Excellent, just watched all 3 of these, I was thinking of just getting a blank neck for my first project as making the whole thing seemed a little daunting, but really wanted a certain inlay on the 12th fret so may be confident enough to have a crack at that now.
I had no idea that you put a truss rod in your fret leveling files! That's a very good idea! I imagine you have had to custom order or make the truss rods.
What thickness MOP do you use? I'm in the throws of planning inlay, and I've been having major anxiety over the thickness. The thickest common stuff I found is 0.060" (~1.5mm) thick, and for my widest inlays, after the radius, I'd have only 0.030" (~0.75mm) material at best left in the fretboard at the edges. I've been trying to figure out if that's enough, or if I should spend the money required to get 0.1" (2.54mm) MOP.
Any tips for leveling inlays on a guitar that's already been fretted? I've got a Yamaha SF1000 from 1978 that I can feel the inlays on and it's starting to bother me when I play it.
I just finished my first guitar. Im quite happy with it (Though it's not perfect). However the neck is not perfectly in line with the body. Maybe 1.5 mil too far to the right at the headstock, It's still playable but any advice on how to avoid making this mistake in the future? For my bolt on builds at least.
+Torwulf games .....i set a mock up with thin butcher type of string through the low E and high E string holes in the bridge, through the nut slots, and anchor in the tuning (E,E) holes, and make sure its all straight and even side to side, clamp , then mark off the neck anchor holes. everything has to be mocked up.....bridge, control plates, pickguard, ..... before u drill holes. in my opinion. at least that's how i do it.
Any advice on wich glue to use to fill the gaps on a rosewood fretboard? I heard he was talking about "PVA glue", I never heard of it... (i'm french, we might have a completly different word for it). Thank you for answering!
Strange to see this while you are still uploading the Clarity build, I got a bit confused for a brief moment. I'm not sure if it's a trick of the light or just an effect from the lens but some of those inlays don't look quite square or parallel to each other, is it just me ? I know you strive for perfection in most things so am surprised to notice something like that.
+Ian Clarke Ben can always correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a few of the inlays were longer to differentiate between harmonic zones such as the twelfth fret.
jake reinhardt I understand that much but the fifth fret marker seems to me to be not parallel to the others. Maybe it's me, maybe a trick of the light or an effect of the lens and I only noticed it near the end of the vid where he's holding the neck. When I say 'noticed it' what I mean is, it caught my eye, it seemed out of place but you don't get to look at it close enough to examine it in detail. I'm sure Ben wouldn't overlook something like that.
+Ian Clarke I looked at several frames showing the 5th, and yes from some angles it looks off, but from others looks fine. I also suspect it's a camera/parallax thing.
Ahhh... yes, the joy of Ebony indeed. Thanks for the 3-pt series. Most appreciated my good man.
Wow.. you've really improved your lighting and video quality! Nice work on the inlays!
Excellent, just watched all 3 of these, I was thinking of just getting a blank neck for my first project as making the whole thing seemed a little daunting, but really wanted a certain inlay on the 12th fret so may be confident enough to have a crack at that now.
Loved watching you work away there buddy, fantastic, and a great workshop you have there too... Very talented.👍🎸🎼🙏
Thank you kindly :) B
Greetings from Argentina, master.
I had no idea that you put a truss rod in your fret leveling files! That's a very good idea! I imagine you have had to custom order or make the truss rods.
Thank you, we make the truss rods especially for the leveling files, it's expensive but we'll worth the work in the end.
thank you ben
You have a great day too Ben you fine fellow.
If you had a guitar neck with dot inlays and you want to change to trapezoid , would it be this same process , thanks
nice work. as usual.
What thickness MOP do you use? I'm in the throws of planning inlay, and I've been having major anxiety over the thickness. The thickest common stuff I found is 0.060" (~1.5mm) thick, and for my widest inlays, after the radius, I'd have only 0.030" (~0.75mm) material at best left in the fretboard at the edges. I've been trying to figure out if that's enough, or if I should spend the money required to get 0.1" (2.54mm) MOP.
I have this exact same question (and anxiety lol). Did you ever find an answer to this, or get any info?
why not use a radius sanding block to level them down and make sure you're radius stays true?
When sanding the board and inlays how far do you go with the finer grits in order to get the inlays smooth?
Any tips for leveling inlays on a guitar that's already been fretted?
I've got a Yamaha SF1000 from 1978 that I can feel the inlays on and it's starting to bother me when I play it.
I just finished my first guitar. Im quite happy with it (Though it's not perfect). However the neck is not perfectly in line with the body. Maybe 1.5 mil too far to the right at the headstock, It's still playable but any advice on how to avoid making this mistake in the future? For my bolt on builds at least.
+Torwulf games .....i set a mock up with thin butcher type of string through the low E and high E string holes in the bridge, through the nut slots, and anchor in the tuning (E,E) holes, and make sure its all straight and even side to side, clamp , then mark off the neck anchor holes. everything has to be mocked up.....bridge, control plates, pickguard, ..... before u drill holes. in my opinion. at least that's how i do it.
Any advice on wich glue to use to fill the gaps on a rosewood fretboard? I heard he was talking about "PVA glue", I never heard of it... (i'm french, we might have a completly different word for it). Thank you for answering!
Oh and by the way, theese were excellent videos, I learnt a lot!
Just standard white wood glue, poly vinyl acetate is the stuff, but Titebond and many other brands are just as good. B
Strange to see this while you are still uploading the Clarity build, I got a bit confused for a brief moment.
I'm not sure if it's a trick of the light or just an effect from the lens but some of those inlays don't look quite square or parallel to each other, is it just me ? I know you strive for perfection in most things so am surprised to notice something like that.
+Ian Clarke Ben can always correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a few of the inlays were longer to differentiate between harmonic zones such as the twelfth fret.
jake reinhardt
I understand that much but the fifth fret marker seems to me to be not parallel to the others. Maybe it's me, maybe a trick of the light or an effect of the lens and I only noticed it near the end of the vid where he's holding the neck. When I say 'noticed it' what I mean is, it caught my eye, it seemed out of place but you don't get to look at it close enough to examine it in detail. I'm sure Ben wouldn't overlook something like that.
+Ian Clarke I looked at several frames showing the 5th, and yes from some angles it looks off, but from others looks fine. I also suspect it's a camera/parallax thing.
it must be cheaper to put dot markers in ?
Yep. But also a lot less attractive
Kinda wish i could color the inlays on my guitar, would look better in dark red. 😂