CORIAN Fretboard on a ramin neck

[maumari]

I need to experiment something new (for me) so I got some corian from a friend, got the ramin and started a Strat neck.

The aim is to obtain a rigid, snappy, sustaining neck. And white.

It could be the neck of the white strat a friend asked for, maybe also with a corian top on the body... yep, too heavy but who knows, I could chamber the body...

this time I put in a tr, but the ramin + corian seem to be rigid enough to avoid it, maybe

Here are some steps

cutting the outline

glueing the 7mm corian fretboard with special glue

Pins are to mantain the fretboard on place when glueing

covered the fretboard with a stick of MDF to safely clamp it

clamped

after about 24 hrs... I forgot to take out the pins!

btw it's glued well

next step will be radiusing 12' with "special" jig

stay tuned

Ciao
Mauro

 

[e-merlin]

I love the oddball stuff.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

Cool. I just hope it doesn't turn out looking like those micarta board Esteban guitars. EWWW.

But yours looks very cool, I will be watching closely.

 

[Picton]

Great to see another Mauro thread, even if a blindingly white fretboard will look... really weird. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it all fretted and marked; I can't even picture it right now. I keep envisioning a lap steel fretboard...

This will be nifty.

 

[Reverend D]

I like that idea, then again I like oddball stuff, but actually I think this is a good idea. Heck on the Fender Vintage Modifed fretless jazz bass my old bass player bought fender used what they called Ebonol which is some sort of plastic, so it should work fine. It played real nice too. Its supposed to be a synthetic product that has similar characterists of Ebony. The corian if you can get it really thin might be cool for like a Dano sorta guitar too. (and you can turn it over and chop veggies on it!)

Regards,

Don

 

[maumari]

Yes, it'll be kinda weird, and probably the neck too heavy (can't chamber it!).

It's just a try, it could be the "Frozen White Strat" with all hardware (incl. pickup covers) in chrome (mirrored?) and other amenities.

The major cons could be the weight, the snappy sound, the "open pores" of the ramin... btw at least as Reverend D says "you can turn it over and chop veggies on it!" .

Ciao
Mauro

 

[kwerk]

good for shredding too I reckon... or cuttin' heads...

 

[oigun]

That Ramin smells nice (not) Lookin'forward to see it all come together!

 

[MatthewK]

Presumably you'll use a rosewood nut!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Corian? I think that's what my kitchen counter top is made from! I'm going to have to go home and consider its tone tonight.

 

[Engraver-60]

Oddball - about 40 years ago I had a chance to get a free Arizona Petrified Agatized Log, long enough to make a guitar neck out of. I could not lift the log onto the diamond saw it was so heavy. But the slabs were 1/4 thick and gorgeous. My teacher made clock faces out of it because I could not figure out how to make a fretboard out of it. That would have have some definite snappy twang. A little neck heavy though. Great build thread again Mauro.

 

[chrisgblues]

Presumably you'll use a rosewood nut!

DOH!
I was gonna use that line!

 

[fendertastic]

and you can turn it over and chop veggies on it!

Nice

Ill be tuning on to this one!

Ciao

 

[Picton]

That Ramin smells nice (not) Lookin'forward to see it all come together!

I'm not too familiar with ramin... what's it smell like? How does it cut? I'm assuming from this thread that it's very hard; how heavy is it?

 

[4string]

Did you plane the Corian down to 7 mm? It's all 12 mm thick that I've seen.

Interesting build. I've been thinking about building a (very) chambered body out of Corian. I'm just waiting for a customer to pick 'Apple Martini' so I don't have to buy a whole sheet...

 

[maumari]

That Ramin smells nice (not) Lookin'forward to see it all come together!

Nothin' compared to the sweeeeet corian smell (toxic)

 

[maumari]

Presumably you'll use a rosewood nut!

it could be an idea, didn't think about this

 

[maumari]

I'm not too familiar with ramin... what's it smell like? How does it cut? I'm assuming from this thread that it's very hard; how heavy is it?

Ramin (at least the one I'm using) smells fresh woody fragrance, a bit sweet. It cuts well, it's dense but fibrous, lighter than maple.
It's the wood normally used for wooden children toys.

ciao
Mauro

 

[maumari]

Did you plane the Corian down to 7 mm? It's all 12 mm thick that I've seen.

Interesting build. I've been thinking about building a (very) chambered body out of Corian. I'm just waiting for a customer to pick 'Apple Martini' so I don't have to buy a whole sheet...

My friend at Brancalab builds kitchen furniture, he has various thickness, 7-12-15-30 mm.

I've got two slabs (50x40 cm, 7mm and 12mm thick) to try a very chambered body too, but with corian only on the top. Thinking about a strat that already has a lot of routing of it's own... btw the two slabs are VERY heavy!

What do you suppose as base for the body? Poplar, ash, ...

Ciao
Mauro

 

[maumari]

some little progress (I'm involved in 5 more projects...)

proceeded with routing the shape and sanding the profile

then the fretboard dots with an aluminium 6mm dowel

the only concern with metal dots is that when radiusing the fretboard the metal powder can mark the fretboard itself, but they shine on white, ohh they shine!

ciao
Mauro