The Neck, Day 2

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010:

Well, I'm feeling a bit scatterbrained again, right now, about all the different things I need to do, so here we go again. It's once again time for a list:

  1. Flatten the upper bout, if necessary. (Done)
  2. Trim extra wood off the heel block end of neck blank. (Done)
  3. Rout slot for carbon fiber rod in neck. (Done)
  4. Measure and drill vertical hole in heel for barrel nut. (Done)
  5. Drill horizontal hole in heel end for bolt access. (Done)
  6. Draw the neck taper lines (using fingerboard as guide).
  7. Epoxy in carbon fiber rod. (Done)
  8. While that is drying, inlay dots into fingerboard. (Done)
  9. Radius (Done) and fret the fingerboard.
  10. Thickness-sand peghead veneers (front and back -- I'm thinking bloodwood, to match the bindings). (Done)
  11. Draw the line for reducing the neck thickness and heel shape. (Don't forget to account for the thicknesses of the peghead veneers when drawing the line for the peghead thickness!)
  12. Rough cut the neck thickness.
  13. Rough cut the neck taper (do not cut into peghead).
  14. Thickness peghead "ears" to same thickness as peghead.
  15. Glue on the peghead "ears".
  16. Sand peghead smooth.
  17. Glue on the peghead veneers.
  18. Draw the peghead shape onto the veneer.
  19. Bandsaw out the peghead shape.
  20. Drill tuner holes.
  21. Shape neck!

Whew!!!! I feel much better now. (I have learned from experience how it is much better to consciously plan your sequence of steps — and to have it on paper! — in order to avoid possible future pain and misery.)

Okay....off to work!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need to flatten the upper bout, so the fingerboard will be able to lie flat. Here I have marked the upper bout with pencil. That strip of wood approximates the height and location of the bridge. The hole is a pivot point.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Here I am sanding the upper bout flat. The sanding board is the height of the fingerboard. I swing it back and forth across the upper bout.

 

INDEX:

Return to HOME PAGE

  13. Scatterbrained — Odds 'n' Ends
  14. Soundport and Closing Up the Box
  15. On to the Binding
  16. Beginning the Neck
  17. The Neck, Day 2
  18. The Neck, Day 3
  19. The Allen Wrench Dilemma and the Peghead
  20. Bridge Shaping and Neck Fitting
  21. The Deck is Finished! The Fingerboard is Glued!
  22. Neck Carved, Finish Sanding, Wash Coat, Pore-Filling, Sanding, Sealing, Tru-Oil
  23. Paraffin Oil Polishing and Finishing it All Up!
  24. Saddle Compensation Jig
  25. REALLY Finishing It Up Now!!!

 

 

 
         

It's flat vertically.

 

 

And it's flat horizontally.

 

 

I spent the most time today doing the calculations and measurements for the barrel nut hole and bolt hole. I've never done this type of connection before, so I was a bit nervous about exactly how to go about locating everything. I drilled the 25/64" hole down far enough that the barrel nut will be at the right position to meet the bolt (down 1" on center), with a tiny space underneath for some leeway. Then I drilled the hole for the bolt a little bit larger (5/16") than the bolt (1/4-20), for some adjustment room there, also.

I tried it out, bolting the neck to the body, and it seems to fit fine! (The only really tricky thing is getting my hand in there with the allen wrench to tighten the bolt — my hand JUST fits into the hole and just has enough wiggle room to manage it all!!!)

         

Another view of the bolt connection.

 

  

Next, I used my truss rod slot jig ( Photo 1, Photo 2 , and Photo 3 ) to rout out this 3/16" wide, 1/4" deep slot for the carbon fiber rod I'm using for neck reinforcement. (Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I had glued a short length of dowel to fill the space above the barrel nut.)

 

Here I've epoxied in the carbon fiber rod. I will scrape it down flat tomorrow.

 
         

I've super-glued in the fingerboard dots. After I did that, I sanded a 16" radius into the fingerboard with a radius block.

 

Here I've super-glued in the 1/16" plastic rods (I get them at the hobby store) for the side dots. I'll clip off the excess later.

 

Well, that's it for today. I'll tackle the rest of my "scatterbrain" list tomorrow.

         

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