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Six months ago I bought my Hohner acoustic guitar when I decided it was about time I started to play again, I then purchased an Epiphone Gibson Les Paul Studio 2. This week my wife brought home an acoustic classical guitar that was going to be sent to the tip. I soon realised that it's previous owner had restrung it incorrectly with the strings fitted in the wrong order, there is also a little damage to it but I figured for the price of a set of strings it was worth messing about with. Three days on and aside from the new strings taking a while to stretch its not a bad little thing to mess about with, and I have been trying a few of the easy classical pieces that I used to play. All very basic stuff ( probably aimed at primary school leve) but I am enjoying it!

And...it's finished!!!! The 'last few jobs' always turn out to be a 'myriad of final jobs. Anyway, all sorted. I'm passing it across to Alex tomorrow - I will try and get him to do a bit of recording at one of their band practices but, in the meantime, you'll have to trust me when I say it sounds great . Although it is just a small wiring change and no hardware change, I've opted NOT to go for the P-rails standard wiring system which gives: Full series humbucker; parallel humbucker; P90; Rails. I've used that system in a number of my own gigging guitars and I found that: - the fact that both pickups are always in the same configuration for the four options is actually, ironically, quite limiting. I was always hankering for, such as, 'neck pickup full series humbuck for the depth, mixed with bridge pickup in split coil mode to add a bit of extra treble and dispel any muddiness' and similar - I also never, in practice, used the rails by themselves...not enough ooomph - and I never, in practice, used the humbuckers in parallel...not enough depth I talked that through with Alex and, for kickoff, we decided to have a standard split coil option for both pickups where the operating coil in each case was the P90. So he can go full series humbucker with 3 way options, P90 with 3 way options and one (either) pickup P90 and the other series humbucker. It's a 30 minute job to change the wiring to the 'P-rail standard' options if he wants to try that in the future. Anyway, here are some of the arty-farty finished pics: Thanks again for watching this develop and your kind remarks along the way

Son(16) is a fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Cheap Squier Bullet Strat from Cash Converters and a Most-Marvelous Inter-Fret Job by @Andyjr1515 fella who sits (slumps!) at the bar in the BassChat Arms... (Blah! Blah! and Pics in a BassChat Tech&Repair post) https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/496955-microtonal-fretting-microwhat-but-sorry-not-on-a-bass/?do=findComment&comment=5264843 When 12TET and 20 or so frets just arn't enough... go 24TET and over 40 frets to play with!

Thanks everybody for your answers and contributions. Made some interesting reading, and some great model photos. Just before Christmas, I privately bought a Marshall amp. The owner asked if I would also take his old black and white Strat off his hands too for a meagre £30.... It was an exact double of the one in my original post with identical headstock and weight. Well...you can guess the rest! Cheers again for all of your input.

I think HB are great value guitars and worthy of modifying too...here is a Youtube video showing what I do to them:- Infinity Mirror Guitar v3 with hot rail pickup.

I've recently bought a HB PB50 bass. I rolled the fingerboard edges and gigged it last week. £105. unbelievable

And bringing it up to the present state of play... To balance the purple of the headstock and fretboard, I added a slice of purpleheart to a cut block of ebony and carved the beginnings of the bridge. I also cut the fretboard end to where it will meet the soundhole: Next, I turned my attention to the decoration around the soundhole. Although you have to be a bit canny to maintain the accuracy, I actually find the Dremel radius accessory reasonable for this job: I used a 1mm bit to cut a circle at the centre and wrapped some 1mm b/w/b purfling into it after running a teeny bead of glue onto the bottom edge. After scraping the excess purfling off, I drilled an offset radius tool spike-hole that will be used to put in a second, larger offsett ring (you can just see the pencil check marking offset and outside the installed ring): And then another radius tool spike-hole in between those two to be able to cut - using a 3mm bit - a mid radius to create an offset channel for some curved abelone that, all being well, would fit in between the two other rings. It worked!! And finally, the radius tool spike back to the original hole, but at a slightly smaller radius to now cut right through and create the sound hole : And that's how far I've got so far. It's dinky, isn't it!!!! : Next job is the bracing and 25 foot radiusing of the top. Other pesky distractions mean that it is likely to be into next week before I get to that - but when I do, I'll be sure to post the progress

