Another abomination

[Hackmaster]

So a while back, I was cruising Fleabay and found a nice upper middle of the road mandolin.

• Hand-Carved Solid Spruce Top
• Hand-Carved Solid Figured Maple Back & Sides
• Figured Maple Neck with Rounded ”V” Profile
• Hardshell Case Included (North America Only)
• Gotoh Tuners

Specs looked good, but it was broken...
But that didn't matter because I was going to abuse it even further.
So I bought it. My first couple of these things that I hacked, turned out well, but they were both cheap plywood bodies.

My hopes are that a quality solid wood body would make a difference that I could hear.
When it showed up I was blown away by how nice this thing looked.
Well, except for the busted headstock. But that's not really needed.


Time to rip it apart.
Pulled the fretboard off and found an incredible and precise fitting of the dovetail.

It worked, but was a pretty sloppy fit...


And now it's gone.
Here's what the new neck looked like.

And then it became this.

Now I needed a way to attach it. A nice tight fitting dovetail joint would be nice. But that involved math, and geometry, and compound angles... Not to mention funky tools and saws that I just don't have
So I improvised. I put a 15 degree tilt on the table saw blade, and put a taper on the end of both sides of an oak board.




Then I cut it off.

Now with the help of my "multi purpose" belt sander, I started fitting this into the cutout in the body.

Perfect, but I'm out of picture space.
To be continued...

 

[eSGEe]

 

[Hackmaster]

And now we have a dovetail

The nice thing about this is that it can be removed & reinstalled while adjusting the fit.
When I'm happy with everything, I'll glue the tenon to the neck.




So far so good.

 

[eSGEe]

I cant wait to grope and fondle that little lass

 

[Thatbastarddon]

Fine work @Hackmaster !

 

[Hackmaster]

Fine work @Hackmaster !

Thank you, kind sir.
It was an inspired moment. No doubt fueled by an 18 pack of Bud Light.

 

[Clockworkmike]

Man, you are very damn good at fixing an atrocity

 

[Hackmaster]

Man, you are very damn good at fixing an atrocity

Thanks Mike, my creative side allows me to see things in different ways.
And it's a great excuse to spend all day in my shed drinking beer.

 

[eSGEe]

And it's a great excuse to spend all day in my shed drinking beer.

WE DONT NEED NO STINKING EXCUSES!

 

[fretless]

WE DONT NEED NO STINKING EXCUSES!

Amen, brother!!!!!!!

 

[Cadorman]

Excellent job! How tough is it to remove a complete fretboard?

 

[SG John]

Cool!

 

[Hackmaster]

Excellent job! How tough is it to remove a complete fretboard?

Depends on the fretboard. But if it has a thick finish, it could be a disaster.
The fretboard needs to be heated to the point of the glue softening.
That mandolin neck had big chips of finish flying. If I cared, I could have scored it at the separation.
But I didn't. Calipers said that chip was .027 thick. Lacquer my ass. That crap sure acted like poly.

 

[RVA]

Incredible ingenuity! You are the MacGyver of guitars!

 

[Cadorman]

I love lacquer. I Turtle Waxed the Flying V a little bit ago. Silky smooth....
See. I wasn't joking. Hey, that gives me an idea. Where's @Zzzzz ?

 

[Hackmaster]

And I'm at the point now where little things start to make a big difference.
I was happy with the fit of the neck. It pushed into place nice and tight.
To release it, it needs a slight whack with a rubber mallet to loosen the dovetail.
Still haven't glued it, but I did some finish fitting, sanding and got some finish on it so I could do the frets.

Then

And now. Remember, it's not even glued up yet.



Now I'll pop the neck back off and fret it. Then it becomes one.

 

[Hackmaster]

Incredible ingenuity! You are the MacGyver of guitars!

Thanks Ray, you're too kind.

Hey, I love that latest Tele of yours.
You really did a number on that one. Flat out gorgeous.
Couldn't stop looking at it!

 

[Cadorman]

Meh. I've built bicycles, amps, guitars from parts and now pickups. I want to build a guitar from scratch and I don't have any woodworking tools! You're killing me Hack.

 

[Ramo]

Just mod it and make a v out of it slap emg set in it put wammy bar and you have unique shred machine then send it to me free ( I learned this trick from @eSGEe and @Zzzzz they have masters and honers degree in this field).

 

[Zzzzz]

Just mod it and make a v out of it slap emg set in it put wammy bar and you have unique shred machine then send it to me free ( I learned this trick from @eSGEe and @Zzzzz they have masters and honers degree in this field).

I'm the Master's, right?