Star Swirl *** 1st build

[cmiller0034]

Cutting Costs with Craigslist


Oh Craigslist... one look into its dark core will reveal a terrifying glimpse into the human condition. Its a gamble using that thing. Usually I come up Snake eyes. But, not last weekend. I found a cheap little 9" band saw for $45. Its not very powerful and is missing a fence and miter-gauge but it got the job done albeit slowly. The guy i bought it from turned out to be a guitar player. He was very friendly and straightforward which I appreciate. So I finally got the hard Maple cut for my neck blanks. Huzzah!



It took what felt like 10 to 15 minutes to cut the length of the board. I didn't want to burn up the motor or kill the blade so I took my time. used a 3/8" blade with 6 tpi.





Alot of buildup on the blade I used tool and bit cleaner on the blade afterward.



I also acquired a piece of Walnut this weekend. I think Walnut necks look awesome. I plan on using it to make a neck for my Strat. Maybe in my 2nd Mosrite project as-well.



The fruits of my labor.

[cmiller0034]

Do you know The Riddle of Steel?



According to Doom it has something to do with flesh and snake cults. or something. You're wrong Thulsa! I know the TRUE answer to the riddle of steel.

Behold it's glory! A 165 lb. granite plate.



It came via truck this morning. Delivered by a jolly elderly delivery man with a big white beard... hmm. I have been waiting for this thing to get back in stock for about 4 weeks. Machined flat from Grizzly $45 w/free shipping. crazy. I had to jump on that deal. Now I can flatten all those ancient blades and tools I have been collecting.


By ancient I mean WW2 era bench and hand planes I find at the flea market.


my collection of ancient and not so ancient woodworking artifacts!





A Good flat Iron my friend straight and true! Forged in fires of antiquity by Crom himself. And so my journey began.



The first bench plane I found was this old Dunlap with 5Dbb scribed in the side of it. It had lots of pitting and plenty of high spots its not a Stanley but it was made in the same era





I started with 100grit then quickly realized that was going to cut it. So I moved onto 80grit.




Sharpie was used to mark progress which was remarkably slow.



After several hours and plenty of breaks I decided to make a trip to the hardware store and pick up some 60 grit. Work moved much faster.



Good enough for me.



I repeated the process with the cheap Harbor Freight plane I got on sale. It got good reviews. Though I did open about 7 packages to inspect till I found one that suited me. Didn't take much to flatten it.





The last plane was this little plane with a cool step mechanism I found this past weekend for $9.



The blade says Keystone... hmm. research will be done.



I shall paint you red.



And Im done for the day now that my hands and lungs are coated in a fine iron powder.

[MWaldorf]

Wow, that's some serious prep work!

[cmiller0034]

Wow, that's some serious prep work!

Measure 50 times cut once. especially when you dont know what you're doing.

Anybody got a dept measurenent for a custom 60 at zero fret. From research:

Hallmark 60 Custom is the best Mosrite Clone out there. I prefer it to the real Mosrites because the neck is 1 5/8" by 3/4" compared to the original's 1 1/2" by 1/2" and the frets are a bit higher.

Sounds WAY too thin! could 3/4" thick be right? Seems like barley enough wood to wrap my truss rod around.

[cmiller0034]

I'm stuck The side profile is kicking my butt. Scraping bits of sketchy information from grainy photos isn't working anymore. The Pdf drawing I was going to reference doesn't look accurate to me. At least for the version I'm trying to build. (hallmarks are wider at the nut and not as thick as Mosrites I think) The heel of the neck definitely needs accurate specs. Measurements of the neck thickness at the 1st, 12th, and 22nd fret would be invaluable. Not sure if the headstock is at 7 or 11 degree angle. 11 degrees looks steep to me. from the fret board or somewhere in between the "scoop" at headstock throws things for a loop. Or really good dead on side shots of a custom 60 neck would good enough to figure out dimensions.

the specs page in the forum doesn't look definitive for my build either.

Someone with a caliper or 6in ruler and a custom 60 neck would be invaluable right about now.

If you got the answers please fill in the blanks
neck thickness at:
zerofret (i think the volute starts here)
1st fret
12th fret

radius of headstock scoop?
radius of volute?
angle of heel in relation to neck?

These are the only side profile pics with measurements I found from around the forums. however these are not for the custom 60.











1 3/8" and 1 5/16"? what frets are these dimensions supposed to be at?


HELP riddle me a clue on these dimensions!



to get the angle of the heel I need the distance from the top of fretboard to the bottom of the heel at the end... I got nothing. help?


transferring lines down side

[BlackieOnasis]

I'm stuck The side profile is kicking my butt.

You and me both, brother.

. . .
HELP riddle me a clue on these dimensions!



to get the angle of the heel I need the distance from the top of fretboard to the bottom of the heel at the end... I got nothing. help?

These two look like they were taken from the profile I tried to work up. Sorry if those are contributing to the confusion, my profile is still under development. It would help if I had a real Mosrite neck in hand, but I'm working from the same information as you.

Also, please note that my fret markings are based on a 24.625" Gibson scale, not a true 24.75", since that's what my fret LMII fret slotting template is.

[BlackieOnasis]

Working from this picture and the measurements posted in the specs thread, we can see that the .840" thickness mark corresponds to the 12th fret, so:



according to this picture, the 33mm / 1 5/16th measurement starts between the 18th and 19th fret:


and according to THIS picture:




Since I don't have access to a real neck, and since I'm working with the templates from guitarbuildingtemplates.com which don't include a profile, I'm going to make a couple of practice necks from poplar based on these measurements and try to get the best compromise from them that works for me.

[BlackieOnasis]

This may be more "accurate"


PDF here:
http://www.bevelweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1-2-2014-Mosie-Neck.pdf

[BRRanger]

Where's Adam West when you need him? Commissioner....The Bat Signal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cmiller0034]

Hey Blackie, Thanks a ton man! This info will help a great deal. Especially the updated pdf for the profile and the info on heel the position. I'm going to print this out for comparison to my line transfers. Maybe tweak it a bit. I am using an enlarged top view image of a Custom 60 for a working template. Your original pdf was pretty close though to what I have.

This is what I worked out on the heel last night using those pics.



Hopefully I will get the head angle and neck thickness worked out by tomorrow.
It would still be nice to know the thickness of a custom 60 compared to a Mark 1 neck. hard data would help. Tried to look again at the Mosrite 350 I found in my local music store a few months ago but it had been sold. I remember that neck neck feeling really weird in my hands compared to my strat. So I want to find a happy medium between the strat neck and what I IMAGINE a Mark 1 feels like. Maybe I ought to make a test neck from some cheap home depot wood before cutting into my Maple....

weird 350.


Buildin' Geeetars is hard. Respect to those who do it well.

If anyone owns a custom 60 and like to contribute, you can still PM me or post a reply here.

Thanks again Blackie. I will continue to remember the Nightrider when I look at the night sky!!!