And here it is!!! Set up is lovely, and it was practically in tune (I will have to get used to the locking tuners). Frets feel like a tiny polish on top needed, but playing in will deal with that. Neck is gorgeous, and I love the firemist colour. Either a very, very almost imperceptibly tiny ding on the headstock, or a miniscule imperfection on the headstock finish, but that's the sort of thing it'd get in a few days' use with me, so.... Overall, a stunning piece. The gig bag is surprising good, much higher quality than I expected, and the 25th logo inside it is a nice touch. Highly recommended. I still hope they do 5his soec in the CC colours going forward, as a DLX model.

@Richards Guitars... I am one of several Moderators of this fine Forum; this task has been very simple for several years past, as the folk here are a great bunch. We enjoy the occasional bout of banter (whilst remaining civil, naturally...) between friends that are used to each other's little ways and foibles; nothing wicked or hurtful. If there is any doubt as to any posts here, there is, top right of every post, three little dots (...), from where it's easy to create a Report. Every Report is brought automatically to the attention of the Mods and Admin, and what rare issues that do crop up are handled with serious and diplomacy. Feel free to avail yourself of this function at anytime (this goes for all that read this, naturally...). This site is an extension of Basschat.co.uk, which has been active for many decades now. Here, things tend to be a little slower-paced, but there is a healthy cross-over from one Forum to the other (many here are members of both...). This leisurely pace suits us fine, so don't be surprised if some replies to posts come only after a few days. I'm usually here sporadically several times each day, but then again : I'm retired, so... Glad to have you aboard; meanwhile... Have a wonderful day. Douglas

My loyalty sale HB DC Jnr. At £128, it cost less than I've seen tgem go for used.... I did wonder if QA might be a little more flexible at this reduced price, but the sole flaw I can find is that one of the screws on the back of the bridge is cery slightly angled. As with the MR Classic, the bridge feels a little cheap but perfectly functional; I'm not anticipating replacing it in the foreseeable. In the medium term, I want to add a totey guard for a Johnny Thunders vibe. I'm halfway tempted to switch the knobs for dice knobs as well. Overall, It's ridiculously impressive for the money. Great set uo out of the bix just needed tuning. Not a sniff of fretsprout or a sharp fret anywhere. This is what impresses me most at this sale price. Back when I started playing in 1991ish, the most basic, plywood Strat type cost more than this new (even without taking inflation into account), and wasn't always as good as this. I'd put it on a par with the Epiphone model. To really go a step up, I'd need to be looking at sonething like Maybach or a Gibson; the problem with those is that it always felt inherently 'wrong' to me to take what is by design a simple, budget instrument and inflate it to "luxury" level. The one thing that I'd like to see Thomann do better is to get the TV yellow colour right. I *might* have paid full rather than sale price over this one for that (throw in stainless steel fretsand it would be a given), but all other things being equal, if it was just the colour I wouldn't replace this one with another for that, which auggests it's not really that big a deal.... Thomann dodo a small range of "tribute" guitars, basically unofficial quasi sig models.... if the MR Classic is a great base for a Johnny Ramone tribute, this and the Fat version should surely provide a great option for a nod to both Johnny Thunders and Mick Jones circa 1976/77 especially. One thing I'm really impressed with, as on the MR, is the neatness of the finish around the headstock, where the black facing meets the colour on the rear.

I believe it's a First Act Delia. Reminds me a bit of a Hofner Verithin (sp?).

Well, on the final furlong. Basically, the finishing is finished and now just have to do the shielding, fretwork, electrics and final assembly/setup. The final stages of ebony sand-only and alder/maple Tru-oil slurry-and-buff is coming out nicely:

The quick answer is yes I am happy and have become even happier as my skills have developed. I guess in retrospect I should have asked more how would a more expensive guitar reflect in feel and my playing. I was lucky enough to come across a rather nice Epiphone Les Paul Studio electric guitar for what I have been advised is a reasonable price, there is not a mark on it. The same guitar tech that checked the acoustic changed the pick up switch for me and he is suitably impressed with my purchase. And bonus a work colleague gave me this little amp.

