A pair

[B. Howard]

Next I will carve the volute. I have decided to try and keep some brand identity here and will shape these in a very similar fashion to my contemporary v-joint necks on my more upscale instruments.This is done mainly with a 1" chisel.

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The heel cap is cut out and glued on and the I carve the heel with a chisel, a rasp and some various dowels wrapped with sandpaper.

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The entire thing is then filed smooth and finished with 180 grit sandpaper.

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[B. Howard]

Next I will finish my tuner holes. The bushings are a press in so they need a counter bore. I like my shafts supported completely and will actually line ream the holes after the bushings are pressed in, the holes I started with are intentionally left undersized.This is done with another of my jigs and a drill press. Here is the jig set up to go. the index pin is centered on the drill.

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The holes I drilled initially in my head are placed over the pin.

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Using my DRO for the first one and then setting the depth stop for the rest it goes really quick.

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[B. Howard]

Now I can inlay my crest on the head. For those looking for tips on inlay talk to John, he is much better at this than I. Here is my outline ready to cut.

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And here is my wooden inlay glued in. I glue them up on paper to make them easier to put in, it woyuld be a nightmare to deal with all the pieces individually. The paper is placed on the face side and will be scraped away after the glue dries.

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And here is what we have after the paper comes off.

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[B. Howard]

I now inlay my signature H in the middle of the sunrise and seal the whole thing with a heavy coat of medium CA. This will seal and pore fill the wooden inlay so I don't wind up with rosewood dust or dark grain filler in my read oak or jatoba.

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This is then level sanded after ir is completely dry. Now I will install my frets. I set mine with a plastic hammer and then chase them with asteel hammer and a small block of rifted mahogany. that and Maple are the only woods I have found that will do tha job and not split.

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I have tried fretting at many different times during a build and this works best for me.

[B. Howard]

I file my fret ends flush with another of my shop made jigs. This one holds a mill file and will flush the ends as well as bevel them later. here are a few pics of it. as you see depending on which slot gets the file or the shim will determine which job it will do. when the file gets dull another can be had at the local hardware store.

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[B. Howard]

Now that my frets are flush you can see that I have gaps under them. This will be good for whoever has to re-fret one but needs fixed right now.

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Actually you can see this step was done prior to my final sanding of the neck. it has been smoothed with a file at this point. Most people tend to sand way to much. they start sanding to early in the project and then do it multiple times. I do it once at the end. These gaps are filled with another burn in fill and look, what gaps?

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[B. Howard]

Everything is then prep sanded for finish. This means 180 on everything but the top. The top is sanded out to 220. After vacuuming off the dust everything is cleaned with DA to prep it for finish.

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I stain these Mahogany necks to match the Rosewood. I custom blend this stain every few jobs to match the wood I am currently using.

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So now it's pretty much spray and wait, and wait, and wait......

[B. Howard]

Fresh from the spray booth. Now we wait......

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[CavalierKingCharles]

Beautiful work Brian, I'm always inspired by your posts.

SA

[B. Howard]

I didn't forget, just been busy with repaires and getting the next 3 guitars going. That's OK , letting lacquer dry a spell longer never hurts. So here are some pics to bring everyone up to date. Here we are with a light coat of selaer down and I am brushing on the pore filler.

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This is a fairly standard procedure, brush it on, let it start to flash and rub it out with some burlap, finish with a soft clean cloth.Watch out for lint! It can be miserable to get out. The next one shows them after all the finish coats have been laid on.

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And of course the one that was damaged got a burst. While it is repaired and a very sound guitar I have decided it will be a shop guitar.

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