UPDATE 1: MY APOLOGIES . . . for some reason BLOGGER has deleted the photos ....... I'll see if I have copies . . . . . .
UPDATE 2: recovered one of the photos, still searching for the others . . . not much hope though.
So this is what the cat dragged in over the last two months or so . . . . I really need to feed that animal better . . . . The body is a bookmatched mahogany jazzmaster clone routed for JM or humbucker pickups with a side jack hole (USA custom guitars), the neck is roasted maple & rosewood with a 12" radius, 1650 frets and paua abalone dots on face & side (Best guitar parts). The hardware is Gotoh in cosmo black . . . really interesting color. No pickguard or electronic thingies yet . . . .
Neck mounting holes
The neck came without mounting holes so . . . the first - somewhat hair raising - thing is to actually locate & drill these. First I lined everything up on the VERY messy work table to check the neck pocket alignment. The black string is along the center of the neck (located as the center of the truss rod at the headstock) to the back/center of the body (the mahogany is bookmatched so there is a clear center, the piece of blue tape between the neck pockets marks this), the other two strings lay along the neck sides (through the nut slot at the top) and should be equidistant from the center . . . . AND . . . . yes I need to clean up my work table . . . .
Everything turns out to be pretty much dead on (as best as I can measure there is less than 0.5 mm deviation at the bridge) with the neck seated along the top (here at the front) & back of the pocket . . . I did't really expect anything else but check twice, cut once and all that . . . especially when two pieces of $100+ wood are involved. Mis drilling neck mounting holes is ... not good.
After turning everything over - and making sure it is all 'flat' again - I used a 3/16 drill bit (size of the mounting holes in the body which should be just a fraction larger than the actual screws, i.e. they should just 'drop through') as a punch to make some marks, checked for marks on the neck and reseated the neck.
Next I put in some nylon 3/16 OD brushings and used a 7/64 drill bit as a punch . . . the Gotoh parts are Japanese and thus metric (?), for american neck screw some people use 1/8" holes in the neck but these are too big for the screws I have. Never mind that 1/8 would be just a fraction to large for these brushings anyway.
Took the neck out and checked that the marks were on top of the previous marks AND lined up with the neck plate . . . the check twice, cut once thing . . . . . .
Then I chucked the 7/64 bit in my hand drill and made some 1/16 or so deep holes and made sure they obliterated the previous markings . . . well technically this is the third check . . .
And a FOURTH check . . . . I have learned NEVER to underestimate my own stupidity . . . . checked with the actual neck screws . . . given the holes they should 'grab' immediately without any downward pressure on the screw driver . . . .
And checked again, to see the center mark from the screw point in the top right hole . . . and THEN took the plunge and basically used the brushing in the lower left corner (see 2 photos back) to drill out all 4 holes at 7/64 to 5/8 deep . . . . . nope I don't own a drill press and this was the best impatient me could come up with . . . . of course to be safe I SHOULD have drilled a 3/16 plumb hole in another piece of wood and used that but . . . . remember I'm ONLY responsible for my OWN stupidity .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... anyone else's is their own business.
As you can see that's not the end of the story . . . the back of the neck pocket is contoured and the screws will have to be shortened to prevent them from drilling into ... or even through ... the fingerboard. If I was using plain chrome or black screws I would visit the local hardware store for shorter length screws but these are cutom Gotoh cosmo black like the neck plate. I think I'll drill a 1/8 inch hole in some scrap, turn them through to the point they need to be cut and use a new blade in a hacksaw or jigsaw to make the cut and smooth any burrs with a file . . . . . AND test this first on a regular screw . . . . .
