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Knightro Guitars 2015


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Thanks for the vote of confidence! Once we get Patreon rolling on its own we can do a lot more of them....aside from bushings and other router stuff, is there anything you'd like to see more written about? That's the idea really, that the people who make PG what it is (the community) have direct democratic input on where we go, what we publish.

Outside of that, I'm wondering what you have in store for that Rosewood and your new toy!

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  • 2 weeks later...

A lot of progress today! These two guitars are multiscale, so I needed to tackle the compound scarf joint. To that end, I designed a jig that allows me to cut a 12 degree scarf at any nut angle. It consists of 2 pieces of 1/2" acrylic, each has a 12 degree slope with a matching reference line etched below. You simply align the reference lines with your projected nut shelf, stick the jig on, and rout! 

Here's one of the pieces.

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A clearer shot of the reference lines and offset capability.

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Layout and prep

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Routing!

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The remaining bits are easily trimmed with a sharp chisel.

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Not bad!

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The wenge neck gets the same treatment

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All together, I'm using stainless steel pins to maintain alignment for the glue-up.

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I'm hoping to get these guys glued over the weekend, and trimmed into a more neck-like shape early next week. Thanks for reading!

 

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I love it! Its also tickling me that it took only what, seven-eight years before anybody used the method I suggested way-back-when? Either that or we've got a case of convergent evolution :-)

Whichever, those will be great-sounding necks. Wengé is a wonderful addition into basses and transformed the fundamental sound of Mahogany in a seven-string I made. It'll be great in a compound scale instrument without a doubt.

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Thanks Scott! The base was wide enough, but just barely. I agree with you both, a larger base and bushing would have improved the situation. This router is a loaner of sorts, so I just measured to make sure it would work and gave it a go. When I have my own personal router, I'll go and build a nice base to fit jigs like this.

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That's very similar to how I started doing scarf joints on my multiscales.  The only difference is that I fixed the two ramps to a MDF base, which meant that I locked myself into doing one nut and headstock angle (seemed like a good idea at the time).  Your version is probably better in that you can reposition the two ramps to allow for different nut angles if and when you need to.

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Thick acrylic like that could be blind tapped from underneath and fitted to a base with slots underneath to allow adjustment. As along as the angle at the nut is copied across to the offset of each rail, the distance between them doesn't matter so much.

I think that the edge of the rail which the router/base rides on might introduce a very marginal error. I always figured that adding a chamfer to the bearing surface leaving a mm or two shy of a sharp edge would minimise this. Workholding on a temporary basis is a bugbear too. Perhaps this could be developed into a more permanent and flexible jig for single scale and compound scarfs. One for me to keep in mind I think.

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Thanks all! I'd definitely like to develop this jig further. The concept is solid and works pretty well, but it would be nice to have more sturdiness. The original draft of this jig included a base with the nut angle etched across, as you said. I ended up taking the minimal approach to save money on an unproven idea. Now that I know it works as intended, I'll go back to the drawing board and work on a solid adjustable base design... I'm having a vision of T-track embedded in something nice and heavy.

By the way, I'm currently in class, but will be cutting the neck out in a few hours. Pics soon!

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10 hours ago, KnightroExpress said:

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that, can you clarify?

Unfortunately, I experienced my first serious router mishap today. No injuries, but the bit totally split my headstock in half. Needless to say, I'm pretty cranky about the whole situation. 

 

Errrrrr. What?

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Yeah... I've had this bit for a while, so I think a dull edge may have grabbed and ripped the grain rather than actually cutting cleanly. I might be thinking incorrectly, though. Prior to routing I cut and sanded down to under 1/8" away from my template, which has worked well in the past. 

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I found a syringe and injected glue into the crack, then clamped the hell out of it.

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Unfortunate, but a valuable lesson. I'm going to build a new neck and use this one as practice.

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