Thanks so much, really appreciate this! I'm working on redoing some of these videos, including an abridged video for slotting nuts, and a completely updated video about how to do a compound radius on a fingerboard. Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence! This inspires me to keep going and making more content. Refurbishing aftermarket necks is one of my favorite hobbies and I intended this series to be the most up-to-date methods I use. But watch out for the upcoming video I'll have on doing a compound radius, I just did a 1972 Thinline Tele for someone the other day using this new information and it came out stunningly well. Thanks again!
Dude I’m super cereal man, I’ve watched like 7 of your videos today and it’s top notch stuff man. your knowledge, delivery, approach, explanations, demonstrations are among the best I’ve seen. It suits my taste man. Idk I’m no expert but I’ve been watching luthier videos on RUclips for over a decade and I’m impressed my man! I’m no expert and don’t have applied knowledge but I’m generally cantankerous, hypercritical and hard to please but I’m genuinely impressed by your content. Please do feel inspired to create! I HAVE no idea why your channel isn’t huge but I’m telling you man; you keep going with this and it will be. That’s what I think. On another note I just got my first Stratocaster and I’m wanting to get one of those mega fat baseball bat necks that allparts makes but I know little to nothing about them. All I know is that the neck on my 2002 MIM standard strat is quite thin and although I do not have massive hands, the best feeling neck for me I’ve played (other than the pink paisley tele) is my 1940’s/1950’s harmony Archtop that has a pretty thick neck. So I’m hoping the big strat neck will suit me. But…. I don’t figure I will know until I try it out. Anyway hope you’ve had and are having a holly jolly happy merry Christmas!
I may do a video at some point. I'd say close to thousands, but just for doing this specifically, hundreds. Especially if you get tools on eBay. My nut/saddle sander is from eBay, and so is my fret bender (from a user called guitarbuilderonline), and many of my other tools. I'd just make a list of the tools you see in my videos as well. Pretty much everything I'm using is all you need. I usually am very thorough so it's unlikely I'll have left anything out, but if I have, just let me know. There are a ton of tools involved with guitar work, though the ones you need specifically for refretting/refurbishing a neck are only a small fraction of those tools. The fretting tools are definitely going to be the most expensive and the greatest in number.
Thanks so much for this video (and your other content). Just curious if you have any advice about recommended digital action gauges? Is the one you're using the older LMI version? I've had look at the StewMac one, and that looks good, but it is a little pricey. So I'm just doing some "research" before buying! Thanks!
If you message Davide Bissoli of Rectify Master on Facebook, you can order direct from him. Tell him Matt D sent you. Davide is the original inventor of the digital action gauge, so that's the source! Also, you're welcome. Lots more on the way. I've been meaning to make a comprehensive setup video, as I realized I don't have one yet. I'll give you the cliff notes version here: 1) Set neck relief to .000", or as close to .000" as possible. 2) Capo the 1st fret, then set action at the 12th fret. 3) Remove capo, set action at the 1st fret. 4) Fretwork as needed. My preferred is under full string tension, with the neck straight, using an understring leveling beam like the Rectify Master Lite or Rectify Master Katana. The Katana has some distinct advantages, mostly being able to carve relief into the frets themselves, which is very useful on the Low E and A strings. That's about it. Now, there's a million and one things to consider with all of those, and a lot more to cover, but those are the three big ones, and then fretwork is its own thing. But the need for fretwork is determined by setting the "lowest reasonable action" as I call it, which is like a litmus test for fretwork. Even if you want the action higher, it *should* work at this "lowest reasonable action" with perfect fretwork, or as close to perfect as possible. For me, the "LRA" is .030" GBE and then .046", .040", .035" EAD at the 12th fret, then around .018" EAD and .010" GBE at the 1st fret, with .000" neck relief. To get things playing great and not buzzing with light pick attack at that low a specification, understring leveling is the ticket. That and no choking out on bends -- usually have to do what I call a "pseudo compound radius" or "conical profiling" of the frets with an understring leveling beam. Anyway...wish I had more time in the day to work on these things! I forgot i started working on a truss rod adjustment video last year....will catch up with all of these soon. Thanks for the support and hopefully some of my commentary could be of some use to you.
Rectify Master is the original inventor. Though G Tech Guitars on eBay also sells them, and Luthiers Mercantile (LMI) also sells their own version. Hope this helps!
This is true. Lately I've gone to 5/64" as an average and find this more comfortable, with a wider margin of safety. i'm used to using 4/64" for so many years but it is true that it makes it easier for the strings to slip off the edge. An extra 1/64" from the fret bevel does help. It is all up to personal preference, but I certainly would not go any *closer* than 4/64". I'm working on an updated video of the nut slot spacing method in particular and I might go back and edit it to mention this, or make an annotation.
Are you using an expensive 4" square like a Starlet or inexpensive 4" square. I've not seen that used on a nut before I usually use a 6' ruler but that looks more accurate.
Excellent videos. Thank you for these!
Just got done watching this whole series. And dude, I gotta tell you this; Really stellar great work there sir!
Thanks so much, really appreciate this! I'm working on redoing some of these videos, including an abridged video for slotting nuts, and a completely updated video about how to do a compound radius on a fingerboard.
Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence! This inspires me to keep going and making more content. Refurbishing aftermarket necks is one of my favorite hobbies and I intended this series to be the most up-to-date methods I use. But watch out for the upcoming video I'll have on doing a compound radius, I just did a 1972 Thinline Tele for someone the other day using this new information and it came out stunningly well.
Thanks again!
Dude I’m super cereal man, I’ve watched like 7 of your videos today and it’s top notch stuff man. your knowledge, delivery, approach, explanations, demonstrations are among the best I’ve seen. It suits my taste man. Idk I’m no expert but I’ve been watching luthier videos on RUclips for over a decade and I’m impressed my man! I’m no expert and don’t have applied knowledge but I’m generally cantankerous, hypercritical and hard to please but I’m genuinely impressed by your content. Please do feel inspired to create! I HAVE no idea why your channel isn’t huge but I’m telling you man; you keep going with this and it will be. That’s what I think.
On another note I just got my first Stratocaster and I’m wanting to get one of those mega fat baseball bat necks that allparts makes but I know little to nothing about them. All I know is that the neck on my 2002 MIM standard strat is quite thin and although I do not have massive hands, the best feeling neck for me I’ve played (other than the pink paisley tele) is my 1940’s/1950’s harmony Archtop that has a pretty thick neck. So I’m hoping the big strat neck will suit me. But…. I don’t figure I will know until I try it out.
Anyway hope you’ve had and are having a holly jolly happy merry Christmas!
Brilliant really ! Love the way you work and think !
Thank you so much!
You are a master!
Your videos make me want to do this myself!! How much $'s will I need to invest in tools to get started? 100s or 1000s?
I may do a video at some point. I'd say close to thousands, but just for doing this specifically, hundreds. Especially if you get tools on eBay. My nut/saddle sander is from eBay, and so is my fret bender (from a user called guitarbuilderonline), and many of my other tools.
I'd just make a list of the tools you see in my videos as well. Pretty much everything I'm using is all you need. I usually am very thorough so it's unlikely I'll have left anything out, but if I have, just let me know. There are a ton of tools involved with guitar work, though the ones you need specifically for refretting/refurbishing a neck are only a small fraction of those tools. The fretting tools are definitely going to be the most expensive and the greatest in number.
Thanks so much for this video (and your other content). Just curious if you have any advice about recommended digital action gauges? Is the one you're using the older LMI version? I've had look at the StewMac one, and that looks good, but it is a little pricey. So I'm just doing some "research" before buying! Thanks!
If you message Davide Bissoli of Rectify Master on Facebook, you can order direct from him. Tell him Matt D sent you. Davide is the original inventor of the digital action gauge, so that's the source!
Also, you're welcome. Lots more on the way. I've been meaning to make a comprehensive setup video, as I realized I don't have one yet. I'll give you the cliff notes version here:
1) Set neck relief to .000", or as close to .000" as possible.
2) Capo the 1st fret, then set action at the 12th fret.
3) Remove capo, set action at the 1st fret.
4) Fretwork as needed. My preferred is under full string tension, with the neck straight, using an understring leveling beam like the Rectify Master Lite or Rectify Master Katana. The Katana has some distinct advantages, mostly being able to carve relief into the frets themselves, which is very useful on the Low E and A strings.
That's about it. Now, there's a million and one things to consider with all of those, and a lot more to cover, but those are the three big ones, and then fretwork is its own thing.
But the need for fretwork is determined by setting the "lowest reasonable action" as I call it, which is like a litmus test for fretwork. Even if you want the action higher, it *should* work at this "lowest reasonable action" with perfect fretwork, or as close to perfect as possible.
For me, the "LRA" is .030" GBE and then .046", .040", .035" EAD at the 12th fret, then around .018" EAD and .010" GBE at the 1st fret, with .000" neck relief.
To get things playing great and not buzzing with light pick attack at that low a specification, understring leveling is the ticket. That and no choking out on bends -- usually have to do what I call a "pseudo compound radius" or "conical profiling" of the frets with an understring leveling beam.
Anyway...wish I had more time in the day to work on these things! I forgot i started working on a truss rod adjustment video last year....will catch up with all of these soon.
Thanks for the support and hopefully some of my commentary could be of some use to you.
Hi! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us! Could you please tell us where you can buy digital action gauge? Thanks!!!
Rectify Master is the original inventor. Though G Tech Guitars on eBay also sells them, and Luthiers Mercantile (LMI) also sells their own version.
Hope this helps!
I 'm thinking 4/64" from the edge puts the E strings a bit close to the edge could have issues with the string slipping of the edge when playing hard.
This is true. Lately I've gone to 5/64" as an average and find this more comfortable, with a wider margin of safety.
i'm used to using 4/64" for so many years but it is true that it makes it easier for the strings to slip off the edge. An extra 1/64" from the fret bevel does help.
It is all up to personal preference, but I certainly would not go any *closer* than 4/64". I'm working on an updated video of the nut slot spacing method in particular and I might go back and edit it to mention this, or make an annotation.
Are you using an expensive 4" square like a Starlet or inexpensive 4" square. I've not seen that used on a nut before I usually use a 6' ruler but that looks more accurate.
I'm using an inexpensive one here, from eBay. Any 4" double square should do. Though Starrett really is the cream of the crop!
how much for a gram of bone dust?
It looks like you set it to 4/32 not 4/64 am I right or incorrect
It is 4/64" from the fret bevel, or you could reduce the fraction to 1/16"