NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

[Taz Rules]

Landfill find. Wife brought it home.

If the neck is straight, should make a fun project on a budget...try out a few brands of cheap pickup...GFS, Cali, Iron Gear. Other suggestions welcome. (The thought of a PG appeals, but that kind if destroys the "budget" idea. Or maybe an Invader for something different. Would that sound ok? I don't have anything with a P90. Woul that fit? Oh. Right. Budget.)

At the very least, even if the neck is warped I still have a test bed for painting and finishing techniques.



Oh btw, will take some effort to see if the neck is warped or straight because the fretboard itself has twisted and pulled away from the main neck. Is a warped fretboard repairable? Worth repairing? Or easier/cheaper to buy a replacement neck?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

You could always do me a favor and try a double screw 59n with an A8. I've been thinking about testing that out for a while now...

But seriously, good find. I found a guitar a very similar way to you and it worked fine (for a while). I don't now about the warped fretboard, but if you can't repair it it would definitely make a great practice body.
You could also use it as kind of a joke. Drill holes for like 10 potentiometers, put a single coil on the headstock, give it a clown burst. At the very worst, it would be a conversation piece.

I'd wait for someone more trained as a luthier to chime in before you listen to my dumb ideas.

 

[Will S-T]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

You can get a cheap neck for $50 or just glue the fretboard back
and raise the nut for a freebie slide guitar.

 

[Aceman]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

SO many ways to go....

Cheap P-rails & triple shots? Pickup test bed?

Decor:
Van HAlenized?
Graffitti?
Beer labeled?

 

[Aceman]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

Oh btw, will take some effort to see if the neck is warped or straight because the fretboard itself has twisted and pulled away from the main neck. Is a warped fretboard repairable? Worth repairing? Or easier/cheaper to buy a replacement neck?

Bah - Elmer's wood glue, some C-clamps, a little scrap stock and patience. Good as new...

 

[Artie]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

My #1 most played guitar, right now, is my Peavey Rockmaster, with a single GFS Dream 180. It's a great "cheap" pup. Or, as an alternative, any used Duncan Designed pup.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

Might as well clamp and see, I have a guitar that came out great after I glued a fretboard back on (and I'm an amateur...)

 

[Aceman]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

RELIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a Pinup Sticker...

 

[Mincer]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

I'd look for a cheaper, used, beat up '59. It will be worth it, and you might turn it into a real player. Of course, you should experiment with painting in addition to that...but you will start out with a guitar that sounds great.

 

[Taz Rules]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

The pickup is a few steps down the road. I put in a ridiculously low offer on a neck on ebay, got rejected (I offered $15! LOL) and now I'm going to try Ace's Elmer's Glue idea.

Once I got the fretboard off (no, not that way, you dirty-minded bastards!:naughty, the rosewood seems to have straightened out. Haven't checked the neck itself yet. I think the glue weakened when the guitar was left in the rain, and the truss rod pushed the fretboard partially off the neck. While its all apart, I'm removing the finish from the neck. Its easier if I don't have to worry about marring the fretboard.

Builders, please tell me if I'm going about this correctly...
I'm going to put two staples in the neck, and snip them off so they can be locator pins, dry-fit the fingerboard and press it in place. The pins and pressed holes will keep the board from slipping when I glue. Regular Elmer's wood glue is the right glue? Seems too easy. I'm going to router out a groove down the middle of the stock that I'm using to press the board down on the neck, so it only presses on the edges, not the middle. That should compensate for the radius. I've got 4 bar clamps, which I will intersperse with 3 or 4 spring clamps. I'll have the grooved stock on top, against the fingerboard, but can I clamp the back of the neck directly using a rag to protect the wood? Or should I groove some extra scrap stock for the bottom, as well?

Any tips for how to align a fretted board would be appreciated. (The frets, believe it or not, don't look worn! I don't think this thing was much loved) Honestly, I wouldn't mind binding it, too, just so I could learn how. But I'm not sure if I want to risk running a router that close to an already fretted board. (I assume I have to router out the edge to allow for the thickness of the binding.) I'd love to wrap the binding over the fret ends. Can't remember where I've seen that, but I thought it was cool. Of course, then I'd have to replace the dots...

Also, while the fretboard is off, I'm going to replace the nut. I've read conflicting opinions to adhere the nut...super glue, loc-tite, and elmers wood glue. (I assume that Elmers and TiteBond are the same basic thing). Unanimous opinion is whatever glue, use it sparingly...only 2-3 drops. Which glue do you recommend?

Once assembled, if the neck ends up being straight, I'm going to finish it with Tru Oil and treat the fretboard with lemon oil.

If the neck is warped, can it be fixed? If so, how?
I don't mind putting time in if I'm learning something, but money is not something I want to pour into this particular instrument.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know your suggestions.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

I'd put another neck on it and steam punk it.

 

[Taz Rules]

Re: NFPGD New FREE Project Guitar Day

Yeah, I guess its not going to happen.

Too many issues...
The neck is warped AND twisted. I measured it on a guaranteed flat surface, and I'd need to either steam and twist a lot (which my woodworking experience tells me is dicey as far as having it last for very long), or plane 3/16" off the surface that the fretboard mounts to. Planing off that much material means I would need to also take material off the face of the headstock, shim the back of the neck so that the action could be set reasonably, and re-rout the truss rod groove. And no guarantees that ANY of it would be right.

Plus the fret board is warped worse than the neck. That's not a big deal. There is a lot less wood mass there, so that would at least be steamable. But still...

And the nut and tuners would need to be replaced as well.

I could buy a neck for $40 US (maple and rosewood) or $60 US (mahogany and rosewood) that would fit, but could the rosewood be shipped to Canada?

Even if the neck could be shipped to Canada, I'd be attaching it to what is literally a plywood body. When I removed the neck and pickup, the layers of plywood are clearly visible. And to add to that, the two pegs that the bridge rests against have been pulled obliquely, leaving oval holes where they mount into the body. So to make the (plywood) body serviceable, I would need to drill the holes larger, plug them with dowel, and re-drill the mounting holes. Oh, and I'd need to buy a bridge, too, because the wraparound bridge doesn't have intonation (well, other than the two screws to set the angle from the mounting posts.)

Overall, its not worth the restoration. Not for this guitar. Too bad. So what I will do is re-glue the frets to the neck as-is, leaving the truss rod out. I will use it as a finishing tester. I want to try doing some finishes with coloured pencil covered with clearcoat, so this will allow me to experiment with that. And maybe try a cloth finish. Test different paints for compatibility. I'll re-mount the neck to the body so I can get a good visual, and leave the crap bridge in place. The Epiphone 700N pickup might get traded for something, but I don't know if its worth much.

Pity, but Oh Well...Call it a free education opportunity!