Leaderboard

The quality of your work deserves to be seen twice!

This is the same post I've just done on basschat so if you've already read it there, it will seem curiously familiar! Anyway, it's going to be a disturbed weekend again so I have tried to get some more of the major steps sorted in the last couple of days. I have started the finishing process on the body. I'm a bit unconventional in that, regardless of what I will eventually finish it with, I 'grain fill' and seal using a tru-oil slurry-and-wipe approach. Here's the back and sides after the first application: While that was drying, I carried on with the neck fitting. It is going to be bolt-on mortice and tenon, using captive nuts. This all has to be very accurate and square: When screwing in the inserts, not only do they have to be very square to the hole, but - from bitter experience - I also support the sides to avoid the process splitting the wood: This means we have a self-supporting neck that can be tightened fully against the body... ...for the next somewhat iterative process of checking and adjusting the neck angle on both planes. By the way, note at the joint that the inside is scooped away so that the only contact is at the sides of the heel. First check is whether the neck angle to bridge is correct: This is, happily, exactly where I need it to be - the level from the fretboard is just touching the top of the bridge - the bone saddle will provide the string action height Then I have to check the alignment of the neck: Not so good. So I need to shave a touch off the base side of the heel - while not affecting the neck angle and maintaining a good heel to body joint. This will have to wait until next week

I used to use flats on my jazz guitar (a Heritage 175 clone). They suited the music I was playing on the instrument and felt good to play. Definitely worth considering if you are looking for a smooth tone. No good for metal though.