The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jan 2012 03:01 PM 
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I must have missed the chapter on toasters in Dan Erlewine's book on guitar repairs. Image

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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jan 2012 07:24 PM 
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Fajah wrote:




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.


Slightly wider.....lolnot sure how i will work around that yet having a finished neck......LOL

In other news, my p90s came in today.....LOL


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PostPosted: Mon 30 Jan 2012 10:59 PM 
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Nice!

Also a GFS fan here- quality ranges from ok (hardware) to pretty outstanding for the price (pick-ups) :D

Looking forward to seeing the final results. I was thinking that an "F-style" headstock on a semi-hollowbody just seems "wrong" somehow, then remembered that my first bass was a f*nd*r Coronado II ( and that was pretty cool, so I stand corrected)

Glad you are putting the pick-guard material on the headstock- nice touch.

Must go, I have a strange craving for toast......


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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 05:56 AM 
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Gribb59 wrote:
I was thinking that an "F-style" headstock on a semi-hollowbody just seems "wrong" somehow, then remembered that my first bass was a f*nd*r Coronado II ( and that was pretty cool, so I stand corrected)


At first, I couldn't see a Fender-like headstock on this type of body and it's not my taste in general. Other new necks that I saw with similar looking headstocks to the Raven's either came from unreliable sources on Ebay, or were too expensive for this project. If GFS offered one, I probably would have bought it. Before pulling the trigger, I searched around for some examples and found these:

Fender Coronado (like your bass)
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Fender Starcaster
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Gibson Trini Lopez
Image

They sort of grew on me after staring at them for a while. Considering that the Raven hasn't changed it's basic looks in 43 years of ownership, I figured that if could come up with something creative, unique, and hopefully tasteful using a Fender-like headstock, it would certainly be a conversation piece at the very least.

Sanding is planned for today. I hope to do the toasting today as well :rofl:

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Last edited by Fajah on Tue 31 Jan 2012 06:01 AM, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 06:01 AM 
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Bogieboy wrote:
Slightly wider.....lolnot sure how i will work around that yet having a finished neck......LOL

In other news, my p90s came in today.....LOL


This is going to be interesting. Looking forward to seeing how you progress.

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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 04:03 PM 
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What a beautiful day. Sanding is complete. I used 80 grit to remove material off the back of the headstock as well as the sides of the heel. I then continued on with 120 grit for the rest of the neck to take the thin poly finish off. The nice thing about working in the garage with natural light is that you can actually see where the poly is by the slight colouration. I'm pretty sure I got it all off. I then finished it with 220, then 320.

Image

Image

Image

The neck pocket on this guitar is not straight. I had to take enough material off the sides to accommodate a side to side adjustment, as well as some wiggle room for the finish.

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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 09:27 PM 
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Looking good! :wink:

Any Idea about the headstock, leaving it natural or are you going to give it some color?

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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 10:23 PM 
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Frenchy_I think your question has been answered.... :D
Fajah wrote:
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:

Image

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:

Image

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.

Image

Image

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.

Image

From Lee Valley Tools; Honey Tone Amber Wood Stain.

Image

Stay tuned!


I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product - definitely closer to the Trini Lopez than a Coronado, and that's a good thing! I think the finished off headstock with the Raven logo is really going to be unique and something to take pride in.

Cheers!
sg


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PostPosted: Tue 31 Jan 2012 11:44 PM 
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Gribb59 wrote:
Frenchy_I think your question has been answered.... :D


Ooppps... :blush:

I read it all but forgot.... either I'm really getting to old or just to much to catch up on...... :lol:

Great work on the guitar :up:

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PostPosted: Wed 01 Feb 2012 04:34 AM 
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Frenchy wrote:
Looking good! :wink:

Any Idea about the headstock, leaving it natural or are you going to give it some color?


Thanks Frenchy. The colour scheme I've settled on with be as follows:

1) Face of the headstock will be torte (as you see in the picture).

2) The back of the headstock and the heel will be gloss black.

3) The neck and sides of the headstock will be the honey amber dye with a clear satin finish.

Today' plan is to do one more pickguard bending test, this time drilling a hole in the material for access to the truss rod. If all goes according to plan, I'll make and install the actual piece. I'm also going to test the dye for colour on the heel.

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