Making 24 fret Rhoads

[thetroy]

Hi there. I'm thinking about getting a Rhoads, but I am so used to my SL3 that I need 24 frets and a trem. Here's my current plan: Buy a banged up RR3 and (re)move the neck pickup so I can make the neck pocket big enough for a 24 fret neck. I have a few questions before I do all of that though:

Where I can get a nice thin, flat 24-fret neck that isn't too expensive?

What's the best thing to use to fill in what's left of the neck pickup cavity?

After I'm done, where can I find some good info on refinishing the body? I might try to do it myself but not sure what to use to strip current paint, what new paint to use, what clear to use, how many coats, etc. (I've never painted anything before)

Any other ideas or suggestions that you think would be helpful to know would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Budman68]

Re: Making 24 fret Rhoads

<font color="aqua">Well, I'm about to show you what I've done. This was a Charvel Avenger body and I did exactly what you'd like to do. I used a piece of wood with epoxy to fill the neck pickup hole and so far it's decent. I would go with MM2002's (a member here) thoughts on filling holes as it just seems to make more sense to me. You'll have to look in this section of the forum for his 3DR project as he spells out the whole thing for you. As for the neck purchase, look on ebay for a used Jackson neck as they go fairly reasonably.

On mine, you'll notice I actually did a cutout in the body for the upper fret access which kind of made the body fins look "off balance" so I shaved about 3/8ths of an inch off the bottom fin tapering it off to the cutout. I also "relieved" the back of the body at the neck plate because the stock body was just too thick. Please excuse the unprofessional work as this was one of those over the weekend kind of projects [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Not my best work.... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Any questions, I'd be glad to answer.



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[thetroy]

Re: Making 24 fret Rhoads

Dave, thanks for the info. I really like what you did about the upper fret access. Do you think it made a big difference? I might do something similar if the access seems too limited.

[Budman68]

Re: Making 24 fret Rhoads

<font color="aqua">Yes, it definitely made a difference. You could get used to it without having it but honestly, it's definitely an easier access.
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[Drake S.]

Re: Making 24 fret Rhoads

Hey Dave you still holdin out on me to sell that V....you let me know when your gonna ship it to me [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]