Had a look at the neck on the Rapier.  A bit of a problem, there is quite a set in the neck already (about 10 thou’ at the 7th fret) but that’s with no strings!  I would like a little less than that with the strings fitted and under tension but the trouble is it doesn’t have a truss rod.  I expect the set to probably double once the strings are tuned to pitch so it will need some more attention.

About 10 thousandths at the 7th fret.

There are three options:

1.  Level the neck on the jig, dress and level the frets and fit light strings and accept a larger set in the neck.

2. Remove the frets, plan and level the fretboard, re-fret and dress etc.

3. Completely remove the fretboard, rout-out and fit a truss-rod, new fretboard and frets.

I guess its up to James!

To see what we decided on and how it went click here.