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As I carved the neck for my latest build yesterday, a tiny spot grew into a knot.

There's a lot of work (and some money) into this at this time. What would you do?





Thanks for your comments...
Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
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If it's for someone - you gotta redo I think.

Really sucks. I feel for you.

Neil

Yep, looks too big to try to do anything about it. Save for a personal or family member build.

And next time, carefully examine for knots before making up the neck blank. You can find the two ends of the knot and visualize the line of it inside the wood, along with the shape of the neck in there. I had a neck blank with a similar knot, and got it positioned to where it was just outside the neck, only leaving a tiny grain swirl.

Yours looks like maybe hopeless from the beginning though... unless the blank was long enough to shift the knot forward into the headstock and cover it with a backstrap.

Sunburst?

Scrap it. You have a knot (thus a weakness) at an important juncture here. It happens.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Thanks, guys. I pretty much thought the same as I started preparing a new neck blank this morning. I'll use it for a lamp stand or something!

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

OK, I'm going to hijack my own thread here. I got the FB off of the neck and it looks to be in great shape. My question is: is it re-usable? I've only removed one FB from a neck before this and it was a disaster - VERY warped. I don't really remember how much heat, time, etc. This time, I laid it on a heating blanket and very slowly brought it up to 250 degrees. I let that work for 20 minutes and it came off pretty easy with a stiff putty knife. I used "Smith's All Wood Epoxy" to glue it up. Are there any reasons not to re-use this FB?

Thanks,
Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

We don't toss out our sides after exposing them to heat and moisture
If it ain't broke, I'd definitely reuse it. Nothing worse than wasted wood, especially the dwindling supplies of ebony.
But maybe sticker it for a few days since it probably got pretty dry during the heating.

Re use the FB if it's not damaged, scrap the neck.

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STOP!...You don't be scrapping that neck! NO!

Put it aside, score some really cheap wood and build a new box for it.

But this time don't be using other peoples drawing of what a "guitar" should look like.
Build something experimental, something off the wall, something non of us never seen sawed before. Something from inside of yourself. Since the neck is toast for any serious build, it don't matter how far off the wall you go with it, cuz by the time your finished it, your skills and knowledge will have grown in leaps and bounds.

Well thats what Duh Padma would be doing with that there neck.

Blessings
Padma

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Padma, I hear you loud and clear and couldn't agree more. This one has actually been turned into back brace stock after salvaging the FB, truss rod, peghead overlay, and the CF reinforcing rods, but your idea is a good one. Even though I live in Texas, I must have a bit of Yankee in me because I try not to waste anything.

Thanks to all...

Chuck

_________________
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Yes, re-use the FB. Next time though, you don't need as much heat to remove it. Most glues will soften around 140*f including epoxy.

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Gee Chuck...
Texas, thats that Republic just north of Mexico isn't it.
And well all of us up here know that yankies are them plastic consumers south of the boarder that perfected the disposable concept of society that is now polluting the entire planet.

Right? Right!


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Just thinking out side the square Is it for an electric?
Chuck could you cut it down to 3/4 size (reuse the headstock with a scarf joint after cutting out the knot) if its for acoustic but why not electric? How about an electric mandolin? Remember seeing a photo of a Joe Maphis twin neck with one really short neck. Plenty of string things you could make just think shorter scale.

Steve

Guess I would have sent the photo to the customer first, unless you know he/she is non-organic. Regardless, I would have saved the neck. I wouldn't hesitate to use the neck on an experimental instrument, and were the "flaw" on the other side, I would not hesitate to use it on even the fanciest of my own personal instruments. With a dark dye, it would look great.
After all it is wood...