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Six string spalted maple, fretless, and first build ... kit

#141
My wife's uncle can help with the battery box, so I'll order that with the router template this weekend. It'll be a few weeks before we can visit and route out the battery box, as I'll be traveling for work the week after next.

Today, I test fit the new GraphTech TUSQ nut, and it's a little too small. Is this going to be a problem?

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It's a bit too thin and not close to wide enough to cover the width of the fingerboard. The string cuts are in the right spacing as the original nut, so I wonder if it's still usable.

I also found use for the rosewood veneer I didn't use for the fretlines. I made a rosewood sandwich to be cut into shape as a truss rod cover:

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I think this will look good on the blue stained headstock, and much better than plastic.

I want to do something similar for the control cavity cover, but I haven't decided which veneer (rosewood, blue, or green) would work best. I'm staining the back and sides of the body with a walnut stain.
 
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#142
If it were me I would not use that nut. Since it has the same string spacing it will work from a technical perspective, but from an aesthetic viewpoint it's obvious it's not meant for that neck. I have some rosewood scrap I can send you if you are interested in giving it a go in regards to making your own. PM me your address if interested.
 
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#143
michaelwayneharwood said:
If it were me I would not use that nut. [...] I have some rosewood scrap I can send you if you are interested in giving it a go in regards to making your own. PM me your address if interested.
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Thanks on both points, I appreciate the offer. I actually have some Corian and bone nut blanks I threw into an LMII order a while back, so I don't need any more blanks (although rosewood would look great). I opted for a pre-slotted nut replacement because I don't think I can slot one properly.

I wonder if I could round off the edge of the fingerboard to make the nut look more appropriately sized? I don't think there will be any effect on the stringing.

Or, I'll glue the original nut back on.
 
#144
eightyearsapril said:
Thanks on both points, I appreciate the offer. I actually have some Corian and bone nut blanks I threw into an LMII order a while back, so I don't need any more blanks (although rosewood would look great). I opted for a pre-slotted nut replacement because I don't think I can slot one properly.

I wonder if I could round off the edge of the fingerboard to make the nut look more appropriately sized? I don't think there will be any effect on the stringing.

Or, I'll glue the original nut back on.
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Again this is just me, but I would not remove any wood off the neck. You can always replace the nut, but the wood you take off the neck is gone forever. There are some methods to fix that of course, but I would shy away from making the neck fit the nut rather than the other way around.
 
#146
eightyearsapril said:
Good point. Unless I get a stroke of inspiration and decide to cut and slot the bone blank, I'll just glue the original one back on.
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On my build I had the same issue with a TUSQ XL nut. This was not their fault in any way, just poor planning on my part and not paying attention to fine measurements. Out of frustration I tried my hand at making my own nut and had a blast. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and now I will do all of my own. I got a couple small pieces of bronze and did a couple layouts (i.e. equal centers vs. equal gaps), then used a small triangle file to cut the slots almost to depth. Not sure how I'll make the slots round but it may happen on its own with round wounds and time. Just thought I'd throw it out there. Great work on this by the way!
 
#147
Jonny5bass said:
On my build I had the same issue with a TUSQ XL nut. This was not their fault in any way, just poor planning on my part and not paying attention to fine measurements.
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I had done my measurements and knew the TUSQ XL nut was going to be small, but I didn't quite visualize how much smaller until I placed it and took those photos.

I might try making a nut out of the Corian or bone, but I don't really have the right cutting or filing tools. I also would want to stain the nuts from white to something darker. I experimented with coffee staining with little success.

In other news, the rosewood truss rod cover is looking good. The side I hoped would be the top got a lot of spilled glue on it. I cleaned it up and cut it to size, but it turns out the reverse side looks better. I have it in a clamp now to flatten it straight, but it is going to look great.

I might even put the headstock logo on the rosewood, because, well, there isn't much other room on the headstock due to the six tuners that are going there.
 
