Second build from scratch

[Simon Barden]

But probably still melting well over 100°C I assume, so the standard steam or hot palate knife probably aren’t going to be much use?

[Rabbit]

But probably still melting well over 100°C I assume, so the standard steam or hot palate knife probably aren’t going to be much use?

I'm pretty sure one of those gas burners they use for killing weeds would do the job. Doesn't everyone want a shou sugi ban finish?

[Manisk]

Thank you for the thorough walkthrough

I will be using stainless frets as thats the only kind i have
I realise the nut setup will be different when deciding to use a zero fret- also i left the fretboard too long in order to have some wiggleroom before i decide how to approach the setup

You are right about the epoxy, i agree that it is overkill and a hassle to work with

Yes the saw i use matches the width of the fret-tang, its not made for fret-cutting though - perhaps i should look into buying one that is intended for the task

[Simon Barden]

I'm far from an expert on fretting, I've only done a couple of necks, but I do know that the saw should just be very slightly larger than the width of the tang. The tang on most Jescar fret wire is generally 0.02" wide, and they say to use a 0.023" wide slot. The barbs on the tang on this width tang are a maximum of 0.036" wide, so it's those that hold the fretwire in place. Too narrow a slot makes it hard to knock the fret in fully. Looking at the other widths of tang and recommended slot widths, the slot always needs to be 0.002" to 0.003" wider than the tang width.

So probably best to get a fret saw with a known width and no widening of the teeth, as is often the case with general purpose saws, as the blade may be the correct width but the teeth may cut a significantly wider slot.

The better the fit in the slot, the better the fret will go in and hold.

I'd suggest doing some scale drawing of the headstock and the end of fretboard and work out the string geometry you'll need with that zero fret and your headstock angle, rather than trying to experiment in situ.

[Manisk]

I will remove a lot of mahogany in order to shape the body to flow into the neck profile, i dislike the neck shelf that interrupts the aesthetics


I've been spending some time shaping the neck profile, i think a C-profile suits me best, a thick C-profile that is
the neck currently measures 30mm (1.18") at the nut and 37mm (1.45") at the 12th fret - it sure feels comfortable in my hand but do you reckon after fretting that it will become a bit too thick?

This is how my hand sits at the moment



I have been feeding the wood plenty of teak oil, i plan to stain the body to get something of a starburst look, the neck will only get teak oil and a lot of it

[Simon Barden]

The neck will feel thicker once fretted and with strings on. The strings will be above the frets adding to the height/thickness, so I’d try putting maybe 2-3mm of card on top of the neck and see how that feels. I’ve got a couple of kit guitars where I felt the necks were fine until I put the guitar together and then wished I’d taken a bit more off them.

Your neck is a lot thicker than say a 1958 ‘baseball bat’ LP neck, which on the reissues is 0.951” (24.1mm) thick at the 1st fret, and the ‘59 necks are 0.932” (23.7mm) at the first fret.

At the moment you are just holding it and not playing it for a couple of hours at a time. Just try ‘playing’ a basic 12-bar shuffle using barre chords on it for a few minutes and see how you get on (That always makes my hand ache). I think you need to do some research on guitar necks you’ve found comfortable to play. I think you’ll find them a lot thinner than you think they are.

But the neck shape is something you can make thinner once it’s all together, as long as you are prepared to refinish it, so if you think it will work for you and your hand size, then why not at least give it a go? Or maybe even hold off on the neck finish, just do the body. Then assemble it, play it and adjust the neck until you are happy, then put the neck finish on? As you are just oiling the neck, you can easily do that later.

[Manisk]

Heya, been busy but finally got plenty of time to work on the guitar
Here comes a couple of updates

Some heel relief after gluing the neck

I think the area where all 4 woods meet look wierd. also i went a bit too deep when sanding the heel, id like to hide it and make the area less contrasting



Deciding to fill the ash pores with high quality acrylic paint, mixed a medium dark brown and pushed the acrylic with a credit card into the pores


Scraping the excess once dry


Unable to find frames for my pickups so i decided to make em from a suitable slab of walnut



Carving flat spots to seat the pickup frames (NOTE the imperfection on the top, most of the joint will be covered by pickup plates but the biggest gap will remain visible, any tips to blend it out?


Dry-fitting, the pickup frames are way too thick currently and need to lose 5mm thickness



I experimented with putting regular teak oil on the right side and teak VARNISH closer to the camera, when freshly applied the regular teak oil looked much much better but after giving the varnish some time it outshines the regular oil.


I like it but id really love getting a fade from very light around the tailpiece and darker along the edges until it meets the mahogany back, and make it so you cant really see the gluejoint that well, i have a jar of mahogny colored stain and also a graphite-black one - how do you recommend i approach it? - or would you do it different? I really am making it up as i go so im interested in your opinion

[Andyxlh]

That looks fabulous! Years ago we made a body from ash and just oiled it, has very similar grain to your body and I love that look.
Didn’t make the neck on ours!
It’s the imprecision bass in my signature below, I think you will see what I mean!
What a great job. It is really interesting reading your updates

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Manisk,
the guitar is looking great.

"I like it but id really love getting a fade from very light around the tailpiece and darker along the edges until it meets the mahogany back, and make it so you cant really see the gluejoint that well, i have a jar of mahogny colored stain and also a graphite-black one - how do you recommend i approach it? - or would you do it different? I really am making it up as i go so im interested in your opinion"

I did a stained black to jarrah burst on my FBM-1 and the TB-4 builds using FW stains. Both reasonably successful. I did the jarrah all over first, let it dry, then added the black and using a clean rag tried to blend it in. I had to do the black a couple of times and the blending took quite a while.

Looking on Youtube most videos blend the stained burst while both colours are still wet. I found this quite challenging on scrap wood.

I did a few experiments first. On scrap wood I also tried doing the black first, trying to feather the colour. Then sanded back to get a good transition. then added the jarrah.

I don't think there is any perfect way to do it. I settled on the first method as I thought it was easiest. Worst comes to worst it can always be sanded back if you are not happy with it.

[Manisk]

That looks fabulous! Years ago we made a body from ash and just oiled it, has very similar grain to your body and I love that look.
Didn’t make the neck on ours!
It’s the imprecision bass in my signature below, I think you will see what I mean!
What a great job. It is really interesting reading your updates

Thanks!
hey sweet bass