Project '54 Jazzmaster

[PoppaPopp]

yes, good luck...

[spook]

Do a '54 Jazz bass for me when you're finished!!!   

[Indiepop]

Good luck! I want to see this finished!

[ludobag1]

nice template  (if i have a cnc  the new neck is great 

[GUITARmole]

Where are you getting your wood, locally at Gilmer?  If you ever feel like taking on another Strat neck project let me know!

[Stereordinary]

I get as much of my wood locally as I can.  Though I do order Rosewood fretboard blanks from Grizzly as my re-sawing capacity is sad, as evidenced earlier in this thread.

Do you mean other all-Maple neck projects?  I'm doing a Jag one pretty soon and another that's top secret. 

[billaftermath]

I am pumped to see what the end result looks like.

[motel_asimov]

....  I'm doing a Jag one pretty soon and another that's top secret.   :ph34r:

love those top secret projects by monsieur stereordinary!!!!

[GUITARmole]

I get as much of my wood locally as I can.  Though I do order Rosewood fretboard blanks from Grizzly as my re-sawing capacity is sad, as evidenced earlier in this thread.

Do you mean other all-Maple neck projects?  I'm doing a Jag one pretty soon and another that's top secret.   :ph34r:

I guess mine would fall under top-secret (nonstandard) as well...not all maple.  I've had mixed results with fret slotting myself and broke down and have a table saw with a fret slottinig blade from StewMac that's been going unused due to the crap I have piled on top of my table saw in the garage.  I'm contemplating getting rid of the saw and buying my fretboards premade too but I love that Macassar Ebony from Gilmer.

[Stereordinary]

Yeah, I'd like to make it up to Gilmer sometime when I've got a little extra cash in my wood fund.  They have some pretty stuff on their website.

Lot's of guy forego the fret slotting methods and just buy pre-slotted boards.  Luthier's Mercantile only charges like $8 extra to do it, and they have a bunch of different scale lengths.  I bought their fret slotting jig, midified it and have my own templates made for it to do my Fender-style necks.  It only takes a few minutes to do and I get curved-bottom fret slots, plus I can have new templates made up for any scale length I want.  There's lots of reasons why I came into doing it the way I do it, but I'm really happy with it.  As promised, you'll all see it in action later in this thread.

[Stereordinary]

Got the black epoxy dripped into the inlay holes today.

[davidgoerndt]

What is the diameter of the sanding spindle you use for sanding the headstock?

[Stereordinary]

Just off the top of my head, I have no idea.    It was the largest one I found in the shop, and I think it's about 3.5-4".

[theworkoffire]

What is the diameter of the sanding spindle you use for sanding the headstock?

For what it's worth, I've measured a number of vintage necks and they are done with a 3" diameter sander.

[Stereordinary]

Well, yesterday didn't go so well for Project '54.

I started with a little finish sanding on the fretboard side of the neck, to take it down to 1".


But the epoxy bled into the woodgrain way too much.


So I thicknessed that neck down to about 3/4" and I'll put a Rosewood fingerboard on it later.



So it goes.  I wasn't all that happy with that piece of Maple anyway.  I have heard of some different methods for getting the epoxy not to bleed like that, but this was an experiment.  Next time I'mm either line the insides of the holes with CA glue first, or just use plastic rod.  The only shitty part is that I don't have any other Maple that is thick enough to start a new neck.  I'll have to find some somewhere.  In the meantime, I'll give this neck a Rosewood fingerboard and you guys will get to see that happen, too.