Musikraft Necks

[Chrisb]

It looks like from looking at their necks, that they don't drill mounting holes and that they don't precut and install nuts as Warmoth does. Which is really unfortunate because I don't really want to deal with that, but yet their stuff is closer to what I am looking for. Am I stuck with Warmoth if I want the nut and mounting holes already done? Or will Musikraft do this if I request it?

[Bengal65]

Re: Musikraft Necks

They will do the mounting holes. Just give them a call or send an email to them. Jim will get you a response. Also, they will do alot more custom work than Warmoth will do. On the other hand, you will have to do some fret work to your liking when you recieve the neck. Their fret work is not as nice as Warmoth.

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

Ah thats cool. The fretwork thing is hit and miss with warmoth as well. I've had a couple different warmoth necks and at least 1 had bad fretwork. Conversely some say that Musikraft has far better fretwork. So I think it just varies from piece to piece. Either way and whichever company you go with your not guaranteed good fretwork. They are upfront about that.

[XSSIVE]

Re: Musikraft Necks

i don't know why people complain (not you guys, others) about the fret work and say warmoth is better. i've owned 3 warmoth necks and 6 musikraft and the fret work was the same on all...AKA needed at least a light dress to smooth the edges and in some cases a level. both companies say that they just pop in the frets and angle the edges and clean off any sharp tangs and the rest is up to you. not in those words but you get the idea. also the wood quality from musikraft is much better than warmoth IMO from the necks i have owned. plus no upcharge for a flat radius from musikraft is a plus. the warmoth compound radius is too drastic IMO and $35 extra for a flat radius is just stupid, i rather spend any extra cash on premium flame or birdseye wood.

-Mike

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

Aren't jacksons and charvel necks 12 to 16 compound radius???

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

I just spoke with Jim from Musikraft and they will do the mounting holes, I didn't ask him if there was an upcharge or not. He said 9 times out of 10 you don't need to do anything to the frets unless you want them in immaculate shape. He did say however that I would need to have my guitar tech put on the nut, they will not install nuts. Thats a drawback IMO but probably not a dealbreaker. Think of it this way. Cocobolo neck from Musikraft is a 45 dollar upcharge. From Warmoth? 300 dollar upcharge. Pretty fucking drastic difference.

I might do the nut myself if I can get a precut one and just put it in myself. Is it hard to do that?

[XSSIVE]

Re: Musikraft Necks

warmoth usues a 10-16 compound which i find to be a bit much myself.

-Mike

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

AH didn't realize that. Yea I don't like straight radius. I prefer the jackson. Which is 12-16. Which is what I would get on my Musikraft neck. Nominal upcharge. Stew Mac carries precut graphtec nuts and it seems like installing it isn't terribly difficult. I might give it a go myself.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Musikraft Necks

I get mine undrilled and prepped for floyd shelve. I'm afraid that the holes wouldnt line up with the body being used so I just drill them myself to be sure.

I'm also with you Mike 100% on the fretwork for replacment necks (Warmoth/WD/All Parts/ Mighty Mite vs. Musikraft). I'm up to 7 Musikraft necks now and another one on order [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Bengal65]

Re: Musikraft Necks

Both have there plus's and minus's. I had 16 Warmoth necks that I never needed to touch the frets. Although I haven't had but only one neck from Musikraft and I spent about 20 hrs. working on the wood and frets. I can't really do a fair comparison. I have another Musikraft neck that I'll receive this Weds. If it's like the previous one, it's going back. Musikraft does offer to make things right if they are not satisfactory. I didn't have time to send the last one back. The body that came with the same order did have to go back and another complete new one was made.

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

[ QUOTE ]
I get mine undrilled and prepped for floyd shelve. I'm afraid that the holes wouldnt line up with the body being used so I just drill them myself to be sure.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well musikraft necks are fender replacement so on a warmoth body it would line up perfectly so I'm not worried about that (if it were for a non fender licensed body I would be). I'm more concerned with the nut. I have no experience at all with guitar building. But if its just seating the nut in the slot, maybe a little light filing and gluing it in place I can deal with that. If I need to do alot of shaping with those precut nuts I'm inclined to just go with warmoth. I'd have to install new tuners (I'm gonna get Sperzel Trim Locks for the new neck, cause its a vintage trem) but sperzels don't have mounting screws so sounds like they would be easy to install.

