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The centerline is obvious on the spalted flamed maple so I am working from that. Template attached, rough out the route with the forstner bit then clean up with the router. The main thing I hate is the little points the forstner leaves so I set the depth of the drill press a 1/8" high.

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It was a little tight. I had to install it with a dead blow hammer... should slide right together when I glue it.

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Neck pickup routed.


Side dots installed while the neck is still flat on the edge. I used to forget this all the time. Then I was looking at Myka's build threads and realized I needed to do this earlier in the build.

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Time to start some rough carving. Last time I fretted the neck first. It moved after carving. This time I am carving it first. After trimming some wood with the bandsaw I started in with the spokeshave. The birdseye maple started to tear out... so I moved to the sanding disk. Not my favorite way to do this but I am not risking a deep tearout or gouge mark.

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Still not completely finished. I think I am going to take another 1/16" off the back. It needs to be a little flatter also. Right now it is a nice round shape but the customer wants it to match my RG550.

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Finished cleaning up the lines on the body. I was going to start routing the body but got tired and decided to go drink instead. I always make mistakes when I get tired. Parts come in on Wednesday so I will probably try to finish up next weekend and get ready for finishing. I still have to thin the body but I need to get some other stuff ready because when I switch the bandsaw blade to resaw I have some other stuff to resaw.

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Not bad so far...

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A few more...

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Lay out the trem route for the wilkinson, studs, and pickups. 25.5" scale neck. The studs go at 25.25". I put the back of the bridge HB route at 24.75". Back of the neck route goes at 21.00"


I used a 3/8" forstner bit in the corners to help prevent tear-out while routing. The HBs will be direct mounted to the body so I have to plan the depth of the route ahead of time.

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I love mock-ups. The spalted top is a little soft that is why it has the clamp marks. No worries though as it is getting a carve. I really don't like PRS style carves... good thing I am getting paid for this one.


Rear routes before I thin the body.. then after losing 3/8" from the back.

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I used my binding bit to set the edge for the carve. Rough carved with the Grinder. And cleaned up with a 50 grit sanding disk.

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After cleaning up with the DA and some 80 grit. I will work through the grits and fix a few little dibbles.

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What is left... fretboard, fretting. I am not going to carve the back until the neck is glued in.

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Needed to tighten up the heal area on this.





Carved the back

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Sanded the top out to 120 grit and cut the neck for the humbucker route.

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Working on the fretboard now. Start with 80 grit and the beam clamped in. After roughing in the 16" radius I flip and and true it up. Then I start working through the grits until it 320.

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Then a little steel wool... I stopped polishing the fretoard before fretting because I have to clean the glue after putting my frets in. I tried titebond on one neck and didn't like it. I am now using thick CA on the bottom of the fret. I really probably don't need it at all but sometimes I get paranoid...

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Couple more of the top with the neck fretted and trimmed up.

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And the back...

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Gratuitous shots...

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Drilled the input jack. Almost forgot the electronics holes. Now that would have made for an interesting afternoon had I glued the neck in without drilling those holes.



I am not sure which I hate more... filling fret ends or having to undercut fret tangs for hidden binding...

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Finished fitting the control plates. Installed magnets and washers...


Electronics holes drilled. I am keeping this simple as usual. One push pull knob. I might install a tap switch for the HBs if the customer wants one. I recess the input jack significantly to keep the lines clean and hide some of the plug.

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Recessed the tuners... I start with the 5/8 forstner then come back with the 3/8" forstner. Then I turn the thing over and drill out with the 13/32 within an 1/8" of the front. Not sure why guess I am trying to copy some of the factory necks I had in the 80s before companies started cutting corners.

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Mock up...

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Back... going to glue the neck in when the weather clears up. Probably Thursday...

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