Thread: New Build - 1st from Scratch

Originally Posted by mannym

Happy Aussie Day for tomorrow fellas.

Right back at ya!

That's some wild looking figure on that headstock

OK, whilst I wait for frets to arrive I thought Id practice my first carve on the neck that I stuffed up earlier on.

So with my files, grinder/sanding disk and surform I started and to my surprise managed to carve out a neck.

It was actually alot of fun seeing teh end result actually look like a neck!

Im ready for the real one now.

tht's a good idea doing a practise neck carve

no substitute here for experience i reckon

G'Day Fellas,

Long time between drinks.

Ive been busy with a tonne of other stuff and juts re-started work on my first build.

I managed to make a 13" radius sanding block with my router on a jig.


I was umming and ahhring about fancy fret marker dots, but couldnt come up with anything interesting so stuck to using boring old black plastic dots, hole punched from a plastic sheet about 2 mm thick. Punched the dots out, drilled and glued into place.

The started sanding with 80Grit, 120, 150, 200, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and
finished with 1200 grit. Happy with the radius, and gota nice fast finish with some reflection off the surface...smooth enough. Ready for gluing before I fret the bugger.







The steps to finish teh neck in order are:

• Fit the home made truss rod (using 6mm threaded steel rod and a hex nut, 90 degree bend and fixed into a hole in the heel - single compression style).
• Glue the fret board down.
• Carve the neck.
• Install Frets.

More later.

Cheers

Manny

Looking good Manny,
And it is nice to see some one that knows what they are doing with sand paper.
Going through all the grits and getting a polished finish,thats what I like to see.
Cheers,Bob

Finally, got some time to kick start this stalled project. Im still at the neck building stage, and my first 2 didnt turn out but they were good as practice necks and Ive learnt heaps more since those.

I also scored a couple of billets of what looks like Meranti - 2 x pieces about 1.6 meters long, 250mm wide and 70-mm thick. Ive cut the piece into 2 x 800mm pieces. Each piece is wide enough for 2 x bolt on necks and I started the Andrew technique of handsawing them down the length to make then 35mm thick and therefore getting potentially 4 necks out of one piece. This stuff was again salvaged from an old Queen sized Bed frame. I plan to use teh other billet for a set neck on my next project a Les Paul Junior copy.

Is Meranti (asuming it is Meranti) suitable for a telecaster neck? From what ive read it seems to be OK.

Ive routed and fitted the truss rod and it fits snugly.

Will post pictures later tonight.

Its good to be back in the shed after a couple of months of "other stuff".

After marking up two tele necks side by side, and fitting one with truss rod, i decided I could split the blank down the middle and have enough to potentially make 4 x bolt ons.

I used the AndrewB "Pre-bandsaw Days" method.....





I ended up with 2 nice halves of what i believe is Meranti. I salvaged a couple of billets recently from some furniture that was getting thrown out.



It took a couple of careful hours but i was happy with the result as the dimensions show:





Not bad considering I freehanded it on the bench that Andrew correctly describes as "seen better days".

Tonight we cut the neck and start profiling, preparing before fretboard gets glued, and then onto carve.

Originally Posted by mannym

Is Meranti (asuming it is Meranti) suitable for a telecaster neck? From what ive read it seems to be OK.

Ive used it on a classical guitar neck with no reinforcement and it seem to be holding up just fine. It is a bit variable, the density can be all over the shop but some of the grain is insane. Its lookin good!

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

Ive used it on a classical guitar neck with no reinforcement and it seem to be holding up just fine. It is a bit variable, the density can be all over the shop but some of the grain is insane. Its lookin good!

Thanks Sebastiaan56. Its got a nice ring to it and cut pretty well with the handsaw. Im looking forward to carving and sanding this one. Ive been pretty lucky with the wood Ive salvaged from the tip pile. It seems to be all usable.

ahhhh the memories.....

haha

bloody annoying way of splitting a piece of wood

A little more work done last night. Earlier in the piece I made a 13" radius sanding block and tested it on my first fretboard. The profile ended up OK, and working through all the paper grades yielded acceptable results. Having learnt a bit more since then, it was time to build a fretboard that i could actually use on this project.

I whipped up a Mitre bed with a couple of angles, including the obvious 90 degree slot. I cut an 8mm thick piece from the slab I have for fretboard material (recovered cypress flooring) and marked up the lines. I plan to sand this down to about 6mm as a final thickness once its glued to the neck.



Marked up lines and started to slot. I found a Japanese draw saw at bunnings and thought id add that finer blade to the tool box.




And finished with one slotted fret board. Now to trim the neck profile and glue up over the weekend.

OK. Neck number 3. As Bullwinkle used to say "This time for sure!".

Finished routing the neck with my template. Just as I finished the screw came flying off the router bit and now Ive got a bearing somewhere in the garage...........



Im not going to muck around any longer, Ill keep the traditional headstock. I just want to finish it for my boy.

Fitted Truss rod and ready for glue.



Added a little masking tape......



Poured and spread the glue, removed tape and clamped her up.



Now I wait for a day or 3.

Might start on the access plates and pup cavities whilst the neck dries. Ill leave teh neck pocket alone for now, until the neck is done. I want to use the actual neck for fit.

Fret Board glued and dry. Removed clamps this evening and flush trimmed the edge of the board.





Now it wouldnt be a Manny build without the optional tear out right? I slipped on the router table and took a little chunk out of the side of the fret boar and neck. On inspection I realised I can save it, so mixed some of the fine shavings with some glue and bogged up the chip. It should dry and sand out without too much.



I guess as some folks put it, I just added some more character to the build.

Originally Posted by mannym

Fret Board glued and dry. Removed clamps this evening and flush trimmed the edge of the board.





Now it wouldnt be a Manny build without the optional tear out right? I slipped on the router table and took a little chunk out of the side of the fret boar and neck. On inspection I realised I can save it, so mixed some of the fine shavings with some glue and bogged up the chip. It should dry and sand out without too much.



I guess as some folks put it, I just added some more character to the build.

Ah man, gotta love that router tearout. Has taken its toll on me many a time! Looks as though you've fixed it all up, which is good

Neck's coming along nicely!