#150
Ditto what the other guys said regarding the nut. That one will never look right because it isn't right. Don't mess up a whole neck just to match an incorrect nut. A new nut is far cheaper. Also I have made several nuts by hand with no special tools whatsoever. Its really not that hard. Just takes patience, which you obviously have considering all the time you've put into this build with practice necks and whatnot. Its looking great by the way. Keep up the good work! We'll keep watching.
 
#151
For the hell of it, I tried staining one of the Corian blanks I had sitting around — before Googling if Corian could even be stained — with the same blue Minwax wood stain I'm using for the body and headstock. It doesn't look that bad, but definitely isn't workable:

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I'm planning to go to Home Depot tomorrow to get more sandpaper and a clear coat for the waterslide decals, and I'll look for something I could play around with for a nut.

Urgency to complete this is picking up, however, as I joined a progressive metal band last night, and I really want to play fretless in it. I might pick up a cheapie from Rondo Music to hold me over, or convert the Brice five string I have into fretless.

I did order the 18v battery box, its MDF template, and a set of strings (Ken Smith Compressors) today.
 
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#152
Agreed on not using that nut. It's just wrong.

Corian is pretty similar to the Tusq in terms of hardness/workability/sound ime. If you already have the Corian this is a no brain involved decision.

Just keep on keepin' on, you seem to have the right ideas so far...
 
#153
wraub said:
Agreed on not using that nut. It's just wrong.

Corian is pretty similar to the Tusq in terms of hardness/workability/sound ime. If you already have the Corian this is a no brain involved decision.

Just keep on keepin' on, you seem to have the right ideas so far...
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Thanks. I would use the Corian, but it's white, and wouldn't look good on the neck. I looked for alternatives at Home Depot tonight, but didn't see anything. I did find a clear coat for the waterslide decals, and I added two new grits to my sandpaper collection, 320 and 1500.
 
#154
I worked with the clear waterslide labels today. My first attempt included spaying the clear coat on the label, after it was applied to the fingerboard. I masked off all but a little window:

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I wasn't happy with the result, though, as the block of clear coat didn't look like it would blend or be covered by the CA glue I'm planning to use to coat the fingerboard.

So, I sanded and wiped the label off with acetone, and started again, this time without putting more clear coat, and just letting the label dry in situ. Fortunately, it did so without sliding away, but I'm not sure I like how it looks. For one, the blue gets much darker (which is fine, just unexpected), and it doesn't look smooth.

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I might take that one off, use a brighter blue label, and wet the board with turpentine rather than water when applying the label. I'll see how I feel bout it in the morning. If the weather is nice again tomorrow, I might even start the glueing of the fingerboard outside, to avoid the awful allergic reaction
to the CA glue fumes that I had during my tests.
 
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#156
Are you doing these on one of your practice necks or is this the real deal? I think the dark logo looks pretty cool, but I wonder how it would come out after finishing over it?
 
#157
gsnad2000 said:
Are you doing these on one of your practice necks or is this the real deal? I think the dark logo looks pretty cool, but I wonder how it would come out after finishing over it?
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This is the real deal. My goal is to finish the fingerboard this weekend before I go away for a week on Monday. Then, do the rest of the neck, put that aside, and work on the body with my wife's uncle when we can get together.

The blue logo gets darker as I lay it on the fingerboard, and I imagine the CA glue coating will darken it even more. So, my next attempt will be with the lighter blue. I want it to be subtle (hence the smaller size) but still seen.
 
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#158
It's been a frustrating day so far. I finally got a logo to go on, sit in the middle of the fingerboard, and not have bad ripples under it.

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I'm not crazy about it, however. If I decide to keep it, it'll look ok, but it's not what I had in mind.

If I keep it, I'll spray a few coats of clear coat on the entire board, before applying the CA glue. I did a test of that today and it'll work, and keeps the label consistent. I tested putting CA glue on a label, and it had issues as I worked more layers on.

If I ditch this label, then I'll either forgo putting this label on the fingerboard, or use a larger one I have printed. It's big enough to cover nearly the entire eighth fret, overlapping the lines for 7 and 8, and is a very light blue, so it'll definitely stand out more. I think going for subtlety with a smaller logo will look more like a mistake than something intentional.
 
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