Gilmourisgod Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I've been lurking as a non-member for a while, some incredible craftsmanship on display, had to join. I have a first time project under way, a mahogany body for my old 80's Steinberger XP2 bass. I always liked the slim completely rigid graphite neck and accurate headless tuning bridge, but wanted to get a warmer sound out of it with a wood body. The body itself is a single piece of solid mahogany, got most of the routing a rough work done, having trouble with the neck pocket fitting as the Steniberger necks have a slight "wedge" shape to them so they could be popped out of the mold. First stupid question: How do you post photos on this site? Am I overlooking an FAQ section for new members. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Firsta: Welcome to the forum For pictures there is either the gallery section, or you can, as I mostly do, use Photobucket BTW "all" necks have this taper in the neck pocket area. There are som jigs to handle this, search for "Myka Neck Jig". A more low tech approach is to clamp the neck in place on top of the body, perfectly aligned with the center line, use straight bits of MDF and double stick tape right up snug against the neck on both sides and the end side, remove the neck and rout away with a template bit. It is probably a good idea to put one or two layers of masking tape on the makeshift template (the side towards the neck pocket rout) to make shure the rout is as tight as possible. If the neck fit is too tight, remove one layer, rout and test again (not removing the templates in between of cause...) One important point is that the neck need to centered on the center line not only in the neck pocket area, but also in the bridge area. If not the bridge will be off. To ensure this I use two long straight pieces of wood, clamped alongside the neck in the neck pocket area and thus "projecting" the sides of the neck towards the bridge area. If you have equal distance to the wood pieces from the center line you are good and can clamp the neck in position and go forward with the above describes method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilmourisgod Posted January 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 Swedish Thanks for the reply. I saw some photos of the neck pocket routing technique you describe, wish I'd seen it BEFORE routing the neck pocket. By tapered I mean that the width of the neck at the fingerboard above the bolt-on (heel?) of the neck is wider than the bottom face, I think it's about a 7 degree bevel, apparently so the neck could be popped out of the mold when it was laid-up. I didn't think I had the skill to pull off some kind of angled sled for the router to cut the neck pocket walls to this downward taper, so I routed them straight to the width of the neck where they meet the body, which is very slightly less than the width at the fingerboard. This leaves me with some very small triangular areas of neck pocket, parallel to the neck, that don't quite meet the bottom edge of the neck. I was excruciatingly careful to try to maintain alignment with my body centerline when routing the pocket, but when I did a test fit of the neck to body with the bridge and strings in place, the neck is very slightly off center at the nut end. Ouch! I was planning to sand or file a tiny bit of the sides of the neck pocket until I get it to straight, but that will leave me with a slightly loose pocket. My brother in-law mentioned that he was having his hunting rifle barrel glass-bedded to the wood stock to get a perfect fit. I thought I could try something similar with fine mahogany wood dust and clear epoxy missed into a putty to "bed" the neck into the pocket (waxed ahead of time so it will come out!). Anyone ever try this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Tapered vertically! Got it. I haven't tried to use glue/dust combo for that specific aplication, just for other things. For willing holse and other it works. The mixture of glue and sawdust often comes out darker than the surrounding wood, so if you are planing a non-opaque finish, you might consider just doing mahogany wedges and glue them in. Shurely too late, but LMI have a template bit with a 7 degree angle: http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-services/rout/shape/drill/router-bits I don't know if the ange are right (positive vs negative angle). In a router table it should be possible to use those bits to rout the wedges, even if the bit are angled "the whrong way" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Swede, I have actually seen this Hiscock book, I got it out through a book sharing network from my local library, but I only had it for two weeks. I am a cheap bastard, so I'll re-order it, maybe photocopy some relevant sections, particularly on neck pocket routing. Do you think I'm better off just gluing in some mohogany strips onto the neck pocket sides and re-routing? My only concern there is that I'd be cutting out 99.9% of what i glue back, in which case it will really just be glue with a whisker of wood on it remaining, so I'll still have something that won't take stain too well. I plan on using Watco danish oil as the finish. I've done a few furniture projects with it, and love it. It really hardens up the wood surface, allows the grain to show, and is repairable. If I go the epoxy and wood dust route, is West system the best material? I have some i use for boat repairs and whatnot, but the hardener has a red tint to it, presumably so you can see when it's thoroughly mixed with resin. I have some clear West stuff too, but i think it's made for a more flexible bond. I have some leftover cutoff mahogany chunks from the body, guess I'll experiment with a few materials. I have one other unfortunate little chip-out around the bridge pocket that will have to be filled, more worried about color match there than at the neck pocket. I gotta post some photos! Don't worry about it if it is only a smal strip of wood there after you re-rout the pocket. If done right a glue joint is as strong, or stronger than the surrounding wood. Haven't tried West system as it isn't available here so I can't really help you If you are planing on using oil as a finish that by itself darkens the wood and might help to cover up the darker spots of glue/dust mix. However I advice you (possible unnecessary) to test on scrap so you know how the oil will be on top of the epoxy/dust mix. It will probably be some problems with the oil not penetrating the patch and there might be some issues with the oil curing in another way because of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHowell Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Have you thought of epoxying some mahogany to the sides (and back if its also tapered) then cleaning it up square with the router and straight pattern bit following the edge of the fret board, thereby giving a square neck then fitting it into you neck pocket? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilmourisgod Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Keith The neck is a steinberger bass graphite composite with a gelcoat surface, so any fitting will have to be in the pocket. Probably sacrilige to all you lumber heads, but the neck never moves, will stay in tune for months with the steinberger bridge tuners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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