SSSSSSSnakehead

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Oh oh , that's how it starts , you might better just build it Dave , its gonna stay in your head until you do :D

Yeh Herb, I know . I've already put away the Guild & Melody Maker template, and an original design I've been trying to get to for 2 yrs, just to get some of my crap finished and to clear the deck for my Musicmaster. I'm waiting on my income tax check to order parts for my StratiTele and L6, both backburner items easy (I can play the L6 as is ), but I have been hankering for an Esquire for some ages. I was wanting to build one with a Pawlonia body, but GFS has a finished body cheaper than I can find the bare wood . Lots of things to mull over

Originally Posted by Mister B

I think it was originally the same colour as the Snakehead. There's a photo of it being played on stage and it looks white, I'm sure there's a reference in the text to it being stripped at some point. If you want more inspiration search for Rebel Relic, they make a version exactly like Jack's Photoshop creation. Might even be a vintage cream sample on their website

Yeh, I can handle it, just gotta decide if I really want it

Perhaps we could dream up "the missing link" ourselves, might be a good theme for this year's build challenge.

Now there's a thought

BTW, sorry Herb for the hijacking

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Mister B

Perhaps we could dream up "the missing link" ourselves, might be a good theme for this year's build challenge.

Iain , that is a fantastic idea , I for one would love to see something like that in the build challenge.

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

BTW, sorry Herb for the hijacking

Hijacking , what hijacking ? Nothing of the sort Dave , lots of good info and ideas coming out in this thread IMO , and a few laughs too , I spit my coffee when I saw that cat picture !

[adirondak5]

Got the fret dots on her , I was going to paint them on like the original , but all my test pieces were sloppy , a little bleeding on the edges , I was not happy with the results , so what I did was this.

I printed out the finger board from Mister B's pdf on peel and stick paper , cut it out and lined it up on my necks fret board and stuck it on .



Then I took a 1/8" brad point bit in the drill press and marked it with tape for depth at about 1/8" depth and drilled the fret markers through the peel and stick paper , I didn't take any pics of the drilling , but I was not to thrilled to be drilling a slotted and radiused neck , the drilling went well



While I was drilling I had some dots in the oven , I got some of that FIMA polymer clay that Bill (Canadianbreed) had the thread about a while back. I drilled some aluminum angle I had with 1/8" holes and stuffed some black FIMA in the holes and baked it at 230 degrees for 30 minutes



Here are the baked dots




I glued them in with Titebond , after a few hours I lightly sanded them with the radius board and 320 grit , thankfully it all came out good , I am a happy man again .





Oh , and the side dots will be plastic rod

[telemaster1953]

it's looking good

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by telemaster1953

it's looking good

Thanks telemaster1953 , I needed a good laugh.

[Mister B]

Herb, your neck is really coming along well. It looks great (I must remember to add the 15th fret plug to the neck drawing).

I think inlaying the dots is the way to go, I plan to do the same. Painting them on may be historically accurate but inlaying has to be the better option. I like Bill's method, I'll have to remember that.

I wonder if the originals were actually added after the finish, as an after thought. They probably wouldn't be too worried about them wearing off, it being just a prototype. I guess we'll never know.

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Mister B

Herb, your neck is really coming along well. It looks great (I must remember to add the 15th fret plug to the neck drawing).

I think inlaying the dots is the way to go, I plan to do the same. Painting them on may be historically accurate but inlaying has to be the better option. I like Bill's method, I'll have to remember that.

I wonder if the originals were actually added after the finish, as an after thought. They probably wouldn't be too worried about them wearing off, it being just a prototype. I guess we'll never know.

Thanks Iain , I thought I was going to have issues with the inlays being the neck was radiused but it went good , actually I am going to use the peel and stick paper and prints on all my marker dot drilling from now on , its accurate and fast compared to drawing the center lines .
Bill's clay dot method is good , especially on uncommon sizes.
I agree with you that the original painted dots were probably done as an after thought .

[adirondak5]

Got the frets in , had to bend up some wire first



Then started hammering them in



All in and knipped



And beveled , they are all in good , no pop ups , neck is still straight as an arrow

[mojoatomic]

Very cool Herb!

I like the wire bending jig - do you have a pic of the backside with the crank?

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by mojoatomic

Very cool Herb!

I like the wire bending jig - do you have a pic of the backside with the crank?

Thanks , yep , here's a pic , plans and design by Terry downs

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

neck is still straight as an arrow

Of course it is, you do pretty work! Unlike.................some of us

[Colt W. Knight]

Looking good!

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

Of course it is, you do pretty work! Unlike.................some of us

Thanks Dave :)

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Looking good!

Thanks Colt :)

[flatfive]

The neck looks great, Herb. I'm warming up to the headstock.
Cool that you tried and had success with the baked clay dots.

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by flatfive

The neck looks great, Herb. I'm warming up to the headstock.
Cool that you tried and had success with the baked clay dots.

Thanks Glenn , I am pretty happy with it so far , its been interesting to say the least , I've been wanting to try Bill's method with the clay dots so this was the perfect chance , I'll be using them again.
Like I've been saying , that headstock grows on you :D

[JRobins]

Where can I grab that PDF of the neck and fret template? I'm assuming it's fairly accurate? Has anyone checked the fret measurements?

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by adirondak5

Like I've been saying , that headstock grows on you :D

If it had become the standard tele headstock, then someone
here would propose what we now know as the standard tele
headstock, and it would be seen as an abomination!

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by flatfive

If it had become the standard tele headstock, then someone here would propose what we now know as the standard tele
headstock, and it would be seen as an abomination!

, Your probably right, as Elmo says", peoples is peoples"