWashie]

All good, the clamp is just holding the neck in place, no glue!

So are you saying just see if I can angle the neck fractionally so that (measurements for example) at the head end both strings might be 3mm away from the edge of the neck, and at the body end both strings might be 4.5mm away?

That’s what Andy is saying Alex, I’ve had this also with a couple of kits.

[Andyxlh]

That’s what Andy is saying Alex, I’ve had this also with a couple of kits.

Like FrankenWashie says!
You will be surprised how little you need to move the neck in the socket to change the string routes. It won't be much!

[AlexL]

Thanks, legends

Not gonna do any staining and whatnot yet (gonna crown the frets first) but when I get to it, I was wondering what usually happens with the neck treatment? I was gonna put guitar wax on the fretboard (it's ebony). I was thinking the front of the head would have the same colour as the body (although I'll probably leave the back of the neck natural). What would the neck be treated with? And is it easier to sand the guitar and two parts, or join the neck and body then sand?

[Simon Barden]

Always best to sand body and neck separately. So much easier and with less risk of hitting things when re-positioning.

If the back of the neck is going to be left natural, then make sure you thoroughly tape up all around the sides of the headstock. It's very easy to get any stain (wax or liquid) running over the edge and spoiling a natural finish. I'd suggest getting hold of some Frog decorators tape, as that seals at the edges better than the normal masking tape.

You don't need to treat the ebony board as such, though occasionally applying some lemon oil helps to stop the board from drying up. It will also make the board look darker. You can apply wax to the board, it's not going to harm it, though this is more often used on otherwise untreated maple fretboards.

You've got a basswood body and a maple neck/headstock, so you'll probably find that the stain comes out a bit lighter on the maple headstock, so you might need to apply more on it than the body. Certainly don't sand finer than 220 grit on the headstock face or the maple will absorb very little stain.

How do you plan to finish the rest of the guitar once the stain is on e.g. Tru-Oil, wipe-on clear poly, clear acrylic spray etc? Whatever you plan to put on over the body, you can put on the back of the neck. Or you can do the back of the neck with something very different e.g Danish Oil. You don't want to leave it totally bare as it will a) get very dirty very quickly and b) be more susceptible to humidity changes and so may need the truss rod adjusted more often.

[AlexL]

Sweet, thanks for the advice Simon. I'll get myself some painters tape. And probably put lemon oil on the neck. At the moment, it seems to pick up fingermarks, so I want something on there to protect it!

Aha, thanks for the advice on the different wood types. I will keep your words in mind. Tbh, I haven't decided on how the guitar is gonna be finished. My current thoughts are either white body (Ibanex RG Style) or a deep red stain (no guitar pic, but below is the kinda colour I'm thinking - a box I made in woodwork classes lol). At the moment, the grain on the body doesn't look particularly interesting so I'm a bit hesitant about using a stain, but I'll see what it looks like after some sanding.


EDIT: Did some Googling... as stain to get the wood looking like this would be aweeesoooome...

[AlexL]

I just realised... I don't know which way to sand some parts of the body!

In context of the pic below, I've been sanding the face parallel to the x direction, and also sanding the top and bottom in the x direction. What direction do I sand the inside of the cutouts though? And also the leftmost side of the body? z direction (out of the page)? I can't figure out what "in the direction of the grain" means for those two bits. Thanks!

[Simon Barden]

Yes, on the top and bottom faces, the grain is running in the x-direction. On the long edges, the grain should also be in the x-direction, but when you get to the bottom (where you've put the y-axis line) and the opposite end., the grain could be running anywhere, so you just need to follow the lines you see.

Within the cavities, it's normally a question of just using whatever direction works best (though try to keep with the grain in the neck pocket). You'll hardly be able to see in them, so achieving a perfectly smooth finish in them is only really for those with bad OCD. Most commercial guitars have pretty badly finished cavities as getting them smooth tales time, and time is money in guitar production. Which doesn't mean that you can't get them smooth if you really want to take the time. You might want to spend a bit more time smoothing the areas of the trem cavity that will be on show, but even still, it's not worth going overboard.

[Fretworn]

Unfortunately all my guitars have seem to have at least one piece of the slab where the end grain was at 90 degrees to the others. Start by sanding either Y or Z (to use your terminology), if the machine marks don't start sanding out flip to the other. If the machining marks start vanishing you are going in the right direction. You may have to sand each end grain separately to get a good result.

[AlexL]

Aha, thanks. I think I've got the grain things sorted out now

Another quick question: when I sand the neck, do I need to avoid sanding where it bolts into the body? Worried I might stuff up the angles or something.