General Luthiery Thread

[JimboMansonMB-1]

Originally Posted by hooglebug

first things first - stop looking at it from the body end - it causes an optical illusion and always looks like somethings wrong. you should always look from the nut end

Ah, thanks! It does look better from the nut, but there's still too much relief

Originally Posted by james90

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I don't know, maybe it just needs a washer in there like you see above, but with the luck I've had with modern fender necks, it probably needs something else. clamping wasn't quite enough to sort the neck on my strat.

is it hot and dry where you keep your guitars? (that's the opposite of what you want)


edit: hooglebug is right btw. only real way to tell is by doing that 1st and 15th fret thing though. sometimes i find even the lighting throws off what the neck looks like. and also the position the guitar is in.

Thanks James. It's hot but certainly not dry, and I haven't had any problems with any other guitars of mine.

I probably wouldn't be too concerned with this, but I'm trying to sell that Strat and I had it sent back to me by a really professional guy (who I've sold guitars to before) because of this issue, which was sort of embarassing for me. To be honest, it doesn't look like that serious of a problem, but it is worth noting and I want to get it fixed so I can sell the darn thing once and for all!

[james90]

Originally Posted by JimboMansonMB-1

Ah, thanks! It does look better from the nut, but there's still too much relief



Thanks James. It's hot but certainly not dry, and I haven't had any problems with any other guitars of mine.

I probably wouldn't be too concerned with this, but I'm trying to sell that Strat and I had it sent back to me by a really professional guy (who I've sold guitars to before) because of this issue, which was sort of embarassing for me. To be honest, it doesn't look like that serious of a problem, but it is worth noting and I want to get it fixed so I can sell the darn thing once and for all!

But the value will go down if it's repaired. And because it's a john mayer signature

You don't want it in hot weather. I think humidity generally is more of a concern with acoustics and hollow bodies, but it can't hurt.

guitars are a bit weird when it comes to the environment they like...

cold and damp > cold and dry > warm and damp > warm and dry > texas

you'd think that they would back bow when the wood expands from heat, but they do the opposite. or at least that's what i've found.

the truss rod is loosened almost all the way on my les paul (I don't think it's even having an effect now) and most of my other guitars have had theirs loosened recently. this is because i've kept a humidifier on all last winter and most of spring, and also kept it fairly cool in the room they've been in.

i'll see if i can get a picture of what my guitars are setup like. i generally prefer them almost dead flat, but with a tiny bit of relief. but as i said, some play a little better with a little more relief.



How's the MB-1 holding up? i had to tighten the truss rod on mine almost 1/4 a turn when I got it, but it's been fine since then.

[JimboMansonMB-1]

Originally Posted by james90

But the value will go down if it's repaired. And because it's a john mayer signature

You don't want it in hot weather. I think humidity generally is more of a concern with acoustics and hollow bodies, but it can't hurt.

guitars are a bit weird when it comes to the environment they like...

cold and damp > cold and dry > warm and damp > warm and dry > texas

you'd think that they would back bow when the wood expands from heat, but they do the opposite. or at least that's what i've found.

the truss rod is loosened almost all the way on my les paul (I don't think it's even having an effect now) and most of my other guitars have had theirs loosened recently. this is because i've kept a humidifier on all last winter and most of spring, and also kept it fairly cool in the room they've been in.

i'll see if i can get a picture of what my guitars are setup like. i generally prefer them almost dead flat, but with a tiny bit of relief. but as i said, some play a little better with a little more relief.



How's the MB-1 holding up? i had to tighten the truss rod on mine almost 1/4 a turn when I got it, but it's been fine since then.

It's funny, I've never had a problem with any guitar except this one. Must be how it was imported from Singapore....

MB-1 is doing great in the Texas weather! Oh, and happy to announce that just tightening the truss rod has indeed had an effect, it just needed longer to adjust. Looks pretymuch normal again

Many thanks, James and Hoogle!

[IntelligentAl]

This is in the planning stages:

ShowShow this spoiler

I'm not great with Photoshop

[Dominic.]

What are the extra two knobs for?

Also, you should put a Bigsby on that

[IntelligentAl]

Two volume, two tone. I'm going for a Les Paul vibe but with more wobbly tremolo and more killswitchyness.

[bucket_]

It'll be 2 Volume and Tone controls, like on an SG, right? In that case you don't need the killswitch Just turn one of the pickups fully down and use the pickup selector

[IntelligentAl]

The two volume controls are more for tone versatility than for the killswitch, I'm in a blues band so I'm always messing with the volumes and tones and switching pickups. The killswitch is for my Tom Morello solo when we do a cover of What a Man by Salt n Pepa

[JimboMansonMB-1]

That looks awesome! It's cool to see something new (or I guess vintage) on the MoC shape. But why not arrange those knobs like the standard Les Paul layout?

[Lord MFC]

Originally Posted by IntelligentAl

This is in the planning stages:

ShowShow this spoiler

I'm not great with Photoshop

are you gonna make it? i like the knob layout btw

[IntelligentAl]

Yeah, I'll hopefully start working on it as soon as I can afford the materials and parts. I did try it with the Les Paul control layout, but for some reason I'm not sure if the MoC shape really suits it. Still, I like how this is the MoC shape and style, but with more a vintage vibe

I'm still working on final specs, but so far I have:

Fender Schaller locking tuners, roller string trees and bone nut
22 fret maple neck/rosewood fretboard (still not fully decided on the specs for this)
Bare Knuckle Blue Note 90 in the neck
Seymour Duncan '59 in the bridge
Fender two-point tremolol
Killswitch (wired on/off/on)
Mahogany body with maple cap
Wine red finish
Cream binding

Wait, no Fuzzy Factorreee??

[bucket_]

Like the sound of that. Pic is good too.

[Olly.]

You ever made a guitar before?

[IntelligentAl]

No, this will be my first. I've been reading about building guitars for a few months now and it seems likee quite a scary process but I think at least theory-wise I'm getting there.

[bucket_]

Good luck! Post pictures of your progress when you get them