I spent some time this morning with the guitar strung up and on a strap for me to 'fit' the neck profile to suit Alex's style of playing. Basically, he played, I then scraped material off the neck haunches and then he tried it again. This was repeated over an hour until it 'felt right' for him. We can do further tweaks once it's finished and he can play it with amp/etc but it's probably close enough for me to start the final sanding, which I started this afternoon. As folks who have watched other builds will know, I often use some Tru-oil slurry and wiped to act as a grain filler and also as a reveal coat... to spot dints and lumps or sanding marks that are difficult to see on dry sanded wood. The good thing is that it also lets bot Alex and me see how the final colours and grain are going to turn out to be. I think it's going to be quite nice:

Well family stuff and domestic 'projects' largely clear and so I'm back to the build I'm not quite at the final furlong stage, but certainly getting closer to it. Next jobs were to finish the rough carving on the back and getting ready to sort the control chamber hatch. For the carve at the back, because it's curved, I am mainly using the larger of the two round-bottomed Ibex thumb planes and also the gooseneck card scraper: Don't let anyone tell you the Ibex planes are toys - they really are precision planes: Those curly shavings are rock maple and ebony! I used a bottom bearing rebate router bit to follow the chamber and mark the outer edge of the rebate - but the curve of the back makes it difficult to get an even depth of cut and so the rebate was cut to final depth using carpenters mallet and some sharp chisels. Done, ready to create the paper template and cut the hatch:

Couldn't resist doing a full mockup. In elapsed time (some pesky family commitments getting in the way ) this is probably around 4 weeks away from finish but, from the front view, it's getting pretty close. In the third pic, @Matt P, I also gave the top half a wipe with a damp cloth to show what the final colour will be. Seeing this, I'm certain tru-oil slurry and buff satin finish is the way to go :

So why are the body wings so deep? Well - because the body cross section is going to have some curves. Mind you, that will mean a LOT of carving - and I will creep up on the final shape and let the guitar show where it wants to go... Here comes in play one of my favourite hand-tools - the Veritas Pull-shave. I think it's designed for scooping out wooden chair seats, but it's ideal for this kind of job: But I also use the block plane, razor planes and cabinet scrapers. Off and on over a few days, it's starting to take shape. Carve here is probably 50% done for the body. In between carving sessions, I also added frets to the (still unglued) fretboard:

I cut the top ebony around the pencilled line of the fretboard end which allowed me to lay the fretboard on the angled neck and position the top. I drilled a couple of positioning holes in the middle of the pickup positions which, with the addition a couple of kebab sticks will stop the top from floating around as it's being clamped when the glue is applied: That meant I could check that the neck angle is going to be correct for the height of a standard tune-o-matic roller bridge: And so what about the end of the fretboard that is hanging in mid air? Well, of course the offcut from the neck blank when I cut the neck angle in the first place is going to be the correct angle. So I will be able to cut a short ramp from this (ignore the odd shaped headstock in the background - that's not connected with this project ) I will also be adding a demarcation stripe of maple between the alder and ebony: And so, with the kebab sticks positioning everything until the clamps were all on and then removed before the glue set, the clamps can now go on! :

This is going to be a through-neck and so the first thing to do is, generally, to sort the neck. 'Sort' means choose the timbers, assemble the laminates, incorporate the neck angle into the blank, calculate the headstock angle, calculate the body depth and the neck depth... ...but you can't calculate the neck depth until you know exactly what the fretboard thickness is. So, actually, that's where I started - by radiusing the ebony fretboard blank using the excellent G&W router jig: Then fifteen minutes sanding with a sanding block removes the router marks: So now I can do all the neck calcs and cut the maple/ebony/maple blank: The neck angle is around 3 degrees, starting from where the top body 'horn' meets the neck, and I generally opt for a 10 degree headstock angle.

Please accept my sincere and humble apologies! To make up for my schoolboy error, please accept 2 for the price of 1, the Epiphone and the Hohner acoustic I bought back in February. Now I am shopping for an amp, as per my post elsewhere on the forum.

What about selling it and buying a nice gift for the donor, or explain to him that you aren't getting on with it and ask if he would mind you selling it. You could offer him all or some of the money minus any expenses.