[Bengal65]

Re: Musikraft Necks

Chris, I'll have to tell you fitting a nut is one of the most difficult tasks you will undertake building a guitar. These are the words of the great Dan Erlewine and they ring true. I first read Dan Erlewine's books years ago, then bought a lot of tools since then. The precut or notched Graphtech nuts will get you in the "ball park", but there are many other items you need to do to that nut (like get the width right so it fits you guitar, file to get each string at the correct height and angle of the face of the nut, and overall finish of the nut You only want 1/2 of the string diameter in the slot). Dan Erlewine, in his books and videos explains why it's so easy to "blow a nut", even in it's last stages of being final. Once you go through a few, you will realize a straight nut blank is the best. You can start with the pre-notched then as you get better (it's addicting), guitar building that is, you will need more tools. I suggest any of Dan Erlewine's books. Also they have free info on nut making a www.stewmac.com. Scroll to the bottom left of the Home page. Your going to need fret files (a set), the smallest being an .010" width, then up to .046", which will notch up to a good .050"-.052" string. A nut vise is real nice and really helps. 400, 600 and 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper for leveling the bottom and the sides (so it fits your slot) and final polish of the top of the nut after you lower the strings into the notches. A set of feeler gauges for lowering the strings without getting to low and fretting out on the first fret. Also, you want to do all your work first and even tune the guitar up to pitch before you loosen the strings to remove the nut and apply a tiny bit of glue to the bottom of the nut. Then place it in the slot and put at least 2 of the strings back to pitch to effectively "clamp" the nut in place while the glue dries. Also make sure when you are tighting the strings up, the nut doesn't slide sideways in the slot. There really many things to making a nut, pre-slotted or other wise. I always recommend the Dan Erlewine stuff. You can't go wrong. Best of Luck.

[sully]

Re: Musikraft Necks

nuts. oy. what bengal said! there's certainly an art to doing it, that's for sure. here's a few things that i can share:

- read everything you can about them first.
- get good nut files; don't get the set of 3 files; spend the money on a good set, and you'll have better slots. the 3 file set cut the slots too wide, from my experience.
- re-read whatever you can. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
- water thin superglue and accelerator mixed with graphite are your friends. as are razor blades.
- file straight, and also at a slight angle to allow for fall away.

anyway.... the pre-slotted graphtech nuts can get you there, as mentioned. i'd recommend getting a few of them, and plan on going through a few of them, too. don't use crazy glue. you'll be glad when you have to pull the nut out.

this page has a good tutorial section about cutting nuts, and offers a neat way to help yourself not go too deep (referring to the ground flat (on one side) pencil. scroll down about 1/2way:

http://www.frettech.com/frets/index.html

i'd almost recommend having it done, but sitting in when they do it so you can learn. that's how i did it.

and i'd also like to echo the previous statements about fretwork; neither musikraft nor warmoth do the frets. they just glue em and go. i've had plenty of exposed tangs (especially on stainless frets) on the side of the fretboards. it's foolish to not expect to have to do the frets. if it strings up and plays okay, i'd say you got lucky. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

sully

[Chrisb]

Re: Musikraft Necks

Yikes I don't think I'm ready for that yet. At least not with a 300 dollar neck. I'll try and get a plain maple neck off ebay and try doing a nut myself till I get it right in the meantime I guess its warmoth. This might not be bad though. I found this really killer neck on the gallery. No need to pay their hideous finish rates on this neck because Ziricote does not require a finish. All I need to pay extra is for them to do the nut.

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guita...=0&filters=true

Thanks for all the info about instructional stuff for the nut work. I'll be checking that stuff out.

[sully]

Re: Musikraft Necks

well, why not just get the musikraft neck you want and pay someone the $40 to put a nut in?