24 3/4 conversion strat

[fuzznut]

I'll be interested to see how your re-profile goes. I put a Clapton Soft-Vee on my Jazzmaster and I'm still not sure about keeping it that way. It's been a little painful on my thumb playing barred chords.

I was thinking of either taking off some of the peak, or just getting a new Standard Thin profile. Taking the Vee down would certainly be less expensive, and since it's finished in satin lacquer, it wouldn't be all that hard to refinish.

Pictures as they become available, please.

I just finished the reprofiling. Yikes that was a lot of wood removed!  :tard: I should've bought the 59 instead of the fatback and saved myself 2 hours of sanding. The 59 is a lot closer to what I want. You can remove the peak of the vee on the Clapton easily, although I believe it will still be thicker than the standard thin.

First thing I did was establish the front to back thickness with 100 grit on a random orbital sander. Sand, measure, sand , measure until the target thickness was met.

[/url

Then I started rough profiling with the ROS. After that it was all hand sanding with a block while checking the profile a million times with the gauges. After that, free hand sanding going progressively up with the grits. Not hard, but tedious.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QFnvjL]

 

[Cagey]

Not hard, but tedious.

Isn't that always the way with necks?

Pretty ambitious stuff. Looks good, though. I think you're going to end up with what you want  :icon_thumright:

 

[fuzznut]

It feels good!  :headbang4: :bananaguitar: arty07:

 

[rgand]

Looks like it was worth the effort. Nice job.

 

[stratamania]

Is the new profile based off an existing guitar ?

 

[fuzznut]

The profile is based off some mighty mite necks that I have. It's a simple C shape with no shoulder. I modified it to be thicker as you go up the neck, and verified that profile by laminating one of my standard thin necks with veneer (page 1 of this thread). The standard thin profile has some shoulder, then goes really flat, more like a D shape. I took comparison pics, but it's hard to see any differences...







Now this is interesting. The new neck on the left was a happy, fast growing maple. Look at the growth ring spacing.

 

[BigSteve22]

Looks like a really nice job. That new .090" taper makes it the same as the Clapton's, .850" to .940" but without the peak. Removing the peak will take me down closer to the Standard Thin dimensions, but maybe not quite that thin.  Now I'm really thinking about it, perhaps a .070" taper from around .820" to .890", somewhere between a '59 and the Standard Thin. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[stratamania]

Its great when you find a neck profile that just works for you.

 

[fuzznut]

Go for it!  :toothy10:

While I'm sitting here profiling necks, I decided to look at the standard thin. While it looks like the Warmoth example at the 1st fret, look how it flattens out as you go up the neck, and starts to get a "shoulder"...





The Mighty Mite neck is more of the typical strat profile, the C shape...





...and the neck I just did.

 

[stratamania]

I can see what you mean about the standard thin. I think the two necks I like the most are both Cs which are my Yngwie neck, and the Musicman Morse. I sold my Morse a little while ago to a collector and its one thing I should have captured prior to sending it. Still I have the Yngwie to profile

Ive also got a 59 Tele neck which might end up getting the treatment.

 

[fdesalvo]

While the standard thin is a nice profile, it would be perfect for me if it had less shoulder.  I love this thread.

 

[BigSteve22]

While I'm sitting here profiling necks, I decided to look at the standard thin. While it looks like the Warmoth example at the 1st fret, look how it flattens out as you go up the neck, and starts to get a "shoulder"...

I never realized, or noticed, that. I find the Standard Thin to be very comfortable, but maybe just a tad too thin. Which is strange because compared to the neck on my Hagstrom H2, which I have always loved, it's actually quite a bit thicker! The H2's neck is .750"-.800 which is thinner than the Wizard's .750"-.820".

Maybe it has to do with the nut width, which is 1-5/8", 1.625", on my Strat with the Standard Thin and 40mm, 1.568", on the H2. Something like: The right neck thickness for each individual nut width.

I'm thinking I changed too many things at once. Jazzy neck has the Clapton profile instead of the Standard Thin, a 1-11/16" nut instead of a 1-5/8", AND 6105 frets instead of 6230's. These dimensions are close to the specs I was going for, but much different than I'm used to.

Strange how just a few thousandths of an inch can feel so huge! Shows how sensitive the human hand is.

 

[fuzznut]

Sounds like you did change too much at once. I had a 1 11/16" neck once (it was the SRV profile), but went to 1 5/8" necks because they feel more "right". The Hagstom sounds like my first electric, a 1968 SG, which had a 1 9/16 nut. The neck was rather beefy but the cowboy chords and the thumb-overs were a dream to play. You prefer narrow AND thin, just goes to show we're all different.

 

[fuzznut]

WHY CAN'T I MAKE NICE COUNTERSINKS!!!  :sad1:

The chrome one I used a 5 cutter countersink, what do I get? A hexagon!!!  :sad:

Then I used a 2 cutter countersink on the black one. The results? A Pentagon!!  :tard:

Or maybe... it's a pentaGRAM! Oh noooo, my guitar is going to be EVIL!!  :evil4:

I hope it doesn't kill me in the middle of the night!  :toothy11:

 

[BigSteve22]

WHY CAN'T I MAKE NICE COUNTERSINKS!!!  :sad1:

I'm hoping Doug chimes in here, but I've always found that the secret to countersinking is centering and securing. Center the bit in the hole first, secure the work so it won't move, then slowly feed the bit into the work, hopefully on a drill press. The malformations you're seeing are probably caused by the bit grabbing the work and moving it as it cuts.

 

[rgand]

Get the single flute counter sinks that have only one cutting edge. I've used them for years and they work without chattering and giving you those pentagons and such.

 

[Cagey]

I used to have that problem, then one of my brothers gave me this weird-looking countersink bit that works like a charm. They look like this...

They call them "single end" countersinks, but I've seen regular countersinks called that, too, so be sure to look for the ones with what looks like an angled hole drilled through. To look at them, you wouldn't think they'd work at all. But, they produce incredibly smooth, round results. I think it's because they come to a conical point so it centers well, then the vast majority of the contact surface is actually smooth instead of air or a cutting edge. So, it stays centered as it cuts, instead of being pushed from side to side by the resistance of the workpiece. Highly recommended.

 

[fuzznut]

Ooohh, read up on the zero flute ones, you can easily resharpen them too! I'll have to get some!  :icon_smile:

I put the plate in a cross-slide vise, now my guitar is no longer evil. I will be able to play major chords  :laughing3:

 

[BigSteve22]

Ooohh, read up on the zero flute ones, you can easily resharpen them too! I'll have to get some!  :icon_smile:

I put the plate in a cross-slide vise, now my guitar is no longer evil. I will be able to play major chords  :laughing3:

:icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

Ooohh, read up on the zero flute ones, you can easily resharpen them too! I'll have to get some!  :icon_smile:

I put the plate in a cross-slide vise, now my guitar is no longer evil. I will be able to play major chords  :laughing3:

I'm glad that worked out. Buy the right bits anyway. Not all parts will fit in the cross vise.

I should mention my brother is a commercial glazier and uses those zero flute countersinks almost exclusively on aluminum and steel, so you know they're gonna last forever on wood and plastic. Plus, in looking around I notice they're available in cobalt as well. For guitar work, one or two made out of that would probably become heirlooms.