Velarian

Definitely not in Lao/Isaan. Everything blows your head off 😂

It’s coming along nicely and the finish looks great. Hope things work out with the screws.

I’ve just had mi breakfast. Im lai der.

Will definitely do that.

Thanks for adding the schematic with the sizes. I’ll be able to scale that up and print it out to see if it works with the routing.

Sorry, my ‘confused’ response earlier was due to me not understanding why the photos didn’t embed inline with the text. The polystyrene idea gave me the best solution with what I had to work with so thanks for that. 🙂 If anyone can tell me how to post multiple photos in a single post in line with the content that would be good. 🤔

That’s certainly worth a look. I’m totally convinced this is the way to go now. I didn’t really fancy drilling 13 pickguard holes in that pristine body TBH 😉

I think you might have a point there actually. It would compliment my fretless Jazz Bass which has a similar look.

I'll post 'em separately! Give me a moment 😊

Not sure what happened to the photos in that last post, normally they just embed but they're showing as downloads for some reason?

The neck is now united with the body 😀 Here are the steps so far: - 1. I started with some 4.5mm down and needed to reduce it to just over 4mm to fit the holes so I stuck it in the pillar drill and used some 180 grit sandpaper to slim it down 2. Then I cut them in to approximate lengths and shaped one end to try and penetrate the holes as deep as possible 3. I put some glue in the holes and on the dowls themselves and tapped them home. After a few hours I trimmed the excess lengths with a wood chisel. This was a bit messy and I scratched up the finish on the heel of the neck unfortunately, but no one's looking there right? 😉 4. Next I held the neck in the pocket of the body and used a 4mm brad point drill bit through the body, which fit the holes nicely without much movement, to mark the position of the holes on the neck. 5. Then it was time to drill the holes! I clamped the neck to a slab of polystyrene. I didn't shape this because the neck just embedded in to it. 6. I used a spirit level and set square to get things as level as possible and perpendicular to the drill bit. I also set the drill so that the maximum travel matched the depth of the hole I wanted.However, polystyrene thing was quite tricky and wasn't really ideal because there was some movement (I'd seen a video on YouTube which suggested using a fretboard sanding block matching the radius of the fret board and that would have been a good idea if I'd had one!). In the end I gauged the pressure I was placing on the neck as I was holding it and made allowance for that and just went for it! Not quite the precisely controlled procedure I'd had in mind and the end result was a bit messy but it worked well enough. 7. I'm pleased with the finished result as the screws are tight and solid and the whole thing fits perfectly.

That’s a great idea, thanks.

I’m weighing up all sorts of possibilities so these suggestions are helping me to focus on the right approach. First things first, I need the right drill bit and some decent clamps would help, so just popping down to ScrewFix to get sorted. 🙂

Thanks, I’ve just had a quick look but most of them seem to be for supporting the back of neck whilst working on the fretboard. However, I need to support it upside down to drill the holes in the heel. I’ll be giving it a go later today so I’m sure I can come up with a way of keeping it flat and stable.

Thanks for the timely tips once again. All useful stuff to help me avert disaster 😂 I was thinking about how to hold the neck in position using the pillar drill given that it’s not flat underneath. I’ll see if I can knock up some kind of rest to hold it.

Quick update. I managed to get the neck holes plugged yesterday. I’m going to try drilling the new holes and mounting the neck on the body tomorrow.

Chrome would be my choice. The plastic knobs look a bit anaemic to me.