Lefty Mosrite project

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:04 pm

Background:

I got a lefty Mosrite body that takes a righty Mosrite neck. Problem, any Mosrite neck is impossible to find that isn't like $800.
So I set out to try to build an adapter to fit a normal neck on this thing.

Knowing I'd need to learn more woodworking than I have current skill at, I bought some $30 warehouse liquidation necks from GFS. If I fuck up, who cares.

I got this neck that's a "Gibson scale", it's a brand Lag which is apparently some French company that used to make electrics. It appears to be a neck from their Imperator line. The catalog even lists it as 24.75" scale.
http://www.lagguitars.com/en_GB/produc ... le-i66-blk

As long as I match the distance to the 12th fret to the bridge to the scale of the rest of the neck, it should be fine, as I'm basically making a "Conversion" adapter here. I can position the heel wherever I want.

PROBLEM:

A 24.75" scale length neck is supposed to measure 12.375" from the nut to the 12th fret, and then the same to the bridge.

This damn neck, tho, measures 32cm, or (12 9/16") 12.5625" from the nut to the 12th fret. That makes it's scale length some whack shit like 25.125"

It gets worse, tho. I then checked StewMac's fret calculator, and the distance from the nut to the 1st fret is supposed to be 1.41". This thing, tho, is 1.625". I can't even figure out how the fuck to get that fret size in this calculator without going to like 30" scale length.

What the fuck is going on with this neck? Do the French use some really fucking weird measurements or something?

EDIT: I decided to rename/reuse this thread as my overall lefty Mosrite build thread, and given my mod powers I just renamed the damn thread.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:15 pm

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Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:27 pm

NVM I figured it out. They didn't finish this neck, in terms of trueing up the nut position. After measuring the other fret distances, they do line up with standard 24.75" scale. I need to I think either take some off the fretboard to move the nut closer, or add a zero fret. Fuck.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:31 pm

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:48 pm

did mosrite's not have zero frets anyway?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:59 pm

I think they did? I just got thrown because this neck wasn't made to have one, they just didn't cut the end off for the nut position, so it confused the fuck outta me for a bit.

I don't know which way would be easier, cutting off a section of fretboard that's glued down could be hairy, simply sawing a slot would be easier for my skill level, but then I have to figure out what kind of fret wire to buy, clip it, dress it, etc. I suppose it won't be that bad, babby's first fret making and all.

Post by **dots** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 7:04 pm

dang, this is well outside my skill level and comfort zone! does it say anywhere in the listing/documentation on the neck you bought that it's unfinished?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 7:12 pm

Nah, it was just a warehouse liquidation by GFS. They just said they bought out a guitar parts warehouse, and were liquidating the contents. The necks were only $30 each so it's not unexpected. I had been wanting to learn to replace frets anyway, so this project is going to be expanding my skill set.

Post by **dots** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:00 pm

nice. neck building has always seemed like rocket science to me.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Thu Apr 20, 2023 7:06 pm

Neck saga continues:

I spent some time doing measuring and remeasuring, then doing a test run of shaping a piece of scrap wood into the slot fitment. I still can't find my damn router so I had to make due with hand tools. I'm fairly happy with how this turned out. I needed the piece to sit flush with the body so I could accurately measure from the bridge to know where to place the end of the fretboard.

Paper cutout first to get this wonky slot defined:

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Then use that to make the cardstock version:

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Then use that to make it in wood. Since this is just a scrap wood to get fitting right, I planed it down so it's flush with the top of the body, so I could accurately place the neck heel.
And yes, I did screw up a bit on the lobe, I shaved it down a bit too much at the top part where it starts to curve, it's a few mils too sharp of a curve, so I'll try again next time to not do that. Even still, it will be hidden beneath the pickup anyway, so no one is gonna notice my monstrosity I'm hacking together here.

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The heel is gonna have to be at this position based on the measurements from the bridge to sort out the scale length (24.75"). I plan to basically cut the sides off of the neck heel, leaving the middle bit to slot into the attachment.

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Haven't specifically defined how low into the slot it's going to sit, but I'm thinking around this. So, the attachment itself will basically be it's own pocket and raise the neck up a bit.

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This particular piece of wood is absolutely NOT the piece that will be glued to the neck. It's just a practice and placement aid. The neck, despite it's dark color, is actually maple, so I'm just gonna go buy some maple from a local hardwood store for $8 and have a few goes at this. The next step is to do the wood cut again with scrap wood, but this time I'm going to mark off and cut down the groove for both the neck heel and the pickup, so it will be basically exactly what I'm going to make in the final piece. I'm not great with woodworking, but I'm getting better each time I have done this. I was pretty proud of how close I got this piece, it squeezes perfectly into the neck pocket with the careful planing I did to the sides.

