TD's Acoustic (FH-5V)

[Trevor Davies]

In my case the "freaking me out" has a tendency to lead to endless rumination and analysis paralysis. The flat neck area will help a lot. Is it flat on the bottom too? A problem I had when I needed to do a rout on an ES body was that it was hard to immobilize the body because of the curve on the back. Even so, that was not as challenging as yours since I was just enlarging the rout, not creating a whole new one.



Even so, more work ended up going into the jig than into the cut ;-)

Ha ha. Yes, I think making the jig will take me longer than the routing! That's OK - I knew what I was getting myself into!

[WeirdBits]

Trev, do you have access to a FO style inspection camera? It would be informative if you/we could get a look inside at the neck block and to make sure the bridge support is positioned correctly (assuming they still use a bridge support).

[Trevor Davies]

Trev, do you have access to a FO style inspection camera? It would be informative if you/we could get a look inside at the neck block and to make sure the bridge support is positioned correctly (assuming they still use a bridge support).

No FO camera, but looking through the f holes: I can see the bridge support and that is positioned correctly. Can also see the neck block and that looks good. The kerfing around the side also looks good.

Not great pictures!

[Dikkybee007]

For your tuner bushes have a look on Amazon and Realparts as I have used adapter bushings that have an outside diameter of 9.5 ,10 and 10.5mm diameter with an internal diameter of 6mm and 1/4".

[Trevor Davies]

For your tuner bushes have a look on Amazon and Realparts as I have used adapter bushings that have an outside diameter of 9.5 ,10 and 10.5mm diameter with an internal diameter of 6mm and 1/4".

Thanks Dickybee. I had not thought about that!

I have already made some wooden inserts from dowel, and glued them in. But I know for next time!

[fender3x]

I have already made some wooden inserts from dowel, and glued them in. But I know for next time!

Out of curiosity...how did you make those wooden inserts so perfectly?

[Trevor Davies]

Out of curiosity...how did you make those wooden inserts so perfectly?

I did mess up a couple! Using a drill press with a board bolted to the stage so that it could not move, I drilled a dowel sized hole part way through the board (which positioned the dowel). Then drilled the same size hole through a small block of wood about the same height as the dowel. Then change the drill bit to a smaller size. A dowel (with the top end sanded flat) could then be placed into the block and board. Then drill partway (headstock thickness) through the dowel. Done!

The small block covered the top of the dowel and prevented the drilling from separating the edges of the wooden ring. It also allowed me to remove the dowel after drilling without moving the board.

A little painful! Since the wooden rings are very thin, I placed glue around the outside and inside edges. Once glued into the headstock, I filed the rings carefully to fit the bushing.

I'm not sure if I would do this again!

[WeirdBits]

Brass tubing of various sizes can also be useful for making your own quick bushings for testing or temporary fitting.

[fender3x]

I am still painting my headstock. So the timing is perfect for me. Thanks for the question and for the answers!

[fender3x]

Ingenious! It looks like it worked really well. What would keep you from doing it again?

I had in mind doing something similar for a bass. My tuner bushings are 16mm, but the hole is 17.5mm. Not sure my skills would be suffient to make a wooden bushing that small though...