Thread: New Build - 1st from Scratch

Some more progress on the neck tonight.
The bogged up area on the side of the fretboard was still soft so leave that one alone. Whilst it continues drying, I decided to drill the peg holes. Next was to mark out and thickness the headstock.



A couple of minutes later:



With the headstock down to around 16mm, I decided to test fit the tuners. The holes were a bit tight for their sleeves, so I worked them a little and started fitout.



And there you have it!





One less thing to worry about. Next I thought Ive got some time to rough out the headstock "slippery dip" transition. i was a bit curious as to how far back my truss rod access hole was, but i was about to find out. Im using a top mounted rod, that adjusts at the head like a Gibson not at the heel. I may even add a variation to the headstock and cover the access hole with a contoured plate later on. We'll see.

I clamped down the neck with some scrap to protect the headstock face and started with my little rasp.



I was surprised to find out it only took a couple of minutes for this:


I was delighted to discover just the right amount of truss rod access cavity poked through after the sand down. Right where I wanted it.

Some more sanding with paper wrapped around a rod.


And rough profile of headstock completed!







Thinking about making a profiled/curved truss cavity cover.




And thats it for tonight. Next fret marker holes, radius board, and think about carve.

Cheers

Manny

More rain outside means more time in the shed.....last night the plan was to radius sand the fretboard, drill marker holes, and start the neck and heel transitions ready for the carve.

Start the headstock transition with my trusty little rasp. Its small but hogs quickly in tight places.



A little more...



Rounded the edges slightly and started on the heel.



Radius the fret board and sanded through the grits from 240-1200.



She's dry and light in colour but shiny. Next photo shows some reflection. Pretty smooth feel. Ill drill marker holes tomorrow and touch up with some sanding.



Today I was planning to carve the back but got caught up with some stuff. I did get time to mark out and cut the neck pocket in the cap which will act as my template. The cap's only 14mm thick, so Im about 2-3 mm short of the proper depth. When the cap is glued down though I can run the flush bit over it and 3 mm deeper and the pocket will be the correct depth. Here's a mock up so far to show the contrasts between cap and neck timbers:

The light stripe down the middle is masking tape used to mark center lines.



Started the fret marker holes - will be using an aluminium ring and wood combo for markers.

The rains holding off, and Im itching to carve the neck.

I set up the grinder with rubber backing and 80 grit sanding disc.

Ive had 2 practice necks for this project and have learnt a hell of a lot in regards to shaping this particular neck. Im confident but a little cautious as well.

Off we go:



I start by shaving the corners off at specific angles and depths to create the first facets.

For every pass on one side I try and repeat the exact same pass on the other.



Slowly working my way around taking every edge off the previous one and creating smaller and smaller facets. The shallow D Im after at the heel end and the C at the headstock end, are starting to form.



When Im happy with the rough shape and compound transition, I start fine tuning with the hand rasps.



Now its starting to come along. So far Im happy except for the thickness. Its about 30 mm from the top of the fretboard to the center of the neck. This is where I give the neck a couple of shallow passes with teh grinder again and thin down with the files and rasps. I Like a slightly thicker neck and managed to get the thickness at the heel, middle and headstock to 27mm - perfect.

"Shoe-Shine" Sand with 150 and 240 to smooth the neck out.



Im pretty happy with the result. Third time lucky.



Im happy with the overall result,now I need to spend time sanding out the fine scratches.



Cheers

Manny

With the neck carve all but done, I thought Id leave the neck and pick up the body again. Time to start with access and pup cavities.

For the access cavity I'm going to use a piece of that "Tiger" Oak for the cover.


Mark out shape cut and transfer to body.



Next I hogged out the centre.



Cut through and flush trim, ready for the outer "step" the cover sits on and screws into.






Getting dark now, so Ill call it a night after a pretty productive and satisfying day.

More tomorrow

Cheers
Manny

A little bit more this afternoon. Finished fitting control cavity plate.



Bad lighting with the phone camera, so excuse the crap photo.

Started thinking about fret markers. Im going to use chrome hardware so I thought Id incorporate that in the neck also. Ive got some 10mm Alumi tubing and 8mm timber dowel and started experimenting.

Originally Posted by mannym

A little bit more this afternoon. Finished fitting control cavity plate.



Bad lighting with the phone camera, so excuse the crap photo.

Started thinking about fret markers. Im going to use chrome hardware so I thought Id incorporate that in the neck also. Ive got some 10mm Alumi tubing and 8mm timber dowel and started experimenting.

I love the look of the tube & dowel for fingerboard markings - great potential! All coming along very nicely!

tht is a great idea...'tube&dowel for fingerboard markings '

Yes, that's a great idea! I have some nickel ferrule material I can use.

Originally Posted by R3R

tht is a great idea...'tube&dowel for fingerboard markings '

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Ive seen similar dot designs by other builders with brass, and wood, sparkly dust cased in epoxy and all sorts of devious creations. I like the aluminium because its fits the "silver" hardware look Im using, and it seems to sand pretty easily as well being somewhat softer.

100th post and I can report the dots may be a success.

I cut up some more pipe and dowel and assembled.



Ground down the excess and fit the first one. Radius sanded with 120 to level out.



Very pleased with results so far. Started to fit and glue down the other dots.



Short and sweet tonight but well worth a trip to the shed.

Cheers

Manny

Dude! Thats awesome, full points for thinking outside the box!


Ox

Good work manny. Looks great mate.

Finished installing the Dots, and went through the sanding regime again.

Re-slotted fretboard and banged/glued in frets. Its official....Frets are a pain in the ####.

Marked out neck pickup cavity and routed through cap. I will do same with bridge pup cavity and then use the cap as a template to transfer to the base, before gluing the body up.







I still have to level, and crown the frets...which I believe will also be a pain in the ####.

Scale is 648mm (25.5 inches) which is about the centre of that horizontal masking tape. Its starting to come together.

Cheers

Manny

fit the neck tight in the pocket and use its taper aswell as the centreline