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HI, Can anyone share recommendations for jig for neck joint routing set-up? I have looked at the Stewmac joint templates and they provide a plan for a basic looking vertical set up to hold a body or neck and the template seats in the top and the neck angle is set using shims. Also, a video by O Brien Guitar has a more elaborate set up with adjustable neck angle. There is a jig in the book by John Kincaid that looks pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzlZvDyKnPI

There is a jig in the book by John Kincaid that looks pretty good as well.

I will be starting a concert uke soon and then a guitar after that. Any ideas, links, or plans would be appreciated! Thanks. Pete

There's a set of plans for a woolson neck jig on OLF marketplace. Here's a link to the page it's on...http://luthiersforum.com/forum/market/.

Pete

Sounds like you are on your first instruments. I would suggest that you may not need these jigs if you are only going to make a couple of instruments - I'm on #9 and don't see the need for them.

I cut the mortice in the neck block with a router with the block held in my vice. Very easy to do by hand after defining the two long edges with a handsaw. Easy to clean up to a line with a chisel. You are then careful when you glue the sides onto the block to get it centered and vertical, and later when it is time to fit the neck it is easy to open the mortice by cutting through the thin sides.

Notice in the video that all of the fitting of the tenon is done by hand - a rabbet plane, or files , or sandpaper to refine the tenon width, a chisel and file to refine the tenon depth, and flossing to get the cheeks right in terms of body centerline and neck angle. If you cut the neck tenon with a handsaw (or a tablesaw) you are in the same starting position as having done it with a router jig. Lastly he drills the bolt holes with a cordless drill and wiggles the bit to enlarge them a "scoche", so not much precision needed there.

Here is a look at my last one:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 488198220/

Click left and right, text below. I did a soprano uke neck in Osage Orange which is about 62 on the Rockwell scale, and this same procedure worked just fine.

Now if you are doing a dovetail joint, then a router jig might help get things right

Good luck

Ed

I eventually made the StewMac setup. I cut the templates out of acrylic and made the fixture to hold a template and the neck or the guitar body. My version is pretty crude, but it works. As long as you are willing to spend some time tweaking and checking the setup and alignment, it doesn't have to be very fancy.

Given the amount of time it took me to make the templates, I began to think that buying them for $85 wasn't such a bad deal after all.

Thanks for the comments that helps, perhaps I will try the next uke by hand cutting the tenon and I previously created the mortise on the router table. Thanks!