make a neck (pt 2)

After marking out the rough neck profile, cut it with the band saw.


Then assemble the bits so far. trussrod in the slot, fingerboard on top, LINED UP WITH THE ORIGINAL NUT MEASUREMENT!!!! this is important!!

and clamp with as many clamps as you can fit onto the thing. All this was done during my lunch break, so this ISN'T the time consuming bit.

let the glue dry. (THIS is the time consuming bit!!)

you'll be left with some wedges, and other various offcuts. Your mum will appreciate a nice door wedge, or oak is great if you cut it into 1/2" blocks and smoke fish over them........... Once cut up an ex-Bushmills whiskey barrel for smoking fish over. %0 years with Sherry maturing in it then another 50 with the best whiskey in the world all over fine Limousan oak. can you even start to IMAGINE how good that smoked fish was?


OK, clamps off and we have something which starts to look like it might some day be a neck.......

Some more abuse with the band saw and...........

TaDah!!!!

OK, my camera ran out of batteries at this point so I don't have a pic of the ectra block of wood clamped onto the bottom of the heel to give the extra depth needed.




other build news.........

the doubleneck is into the finishing stage. a coat of Danish oil on the back & sides shows up glue splodges that still need sanded out. the Bridges are roughed out but not slotted or drilled yet.

the cutaway mando has the neck on, but no frets yet.

okey dokey, someone asked me to detail the making of a neck to see if it was a job that he'd be able to take on......

there are 11 pics in this first section, so I'll prolly do it in two entries today and then post the rest when there's more to show.

this neck is for a kids guitar. It'll be shorter scale and narrower than a standard neck.

OK, start with a lump of wood.

this is oak to match the back & sides. I've cut 3 frets off the nut end to shorten the scale. then I do a load of measuring and calculating to get the length needed to place the nut the right length from the bridgeplate in the guitar body (seen above the neck block in this pic.


add a little for the tenon into the neck block, and then cut the slot for the truss rod. You COULD do this with a plough plane. A router with a fence is the way MOST folk do it, but as I have access to a vertical mill I shoot it thorugh that & it's done in 3 minutes.

then I cut the tenon which will meet with the mortice cut into the neck block in the guitar. this can be dovetailed, fitted with a dowel nut or just glued in. Les Pauls are glued. That generally does for me too.....


Next the face angle cut to give a sloping headstock.
and the neck profile can be drawn on to bandsaw this.

all righty.....

the oak mini Jumbo is on hold til the postman brings the rest of the bits from Stewmac.

the doubleneck's frets are polished and I've cut two nuts. there is a LOAD of sanding to do now before putting on the bridges and finishing.

the latest version of the mandonaught is closed and has the binding step cut.

as you can see from the end shot there is more arch on this one than previous attempts. and there is indeed a cutaway as threatened!!

Progress on the doubleneck.

the necks are on, though still need a little sanding, the fret markers are done & the frets are on but need tidied. holes for tuners drilled. Hopefully tomorrow I can spend time sanding & sorting.

while I was waiting for glue to dry I started a mando.

you just cant help yourself can you?

same as last mandonaught, but I'll maybe try a cutaway this time.......

Well whattaya Know?

Oak bends too!!

No Idea on the tonal implications of this, but I have some oak and well, you use what you got, right? As usual, I have no facility to bandsaw into broad boards so I'm on my usual width maximum of 4", which means a 4 piece back. Never a problem before, so hopefully not one now either!! I'm also trying epoxy for the back joins rather than the usual white PVA on the advice of an online chum...... we'll see, but the downside is it sticks to the paper.....

I have a collegue in work who would like a guitar for her son. he's only six or seven, so I'm looking at a small jumbo shape with a cutaway and a short scale. I'm going to cut off a fingerboard at the 3rd fret and make it slightly narrower than standard. Light strings will let me tune it to E normally. Because the oak is so pale, I'm thinking either pale oak bindings or going the other way altogether and going for rosewood to have a contrasting dark stripe. Dunno yet, I'll wait till I have the soundbox closed to decide that one!!

One thing I'm fairly sure of at this stage is a maple fingerboard. I don't want to get into black plastic marker dots, so I may have to invest in a plug cutter and cut out dots from rosewood or ebony or similar.

Bridge? well, I haven't decised, but maybe oak to keep with the "blonde" look.

the back isn't glued here, it's just here for looks

and the top is a Stewmac AA top which will be braced like this.......