Shaping The Neck:

So far everything on this instrument seems to be off kilter, not only is it made without even semi-precise measurements, there is a complete lack of symmetry that is clearly visible.  Sure no one would probably notice if something is off by a 64th of an inch or so, especially where shape is concerned, as that has no bearing on the intonation or sound, but man, I am having a hard time finding any work that was executed with pride on this instrument.  If anything, the lack thereof begs to ask if sweatshops still exist!

In my mind, the back of a guitars neck should give unrestricted access to every fret, as well as have a smooth feel throughout, which is why I do not like Les Paul's and other instruments that have a huge neck heel, as modern glues and smart design make it unnecessary.  This one not only had way to much unneeded wood on the heel, but it was not carved evenly.  The radius was lopsided, the taper out of whack, and it even had low and high spots, which one could easily feel.

First off, I redesigned the neck heel for better reach, as well as to give it a good look. I started to carve it using my hand made Austrian rasp, but remembered that I forgot to take a picture of the before, just in the nick of time:

Here is a picture of the redesigned neck heel, with an added laminate of ebony to raise it up a little higher for that jazz feel.

I redesigned the taper, as the back of the neck got thicker at around the 10th fret, swooping up to the heel in an unrefined curve, making it uncomfortable, and restricting playability.  I flattened the radius somewhat, as the neck was way to thick.  I also redesigned the transition to the headstock, to be symmetrical as well as elegant.

The big obstacle in this whole procedure, is that I had little knowledge on the truss rod.  By playing with it, I could tell that it is a one way type, and that it is very ineffective, as turning it a lot, made only the slightest difference in the fingerboard bow, which I had to flatten significantly.  Adding frets will correct it even more, and thinning out the neck will give it more room for adjustment.  Not knowing exactly what design it is, and how and where exactly it is installed, gives me no way of knowing how much wood I can remove safely.

I sent an email to Reid and Son's two months ago to get some information on it, as there was none on their site, but although they state that their friendly staff will answer any questions, and that they have "Industry leading service", they did not even acknowledge that they received my email, and since it did say "your email was successfully sent", and it did not bounce back I have to assume that they did.  I just sent another one asking if they are still in business!  Still no answer.

So, I am forced to do some guess work here, and for now I carved the neck to a much better shape, but can not call it complete yet, as there is a slight chance that I will find some info on the truss rod placement, or even have the neck X-rayed.  The red line indicates the old shape in this picture:

Truss Rod Cover:

Not much to explain here, just made the truss rod cover, I will add screw holes further down the road:

Pick Guard:

I toyed around with this one quite a bit, in order to come up with a shape that looks good, but does not hide to much of the Z-hole I worked so hard on, and here it is.  I can not add binding to it at this point, because I have officially run out of maple veneer.  I also have to make pickup mounts before I can derive it's final shape.

Pickup Mounts:

Since it came with cheap plastic pickup mounts, one of them already busted, I decided to make some out of wood, to match everything else.  First I made the bottom portions out of maple.  I made one piece, and then cut it into two individual mounts:

After that I made them conform to the shape of the body, but can not match them to the radius of the fingerboard yet, until I put frets in the fingerboard.  I found some awesome pickups that will work well with this instrument, but think they will look best with chrome or nickel/silver covers, to match the rest of the hardware.  The pickups that came with the kit are terrible in more than one way and although they came with chrome plated covers, the chrome can be removed with a mere fingernail, and they do not fit the Seymour Duncan's I have set aside for it.  I have to wait to add veneers to the top of the pickup mounts, until I have covers for the pickups, so I will get back to them later.