Gonna have to cut the fretboard down some to put the nut in. I was going to just put in a zero fret and place the nut at the end, but I realized there's not enough flat part for the nut to sit. Gonna have to surgery

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Post by **dots** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 5:07 pm

excellent walkthrough here. the part about the nut is a drag, but probably least of your worries at this point. looking great so far!

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Apr 24, 2023 6:23 pm

Yeah I spent some time with scraps trying to recreate the insert, but all the scraps I have left are too soft. I need to get to that hardwood store, was planning on going Saturday, but they are only open 9-4pm M-F so I'm going to have to figure out some time during work hours to get there.

I mean, $8 per maple neck blank is a deal. They are like $13 each at StewMac, but then I'd have to pay high shipping costs. I can just drive a bit and buy like 4 of them to account for my inevitable failures, but that's fine. This project is going to take a while, and it's really more of a learning process for me.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon May 01, 2023 3:47 am

So, the hardwood store has really inconvenient hours, 9-4pm M-F, but I was going to take a lunch break and head up Friday. I checked before I left on their website, and they had sold out of those maple blanks.

So, I did some more searching, and found out that Menard's of all places actually has maple 1x3 boards, which is the same size that neck blanks are.

So, I went up there and bought one. First problem I discovered, and then did a bunch of searching about, a 1"x3" board is not actually 1"x3". ALL of them are actually 3/4" instead of 1".

This means I will need to adjust slightly on my design, I wanted to have some extra to be flush with the body after the fretboard, but this must be why real Mosrite necks extend the fretboard all the way to the pickup, to cover this gap. I may just fabricate a small piece to cover this, but for now that's not a huge deal.

Working with maple is pretty nice. I got the new adapter made up, at this point I am not going to make the cuts where it meets the neck until I have actually cut the neck. I'm going to basically pull a "tongue in groove" here, with the neck being the tongue. I want to make sure I have the exact center that I end up with on the neck before I start cutting into the adapter, in case I have to adjust it some.

And yes, I did leave a little extra on the thickness of that under-pickup part, I expect once I get to the point of putting pickups in here I'll have to shave that down more. However, it's always possible to take more off, if I went too far you can't really put wood back. I also might need to sand a tiny bit more off the end to make it sit closer to the bridge. I left it as is for tonight until I can do some more measurements to make sure I'm in the right spot for the neck to fit, for the scale length. Again, I can always remove, can't put back.

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Post by **dots** » Mon May 01, 2023 11:49 am

All these finer points of guitar building...it's a wonder it ever happened.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Wed May 03, 2023 12:31 am

: 20230502_192239.jpg (1.91 MiB) Viewed 1068 times

Trimmed down the adapter to fit deeper into the pocket, now the "slant" accurately comes up against the pickup, which can be shaved down more later if need be.

I got the neck tongue roughed in. It's hard to tell where it is measuring wise, so I traced it onto the adapter in the position it should go, so I can put my t-square up there and see where I need to correct. It's close but not quite just yet. I'm just tired of chiseling right now.

Oh, and also I found out when I started cutting into the damn thing that the neck is actually mahogany, not maple.... oh well. Annoyingly, the circles on the heel there are actually maple plugs. And today is the day I found out how much harder maple is than mahogany... it was a bitch to chisel this shit when I hit those plugs, the maple is so much harder and it made it difficult to keep the cuts level.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed May 03, 2023 5:24 am

Great work. Really enjoying seeing the progress.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Thu May 04, 2023 1:06 am

Cool. This is a bit of a learning journal for me at this point. I don't really have any new pics of worth, just been working to level out that tongue in the neck, and working on the slow work of removing the clearcoat from that section. It's pretty slow going, working at with sandpaper and chisels very gently so to not damage the wood underneath. I might just hit it with a heat gun to see how that works.

EDIT: Oh, holy shit. I just got out my air soldering gun to try warming it up, and it's already all done now. I spent most of the evening fucking scraping on that carefully, when a hot air gun just bubbled it away from the wood in about 5 minutes. Holy shit.

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Post by **dots** » Thu May 04, 2023 8:49 pm

may need to get me one of them fangled guns... 2nd amendment all that.

Lefty Mosrite project

Lefty Mosrite project

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