Here it is, about to get treated to a good clean and some new strings. Setup seems spot on but I’ll check it all and set the pick-up heights to suit. The overall finish is superb - not just for the price but for a guitar of any price. The binding is lovely and clean with no gaps or flaws that I can see and the fret ends are super smooth (the frets need a good polish though). It needs a good clean up and some oil on the fretboard and I may swap the volume and tone knobs for black ones at some point but I do think I’ve blagged a real bargain for once

Hey all, I'm Shawn, 38 & fresh to the guitar. Yesterday was my very first day at getting stuck in (probably spent a little too long at it - finger tips feel like I burned them on a stove!). I spent my first hour awkwardly & awfully strumming between D & A chords, but hey, I'm excited for the months ahead. I intend to follow the tried, tested & trusted Justin Guitar lessons to see if I can get myself going. Looking back on this first video I can already see the importance of reallyyyyyy slowing every thing right down & it reinforces the need to let things naturally develop in its own time. Oh, and I need to get to grips with holding the pick properly. After just one hour I can highly recommend recording yourself practicing if you don't already! I noticed there's not a great deal of content around showcasing absolute beginners & it's clear to see why - seasoned amateurs & pros tend to sound a lot better! So, I decided to start this channel to not only periodically document my own progress from the very first day, but because I thought it may also be useful & intriguing for other beginners to watch both now & further down the line. A sort of way to truly realise that we're not alone all frustrated & wondering if things could ever possibly get better. Well, I'm going to find out if they do, anyway! If you fancy offering motivation, encouragement, tips, a chat etc. do feel free to follow along! https://youtu.be/zT9ij0RV4M4

Apologies for the two months absence - super busy with life stuff! I hope anyone who's still around from last year are keeping well & have had a good start to this year! On my front.. bad news is I didn't have time to record updates or really progress much through modules... However.. good news is I still managed to put in circa' one hour practice pretty much every day which has just helped me further cement the early foundational stuff as well as the new things learned in the first module of grade two, which I've now completed between the start of Jan & now... in the next module I'm about to start I (finally) start taking a first look at the F.

Was originally an HB TE52, but I added a neck PAF: https://i.imgur.com/nOhln0N.jpg

I came back from the UK yesterday with an entire suitcase of stuff I'd managed to squirrel away over the last 7 years in it's own suitcase. All of it bought for less than market due to being in the right place at the right time. With the delivery of a couple of V30 loaded 1x12 cabs today, I spent a decent chunk of this afternoon, jetlag permitting, putting a couple of the preamps through the MPX G2 (which I already owned). My favourite amp is a Princeton Deluxe which is being shipped over, it nails the sound I've always wanted to hear. But I didn't expect how much I would like the Marshall JMP-1! I even preferred it to the Mesa Studio pre.

@Matt P Hi, thanks for the advice much appreciated. I made several enquiries by phone and email with mixed response, I have to say that some places were better than others at responding and will comment no further on that other than I recieved what I consider truly excellent service from Hobgoblin music. They are an outlet largely for anybody looking for instruments used particularly in the folk world, a couple of phone calls to discuss what I wanted and needed and within 24 hours of placing the order I had a case delivered to my ho,e address. Unfortunately my nearest music shop is now about an hour away so I do tend to rely on Internet searches otherwise I could end up driving around the south of England if I can't find what I need in one particular place. That said that is exactly what I did when I bought my guitar as there was no substitute for actually holding a selection of guitars to get the feel before buying. Back to my original point I now have a Viking case for my guitar which is an absolutely perfect fit and should keep it safe, whilst this case is not armoured or expensive, and I wouldn't want to use it I an aircraft hold for example, it will provide more than adequate protection for storage at home and the occasional trip out and about.

