It was suggested that I would get a better sound out of my Maton by going to 13's, but it made everything sound dull. I'll stick to my 12-53 D'Addario's.
My friend has 53's on his Fender Tele. Feels like playing an acoustic.
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It was suggested that I would get a better sound out of my Maton by going to 13's, but it made everything sound dull. I'll stick to my 12-53 D'Addario's.
My friend has 53's on his Fender Tele. Feels like playing an acoustic.
Hi there,
Sorry about this off subject message. I'm new to this and would like to post some questions about my Les Paul build - but I can't work out how to post a question. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers Liam
No problems Liam, ordinarily you can ask for advice in the Builiding your Pitbull guitars sectoin, chances are you might already find the answer there. Otherwsie if you start a build diary, as issues arise you can ask for advice as you go. Or you can do as you've done and see what folks can do to assist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Liam Jeffery
So what questions do you have? Can you illustrate them with photos for clarity?
The madness continues:Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Attachment 16061
So we had some fun in the FrankenLab with the palm router, a couple of little whoopsies, mainly due to the flexible nature of the router's edge guide. Due to the protruding "ears" we had to finish the wider section of the top of the channel with some avant grade use of a brad point drill and some careful work with a miniature Japanese back saw.
Tips for young players:
1. MAKE SURE YOUR NECK BLANK STARTS SQUARE AND STAYS SQUARE!
2. If you have to attach 'ears" to widen the headstock, do it AFTER you rout the TR Channel.
3. 6 1.5mm cuts are better than 3 x 3mm cuts.
Hopefully this is of use to someone or at the very least amusing to those more experienced builders.
Nice work Franken!!
I love the proposed headstock design!
I bet Paul Reed Smith didn't get it !00% right first time either. Never give up. never surrender.
I'm really interested in how these truss rod thingies are fitted. Please, please take sufficient photos to show all the steps.
No problems Simon, can do. We've had a wee fail on this neck with the thinning of the headstock, but I will document that also as it is probably a good learning tool for others. While the neck is now probably not usable I'm going to complete it any way for the shaping exercise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
How and where is the headstock thinned? Is there any way you could strengthen it by gluing on some more wood - or even a layer of something light but strong, say carbon fibre?
It was an overly ambitious manual rip cut with a Ryoba saw that went pear shaped. The scarf joint and such are all fine, it's just that the cut wandered out leaving a severe dishing in he back of the head and a drastic thinning at the start of the head stock transition. Photos to follow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
So, on the left, FrankenLab's scarf jointed neck building effort, the right is the factory neck, less FB from my SV-1 kit.
Attachment 16119
Attachment 16120
Rear view of the necks
Attachment 16121
Highlighting the lamination of the three neck slices
Attachment 16122
The scarf joint, thankfully still solid as a rock
Attachment 16123
Unfortunately, here's where it all went a little pear shaped. Many bad words were spoken.
The upshot is, I was a little too impatient in thinning the headstock. Rather than considering what need to happen and the likely pitfalls and issues, I charged off and tried to take a lengthwise cut down the rear of the head to thin it out from 3/4" to the standard 1/2".
The Ryoba saw I was using deflected because I was effectively cutting through three divergent grain patterns at once. I tried to correct for this, instead of stopping and rethinking and this is what I have ended up with. All my efforts did was cause more of a bow in the cut and digging it in harder to the meat of the head stock. I probably would have been better off trying to rout that extra 1/4" off and shaping from there.
This was always an exercise in the exercise of building a neck. Given that the fundamentals of the thing are still sound, i am going to push ahead and install a truss rod and a fingerboard purely to gain the additional experience of mounting a TR, cambering a FB, fretting and possibly inlay. It is entirely possible that this will end up looking schmick, bar the obvious cock up, but i can't see machine heads mounting to it properly, and i'd imagine that if I did manage to get them on there, the head section would part company from the rest of it pretty damn quick under tension.
It goes back to what DB always says, don't rush.
I rushed. Oops and other associated bad words.
Hi FW what thickness is the headstock at the neck joint. Looks like it would still be 12mm+ . If so maybe could draw file flat.
I'm not quite sure what you mean Tony? The thinnest point of the head stock is the upper corner nearest the transition, it tapers down to about 3/8".Quote:
Originally Posted by vh2580
The transition itself is pretty much a match for a factory neck, the splice/scarf joint itself is fine.
Ouch! But add some glue and some filler and it will be fine.
...but maybe go no heavier than 0.008"s ;)
Yeah, might take a bit more than filler eh? I'm thinking I might attempt what Tony has suggested to flatten and strengthen the head stockQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Okay, so after some ruminating and some cursing, i elected to try and salvage this by doing as Tony had suggested and thinning the headstock further and then adding a patch.
Which ended up looking like this:
Attachment 16295 Attachment 16296 Attachment 16297
Attachment 16298 Attachment 16299
I left this for a couple of days to settle before attempting to re-shape it (next post)
A combination of japanese razor saws and a spokeshave and rasps got me back to this:
Attachment 16300 Attachment 16301 Attachment 16302
there is still about 3/16" to come off of the thickness, which i will be doing with a router jig set up.
