i found a beat up washburn acoustic in a dumpster . looks like some kids were using it for back yard wrestling . ive salvaged every part of it( including electronics) except for the body . my trouble is what would be the best way to attach this neck to a box ? the box i wanna use is a rum runner but ive got a few others i could use if i had to . any help with this would be greatly appreciated . thanks in advance .
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My experience is that because of the angle, generally when you mount the neck to a square box you will need to build very tall bridge.
that was one of my hesitations . so im gonna head down to the music store and see if he will let me get the angle off of a similar one . i salvaged the bridge so i may just glue a few pieces of the body ive cut down , to the bottom of the bridge . lol i knew this was going to be a little difficult but damn im using math i havnt used since 8th grade !
not really a beginner , just figured you guys may have some ideas i havnt thought of . also ive never built a cheater and every time i do something new my brain goes haywire . oh and as far as using the body its so busted im just cutting it down and using it for various things .
Hi,
Are you able to post some photos of the bits you saved?
The scale of the guitar and what fret level it fixed to the body will determine the smallest box size you can use. I don't know how much building you have done (sorry if I am telling you stuff you already know), but if you measure the nut to 12th fret distance, then the bridge saddle will have to be this distance from the 12th fret. Depending upon the fret level the original acoustic joined the body may mean you have an overlap of fretboard.
Here is one I made a while back - I stripped off the broken body until the heel of the neck was as clean as I could get it. I fixed it to the box using metal to wood dowels/screws. I cut a small hole in the back to work through (in retrospect it would have been easier to use the box upside down so I could have simply lifted the lid, but the top had the better looking grain). These dowels screw into the neck and the other end takes a nut.
fitted to the neck heel
This was also glued at the final fitting (plus the underside of the fretboard overlap)
And finished off with car paint where needed..
It was always meant to be used through an amp so the reduced volume unplugged wasn't an issue. The side oak strips were not for decoration - they contain aluminium L strips to brace the box. Due to the holes cut for the preamp and miniamp speaker the side needed some support. As it is a 6 string the box is also braced inside.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
David.
perfecto ! glad i saw that before i just bolted it to a 2x4 lol . im actualy using an old metal tool box figure the acoustics should give it a great reso sound . as far as building ive done quite a bit . just never used an old neck ive always built my own . cant post pics at the moment my lil girl decided my cell would look great in her juice cup lol . man your pics helped soooo much thank you !!!!
Good luck with it, some pictures might help some people make suggestions.
Don't discount the value of reusing the bent sides from the body too, that can be a lot of fun :)