how to build a neck/projects(updated)!!!!!!

robertoriginal

so i finally got around to grabbing the camera. this is what i have done so far for the dano copy,

its kinda a take off on the body and the old skool mandolins with the f scroll at the top.

first off, establish the center line, ultimatley thats where your truss rod will be, and if you are doing a fender styled headstock then the line should interesect with the g tuner.

next, trace the template and start bandawing it out to make another template(never use your master template except to make backups)

heres the mdf temp i will use.

then copy that to the board and do the same as with the template.

bandsaw the design a bit.

and then sand like a mother ####er.

some guy gave me a few bones and a deers skull with the antlers.

so i did what anywould do, i had a satanic ritual and then i made the bones and antlers into nut blanks

BanditGuitarist1

SWEET

Bob_the_godly_dude

Sweet. Keep going, don't stop there! I need to know EVERYTHING! 😈

robertoriginal

i made the headstock template today and di some final shaping on the design, but before i could cut out the neck itself my router collect fell out and is now lost among all the saw dust and crap, so i gotta sift thru to find it again.

here is wherer im just coping the neck shape and headstock design into one template.

and here im just comparying sizes and what not, its my trust 83 tele neck.

i marked off the nut area to show where the board will end and the slope begins.

i have pics fo the tempalte completed and the neck halfway completed but they are pretty blurry and crappy, plus my collect is mia.

CROSS

That deer bone must have stunk!!

CROSS

I wish I had documented the projects I made a bit more. I have a few different ideas.

robertoriginal

cross., you have no idea man.

that #### is rank!

it smells like pounds and pounds of burning hair and flesh.

but it was all worth it.

i can say that i have carved a nut thru and thru from a huge piece of bone/antler.

i will have more to post tomorrow night.

i had to run out and about to grab another bearing for my bits and i found the collect a lil earlier.

robertoriginal

anywho, cross, how do you usually cut out your necks?

do you cut out the slot for the truss rod first? and then go around the rest?

thats how i was original taught, but im more in favor of the way i do things now.

just wondering.

dinosaur

very nice

CROSS

Yeah, I do the truss rod slot first and then cut the neck out. Only because the limitations of my specific router. The guide can only be set up parallel.

I cut along the neck with a band saw and then I use templates, but only of the headstock and heel.

After I route the truss rod I then have to drill the hole for the truss nut, which I prefer to locate at the heel. I do this by mounting it vertical to a drill press. It takes a lot of messing around but it's more accurate than using a mobile drill.

I then mount the fretboard on. The shape of the fretboard is cut out before it's glued on. The only thing done to the fretboard at this point is the fret slots.

Once it's glued I then radius the fretboard. I radius after it's been glued to the neck because it needs to be dead straight, and if need be, it can be adjusted straight. That's why it's also a good idea not to profile the neck yet.

robertoriginal

i have only ever radius the fretboard first,

i doulbe stick it to the table im working on and i take it down to the talbe basically, almost as thin as the old fenders but not quit.

ive run into a problem with the truss slot, one of the flutes on my beloeved bit has chiped and im worried about it shredding so i will hold off until my routerbits.comn orders gets in.

robertoriginal

while i wait on a bearing guide, i decied to get some other things done as well as a lil bit on the neck.

first, my plans to build a hollow body tele with a completely fretless neck.

it is a poplar body and i will get som spruce to top it with. don;t know about the pups yet,

here is the body so far.

and here is the neck.

its a squire tele neck that i hate, its rosewood on a tele, BLEHHHH!

so i ripped out all of the frets and sanded the crapy finish off.

i am putting maple in the slots and widing them to about 3-4 mms(pretnoticeable) and then putting in blood wood and purple heart at the 3thrd, 5th, 7th and so on.

here is progress, day one.

now here is the current specs of the neck.

i measured the slow i wanted and where i would have the sounturs.It will be a curvey so the countours are prett severe in some places.

first off i marked everything.

then i took it to the table router and had my dirty was with it. i will use this same technique to shave the back of the neck down.

here is the aftermath

then it was on to shaping it some more.

its hard to explain but when its done youll understand.

for pics, check out this address

http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8479

_________________

robertoriginal

here is the progress made today with chips neck(dano copy)

i did the slope today(by hand, took forever)

cut the truss slot and drilled the hole for truss access.

currently im woking thefingerboard into the shape i want.

this is the neck without the rod. (sorryt for the ####ty pics. i tink it was just sawdust on the lense)

here is the neck with the rod in it.

here is the slope and the access hole.

here are some random pics that were suposed to go above but never showed up.

like the conrad bass restoration.

its a 60;s conrad vioolin bass.

replapot.

re-glued the fretboard back to the neck. cleaned up the frets,

new tuners

and glueing the body backtogether.

i think all that is left is to make another bridge for it, or i may get lazy and buy one, who knows.

the neck pocket was cracked vertically and needed to be glued and reapir just mainly for structural reasons, it poses no harm right now but in 5 years it may seperate completely.

here is a shot of the new tuners. ( they are squire, thats why they are offset. they had to be tho, those are the only kind that will fit, the headstock is crazy small.

here is where i have filled the old holes with toothpicks, i did dye them but i didn; take pics yet. notice the filled spots from the factory.

here is where the top had started to lift off of the body and how i glued it back on.

here is a shot of it clamped up. sorry for the blurriness.

robertoriginal

here are the knobs i am making for this body.

it goes along with the neck above.

the knobs are made completely out of deer antler, as well as the nut, and the dots will be deer antler as well.

these knobs smell horrid when you sand them,

almost like burning hair.

Bob_the_godly_dude

Looking good!

How'd you carve the antler knobs?

robertoriginal

band saw, belt sander, drill press, and then with rasps i'll finish them.

Bob_the_godly_dude

Awesome, well done, look forward to seeing them finished (even though it's a tiny cosmetic thing, it's the little things that make all the difference, and I love little details), the guitar is looking great too, not a big fan of the shape, but that's a personal thing. Can't wait to see it finished, how's that strat with Jag trem comming along?

Just bought myself this (from Amazon Marketplace for

robertoriginal

awsome bob,

yeah the guitat shape isn';t really what i like but its whasthe wants an its what he is paying for so....

the strato jag has gone thru three body stages right now

the first had a crap neck pocket so i scrapped the body. not enough wood to wood contact really sucks the life out of the guitar.

secound body was from new wood from indy and it was like a honeycomb on the inside. the third body is just barely cut out.

they guy hasn't paid me anything so im not in a hurry.

the guy with the dano copy tho, has paid me, see how that works.

progress only comes with payment!!!!!!

i totally agree. the small stuff is what really sets something off.

a 6-string bass you say???

well i guess the saying is true.

don;t konck it till you try it.

i got a book for free from the school i went to, i only ever reference it for fretting, with everything else it is common sense and a bit of thinking.

Bob_the_godly_dude

Yeah, I dig what you're saying, I could probably fumble my way through the rest of the project without the book quite easily, but it'll be a good reference guide, and may give me some good ideas.

Yeah, I have posted pics of my 6-string bass on here already, I'm pretty sure you commented on them a while back!

Here it is:

http://www.jag-stang.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14639.

robertoriginal

yeah i rembmer that, but there is one problem,

wheres all the hardware?

i want to see it done, and sound clips are cool too.