www.KitGuitarsForum.com

The bridge locating jig hooks over the nut end of the neck

With the bridge end where I want it, I clamp the jig and the fretboard down to the neck and mark its location

I drill 2 little holes through a fret slot into the neck as far apart as I can get them, and put in a nail which I clip off with less than 1/16" showing. Now I can easily register the fretboard during carving

I trace the fretboard, mark the head shape, and cut everything out. I have left 1/16" extra on the sides of the neck to allow for blending onto the fretboard. Still have to solve the wormhole problem

This is my first guitar neck and I thought I would go all out - I will put a Martin style volute on it. John Arnold has a very nice photo sequence I will follow

After planing the top of the head to my satisfaction, this is the jig I made to thickness stuff like this. Sneak up on the thickness, then pass it down and up a number of times on the last setting to get it nice an even

Your process has an over-the-top-ness that is well appreciated here. I am interested in the Arnold volute process. Can you share a link?

Here you go

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 3572784144

The first 9 are John Arnold's, then a picture of an original disassembled (the volute is a vestige of the structure they used to use), then more from another builder whose name I have forgotten

Ed

This is my first guitar neck (I did one Uke neck) and will put that volute on it you saw above. Everybody has a way to do this - here is the way that seemed most logical to me

I made a neck jig (not my idea) from a piece of glue lam structural lumber from a house under construction. It is 1-3/4" wide so I thought it would be a steady platform. The double hole at the right and the large single hole on the left are for clamping. The left one is a size to allow clamping of 12 or 14 fret necks. The two holes in the center are for measuring - they are exactly 1" down from the face of the jig, so when you are measuring a neck thickness you just subtract 1" from the measurement. The hole on the left is large enough for a 12 or 14 fret neck. I made the jig long enough and deep enough in the vice so that I can stick it out enough to stand on the other side. I screwed a little block on the far left to help keep the neck from shifting while I work on it - that will move with each neck I make.

After profiling the neck at the first fret, I cut the sides of the volute and flatten the head all the way down. It was easy to flatten with a long chisel and it is ready for 220 grit paper.

Here it is 95% done. I will wait until the fretboard is on to finish the edges and refine the shape a little. The pointy ridge of my volute is pretty much parallel to the shaft, but on others it points down a little.

I like to photo document odd stuff so that I can either copy it or change it next time, so I have more photos - if anyone is interested, let me know.

Ed

After a great break for Christmas, time to have at

Refine the shape at the first and eighth fret using my templates. Then connect the two areas along the shaft of the neck - wood shaved pretty nicely

Position the fretboard and refine the edges with spokeshave, rasp and file

Take one inch off of the 1.818" measurement, and add 3/16" for the fretboard and I am at almost exactly one inch at the first fret.

All done except for sanding and general cleanup. This has been a very enjoyable experience and I would suggest that anyone who wants to try should jump right in. I have about 6 hours into it so far, not including the truss and carbon fiber rods, and making the jig. I spent a lot of time staring at it, but now that I have done one, the next will take a couple of hours less - I wonder how long an experienced luthier taked to make one?

Here is the neck - the Ash takes a very nice polished look and feel to it with the scraper

The heel - this was the hardest part to make symmetrical, but doing the work is straightforward. While I was doing it, it almost seemed like the shape evolved from the tools rather than the other way around - my half-round rasp was perfect. Of course there is a dark grain line that goes right up the point and makes it look funny,

The volute - boy am I happy with this

Speaking of happy - Happy Holidays

Nice work, Ed. The neck really turned out good!

Nice job on the neck Ed. I always enjoy carving my necks, and for the next one now I have a nice spokes have to use too.

Very nice Ed. Yeah that first neck is intimidating. I know what you mean, when you finally get into it it sort of evolves on its own.