For sure. It's easy to recoat at string changes too so they just keep getting better. I'll give it another coat in the morning if I get up early enough. My wife wants to leave for her fathers lakeside camp by 9:30. *Sigh* So much for much work tomorrow. I totally understan the nitro theory since I recently gave up drums but if one knows how to properly tune then nitro is far better tonally than a glued on plastic drum wrap. So anyway, I got ambitious and did a little neck work after supper starting with this:
The same pic of the neck sitting there I guess but you know what I mean. Back and forth through 4 grits up to 320 back and forth for a couple hours. I'll hit it with a gentle 400 grit and finish with 600 after I shape and fit it to the body:
Nicely radiussed perfectly if I do say so:
Absolutely perfectly flat throughout the fretboard. I'm getting excited about the possibly playability of this in the end:
I had time to stick the neck to the fret ruler that has notches right on it to follow the fretting jig. My first build proved that this is a perfect way to go thanks to Stewart Macdonald. I wish they had of made it just a tad wider though as one has to keep the headstock bulges a bit thinner than I'd like or you can't get to the nut slots. All you have to watch is to get the centre the same distance from one edge top and bottom of the neck and make sure you have clearance for the slots:
I really crowded the nut end since the neck pocket in the body is so deep. I'd rather not shim the end of the heel back if I don't need to. My MIM had a 1/4" clock stuck on the body to shim it back from the factory but the pickguard is made for that other neck so here's hoping. This neck will be body specific or is it the body is going to be neck specific? Oh well for a beater here's hoping. The thing is one never knows for sure till it's done.: Crowding the nut big time:
My last neck ended up with a relief of .003" Fender specs are .010 -.012". I hope this one plays as well but I want it to end up a bit thinner than the last but not too much as I like it thick. This Bubinga doesn't bend easy. If I had the cash I would buy the remaining $500 chunk at 6 feet by 3 feet just for necks. I'll probably switch to mahogany after my next tele build since I'll be out of that wood by then and it is a lot cheaper than bubinga but I already know beyond a doubt that a tung oiled Bubinga neck is pure heaven. The tung oil makes me so happy I am now eyeing My epi special model and thinking of building a tele/strat neck for it (mahogony maybe and increasing the scale in the process and baring the wood. I don't know what it is but it's heavy stuff. I'm saving the Bubinga for another Tele though hollowed out like a thinline perhaps with a Black Walnut front or back. I'm still learning but I'm addicted to this guitar building stuff now. A costly hobby at times....I wish I had more tools. A 16" planer, a 16" bandsaw and a ROSS would be a groove but it's not gonna happen. I'm just a poor man who suddenly got addicted to guitars.
I still need advice on pickups. I gave a couple strat style guitars to the wife's grandkids that sounded pretty good but this one sounded terrible. If I can afford it someday, I will probably go for a set of AD alnico Pro II's since I DO love that sound but if there is something cheap and used that sounds great I'll grab it but I don't know what to look for. SUggestions are welcome, remembering that I'll probably have to go used unless a miracle sends me enough cash for the Seymour Duncans I want. I'd buy P90's if I could find used ones cheap since everyone talks about them but my guitar knowledge is very limited and stuck in this basement in the bush.