You may have seen elsewhere in other posts that I have been asking all sorts of questions ahead of a potential upgrade, well today I bit the bullet. After much research, asking questions and visiting several guitar emporium today I picked up a rather lovely Lag T88 electro acoustic for a bit more than I was planning to pay, however I am absolutely over the moon with my purchase. I hadn't visited this local music shop previously and I was delighted with the service, right down to the fact that my wife was offered a seat as she struggles to stand for too long due to severe arthritis in her knees. The sales guys listened to my story and then proceeded to thrust a selection of guitars into my hands and being as my abilities are limited took each guitar back and played the same pieces on each guitar so that I could hear the difference. I wasn't sure that I would hear much difference between guitars unless the difference in price varied by thousands rather than just a few pounds. My wife and I quickly discounted the lower price ranges around £200 and in the end plumped for the most expensive, and the clincher was that the difference between the last two was that the cheaper of the two was of natural satin finish and my final choice is gloss finish. I really liked the satin look finish but the gloss finish has a much fuller sound. When I told a guitar playing friend that I was looking to upgrade he said that you really need to hold a guitar before buying and that once in your hands you would know it is the guitar for you, these words are so true in my opinion. Finally back to the sales guys who offered me some advice on my playing and I may even book the odd lesson or two now.

I will do a build diary to document this when i get started, but am going to do a neck only p90 build. Going to use a humbucker size p90 so I don't need to increase the size of the rout on the body I have and to keep it flexible for the future. Will keep you updated.

Apex Music in Earley, Reading https://apexmusicshop.co.uk/

You lads are really kind, thanks so much.

Last night I decided to check the new neck out. I have had issues with necks sent in the past when they had a new guy working their production line. He recycled a discarded ebony board, basically flipped it over and glued the slotted side to the new neck and reslotted the blank front face then attempted to disguise the fret slots showing on the side with black dye - which I discovered after I cleaned the wood with meths. I didn't actually agree to them using a used ebony board either. It's a bit sneaky. However, using a set square on the frets revealed something more serious. The frets are inline with the square when checked from one edge but not when checked from the other. This basically means the frets are trued to one edge of the fingerboard rather than the centre and this will produce a guitar which can't be intonated accurately. So I got back to them and they've agreed to build a new neck. This could only happen in China but this supplier is honourable so it means mistakes can be corrected. It's the second time this has happened though. Once is a bit of a howler...but twice...? Still, it gives me an opportunity to correct a few other things, like asking for a little more flame on the maple. I also found a supplier of custom glass pieces. Normally he does optical glass but he's got 19mm thick glass which is enough for a sanding block for fret levelling. I use a steel beam already but glass is...well, one better...er, innit? And I'm determined to up my fret levelling game in these builds so I can sort out my other guitars too.

An excellent guitar, being sold by a well-respected member of our Forums. A no-brainer, indeed, and at a real bargain price, too. Jump on it; you won't regret it. (Good call, EZ...).

Its a stripped out Framus Capri 5/53 from the 1950s - There were a multitude of differing types,but yours just looks 'basic stripdown' ! https://www.framus-vintage.de/en/5-53-Capri/5-53.2-Capri/

After a few days child-minding the said special little people, I'm back in the cellar For the bracing, I am using my home-made 25 foot radius dish although, for this build, will dispense with the Go-bar deck - I should be able to get away with just clamps and cauls. The bracing pattern is going to be pretty basic X-bracing with the standard-recommended tightly vertically-grained spruce. I've taken a bit of a guess at how much to scale them down. I started with the X-brace with gluing the cruciform and then sanding the bottom curve on the radius dish: This was glued to the top with a long caul keeping the curved brace bottoms pressed against the radius dish while the glue cured : After that was set, it was time to add the other braces and sound bars. All of the braces will be chiselled to create the nodes, etc, once it has dried overnight: And here it is ready for tomorrow's chisel and tap-tuning work :

Thanks folks! For the fretboard, I had found an offcut of some purpleheart that I used for neck splices in the past. I sliced a length off on the bandsaw and radiussed it with a radius block: Then used a 24.75" (I think it was) scale in my fretting mitre jig starting at the 5th fret to give me the 17" scale: Next I added some sawn strips of purpleheart to act as binding, curved to radius and taper using my little block plane: As the purpleheart gets exposed to the light it will pinken markedly. Originally, I was going to put a plain ebony headstock plate over the mahogany...but maybe a bit of purpleheart there too? Got me thinking and experimenting. Hmmm...and was there room for a swift in there too? : Then add some dots and frets to the fretboard - this might work: Then back to the neck. No trussrod needed but, as it is a mahogany neck, maybe a little extra stiffness would not go amiss - so I slotted the top for a couple of hollow carbon-fibre beams: With that sorted, I could bandsaw the neck and start shaping that. Before shaping the heel, I added an extension to its length. The neck is just laid on top of the fretboard - it won't be glued on until the neck angle is fully sorted (a long time yet!): Did a bit more carving to start sorting the neck profile and, in the same way that you can't have too many clamps, you can never have too many swifts! You can tell the age of my iphone by the colour aberrations of its camera!! Starting to look like an acoustic guitar neck

