The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Received the neck and roller bridge from GFS yesterday, so now the project begins. As a frame of reference, here are a couple of pics of the guitar as it looks right now:





I'm quite impressed with the GFS neck, especially at this price point. It's nicely finished, frets are good, and it's straight. Here's some pics:









I thought I would post some measurement comparisons:

Raven stock neck:

Nut width: 1 9/16"
Heel Width: 2 1/16"
Thickness at the first fret (not including the fret itself): 13/16"
Thickness at the heel: 15/16"

GFS Neck:

Nut width: 1 5/8"
Heel Width: 2 1/8"
Thickness at the first fret (not including the fret itself): 7/8"
Thickness at the heel: 1"

SX STL-50 (Ash) just to compare:

Nut width: 1 11/16"
Heel Width: 2 3/16"
Thickness at the first fret (not including the fret itself): 7/8"
Thickness at the heel: 1"

First order of business will be checking the frets, levelling and touching up ends where needed. I'll post more shots as I progress so stay tuned

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Mr. Lawrie Mann
Toronto, Canada

Nice!...

Following this transformation ....

_________________
MAA Member since June 29th 2009, taking one baby step at a time..... and failing miserably!

Are the scale lengths the same or are you going to move the bridge?
The existing neck looks to be 24 3/4 and the replacement looks to be 25 1/2.

The existing scale length is 25" taken from the middle of the bridge. The new scale length will be 25 1/2" with the new bridge in the same approx. position. The new bridge is a tunomatic so the angle won't be as prevalent when intonating. Check it out:

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Archtop-Rol ... _p_98.html

The base will require some work to get it to lay on the guitar properly, but rosewood is easy to work with and there's enough material to do the job.

_________________
Mr. Lawrie Mann
Toronto, Canada

More and more impressed with GFS. I recently got a bunch of pups plus some hardware from them and they're more than OK for the price.
Recommended

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"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Here we go, Step #1 - Fret Level: There were only a few slightly high frets and the ends were pretty good so this process didn't take too long. Hopefully I won't have to do much more once the guitar is set up.

Step #2 - Pre-fit and Experiment: Although the new neck has a Fender style headstock, my goal is to maintain the "stock look". Here's a pic as a frame of reference:



Utilizing the same pickguard material (purchased from Bezdez) that I used to make the pickup rings and some covers, I cut a small piece to experiment with heating and bending. This tuned out to be an easy process yielding the result I was looking for:



To accomplish this, I preheated my toaster oven to 150 degrees F, placed the plastic on a piece of parchment paper and left it in for 3-4 minutes. Now warmed up, I was able to pick it up by hand and placed on the neck. Parchment paper was placed in between the wood and the plastic. I held in in place for about 5 minutes to cool.

The next step was to see how the tuners would fit the headstock with the addition of the pickguard material. I had to widen the holes to accommodate the tuners first. I also removed the Raven logo which was attached with two very small black nails.





I'll have sand approx. 1/32 - 1/16" off the thickness of the headstock for the tuners to fit the way I want them to. As for finishing, I'll be using the following:

From Lowes; Valspar Gloss Black Laquer, Gloss Clear Laquer, Satin Clear Laquer.



From Lee Valley Tools; Honey Tone Amber Wood Stain.



Stay tuned!

_________________
Mr. Lawrie Mann
Toronto, Canada

Looking great!!!!!!!! You have inspired m e to get a neck for my conrad.... I am bidding on one on ebay right now.... but i am not doing the strat head... LOL we already discussed that though....i am actually bidding on an LP neck...well.... Glen burton LP....LOL it has an awesome black sparkle finish....might not match but should play way better than the warped (and wonky nut...i needed to shim my low e string to get it to stop buzzing on the first fret....)


 http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-SPARKLE-GLEN-BURTON-LP-STYLE-NECK-TUNERS-NEW-LES-PAUL-SG-OTHERS-/180802457663

Thats the neck i hope to get....

Do you know what the width of the heel is? My new neck is slightly wider than the neck pocket so I plan to sand down the heel rather than expand the pocket. The pocket on my guitar doesn't have to much material on the sides to work with.

_________________
Mr. Lawrie Mann
Toronto, Canada

Love your resourcefulness!
Best of luck with the work and thanks for the pictures.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Thanks Barry I like trying different things out. Makes it a bit more unique and interesting. Tomorrow is sanding day since it's called for mild weather and I can work in the garage comfortably. I'll continue to post pics of my progress.

_________________
Mr. Lawrie Mann
Toronto, Canada