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Getting started on the mock build ...the kit looks awesome.
Attachment 15189Attachment 15190
The neck fits in very nicely - there are a few angles by the heal that are not flush:
Attachment 15191
Attachment 15193
Curious about the best way to work with this. I'll send a pic of the other side in the next post.
Thanks,
Eric
Here is the other side of the neck.....
Attachment 15194
In testing the fit of the pick-ups, one doesn't fully fit. Would this be a matter of sanding or gently filing the cut?
Thank you...Eric
You should be okay just gently sanding the pick up cavity to fit, though you want to be sure you identify exactly which side to sand first.
As far as you neck, I'd be tempted to send those photos to Adam as that looks kind of like the factory used the wrong router bit to shape the neck tenon. It's almost as if they've run an angled dovetail bit instead of a straight flute? Either that or the work piece has been cocked over when they routed/machined it? It looks too regular to be random.
If you are finishing it in a solid colour, then as long as the rest of the neck fit is OK, you could simply fill the gaps in once it's put together. If you want to do a stained + clear coat, or a translucent finish, then you could still do that, but it will be harder matching the colour on the filler areas. A natural finish would be hardest of all.
Have you laid a straight edge along the neck to give an indication of how high the bridge needs to be? Difficult to tell with the camera angles used. It looks OK to me, but you don't want it so that the bridge needs to sit really high up if you can avoid it. If it is, you would need to think about trying to either adjust the neck angle, or sanding the neck's horizontal surfaces to lower the overall neck height as it sits in the pocket (which would probably cure most of the gap issues).
Nothing a bit of sanding, glue or a shim wont fix. great kit esilber, whats the plan?
Thanks Andy40. Plan on using standard hardware and components for this first build, finishing with Wudtone Surfer Girl (light green) color with a satin top coat.
Thank you Simon, I will check on the neck angle next. Thanks for the tips!
Hello,
Checking in on neck measurements to make sure I have this right. From the saddle to the 12th fret - I am coming up with ~328 mm on the low E and 324.5 mm on the high E. Saddle are forward on both.
Attachment 15423 Attachment 15424
From inside the nut to the 12th fret, it is about 303-304 mm.
Attachment 15425
Are these ok? I took from the instructional videos that these measurements should be closer to each other.
Some pics earlier in the thread show some gaps in the neck cut. Not sure if that plays into this.
I also do not have the posts for the bridge fully in at this point (about 1/3 in). Should I be tapping them in and should they go all the way in at this point in the build?
Final picture is a straight edge along the neck. Does this angle seem ok?
Attachment 15426
Thank you in advance for any input...trying to figure it all out....
Hi Esilber, the main measurements that are important are 12th fret to both E saddle distances sound good.
I am assuming the scale length of these kits is 25.5" or about 648mm from nut to bridge.
To check the scale length the distance from fretboard edge of nut to centre of crown of 12th fret wire should be about 324mm.
The neck angle looks good they have about a 3-4 degree break angle to compensate for a tune o matic bridge.
Don't knock the bridge bushes in, remove them it will make sanding and finishing the body much easier.
EDIT I think you meant nut to 12th fret is about 313/314mm which is correct for the 25.5" scale
Woks. the kit's scale length is stated as being 628mm, which is a Gibson 24.75" scale. So from the fingerboard side of the nut to the crown of the 12th fret it should measure around 314mm (so a 25.5" scale would be 323-324mm).
Esilber, it looks like you are measuring to the middle of the 12th fret, which is where your confusion is coming from. As Woks said, you need to measure to the 12th fret itself - and as the string will sit on the raised crown of the fret - you measure to the middle of that fret.
If you add up your two figures for the top E saddle and nut, you are getting around 624-625mm in total (with the saddle fully forwards), so it looks like everything is fine to me. Measure again, from the nut to the the top E saddle's middle position and should find that it's around 628mm.
Your neck angle looks OK. By the time you've got round to knocking the bushes in (after the body is finished as Woks says), and added a couple of mm of unfretted string height at the end of the fingerboard, your bridge height should be just fine.
Looking at your measurements, it looks like you are measuring to the fret board marker, this is not the correct place to measure to.
Make sure you are taking your measurements from the top of the metal fret, or what is classed as the crown of the fret as mentioned above.
cheers Simon for correcting me, I always get my 24.75" and 25.5" scales mixed up when converting them !
I always have to use an online converter, just to be sure myself!
Personally I always check these kinds of measurements with the stewmac fret position calculator. It will give you the exact distance from nut to the middle of each TOM bridge post to the nearest 10th of a mm given the scale length.
https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator.html
Just sayin.
cheers,
Gav.
That gives a value of 629.539mm (± 0.5mm) from the fretboard edge of the nut to the centre of the treble-side post.
It also says that the bass-side post should be 1.5mm - 3mm further from the nut.
That's a line that's drawn perpendicular to the nut (you'll have to extend the nut line out a bit), and not from the corner of the nut to the bridge post position.
Ah - I see what I was doing wrong. Appreciate all the help!
I think I got it this time
Saddle to 12th bass:318
Saddle to 12th treble: 315 (just under)
Attachment 15464 Attachment 15465
Nut to 12th bass:312.5
Nut to 12th treble: 312.5
Attachment 15466 Attachment 15467
That looks much better!!
I personally don't think you have any issue there, but one of the other guys will confirm. I'm just a newbie also!
OK.....completed sanding and applying finish...
Attachment 18178 Attachment 18179 Attachment 18180
Then completed wiring and installing electronics....
Attachment 18181 Attachment 18182
Getting ready to install machine heads, the bridge / trapeze tailpiece, then the neck and fastening pick-ups.
I instructional video for glue on neck isn't active. I watched the one for bolt-ons. Are there any tricks for setting a glue-on neck? The rough fit appears to be good, so I was going to apply glue to the neck and body and then clamp it down with protection for the guitar.
You are better off clamping if you can make a wooden block with notches for the frets, so that the clamps apply pressure to the fingerboard, not the frets. it doesn't have to be a work of art.
You might be able to clamp the heel so that it presses on to the body by putting a piece of wood (use double sided tape to hold it in place) across the rear of the neck-block inside the neck pickup cavity (you really should have waited to install the electrics, but you should be able to remove the pickup). This might be easier if you can make up a small block with a flat back and a front that's contoured to match the heel as best you can, so that the clamp has two flat surfaces to operate on.
If you can't do this, then you can (after protecting the sides of the body first, wrap some thin rope around the body and then tighten it by putting a stick through the rope and giving some turns. Don't overdo it as you'll also be putting pressure on the lower horn in particular, but something to hold the heel in place against the body is always nice.
I'd mask off the body around the neck area to prevent accidental damage when clamping and also if you get any glue squeezing out over time that you don't catch and wipe off, then it should mainly be on the masking and not the body.
On the electrics - have you installed and fitted your bridge earth wire? As you haven't put your bridge posts support inserts in at the time you took the photo (as far as I could see), then you may have missed this, so do it now before you totally forget!
Thanks Simon - great advice - appreciate it.
Yep earth wire is in place. Thanks. I didn't fasten the pick-ups yet so that made it easier.