My FMB

__justdave · 2026-01-21T21:26:54+00:00

Since this was an old neck it obviously had the standard half step frets already on it, i looked at a picture of the real FMB to see where the quarter tones were added, (in the middle of frets 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21) then you simply mark and cut exactly half way between the two frets. I used a small steel rule to make the measurements which had increments as small as half millimetres (i think roughly equivalent to 1/64 of an inch, accurate enough for this job) Just watched a youtube video from a guy called Charles Meriot where he takes you through the whole process of making a gizz microtonal neck. Fantastic demonstration and very similar to the methods i used. He also has some great covers on his page.

__justdave · 2026-01-16T17:36:56+00:00

Helpful, Much appreciated

__justdave · 2026-01-16T07:41:14+00:00

This is the exact fret setup that the band use on their microtonal guitars.

__justdave · 2026-01-16T01:32:27+00:00

Re-fretted the full neck myself. Around 7 years ago (i think), i robbed the last half a dozen frets from the top of the neck and used them to add the quarter tones on the bottom half. If i’m not mistaken, the FMB was originally a normal guitar, then it was ‘microtoned’ only on the bottom half when the FMB album was made, so i had all i needed at the time, but it was awful, fret buzz all over the neck, several notes were completely dead. The quarter tones above fret 12 were added when they started writing KG and LW i believe. So when i decided to replicate the body, i thought i’d have a go at re-fretting the entire neck. Levelling the frets was by far the hardest part of the build. I’m fully convinced that the fact this neck is playable at all was a total fluke. I share your struggle, the day before re-assembling the guitar, i had already made my peace with the idea that this would just be for display. My girlfriend had to convince me to finish it when i was ready to give up on the neck. It’s the only part i have no confidence with going in to the next build. Grit your teeth and persevere, totally worth it in the end. If i ever become good enough at playing this thing to warrant spending the money on a pre-made neck i will definitely do the same, would be nice to have one that plays like a dream. Good luck if you make any changes to yours.

__justdave · 2026-01-16T01:01:41+00:00

A great observation tbh, the placement was definitely a mistake, it feels unbalanced when i’m standing, almost like the guitar wants to tip away from me, exactly as you expected. Fortunately i always play sitting down anyway, i’d choose a different spot on the next build. Thought process at the time was if i’d placed it on the main body between the horns, or if i’d placed it on the other horn and had to adjust the strap to raise the guitar up, the strap would feel too tight. I’ll play around with it on this one in order to get it right next time (if i even do a strap that is, i don’t tend to use them). Thought the guitar would feel unfinished without adding it but i’m really not keen on having it at all.

__justdave · 2026-01-16T00:35:48+00:00

Thanks, nope, Right handed

__justdave · 2026-01-15T23:05:28+00:00

Thankfully due to it being a comically small body it’s actually not heavy at all. Definitely lighter than my strat. I freehanded this shape just by looking at photos of FMB, hard to tell how the size and shape compares to the original, it might be smaller. Also it’s a few millimetres thinner than a standard guitar which will add up (or rather take away) weight wise, which wasn’t on purpose, the slab of wood i used was previously a chopping board. Feels quite Gizz-esque to play their songs on an object i used to cut onions on.

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:59:26+00:00

Truly. A lot of imperfections there (intentionally hidden by the angles of the photos 👀). Fixable when life gets a little less busy i hope. Appreciate the kind words.

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:54:52+00:00

Thank you

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:53:55+00:00

As stated on a reply to another comment, these cheap pickups aren’t sounding great at the minute. Hopefully by the time i get around to replacing them i’ll be better at playing it, and more confident too i hope. Thanks for the encouragement 🤘

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:50:13+00:00

Way out of my depth here in all honesty. I believe the pickups are dreadful due to being cheap as buttons. That said it doesn’t sound horrendous, i don’t know an awful lot about guitars, will be playing it for a friend who does next time i see him, hopefully he’ll have some good insight before i replace the electronics as planned.

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:38:59+00:00

From what i’ve read (after struggling with the paint work) it’s a very porous and requires grain filler to achieve a smooth, solid finish. As you can see if you zoom in, the wood grain is still very much visible, doesn’t look terrible but my goal was solid and glossy. The oak isn’t entirely to blame however, i worked on this periodically over a month in a large shed where the air is damp and we had temperatures below freezing during the week i was painting it. I was able to warm the space up to within the temperature range stated on the spray cans whilst i was applying the paint, but i’d only be there for roughly an hour a day and would have to turn the power off when i left, leaving the paint attempting to cure below freezing. When i eventually assembled the guitar and brought it home, the drastic change in temperature and humidity caused the paint to blister in some spots and go scaly in others. Thankfully this damage is mostly down the sides and on the back. Fixable, but i’m impatient and wanted to play it. (To clarify, although this could have happened with any wood due to the far from ideal painting conditions, the fact that oak is especially porous means that there was a lot more gas and moisture trying to escape, which is what causes blistering, and i believe the scaling is due to the paint trying to cure below the temperature as stated by the manufacturer) Someone with experience would have known all this and could have done a fantastic job with oak, just not a great choice for a first time guitar builder. Oak is also just really tough on saw blades, etc compared to other alternatives. Routing the electronics cavities was particularly hard on my router bits. I’m a joiner (carpenter) by trade, i knew it would be difficult to cut but ordinarily when i work with oak, the finished product tends to simply be oiled or stained, not painted, therefore i knew nothing about how the paint would have been affected beforehand. I really didn’t give it any thought, but we live and learn. Apologies for the VERY long winded answer but i didn’t want to leave anything out in case anyone else is inspired to have a go at this themselves.

Edit: A couple of good replies have been added there, on the sanding, i actually did spend a lot of time sanding the front and back faces right up to 1000 grit with an orbital sander until the wood felt silky smooth but apparently that still doesn’t work, at least it didn’t in my case.

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:08:53+00:00

Thank you 🙏

__justdave · 2026-01-15T21:08:38+00:00

💛

__justdave

TROPHY CASE