eGuitar Plan's Daily Diary 12/14/11

Today I sanded the radius onto two fretboards. Then, I glued them into place on their respective necks. One will be for a Highline Envirocaster Single Cut and the other will find a home on a Highline Envirocaster Double Cut. Check out the progress photos:

I used a 12" radius sanding block with 60 grit sandpaper to form the initial radius. Then I switched to 80, 150 and finally 220 grit to get it ready for the frets.

After installing the truss rod (with a bead of bathtub caulk along its length to prevent buzz), I glued on the fretboard.

Notice the glue squeeze out? When it dries, I'll knock off the glue with a chisel. I never wipe off excess glue. That causes the glue to soak into the wood, which prevents the wood from absorbing the finish.

A Refined Truss Rod Access Solution

Every guitar I build is a one-off, handmade instrument. Since each one is different, I often encounter problems, which require a creative solution. While building the Highline Prodigy, I wanted the access to the truss rod adjustment nut to be easy, yet inconspicuous. I kept carving away wood at the heel of the neck, the body and the pickguard in order to make it easy to insert an allen wrench into the nut. However, the result started to look a bit clunky. To resolve this problem, I cut a piece of wood that matches the pickguard and made a nice looking cover. I guess it's true that necessity is the mother of invention. Here are some photos of how solved the problem: