I'm in East Kilbride, a wee bit away from Fife lol.

@warmvalves  I'm not so far away, I'm not in Fife, you're maybe thinking Falkland. I'm just up the road from Grangemouth. I never intended to actually build a guitar either, started cutting wood for my third one now, its addictive.

Hi @russ and @Boo,

Hope you don't mind me chiming in here. I think we all watch the YT luthier and woodworking vids - man, the ones which make me laugh are the ones where the expert says something like 'here's an inexpensive way to make a (such and such) with what you have lying around' - THEN they proceed to take wood from their half tone stock of it, fire up their band saw, CNC routing bench, multi-angle table saw, table planer, table sander, industrial dust extractor etc and chose from their 97 chisels  lol.

For what I'm looking to do, the little spare room in my end terraced will do fine  lol. (not that I wouldn't love a shop like that though)

Yep, you are 3rd on the leaderboard and you haven’t even built a guitar yet. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Buuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrnnn!!! 😬🤣😘

Hi @Robin,

Aye, Grangemouth - you're hoarding all the petrol and diesel there eh?  lol.

As to guitar building - I did build a kit Tele a couple of decades ago, it was ok, and used it for a couple of years. But taking raw wood and planing, routing, sanding, drilling shaping, glueing, clamping, sealing, painting, clearcoating, more sanding...oft, no. Especially at my age, I'd be dead before I got to the end of it, haha. If I can learn to *properly* do setups, refrets, make nuts, fix dents dings and scratches, know a bit more about the electrics etc, I'll be a very happy bunny

Buuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrnnn!!! 😬🤣😘

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sorry @russ 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If I can learn to *properly* do setups, refrets, make nuts, fix dents dings and scratches, know a bit more about the electrics etc, I'll be a very happy bunny

@warmvalves Yep, that’s me too. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hope you don't mind me chiming in here. I think we all watch the YT luthier and woodworking vids - man, the ones which make me laugh are the ones where the expert says something like 'here's an inexpensive way to make a (such and such) with what you have lying around' - THEN they proceed to take wood from their half tone stock of it, fire up their band saw, CNC routing bench, multi-angle table saw, table planer, table sander, industrial dust extractor etc and chose from their 97 chisels  lol.

@warmvalves Yeah I’ve noticed that too. It’s no problem for anyone with all that gear and the knowledge and know how but to the average person it never works out as cheap because they have to pay for all that work to be done before they can even start. It isn’t a cheap hobby, that’s for sure but the more you commit to it and the more you invest, the more you can process yourself, the more money you can save. 
Sometimes I consider looking at buying a cnc machine, especially how the prices are coming down, but it will bring more hurdles to jump. The learning curve of programming it, the maintenance and parts etc. I see them as printers really, it takes all the fun out of carving your own work out. All your work would be spent on a computer rather than cutting wood with tools. Maybe one day when I’m too old to hold my tools, I’ll maybe consider it but then my brain won’t want to deal with learning how to use it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 

I do have an outdoor workshop where I have my bandsaw and other power tools but I also have a small box room that I’ve converted into an indoor guitar maintenance work area. I just need to be become better at setups etc now. 

I’ll have to pack everything up next year anyway so we can sell the house and move to Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@russ Yep, you are 3rd on the leaderboard and you haven’t even built a guitar yet.

I know @boo. It's ridiculous 😲. I keep saying watch this space but.......... "keep watching this space". 🤞😂🤣

🎸🙏🎶🙂

I'm not so far away, I'm not in Fife, you're maybe thinking Falkland. I'm just up the road from Grangemouth. I never intended to actually build a guitar either, started cutting wood for my third one now, its addictive

@robin.

Hi Robin. Have you always lived in that area? I'm originally a Bairn. I left there nearly 35 years ago but I still get down for the football......... for my sins. ⚽ 

🎸🙏🎶🙂

Hi Robin. Have you always lived in that area? I'm originally a Bairn

Yes @russ  I'm a Falkirk Bairn. Its a long time since I was at the football though, Alex Ferguson was still playing for them then.

Yes @russ  I'm a Falkirk Bairn. Its a long time since I was at the football though, Alex Ferguson was still playing for them then.

We're not quite hitting those heights now @robin. Trying to keep the faith. 🤞⚽ 

🙂🎸🙏🎶

Its a long time since I was at the football though, Alex Ferguson was still playing for them then.

@robin I could crack an obvious joke about age here but I wouldn’t be so rude to you Robin. 🤣

I could crack an obvious joke about age here but I wouldn’t be so rude to you Robin.

Be as rude as you like @boo , can't hide from being old, start collecting my state pension next year.

Be as rude as you like @boo , can't hide from being old, start collecting my state pension next year.

You could then get a cheap season ticket @robin. 🤣⚽ 

🙏🎸🙂🎶

Hi @boo - 'All your work would be spent on a computer rather than cutting wood with tools' - More than a couple of decades ago I thought I'd record my guitar into a Daw (Cubase), create backing tracks, do vocals and layer harmonies etc - should be good fun I thought...

The actual learning the software was taking me months and was immensely frustrating. I was getting there but I realised that I spent more time getting sucked into the technology rabbit hole - ie, searching for hours and days for the 'best' reverb, delay, compressor software addons and not actually picking up my guitar and just playing. It did give me an appreciation of recording and all that it entails, but should have been just playing. The tech can be an immense time suck.

I hope your move up here goes well, have you decided where you're going settle ?

I hope your move up here goes well, have you decided where you're going settle ?

@warmvalves I can only imagine what a pain learning DAW software is like. I have a simple DAW on my iPad, that’s about as far as I’ve got. Like you say, I’d rather just play these days anyway.

Ideally we want to find somewhere on the west coast, anywhere from Oban to Campbeltown. Having said that, we are willing to go a little further inland towards Glasgow or even keep an open mind and go nearer to Edinburgh, Falkirk area maybe. So long as we get over the border before you get independence, I’ll be happy. 😁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@boo - you've chosen some beautiful places there. If we had the cash, we'd have moved to a coastal or lochside cottage years ago. Independence or not - you'll be warmly welcomed sir.

you've chosen some beautiful places there. If we had the cash, we'd have moved to a coastal or lochside cottage years ago. Independence or not - you'll be warmly welcomed sir.

@warmvalves Thank you sir, I appreciate it. I have been visiting Scotland since I was a kid and I still enjoy it, we have a lot of holidays up there. I have some family members that live and work up there too. Love it. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

If I understand this correctly you have a 15.75" fretboard and want to press the frets in.

A 16" caul will be slightly flatter and press more in the centre leaving the ends slightly high. This could be bad. It might work but...

I would suggest that you use a smaller radius like 12" for a 'first press' to get the ends down - then use the 16" or just finish by hammering.

Welcome @warmvalves to the Guitar Making World like you i'm also new on this platform, but it is one of the best place for the knowledge.