I also discovered that its not such a great idea to have your truss rod channel routed until you've actually got the truss rod you are going to use in your hot little hand!
Attachment 16303 Attachment 16304
I cut my TR channel with a 1/4" bit which left the channel a little over 6.3 mm at 6.5, this haps meant some slop and a potentially rattling TR.
I think i can get around this with some additional heat shrink and some silicon, but again another lesson learned.
the ALS supplied TR's are all nominally smaller at the adjustment end, so there is no need to widen the rout for the adjuster, unlike the PBG supplied neck that i'd patterned off.
All part of the experience i guess!
nice fix Frankie, so was the headstock thickness too thin hence you glued on the extra pieces ?
Always lesson learned mate, been there done that ! Sure you can bulk up the truss rod so it doesn't rattle around when you are headbanging to some cool chords !
Yep, tried to thin it with a long rip cut down the length of the headstock and cocked it up. Reduced the whole thing to the thinnest measurement and made up another laminate patch to line up with the existing laminate lines. Quite happy with that bit actually, it worked really well. I'll set up a jig on the weekend and thin it properly in 1/32" incremental passes.Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
I've fixed the TR issue with some heatshrink, now I just have to decide whether to use my dud fretboard or set up the fretting jig and do a spot on one.
Like I've said repeatedly, it's an exercise in the exercise and what I'm learning is all good. And if the neck works okay, it may end up being an Addition to the FrankenWashie that is severely Frankenstein-ish!
sounds good Frankie. There is so much to learn building scratch necks so you are learning not what to do so next one will be better !
One can only hope!Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
First lesson, GET EVERYTHING SQUARE, not Square-ISH!
yeah so this started happening today.
Attachment 19166
It's all just empty frets.... ;)
Ok, so we have the before shot, but please don't make us wait weeks or months for the after shot haha.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Cheers, Waz
Ha yeah sorry Waz. I'm waiting on some fret dressing tools, I'll be on it before the end of the month I PROMISE!Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Here you go Waz, frets are trimmed but i am waiting on some proper fret dressing tools to finish it off.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Attachment 19261
The resin experiment MkII seems to have done the trick:
Attachment 19262 Attachment 19263 Attachment 19264
I'm going to have to wick some CA down the edges though as it seems the resin pulled away from the body in a couple of places as it hardened. After hitting it with the router to level it out and trim it down though, it still seemed as solid as a rock so i;m okay with it.
I'm just now fighting an urge to try and mount some LEDS to have it lit up!
This is what the cavity looks like back lit with my shop lights:
Attachment 19272
I reckon it'd look sick with red pulsing LED Strip in there! Possibly a bridge too far...
In other FrankenWashie specific news, I have just realised that I allocated the SD Black Winters that were going into this to the Cliche Black LP. So Adam now has an order for some Entwistle X3's. we'll give them a run and see what we think, I've also some kit HB's that could go in if i feel the need.
Is looking good mate, neck is coming along nicely
Thanks Stan, the neck is an experiment, the old FrankenWashie neck will be going back on. Eventually.Quote:
Originally Posted by stan
that neck is looking the business
Yay for the resin work! Does the jack socket area still need some work, or is that sorted now?
Cheers DK, it needs some heel work to fit it tighter to the body, hence it's just a test neck, but it's been a valuable experience, learned a hell of a lot from it.Quote:
Originally Posted by D.K
Good to see you making some more progress on this one.
Thanks mate, due to time constraints it's all a little bit at a time, wherever I can. Moving forward though, if somewhat slowly.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDING. So much sanding.
haha Franky, I've always told people if you don't like sanding then don't build axes and get involved with woodwork haha
Its my own fault, after i'd gotten the resin fill done and cut back to the body profile, i looked at the really squared shoulders of the cutaways either side of the neck rout and decided they needed to be rounder. Out came the files and shinto rasp and scrapers and hence I'm sanding again. One day i will finish SOMETHING!
Soon it shall Live Again!!!
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Top effort Frankie. Looks like magnets holding on the rear plates?
Yeah mate, I saw it in one of Robin's builds and thought it was a great idea. I like cleanness of it, but it is a tad fiddly.
Yeah, I can see a small recessed part where I presume you use a fingernail or 5c coin to pry it open.
1. Just because PUP Manufacturer A and PUP Manufacturer B use the same wire colours, it doesn't mean they use them in the same order. Check BEFORE you wire up Entwistles to a DiMarzio diagram.
2. A nice Clear and concise Wiring diagram bears no actual resemblance to the electrical spaghetti that results from attempting to follow it.
3. Active Soldering Irons are hot.
4. Parts you have just applied a soldering iron to are also hot.
5. A carefully laid out and meticulously planned control cavity does not happen if you choose to make sh!t up as you go along.
6. Active Soldering Irons are hot.
7. Wire insulation is surprisingly tough to strip
8. Small gauge electrical wire cores are surprisingly easy to shear.
9. Solder likes to resist for as long as possible, then melt rapidly and run away out of sight, usually to bridge between terminals out of the view of the Solderer.
10. Active Soldering Irons are Hot. So are drops of molten solder.
Here endeth the communication.