Ryanesque Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I have to join the band wagon here. If you put this in for GOTM, I'll be voting for it. Freeking awesome, dude. I really like this guitar. wanna build me one too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dash Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 quite honestly, when i saw the template at the start of the thread i was totally hating it. but seeing it in the flesh (so to speak) i am loving this build. can't wait to see the finished product. workmanship is spot on too! cheers darren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 I'm still not crazy about the knob placement. Otherwise, I'm digging this one. I especially like the Iceman-like trebel horn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 BEAUTIFUL! The bridge is perfect for your design. In fact, I think your guitar is what the bridge was designed for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guerrilla Radio Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 The walnut on the top is GORGEOUS. Fantastic work. And, as others have said, the initial drawing looked weird but seeing it done in pictures, it's looking awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinkknot Posted October 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 urm.... so i ran into my first big issue and im not sure how to fix it... the bridge is set at its lowest and the string is way to far from the fretboard... only thing i can think of is the neck angle? if you look at the light wood of the guitar neck that sticking out. its thinner at the bottom as it is at the end... please help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 this is why we always say to plan your guitars fully before starting... from both the front and the side. You have a big difference to make up, generally tehre are two options. angle the neck or recess the bridge. angling the neck can be done with shims, sometimes a thin strip of veneer at the back of the cavity is more than enough to correct it.. but yours looks like it needs more. I would make a full sized pocket shim, a wedge shaped shim that fills the neck pocket completely to ensure good contact between neck and body. recessing the bridge works well but you have a long way to go so would not be advisable. actually i might be tempted to recess the bridge 4-5mm then let the neck shim do the rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 The neck is already slightly angled ........ the wrong way I like Wez's idea of the full pocket shim, glue in about 3 mm of wood then angle your neck pocket template and route down until the fretboard at the top end of the body (looking sideways at the guitar, like in your last pic) is sitting flush on the body and the neck is sitting about 1.5 mm higher at the pickup end. In other words the neck at the top of the pocket has got to come down about a mm and at the bottom of the pocket up about a mm. You don't want to recess the bridge you would have to cut into the finish. Good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 If you cut an angled shim which tapers from 3mm or so at the pickup end, down to a feather edge at the end of the heel, you'll probably end up with good action. I'd cut if from the offcut of body and glue it into the pocket once you're sure it works. If you fit it carefully to the shape of the pocket it should be pretty inconspicuous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 urm.... so i ran into my first big issue and im not sure how to fix it... the bridge is set at its lowest and the string is way to far from the fretboard... only thing i can think of is the neck angle? if you look at the light wood of the guitar neck that sticking out. its thinner at the bottom as it is at the end... That happened to me on my first one too. Seeing you do it makes me feel a LOT better. This is also why the test fit is so important to do BEFORE doing any finishing. These hard-learned mistakes will serve you well in the future. Listen to what these guys are telling you. They're putting you on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 +1 WezV and Setch on recessing bridge and glued in neck shim. Looks like you need to attack it from both angles. I would trace the bridge outline on the top of the guitar, mask it off with blue tape, use my dremel to move the bridge down about 4 -5 mm, shim the neck with a nice angle shim, then glue it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubber314chicken Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 I love that design- especially the sculpting with the veneer. Another vote to shim that neck pocket. If you want the neck to angle back then you could shim the pocket with wedges, or you could simply recess the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinkknot Posted October 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Great stuff! Ill give it a go over the weekend, pretty sure ill get it right... i just have to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Hey blink. As many people have said it looks great! The shim sounds like a good idea but is there anyway you could just route a ramp into your neck pocket instead of routing your bridge into your nicely finished top as your neck pocket is already routed? I reckon if you dropped the front edge of the pocket 1.5 - 2mm and left the pickup side the same height your neck angle would be pretty close and if you needed slightly more angle then you could use a thin shim. Remember altering your neck pocket by just a small amount will make your headstock drop down bringing your strings parallel to the fretboard. What are other peoples thoughts? It would be a massive shame if you were to route your bridge lower and slip and take a chunk out at this stage of the game. I routed a ramp into my neck pocket no problems the first time. Unfortunately the angle was wrong though and had to re route it once the top was curved... that proved to be alot more difficult . In the end it was all sweet though! Goodluck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 It would be a massive shame if you were to route your bridge lower and slip and take a chunk out at this stage of the game. I routed a ramp into my neck pocket no problems the first time. Unfortunately the angle was wrong though and had to re route it once the top was curved... that proved to be alot more difficult . In the end it was all sweet though! Goodluck! You are 100% correct, there is never a need to angle the neck and sink the bridge, either by itself will do the job. The only reason that the strings are sitting so proud on this guitar is that the neck is angled the wrong way, and is currently leaning towards the bridge. Once the neck pocket is fixed there will be no need to cut into that lovely finish and body . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiggz Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 mate that guitar is awesome. first pics i though to myself that looks like ****, but you have really made it look great i love the knobs and the headstock great work GOTM this and you have my vote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 You are 100% correct, there is never a need to angle the neck and sink the bridge, either by itself will do the job. i suggested both because just sinking the bridge would mean sinking it quite far which causes other problems. Just angling the neck back might create more of a neck angle than i would like and the neck is already low in the pocket. Both solutions work well but combining them would get you closest to the feel of a normal guitar from where it stands now. so maybe there is never a need to do both... but i do think it would be the best solution here The only reason that the strings are sitting so proud on this guitar is that the neck is angled the wrong way, and is currently leaning towards the bridge. the strings are sitting proud because the neck is set too low into the body, this is combined with a relatively tall bridge to give the excessive string height The neck may be angled slightly backwards in the photo but if it is, it is only very slight so that is not the main problem here. cutting more out of the front of the current neck pocket may lead to the fretboard actually sitting below the top of the body... which is why we suggested adding more wood rather than removing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 You are right Wes. Does a fretboard on a les paul finish hard against the top? The reason im asking this is there is still a couple of mm's of neck material above the guitars body so he still has room to sink it down. Thats the only reason i thought of it that way. Correcting the neck angle will bring the strings closer and he may not have to sink the bridge. Whatever you do Blink make sure you are comfortable with it and have thought the process through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 You are right Wes. Does a fretboard on a les paul finish hard against the top? The reason im asking this is there is still a couple of mm's of neck material above the guitars body so he still has room to sink it down. Thats the only reason i thought of it that way. Correcting the neck angle will bring the strings closer and he may not have to sink the bridge. Whatever you do Blink make sure you are comfortable with it and have thought the process through. yeah, a lp fretboard does sit on the top... but that section of the top is angled too. This guitar has a flat top and the neck is already set lower than is normal for a bolt-on neck on a flat-top guitar... and thats without allowing for the fact a TOM is a good 4-5 mm taller than a hardtail you might normally see on guitars built this way see how high this strat neck sits off the body, the scratchplate make it look less so i still reckon th easiest fix will be to raise and angle the neck with a full pocket shim as well as sinking the bridge slightly.... but thats because i tend to think about how each change will affect the others. changing 3 things slightly means you wont have to create an extreme neck angle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 (edited) comment deleted A neck pocket is about 8.5 cm long, so all you have to do is angle it up 2.3 mm at the end of the pocket. It should look like this on a flat top guitar If the scale is about 65 cm, there will be 26 cm to the bridge, that is around 3 times the length of the pocket so a total rize of about 0.7 cm. The strings are about 1.0 cm high at the start of the body so that takes you up to 1.7 cm. That will allow you to install a tune o matic bridge with no sinking and lower the action as low as you want to go. Click here for proof Have a look at this earlier post you can so see it is angled the wrong way. Tiny mistakes in the pocket angle can stick the wires way up in the air. Edited October 25, 2008 by Muzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 Hey Wez, I can see you are posting right now, so we can chat about this in real time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 dont get personal Muzz... you have your way of doing things and i have mine!! the only reason i quoted you was to try to clarify why i had suggested something different to you... not to actually call your advice into question. The OP can make their own decision based on what tehy think they are capable of. most of my responses have been because i know some people on this forum would rather suggest recessing a bridge than stopping to think about neck angles for a minute. I do not think that recessing the bridge would be the way to solve the problem as the bridge would need recessing alot! i suggested a full pocket shim because it is what i would do. I know fully well that this guitar could be fixed by just doing that and nothing else... but in my opinion it would not be the right way to fix it. That guitar you posted may play absolutely fine... but i assure you some players would find the extra neck angle on a flat top guitar distracting.. I know thats daft to some but i tend to do things that dont feel too different to what people are used to unless i feel its a major improvement. So i feel (others are free to agree or disagree) that for aesthetic and comfort reasons i would rather sink the bridge slightly and have a little less neck angle. It would feel more like what the average guitar player is used to and the bridge pickup wouldnt need raising so much higher than the neck pickup.. something i always think looks odd! You said there was never a need to do this so i felt it was important to explain why i suggested it!! i have already looked at the photo of string hieght before posting any response... and i can see the maple is very slightly thinner at the end of the pocket - suggesting its angled backwards. I can see that, but i do not feel that it a major issue here - it is very slight and would be corected by the full pocket shim i suggested anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 (edited) You know the great thing about making and modifying guitars Wez, there is no right or wrong, even though I love to do things the wrong way. Maton do a great job on recessed bridges, and you are right that different styles of guitars feel better to different people. One of the fantastic things about this forum is that everyone is so helpfull, and of course every helpfull poster wants their fix to be the one that saves the guitar in peril, its a good thing, not a bad thing. The shim idea is good, but the neck pocket at the superior end needs to be deeper. Edited October 24, 2008 by Muzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 The shim idea is good, but the neck pocket at the superior end needs to be deeper. who ever said that it didnt if you look at my first post on this issue i did suggest a wedged shim that fills the whole pocket. Now its up to the OP whether they would prefer to make the wedge seperately or glue in a flat piece and route the slope... but i guess my mistake was to not tell them exactly where the thin end of the wedge should be, i guess i thought it didnt need explaining Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 24, 2008 Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 Wedged is OK, but with a screwed in neck (resist the urge to comment on that) the more contact between the neck and pocket the more stable it is going to be, wouldn't you agree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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