MOTORIK II - Final pics on page 21 - new owner!

[Con-Tiki!]

I'm amazed how well the rosewood-repair worked.
I'll have to remember not to freak-out about things like that...
cool thread, thanks.

[theworkoffire]

Hardly worth an update, but I glued in the side dots tonight.

Drilling the holes (21mm from the base of the neck vintage correct fans, though I should really have used 2.5mm dots instead of the 2mm I had in my box; never mind):



Then dipping the end of a rod in superglue, twisting it into the hole and snipping it off close, but not close enough to distort the end near the binding:

[john999]

Love how that synthetic pearl has come out. It looks more retro somehow and more like what Fender used? Excellent work Ben I have just realised i should have put a side dot under the 1st fret block(Duh) having read this. Still not to late. I will try a more conventional drilling system like you used, next time I think.

[theworkoffire]

Love how that synthetic pearl has come out. It looks more retro somehow and more like what Fender used? Excellent work Ben I have just realised i should have put a side dot under the 1st fret block(Duh) having read this. Still not to late. I will try a more conventional drilling system like you used, next time I think.

I might try one of their other pearls next time - there's gold in the vintage pearl that's just not there in this white MOP, and they do some that might be a closer match.

As for your missing dot, be thankful it's not at the 12th fret, like I did on the first MOTORIK


Fretting today. I'm trying John's method with liquid hide glue in the slots - seems to work well. First filling the slot with a syringe before wiping off the excess with a damp cloth:



Pressing the fret in - they go in much easier with the glue to lubricate them. I cheated this time and used up some pre-bent and cut frets I had lying around. Still had to snip them to length and cut the tang down with a special nipper borrowed from John. On my next StewMac order - I love it.



Fret in - banged the ends down with a firm happer blow, just to be sure. On some of them a little glue squeezed out and was wiped away.



I made myself a handy fret end dressing file: cut down a medium flat file with my angle grinder and smoothed all the edges and corners, then shaped a lump of alder offcut so it can do either 90 or 35 degree filing. I was ripped off on ebay with a shitty version of this that came with the roughest file I've ever seen and would bend the fret ends before cutting them. This one works really well.



When you get down to the edge of the binding it suddenly loses all resistance so you know exactly when to stop, though I carried on a bit more to get slightly 'rolled' edges:



To finish off I ran a very fine file down the edge, then finished off with fine sandpaper on a block then round my finger. My test for when I'm done is that I can wipe the dust off hard with a cloth and it doesn't snag anywhere. I'll have a final check and clean up when I do the level and crown at the end.



I carved and finished the JM neck today, but didn't get time to do this one. The JM neck is definitely going to replace the D&B one I have on the Buickmaster

[PorkyPrimeCut]

A joy to read, as ever.

It's going to be interesting comparing the workmanship of the blank Vox neck I'm bringing round with your necks.

[Skarrgus]

Necks look great... And, they'remaking want some damned B&B action on one of my guitars...

[john999]

Great work again as always Ben, really like the bevel file tool youve made. Neat fret job

[ludobag1]

i hope one day i can do a fretting like yours
amazing

[Harvester]

gorgeous work there!

AP

[andy_tchp]

I made myself a handy fret end dressing file: cut down a medium flat file with my angle grinder and smoothed all the edges and corners, then shaped a lump of alder offcut so it can do either 90 or 35 degree filing. I was ripped off on ebay with a shitty version of this that came with the roughest file I've ever seen and would bend the fret ends before cutting them. This one works really well.

GENIUS.

[crazyzeke]

I made myself a handy fret end dressing file: cut down a medium flat file with my angle grinder and smoothed all the edges and corners, then shaped a lump of alder offcut so it can do either 90 or 35 degree filing. I was ripped off on ebay with a shitty version of this that came with the roughest file I've ever seen and would bend the fret ends before cutting them. This one works really well.

GENIUS.

Indeed. When someone starts to make their own tools to suit the job at hand, and said tools are better than those on the market, you're in the presence of uber-professionalism.

[theworkoffire]

Not sure about that, Zeke

Finished the neck off today. First off, roughing out with a rasp at 1st and 12th:



Then using a spokeshave for the rest and roughing out the transitions.



All that is smooted out and finished off with 80grit paper like a shoe-shine boy to get the curve even, then up and down the grain, then 120, 180 and 320 paper. I use a stanley knife blade a lot, too, to scrape along the length and get rid of ridges - especially handy where the binding meets the wood.



They're both maybe a little bit fat, still, but I'll test them in action before I make any adjustments. I haven't really measured them at all, or been too fussy about getting them to a specific shape. I just carve them until I like the feel of them in my hand. Main thing I've learned is to get the shoulders down to where I think they should be, then take a whole load more off. The first neck I carved stayed far too flat at the back for ages and was pretty uncomfortable before I worked out what the problem was.



I don't think I mentioned getting the side dots down flush: sandpaper, 320 then 500 grit.



Then the hard part. I made a line on the headstock where I wanted the contour to be, then another 4mm in from it, then I cut and sanded a piece of MDF to that shape and stuck it on with tape. Then I used a 1/2" diameter round bit with a 5/8" bearing on the shaft to rough it out. Because of the oversized bearing and because the bit was only cutting about 3mm deep, the cut stopped 4mm from the template (I'd worked that out beforehand).



Then I had to up-sticks into the kitchen to cook my daughter's tea and finish off the contour with sandpaper wrapped round a finger/felt tip pen and needle files while the pasta boiled.



Done Just needs the tuner holes and a nut, then I'll string things up and see what's what.



I'm hoping for some good weather over the next few days so I can get all my spraying jobs done (Hi Jon )

[crazyzeke]

Hehe, you wrote necking.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[theworkoffire]

Hehe, you wrote couldn't resist.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[wardpike]

Hey, you wrote "Sorry, couldn't resist".

LOL




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