If that were mine, I think I'd try to fill it in with either epoxy and sawdust, or even a plug. Nut width is too important to me.
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The Hossenfeffer II Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
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Sorry to see this and I think we have all done something like this along the way.
I thought of that, but it will stick out like a sore thumb, i couldn't live with it. I actually like a narrower nut, Jazz width my favorite. The bass is for my son's graduation present, he plays a Jay Turser Hofner clone, so he's used to a narrow nut. Probably just rationalizing the Suck, but its all I got.
Correct me if I'm wrong. You can fill the the FB in with sawdust of something like that and cover it up with binding. You'll see a tiny crescent of sawdust fill for the FB. I think that would be pretty easy to disguise.
The maple is another issue
The maple is another issue
I would think this wouldnt be too bad either since most of it with be taken away when he rounds out the neck.
This is my thought as well
It will still be a little mark, but not the wound we see now
You might be surprised, it's such a small divot. If you go with thinning out the entire neck anyway, why not give it a try first, to see how much "sore thumb sticky outie" it is, especially if it's too much, you'll be shaving it off anyway.
Awwww, man. My heart just aches for you right now. You did the right thing, though. Step away, gather your thoughts. Come back, give it the finger; stare at it and start thinking of solutions.
Is there binding involved here? I think so? Maybe some creative, extra-wide binding to make up the width? Wouldn’t take much...
Good luck, you’ll be fine. Just don’t touch it until you’re mentally ready and have a firm plan.
Is there binding involved here? I think so? Maybe some creative, extra-wide binding to make up the width? Wouldn’t take much...
Good luck, you’ll be fine. Just don’t touch it until you’re mentally ready and have a firm plan.
Been there and done that. I did the epoxy and sawdust method. I can tell it's there, but nobody else who has seen and played the guitar has ever pointed it out.
Thanks for suggestions, All. I won't be able to touch it until this weekend at any rate, been literally dreaming solutions, sick, huh? I'll think it through, do it, and post the results for your approval or derision. I'm leaning heavily towards thinning the whole neck, but that will require some careful jig work and planning. I know my OCD perfectionist tendencies well enough to see that epoxy and sawdust isn't going to cut it, the few times I tried that on maple it looked like sh*t. If it was just the fingerboard, I'd make a bubinga spline of some sort, or literally a "binding" of bubinga along the bottom edge, but the maple is killing me. Sigh... Luthiery: The Art of Fixing Screwups.
Aw crap, that's a bummer, man! Let the anger and frustration subside, you'll make it right
That's just begging for a "that's what she said," and I'm only too happy to oblige
It looks pretty uniformly concave. I'd make two plugs from your offcuts, using a plug cutter that matches the diameter of your gouge (and router bit). If you orient the plug grain so that it aligns with your neck/fingerboard and glue them in carefully, it could be practically invisible.
Rôckhewer
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Worth a try...
(Whatcha got to loose.) If it doesn't look good... then go the shave it all down route.
Since you are thinking of thinning out the neck at least you can try. I would curve the maple out to either adjacent fret and glue on as close a matching color and grain strip I could find with the most invisible glue I had on hand. Then once brought back down to profile any line would run from one fret to the other (also in a gentle curve) and if visible would look more like a grain line. The fingerboard could be repaired with a straight splice between frets. I little more involved but less the re-profiling the whole neck and loosing your width. I think it would be less likely to be seen then a small plug right in between the frets.
Ooops just noticed the binding going right to the cut. Still could do but would need to replace that piece of binding.
Ooops just noticed the binding going right to the cut. Still could do but would need to replace that piece of binding.
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OK, decided to shave the neck. In the end I lost less than I thought I would, only 1/32" under the spec 1-5/8", 1-9/16" nut width now, so I think I made the right decision. I can definitely live with that. I had to make a new neck template, and modify my headstock template very slightly, took a while, but it worked. As expected, I'll lose the the two pieces of binding that taper back into the neck and out to the first set of points on the headstock. Luckily, those were the easiest section of binding to apply, it's a fairly gentle radius. The tricky part is to cut the new binding ledges cleanly with the headstock angle, building a simple jig for that.
Here's the side view where the gouge was before, gone! The binding is so thin now (only .060" thick to start with), I started peeling it off with my fingernail, but thought better of it. I'll just route it away when I cut the new binding ledges on the headstock.
I think I'll get lucky on the brass nut too. This is an Axemasters pre-slotted Ric nut, it was already slightly oversize on length, so I would have had to trim the ends a little anyway. Having lost only 1/32" on the nut width, I think this one will still work. We'll see how it looks when I get to nut shaping.
I'll still have to re-cut the fingerboard flush with the neck beam, gonna use some brad nails through the fret slots and double stick tape to register it. I'll have to sand the fingerboard inlays flat first so I can lay it flat on the router table. No way I'm free-handing this one from above.
So, one step forward, 4 steps back, all told probably around 5 hours of shop time to fix something that took about 1/10 second to eff up.
Here's the side view where the gouge was before, gone! The binding is so thin now (only .060" thick to start with), I started peeling it off with my fingernail, but thought better of it. I'll just route it away when I cut the new binding ledges on the headstock.
I think I'll get lucky on the brass nut too. This is an Axemasters pre-slotted Ric nut, it was already slightly oversize on length, so I would have had to trim the ends a little anyway. Having lost only 1/32" on the nut width, I think this one will still work. We'll see how it looks when I get to nut shaping.
I'll still have to re-cut the fingerboard flush with the neck beam, gonna use some brad nails through the fret slots and double stick tape to register it. I'll have to sand the fingerboard inlays flat first so I can lay it flat on the router table. No way I'm free-handing this one from above.
So, one step forward, 4 steps back, all told probably around 5 hours of shop time to fix something that took about 1/10 second to eff up.
Did your Axemasters nut come like that, cuz the one I ordered looked like shite! I also ordered one for my Squire Jag, and it looked horrible. Like they were rough cut, but not yet shaped. All I got was a sorry, send them back and I'll refund your money.
@Aceonbass
It was a bit of a saga, the first one I ordered came as two pieces stacked vertically, CA glued together, which promptly fell apart when I tried to file it down for the Hossenfeffer 1. I returned it, he was supposed to refund my postage.... and didn't, but sent me this one as a replacement. I wouldn't buy another one, but this one looks alright. Still a lot of work to be done sizing, polishing, rounding edges, etc. I've never done a brass nut, so that will be a learning curve. Having sacrificed 1/32" off the nut width, I'm hoping the E and G slots aren't too close to the edge of the board. How far in are they "supposed" to be?
It was a bit of a saga, the first one I ordered came as two pieces stacked vertically, CA glued together, which promptly fell apart when I tried to file it down for the Hossenfeffer 1. I returned it, he was supposed to refund my postage.... and didn't, but sent me this one as a replacement. I wouldn't buy another one, but this one looks alright. Still a lot of work to be done sizing, polishing, rounding edges, etc. I've never done a brass nut, so that will be a learning curve. Having sacrificed 1/32" off the nut width, I'm hoping the E and G slots aren't too close to the edge of the board. How far in are they "supposed" to be?
