Andyjr1515

It will be fine

Fettling done and a trial fit of the trussrod also done. Less fettling than I expected so a lucky guess with which trussrod supplier to use: And the all important bit that was missing on the old one there and accessible (the adjuster nut!) Note, by the way, that the G&L necks clearly have a couple of carbon rods fitted...

Trussrod is here and side dot material is in transit. This afternoon, I'll fettle the slot to get the new rod to fit snugly. All being well, the fretboard will be refitted before the end of the week.

It's a thought. Trouble is, that's a lot of bits floating around. But I was thinking that maybe two or three spread over the length of the fretboard...

Yes - I'll be doing that as well, I will pop a couple of panel pin holes in the nut slot. I'll take a photo when I get to that bit.

Camera battery is recharged Here are the side dot holes: I have a cunning plan...

Yes - I use the same technique when I'm mending folks' guitars and basses. As I said to Owen when he contacted me about the trussrod, 'There's always a risk with these kinds of jobs...'

I'll do a photo run-through when the rod arrives. There are a number of ways folks do it. Owen's has a particular challenge that will be interesting - the side-dots had been inserted right on the join and it would be useful if I can line up the two halves of the drill holes exactly all the way up so I can use the same size markers when it's re-glued My camera's battery is just re-charging - I'll take a couple of shots when it's got some battery life back to show you what I mean.

Trussrod on order and should be with me mid next week

Owen has a problem with his neck! Or more correctly, Owen has a problem with one of his necks. Or to be utterly precise, Owen has a problem with a G&L 5-er neck that has a snapped off truss-rod end. Getting fretboards off in one piece always carried a risk - but I haven't lost one recently and so it is worth stacking up the odds a little further and giving it a go. It's a very nice neck - but those edges are mighty thin, with the fret slots almost fully through to the maple: And so there is the possibility of ending up with 22 rectangles of fretboard rather than one whole one. BUT, it's a case of taking that risk or scrapping it. Most fretboards (but not all) are glued with heat-softening wood glues - and so you basically heat the fretboard up with an iron or similar (I use a travel-iron) and then ease a blade, and eventually a thin steel sheet slowly, slowly, slowly along until it's off: And it's still in one piece! You can see that the truss rod was fully tensioned when the adjuster-end snapped off. Interesting, though, that only one half of the strip is bowed. Sort of defies physics - I've never seen that before but maybe this is why it wasn't doing the business: Should be a pretty straightforward replacement as long as I can get a rod that fits properly.

Lovely job!

As @neepheid and @Norris say, trying out the colour either on a piece of scrap mahogany or in the neck pocket of the body (assuming it's bolt-on) is the only way of knowing for certain, but personally I don't think purple does very well. Dampened, which all stains do, mahogany is quite a dark and richly tinted wood. Ideally you want a stain that is either bright or complimentary to the wood's natural tint. Purple is neither and is likely to darken the mahogany considerably. As @Norris says, the different part of the spectrum of the purple to the oranges and reds of the timber can also make it brown. But the only way of knowing for sure is to try it Personally, I would be looking at reds, oranges, yellows - even greens sometimes work but that depends on the tone of the specific piece of wood.

This is the same guitar with an added coat or two of Ronseal Hardglaze polyurethane varnish brushed on:

Loads - but you have to love Cherry Red. It compliments the deep colour of the mahogany rather than tries fighting with it: This was done with red calligraphy ink and finished with Tru-oil

Very smart indeed. Going to be a corker!