I finally took some pictures of Mercury 003 all finished up.
I've had a bit of trouble with the neck on this one. First, I sanded the transition in too close to the nut and didn't leave enough material behind the nut. What material was left was too fragile, and broke off, so I had to approach the nut a little differently and it's a weird Fender/Gibson hybrid approach. Later during initial setup, I discovered that I couldn't engage the truss rod with the appropriate wrench. I'm not sure what exactly, but it was bound to happen to me eventually.
Since the initial set of 10-46 strings didn't create enough relief, and I couldn't adjust the rod, I decided to set it up with a set of 12-62 in a drop C# tuning (drop-D half step down) which gives the neck enough relief to play nice. I don't have a dedicated drop tuned guitar, so I'll use this one for that, for a while. I'll also use this as the impetus to revise my neck building techniques going forward. I'll probably use this guitar as the test mule for some experimental necks after I get my shop set back up. I spec'ed out the pickup for a different type of player than me, so that will get changed out someday soon, to something more like a superD, and less like a JB.
Going forward, I'm planning on making a few revisions to the body as well. I'd like to standardize this shape on a standard 24 fret neck that I could get from an OEM. I'll also want the option of using locking vibratos, like a Floyd. I'm planning on moving the jack to the rear side, using a strat jack cup and I'll also want to plan out a spot for an optional battery door, by the jack.
Anyway, pictures:
