Themadcow

Thought I'd add another update so you guys see I actually have been doing something I decided to use machine screws to bolt the neck on. I've read good reports on them, and honestly, If you are gonna remove wood screw more than a couple times, I think you are asking for trouble.... Off to home depot: As you can see, the neck carving isn't done yet..Anyway, installed the inserts and used finishing washers to complete the look. They are stainless screw so once I polish them up they should really pop A better shot with the neck carving almost done. I also took a round over bit to the back of the guitar, and some more work on the top as well There was about a 16th of an inch gap on the top side of my neck pocket after I bolted it up, machine inserts were obviously pulling the neck out. I tried to reinsert them several times, but no luck. I decided to glue a shim in rather than re drill the holes. With the shim in place the neck is perfectly on the centerline, and no one will ever be able to tell, except you guys

Looking really good!!! The neck carving was actually the one thing I've enjoyed the most on my first build as well. Makes you feel like a real luthier

Now I had to start thinking about carving the neck, again something I really don't know how to do. I bought my wife a chisel set from lee valley tools a couple years ago, and it never got used, so I decided to get something out of the money I spent on it. A couple hours of carving and scraping, while we watched house and being human and I ended up with this That's as far as I have gone with the carving, still debating the best way to finish up, and I am pretty close to happy with the profile, so I am waiting till I decide how much more I want to take away before I finish it up. From here I jumped to radiusing the fretboard, made my own block, not my invention

Time to route the neck pocket. First I clamped the neck to the body, then attached a straight edge to each side of the neck. I placed the butt end of the neck exactly on the center line, then adjusted the straight edges so they were equal distance from the center line. Read this technique on a google search one night, honestly can't remember what the site was, but it worked perfectly. And finally the neck fits and everything is looking up. Now this is an rga8 I am building, "a" is for archtop, so I had to figure out how the hell I was gonna do this. Searching on google again, I found a link to a Perry Novak video where he explains how to do it. Basically, using a compass, trace along the body 3/4" in from the edge. Then do the same thing 2 more times, each time moving in 3/4". Then just take your router and route up to the first line. Set the router depth to 3/8" down from the top of the body. Then raise the the router an 1/8" and route to the second line, and then another 1/8" to the third line, this is what you get After that just hit it with a belt sander to smooth out the lines It's starting to look like a guitar now

There is nothing wrong with using a jig saw, it's basically a mini hand held band saw almost. I used those for a long time until I learned how to use a bandsaw properly. I agree. We didn't get a band saw until a couple weeks ago, so I worked with what I had. Honestly it worked fine with the jigsaw. I wouldn't want to cut a body blank with one, but the neck was only 3/4" thick so It was fine.

I used the second set for my guitar, and the first one will be for a PRS copy I decided to build my dad for his birthday..More on that later. And the maple blank I surface both blanks down to about 7/8th's of and in and sandwiched them together... And after a couple minutes on the bandsaw \

So it's been a while since I updated this thread. My main post is over on sevenstring but I though I'd give you guys and update. After I slotted the fretboard, I routed for the trussrod Then it was time for glueup Now it was time to think about body wood. I decided on maple with a walnut top..Went down to my local windsor plywood and grabbed 60" of 8/4 walnut. They cut it into 20" pieces for me. The plan being that I could bookmatch all three pieces and end up with enough for 2 guitars......

Awesome looking headstock!!! Love seeing these builds, inspires me to keep going with mine

Well the scarf joint turned out pretty good, not perfect, but a little sanding and it's good to go. I rough cut the neck with jigsaw, which I know isn't the best way to do it, but it worked. I'm thinking it's time I learn how to use a router properly, so that will be the next step. A little practice building some templates and such, and then I will continue with the truss rod and get going on the body.

Walnut is perfectly acceptable (maybe even a step up from Alder or Ash) tone wood. eh? What flavor of walnut? Black? Windsor Plywood has a bunch of walnut offcuts which is what I cut the neck laminates out of. I was gonna take some of my left over strips down and see if I can match it up. I honestly don't know what kind of walnut it is, I would have to know more about wood than I do to tell you.

Lol the sander was just to start, I finished it off with a sanding block. To be honest this is the first time I have built anything out of wood that requires any level of accuracy so I am trying all kinds of things to see what works.

Scarf joint adventure begins The scarf joint jig of the century So it worked, but it cut way out of square....... I managed to clean the pieces up with a random orbit sander and a bit of elbow grease We will see tomorrow if all my effort paid off. Next time I'll take my time to make sure the saw cuts perfect. My impatience will be the death of me one day.

Walnut is perfectly acceptable (maybe even a step up from Alder or Ash) tone wood. Thanks for that. Gonna start my hunt for body wood this weekend. Once I glue up my scarf joint I'll be at a stand still for a couple days while I order my trussrod.

Wademeister that is an excellent idea I may use. Got to work today and realized I don't have clamps here so I'm looking for some way to clamp to the saw. Might make some clamps from wood and bolts, we'll see. Also, I am tempted to make the body out of walnut. It would be a nice look with the neck I think, and seems to be a decent tonewood. Anyone have any opinions on walnut as a body wood??

Thanks you very much for the replies guys. I don't have an aversion to using 13 I would like to have the headstock back as far as I need to to be structurally sound. What would you guys say is the minimum? I'd prefer to keep the least possible angle with the best strength. Here is the neck blank all glued up, I think it looks great with the walnut stripes. Just needs a little sanding, I don't have access to a jointer, so I'll have to take extra care by hand to get it ready for the finger board glue-up. I also managed to get 3 fretboard blanks from the ebony I had so I guess this first build won't be my last \ You might also notice a couple little stripes on those ebony blanks. My bosses planer has a couple small rock chips in the blade so those are tiny high spots that will need to be sanded out. Beggars can't be choosers though so I'll use what I have, big thanks to the boss man for that