I got confused and watch an old episode of "Crossroads" at midnight. I couldn't understand how Benny and Miss Diane were going to teach me how to play guitar.

Turned out the switch wiring on one pair was reversed (the colours on the cable are different to the pdf) All positions working now, so I can get my SG back and he can do all his crazy tuning stuff again. Hurrah !

I had the chance to check out a brand new new LP Standard during a course and the fretwork on it was shocking for a three grand instrument. Sire do a much, much better job.

Well, today was the big day and she loved the guitar (though she seemed to be more excited by the Batman car Lego set ). The guitar looks great and the pale blue colour goes really well with the vintage look of the Mooer amp. The only flaw I can see with it is a slight gap in the neck pocket, on the top side, but it doesn't affect the playability and she'll not notice it. The amp is great fun. It has chorus, delay, reverb, flanger and vibrato. She loved the sound of the flanger. It sounds good too. There are clean, overdrive and high gain presets (plus bass and acoustic) and a bunch of amp models.

The downside is that you will end up wearing a black turtleneck and beret, and star smoking Gitanes.

To the back hatch. You will note that there is always a bit of madness in my method when it comes to guitar and bass builds. Does that rebate rout above cut into the ebony strip? And doesn't that mean that the black line will be broken with an alder hatch when it's fitted?? Well...yes...and no. Yes it would if I didn't add a matching strip to the hatch I made my normal paper template with some A4 and a fingernail: Cut out with a scalpel, I then had a template for the wood that I could double check fitted properly into the rebate, and also a reverse template so I could choose a 'sympathetic' grain pattern from my various alder offcuts. This would probably work: So next job was to cut out the hatch - a teeny bit oversize - and add a matching ebony strip: To fit the hatch, I usually start at one of the curves and sand/check the radius repeatedly until it fits the rebate exactly, and then progressively sand the overhang from there at one side or the other to progressively create the close fit all the way round. It takes a while because you don't want to over-sand anywhere! But eventually, it's done: And the ebony strip lines up! Next step is stringing it up for Alex to be able to play it while I fettle the shape of the neck profile, and then I can start the final sanding and start on the finish

It's a Takeharu MR-302, made in Japan by the Suzuki people, in the Gitane Jazz style, similar to those of Maccaferri and Aria at the time (mid '70s...). Quite well reputed; I've seen them for sale at 300€, 800€ and 1200€, so a wide range of values. It should have a piezo pick-up under the bridge, with an o/p through the lower strap button/jack socket. Not a style that appeals to me, but some folk love 'em, so... Hope this helps.

The little amp has arrived. I opened it just to check that it works and had a very quick play through it. It's very light, but the knobs, buttons and switches all feel fine. It sounds great. I played through the a few of the presets they all sound superb. There's a built in tuner, which will be useful for my daughter. It's all boxed up again until her birthday.

I've updated Basschat with up to the above stages. The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit bitty - I need Alex here to fine-tune the neck profile and his and my calendars are like ships passing in the night! In the meantime, someone on Basschat was interested how the Steinbergers work - below is what I posted if it is of any interest : You wind the knob at the back until the spindle rises to the top, exposing the string hole at its base: You thread the string through the hole and pull tight while clamping it by rotating the 'T' bar at the top (the T is a simple screwed clamp): You then rotate the knob at the back in the opposite direction, which pulls the spindle down into the housing and takes the string with it, tightening it as it goes. This is the 4th string now at full pitch: Clearly, the far end of the string can be clipped at the other side of the spindle but, while I am fitting am removing the strings regularly, it is easier to leave them long. It is a very clever design and they are well made: They are as smooth as silk. No backlash and very accurate and controllable tuning. They can be placed anywhere, unlike conventional tuners that have to be close enough to the headstock side for the adjuster clearance. And so, the headstock can be any shape you like. The string is always 'at the bottom of the peg', maximising break angle over the nut

