holyCATS1415 wrote:stainless steel frets??? what the fuck. i know its possible but you will break strings every day.
and a double truss rod in a fender style neck? why?? it doesn't make any god damn sense.
Both of these things are perfectly sound. Stainless steel frets last longer with the disadvantage being that they are more difficult to work with when installing.
Let this kid live his dream. Fuck the haters.
Best project thread in months.
stainless steel frets are not a "sound" improvement. they KILL your strings. if you have money to shell out on new strings every
other day than by all means go for it, but i do not.
For those following this project or just interested in seeing more after the diary thread posts, here is a load of stuff from the Offset thread.
mcconnachiea wrote:It looks a bit crap because there are just tons of routes where I should be cutting the thing ;D
Done loads of routing though. Anybody know how to get a good, straight neck pocket?
mcconnachiea wrote:
So this is it so far. As you can see, the bridge pickup route has been a spectacular fail :'( I've got something to fix it up though.
I'm not lefty, I just forgot to 'unflip' the image (Damn macs >:()
I'm cutting it with a router and have got it thin enough for my giant 1/2" bit will do the rest for me. It is pretty slow going though.
I've yet to do the neck pocket :S
mcconnachiea wrote:Its coming on LEAPS AND FUCKIN BOUNDS!!!!
I thinned it down by about 15mm with a FUCKING ROUTER :wtf:
so as you can imagine, the back is as messy as hell, but a bit of planing should sort that out
Now I need to get drilling the other bridge hole and the string holes....
Its nearly 9pm so I better work fast not to wake the neighbours (not like that fucking party across the road won't be anyway >:( )
mcconnachiea wrote:
CROSS_guitars wrote:Did you use a ball bearing router bit traced around a plywood template? Or did you just route it free hand?
Freehand.
I couldn't be f*cked to use a template ;D
The actual routes aren't too bad though
mcconnachiea wrote:
Body cut out
If you don't already know, I'm using an 'isometric' neck plate which they use on what I think is called the 'strat deluxe' hence the funky neck pocket shape....
You can see the tom posts are in.... I left out the bushings and just drilled a 7mm hole and screwed the posts in with a drill. I got the post spacing out by a half a mm so it is a tight fit.
I also got a string ferrule hole out...... we'll see if that can be fixed.....
CROSS_guitars wrote:You may have had better luck using a table jigsaw or even a hand held jigsaw.
I know it's your first project and all, so I don't mean to be harsh.
The ferrule holes are crooked. Surely you have a ruler?
mcconnachiea wrote:I used a ruler.
I know one of them came out really wrong.
I used a drill press too but thats vibrating because its not bolted onto anything.
I tried using my jigsaw, but it didn't work for me - In the first photo, you can see the bit that took 5 minutes to cut with a jigsaw. Its been tidied up a bit since that and looks okay
mcconnachiea wrote:Here:
Filled in that hole and many others with dust and glue
There's the back. I've done the control cavity route and filled in the worst of the gouging cased by my using a router as a thickness planer. I also manages to make a right c0ck up of the back guard placement hence the pile of wood shavings
I've had too many near misses with this one, I think I need to slow down a tad. I still have my friday deadline though
mcconnachiea wrote:
Some kind soul lent me their power plane, so the arm contour is PERFECT!
Will wood filler fill in those 1mm gouges from planing?
mcconnachiea wrote:
The neck has been glued in, just need to wait for it to dry. I'll wait overnight just to be on the safe side.
Also, the mess at the back has been sorted thanks to Franco's exact double lending me his power plane ;D
Sorry for the glary picture, but the sun is REALLY bright and I can't really move it.
I also glued in the nut which looks pretty good.
You can see the little orange laser thing I used to ensure the neck was straight in the corner. 99p in the 99p store. VERY useful
mcconnachiea wrote:
Messy garden shot
Half the tuners vibrated off from some of the post neck gluing drilling ;D
Its looking pretty nice, except the bridge is in slightly the wrong place. from the bridge to nut is a mm or two over 25.5 inches :S
The pickups are on the wonk too..... well thats a price to pay for not using a template ::)
So now I've deepened the control cavity, drilled all the holes for the pots and stuff, done a bit of work on the heel (more work still :-tired ) and more sanding.
mcconnachiea wrote:
inkeye wrote:
Congrats to you on taking the plunge on learning how to build a guitar. I'm sure your next build will be better.
Hopefully, this one turns out for you.
For sure.
I never used any templates on this and that was my biggest mistake. I'm pretty happy though considering that and the fact I'm 15 and have so little experience.
I've learned some valuable lessons here..... the main one being GET A ROUTER TABLE ;D
mcconnachiea wrote:There are 5 screws in the neck pocket as well and they're deep enough to really hold it in. They've also been filled in so it still looks like a set neck .
and if you've got a problem with that, I suggest you have a word with his avuncular benefactor:
mcconnachiea wrote:Yeah. I know they're supposed to be tennoned, but with that many screws, there shouldn't be a problem according to franco who is a carpenter
(with apologies to Fran, since it was sweet of him to help, and not his fault that McConky chose not to listen)
knowing that he's 15 definitely takes any ire for him away as far as i'm concerned. at 15 there is no way i'd have the balls or the skills to get done what he got done. and honestly, if you don't fuck something up, you never learn the right way to do things. maybe he'll learn he's not a luthier...maybe he'll use this as a springboard into making better guitars...you never know. but he's 15 so all the "WHAT A FUCKING COCKSUCKER ASSHOLEFUCKSTICKDICKBALL" talk seems really unncessary. we all sucked ass at 15.
benecol wrote:Ah, now that's where you're wrong, Michael:
mcconnachiea wrote:There are 5 screws in the neck pocket as well and they're deep enough to really hold it in. They've also been filled in so it still looks like a set neck .
and if you've got a problem with that, I suggest you have a word with his avuncular benefactor:
mcconnachiea wrote:Yeah. I know they're supposed to be tennoned, but with that many screws, there shouldn't be a problem according to franco who is a carpenter
(with apologies to Fran, since it was sweet of him to help, and not his fault that McConky chose not to listen)
I don't get it. If you're going to screw it on aswell, why the glue? That just means you're committed to the neck position without the "true tone" sustainbuilding set neck system?
Although I actually think if you read people's posts, there hasn't really been any reactions of that sort. Mostly just bemusement and most people saying "Fair play, he actually gave it a go"