Making a Guitar Neck
by Steve
Neck Shaping
Before I begin with the shaping, I'll
just run through putting in the Truss Rod fillet and attaching the fretboard.
The fillet is cut from a thin piece of wood ( some spare Maple in this case
) to the same width and length as the Truss channel.
Below are some things you must do before you glue in the fillet:-
1. Put a few layers of masking tape around
the actual rod, not the rod casing, at a couple of different intervals. (
This will ensure the rod doesn't rattle, but can still move ).
2. Rub the rod completely :) with something like candle wax. ( So the rod
doesn't stick ).
3. Make sure to lightly oil/grease the screw threads. ( For obvious reasons
).
4. Take up the slack on the rod, but don't tighten it.
Once the above points are completed you
can glue in and clamp the fillet.
Below is a picture of the fillet glued, planed and sanded.
As far as the fretboard goes, the only
2 real things to remember are to make sure both contact surfaces are totally
flat and clean, or as flat as you can get them.
We don't want the board sliding around on the neck when we clamp it.
Once these are done all that remains is to glue that sucker on then clamp
it. ( Making sure it's positioned correctly that is ).
Just 1 more note...if you are attaching a pre-radiused board make sure to
use some wood shims under the clamps to prevent any marks on it. It doesn't
matter in my case as it's still to be radiused.
I gave mine a good drying time, ( approx 48 hours ).
Now the neck shaping.
There's 4 tools you need for this, a power sander ( unless you're brave and fit ) and these 3 others...
The first thing to do is to mark out
the contours around the nut and the heel.
Then with the rasp start contouring the nut and heel areas as these will act
as the "depth" gauges for the rest of the neck.
It doesn't matter if they look a bit scruffy as they can be tidied up ( providing I don't take off too much wood :).
Once the "depth" gauges are in place
I can get to work with the Spokeshave and Surform to start removing wood from
the rest of the neck.
The Spokeshave can be a bit difficult to handle on tougher wood, so it's best
to use long straight downward motions with the grain to remove shavings.
The surform is quite simple to use, just think of it as a Cheesegrater for
wood, again it's best to use it with downward strokes.
I found it really useful to sand the neck down once in a while to get an idea
of the progress I was making, which is where the power sander is a god-send
as it can complete the task in a minute or so.
Here's a couple of shots to illustrate the progress...
The whole process basically just continues
until you've reached the desired shape of your neck.
I didn't have to pay too much attention to shaping the heel exact as Ibanez
does as my neck is slightly thicker than most Ibanez necks, ( a personal preference
), although if I had to compare I'd say it's very similar to an RG-1880 neck.
Another good point to mention is that you can use the sander to more closely
shape and round the back of the neck until you get to a point where you like
the feel of it.
The pictures below were taken after I completed it...
And a couple more...
I may as well tag the drilling of the
neck attaching holes onto the end of this.
I decided on my screw positions in the body's neck pocket and marked them
by tapping on the drill bit I was going to use ( which incidentally is 3.2mm
or 1/8"" ).
I then drilled down slowly and straight ensuring there was some spare wood
underneath for the drill bit to continue drilling into. This makes certain
that the wood won't chip when the drill bit goes through.
I then attached the neck and held it in place with a clamp whilst I fed the
drill bit through the back of the holes in the body and gave it a little tap
to mark out the positions on the heel of the neck.
I put some masking tape around the drill bit to mark off the depth I wanted
to stop at ( you don't want to drill through the heel and into the Fretboard
:) then drilled the holes with the same process as the body.
You can just leave it at this if you want, but it looks much more professional
if you drill a wider "countersunk" area around the hole.
To do this I used a wood drill bit so I could seat the point in my existing
hole and the outer edges of the bit would drill out my countersink.
Here is what it looks like...
All they then need is a little fine
sanding to tidy them up.
Here's a picture of the neck attached...
Fret Board Radius, Dots & Binding
Trying to Radius Ebony is a major pain
in the arse! :) Stick to Rosewood.
Just kiddin', but it is a lot of work.
The sheer hardness of the wood means that no matter how much you sand you
don't really seem to be making much headway.
This was compounded by the fact that my fretboard blank was over twice as
thick as the finished product should be.
The only real way to radius a fretboard ( unless you are a big company with
a machine you can program to do it ) is to use a pre-radiused block.
These are pretty cheap ( I think I payed £9 for mine ) and are also self explanatory.
Just attach some sandpaper to the bottom ( I used double sided tape for this,
and Aluminum Oxide paper which doesn't clog as much ) and run up and down
the length of the neck with a smooth steady action ;)
You can see the radius curvature below...
It's best to start with a low grade sandpaper.
I used 60 grit to begin with to thin the wood and slowly towards the end built
up to 320 grit to leave a smooth finish. It will eventually be taken to 800
grit then 0000 wire wool for a fast feel, as will the back of the neck.
Two important points to note are:-
1. Install your Inlay's before you have finished the radiusing ( approx 2/3rd's
the way through ) so you can radius the inlay's as well
2. If making your own binding out of wood also install this before finishing
too for the same reason.
The dots I installed were inspired somewhat
by the dots on the JPM.
They have a diameter of 4mm's and a depth of approx 2-3mm and are made of
mother-of-pearl.
Most people will say you should install them with a small router, or a router
attachment for a Dremel type tool, but I found a 4mm wood drill bit was a
perfectly good alternative and massively cheaper if you don't have a Dremel.
To find a position marker for your inlay is relatively straight forward. If
you are installing simple dots in the center of the fretboard then just join
each opposite side of the fret channels diagonally until you have a center
point where they cross. The theory is the same for off center dots but you
work out your position from one of the triangles left by the diagonal joins
and also in relation to how off center you want to place them. A good marker
for off-center's, i.e. dots that sit between the low E and A strings is about
6mm in from the edge of the board ( assuming you use a string gauge of 9-42
).
You also need to take into account how deep to drill the hole.
Obviously you don't want to go through the fretboard or so low that your radiusing
won't level the tops of the inlay. Measure the correct distance then put some
masking tape around the dill bit to use as a depth guide.
Once the holes are drilled you can put
the dots in.
The best way to install them is to use Superglue.
To ensure the glue bonds properly to each surface lightly sand the bottom
of the inlay to rough it up a bit and also lightly dampen the hole ( you can
do this with a cotton bud and some water ).
Take a matchstick and dip it in some Superglue and apply it to the bottom
of the inlay. Press it into the hole, using your finger first then a matchstick
end, or even the end of a Philips head screwdriver if you need to force it.
You will probably mark the inlay with the screwdriver, but this doesn't matter
as your radiusing will smooth it off.
Don't worry if any glue gets on the fretboard, as again, the radiusing will
remove this.
You can continue radiusing now, or as I did, install the binding first.
You can buy binding ready made from all
sorts of material, plastic, abalone, pearl, ivoroid etc...
I chose to keep with tradition ( and ease/cost ;) and make mine from left
over maple.
Ideally the binding should be installed on the fretboard prior to attaching
it to the neck ( I'd definitely recommend this ), but as I was unsure whether
or not I wanted binding, I installed it afterwards.
The tool I used ( no picture sorry ) was from Makita ( again :)
It's a small router with a bearing attached to a plate at the bottom which
you can move in all directions to set your depth and width. You then run it
along the neck to rout out your channel.
I chose a 1.5mm width for the binding and after routing the channel I then
cut the maple with a Jigsaw.
Obviously you cut the binding with plenty to spare so you can work it down
once it's glued and clamped to the neck for a flush finish. This I did with
planer, sureform and sanding.
If you find that once the binding is glued on and dried that it doesn't quite
sit level depth-wise in a couple of places on the neck ( i.e. you see a gap
) you can mix some Superglue with the sawdust of the same wood you are working
with to fill the gap.
I'd actually recommend a slower drying glue to Superglue, 2 good alternatives
in the U.K. are UHU and Bostick. This gives you time to mix it to a nice even
paste. You can then apply it into the gap with a thin piece of plastic, or
even a razor blade and once dried sand over it. It's a great touchup technique.
Below you can see one side done and one not...
Once you have leveled it off you can continue with
radiusing to bring the dots and binding level with the fretboard.
Here's a close-up of it finished...
The good thing about using a wood binding such as maple is you can cut through it to install the frets as opposed to having to "tang" the frets for plastic/abalone/pearl binding etc...
With the neck done ( bar the tuner holes ) Cheers Steve!