Next is lining up the bridge. If ever there was a 'measure 14 times, drill once' it's this! First thing I did was to check the full movement of the bridge rollers from fully forward to fully back. Probably enough for a square-on positioning - but there's no point in even banking on that and so I will incorporate a modest bacward sweep to aid the intonation of the bass strings. Then to position, I fitted a couple of strings, threaded through the stop tail to the outermost tuners and taped it into position. I could then slide the roller bridge under the strings and position it to scale length on the top E with the roller fully forward (intonation for the top E is usually relatively close to scale length but, if anything, will be a teen bit further back - it will never be shorter than scale). Then, once I'd positioned it so that the two strings were where I wanted them in relation to the fretboard sides, I could press the spike of a bradpoint drill in to mark the centre: Then use a forstner for the bridge insert-holes: And finally, with fingers crossed, hammer the inserts in and try it! Big phew!

For the tuners, I am using the wonderful Steinberg gearless 'banjo' tuners. Remarkably, the Epiphone Firebirds - for a short period of time - had these fitted as standard! I reckon, if you could find one on ebay, you could take the tuners off and sell the tuners at a hefty profit! One of the splendid things about them is that they are cylindrical and strings are clamped dead centre and so they can be grouped very much closer together than standard tuners - to the point that I won't have to add 'wings' to the headstock. Keeping all the string runs straight, this is what I came up with: And, to keep the body vibe, I wondered if I could do a cutaway plate, something like this. BTW, you can see here I had already popped a couple of ebony sides on in the expectation of needing small maple extensions...which I now realise I don't need : So, with a piece of the offcut from the body ebony, I gave it a try. Yup, I think this works: Before gluing the plate on, in addition to backing it with a maple and black veneer, I cut the trussrod access out of the plate. It will be magnetically held as a flush cover and thus be pretty unobtrusive. Here it is out: ...and here it is in place: Next jobs include, a little more body carving, temp-fitting the tuners, fitting the T-o-M and stoptail, stringing up, 'live' shaping of the neck next time Alex is free.

With the neck blank done, I could start trial-fitting the wings and top. I joined the book-matched ebony top and cut out the broad shape. I also cut the alder back wings slightly oversize and a couple more strips of ebony between them and the neck and dry fitted them to make sure everything was going to end up in the right place: The ebony will have a sheet of constructional maple veneer (1.5mm) as a demarcation: All good so out came the sash-clamps: The neck is the top face of the original billet and the length between the top wing front join to the tail is angled the 3 degrees to give me the required neck angle. Double check that I've got it right before the next stage:

I should say that this build is very specifically for Alex's (s-i-l) playing style - it wouldn't suit many players, and especially players who need decent access to the dusty end...because this one will have almost none In order to get a better balancing guitar, I am bringing the whole scale rearward - quite a lot! And, so that Alex can at least reach some of the upper frets, I'm also moving the lower horn back. Yes - I know... that is one of the primary design features of the original...I told you it was only going to be 'essence of'!!! Finally, it is going to have some curves - and a slab of the figured ebony on top. This was an early sketch: I've opted for Alder for the back and this is broadly how the two sections are planned to look. As the saying goes, 'What could possibly go wrong?'

Folks over on Basschat have often asked why I don't post on Guitarchat, even when my builds are 6-string guitar builds. Well, up until now, Guitarchat has always been blocked by Norton on my system, with warnings of dire consequences, social unrest, pestilence and a return of Dynasty to our television screens if I were to commit such a dastardly act as to ignore their warnings. And, having had problems for years with ID fraud (it's what happens when you get your briefcase stolen from under your feet in Belgium) my banks are quite touchy about me not taking action and disregarding 'reasonable warnings of unsafe websites'. Anyway - looks like the mods have done some mods (that said, I think - and have always thought - this was a Norton quirk, not a Guitarchat quirk) because, for the first time I am able to log on without the warnings and for which I am very grateful. I am going to celebrate by boring you all silly with a guitar build thread that I'm currently on with. Don't say you haven't been warned! Andy