Rosewood Neck Lp - New Project

[Setch]

Try the 'instrument plans and templates' section of the library. You need to be registered to get into the library, but registering is free.

[xlr8]

After the scarf joint has dried I take the neck blank back to the woodrat, firstly to the level the face;

Using a 1 1/2" cutter to run over the surface whilst the neck is attached to the table, the principal is much the same as a milling machine.

Then by changing bits and locking the 'Y axis' I can move the table left and right, 'X axis', whilst plunging the bit a little deeper each pass for a nice clean truss rod channel.

Next stage was to bandsaw the rough outline before once again returning to the pin router with a template attached to the neck blank.

I still have to drill the holes for the tuning pegs, thin the headstock and roundover the rear.

[xlr8]

Now I had the Basic neck it was time to fit it to the body. From the beginning of the project I decided I wanted to let the full width of the neck into the body rather than a tennon which would be covered by the fingerboard. The main reason for this was because I needed to do some significant shaping around the neck heel and cutaway. So it was back to the jig seen earlier where I clamped the neck in the correct positiom and then placed and clamped the guide rails around it to form the guides for the template bit in the router.

I got the idea from Myka, David does a great job of explaining how it works here;

http://www.mykaguitars.com/tools/neckpocketjig/default.htm

Here you can see the completed neck mortice after I've squared the corners

And here it is with the neck in place

It's a nice close fit meaning you can pick the guitar up by the neck but it needs no force to fit and remove.

[xlr8]

Now I had the neck fitted I could mark the heel and get busy shaping the rear of the neck. I do the initial shaping at the pin router with a 7/8" round over bit. Once again this idea originally came from Myka (I definately owe David a beer or two should we ever meet ) Anyway here's my version of the jig being used to route over a tele neck from my previous project;

After I've done with the pin router it only takes ten minutes or so with a spokeshave and some sandpaper to finish up the roundover - the heel comes later. Here's the back of the neck showing the scarf joint;

As I said earlier I wanted to shape the heel body transition for better upper fret access. I started by using a small screw to hold the neck in place whilst I began shaping with a microplane and various files before a little sandpapering.

It won't be finished until I roundover the rear of the body and shape the transitions a little more but you get the idea.

[goth_fiend]

its looking amazing so far man! im really diggin that heel

[GregP]

Superior work so far!

[Marzocchi705]

Damn thats looking nice, im really liking that heel, looks very classy.

[xlr8]

Damn thats looking nice, im really liking that heel, looks very classy.

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Thanks guys, here's another angle;

Next jobs are to route the pickup cavaities, the binding channel and round over the rear - But it's back to the regular job for a few days so I'll post another progress report over the weekend.

Neil

[Kammo1]

Nice work Neil!!! where are you based ??I am based here in Nottingham I pressume you are in the UK??? Have you taken any pics of the neck carving set-up that we spoke about a while back?? sure would love to see them and how to correctly do this again superb work. Kammo1

[Slabbefusk]

I like the heel.

[Maiden69]

Very nice, you have fixed my biggest complain about the LP, the neck heel, I did the same thing on my Epi LP, but I had to be carefull with joint on the Epi, darn thing is so cheaply made.

[egdeltar]

Very nice, you have fixed my biggest complain about the LP, the neck heel, I did the same thing on my Epi LP, but I had to be carefull with joint on the Epi, darn thing is so cheaply made.

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Sadly, these days its not just the EPI LPs you have to watch out for........

[Marzocchi705]

Very nice, you have fixed my biggest complain about the LP, the neck heel, I did the same thing on my Epi LP, but I had to be carefull with joint on the Epi, darn thing is so cheaply made.

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Actually, im glad you said that, have you got any pics of this epi, i was thinking of doing the same thing to mine. Dont mean to hijack.

As, for the LP here, Xlr8, you have givin me the confidence i needed to make a set-neck, i wasnt too sure about macking a tennon, but i see you have just made a mortise and used the full width of the neck. Is there any drawbacks to this method ie: Strenght?

[Maiden69]

Not yet since my son broke my camera. But I will try to get some as post them.

[xlr8]

Nice work Neil!!! where are you based ??I am based here in Nottingham I pressume you are in the UK??? Have you taken any pics of the neck carving set-up that we spoke about a while back?? sure would love to see them and how to correctly do this again superb work. Kammo1

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Hi Kammo,

I'm near Wokingham in Berkshire. I'll take some more pics on the next neck I do but it's pretty self explanatory.

Next up was to route the pickup cavities, I used a fairly standard template with a template bit in my plunge router but because the neck extends into the neck pickup it had to be clamped in place whilst the routing took place. I routed the neck cavity the minimum depth possible to leave as much of the neck intact as possible.

Next up was the Binding. My initial thoughts were to bind the cutaway in the original '50s style and follow the contour of the top but I changed my mind and decided to keep it level all the way round - it'll be obvious why later. To route the channel I once again went back to the pin router and using a pin undersized by the same thickness as the binding, used a spiral cutter to route the channel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/P1010018.jpg

I used a heat gun (carefully) to help with the bends around the cutaway and taped the binding in place. I then wicked thin CA glue into the gaps between the tapes and when that was dry removed the tape and glued where the tape had been. I used the ivoroid binding from StewMac, I recommend you don't try their LP ABS binding - it's just horrid and I threw mine in the bin after one look. Take the time to route a nice clean channel and make sure you're binding has a nice crisp edge (mine did) and it's not difficult to get a nice clean finished binding.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/P1010033.jpg

[Marzocchi705]

Looking very good so far, keep the pics coming, there very helpfull to me at least. Your desriptions of what you are doing are exelent, as are the results your getting.

[jer7440]

I had a couple of questions about your binding. How far did you sand the top before you put the binding on, i.e. 320 grit , 400 grit? What height is your ivroid binding? Did you use the 3/8 tall binding, or did you have to use the 3/4 so the binding would be tall enough in the cutaway?

[xlr8]

I had a couple of questions about your binding.  How far did you sand the top before you put the binding on, i.e. 320 grit , 400 grit?  What height is your ivroid binding?  Did you use the 3/8 tall binding, or did you have to use the 3/4 so the binding would be tall enough in the cutaway?

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The top was sanded back to 220 grit. I routed the channel so the binding was just below the top allowing a little extra fine tuning. In the pic below you can see how much I left and how it allows me to do a little extra carving with the fingerplane.

The binding was 3/8" and I routed it to the same level all the way around as I wanted to shape the cutaway, combined with the carved heel I think the carving in the cutaway should make for excellent upper fret access without weakening the glue joint. You can also see in the picture below another reason why I chose to not to use a tennon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/3db0f84c.jpg

Next up I rounded over the back at the router table and finished the control cavities. The cavity covers will be made of the same mahogany as the body. All that's left to do on the body before staining and paint is to dummy fit all the electrics and mark out the position of the TOM. Lots of sanding too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/ebc08fe8.jpg

Fingerboard next

[cold95]

hey you said you got a "contour map (downloaded from the MIMF forum)", i couldnt find it. im starting to get things around to make a LP and would like to take a look at that.

you do some really nice work, hope to see more pics!

[Setch]

Try the 'instrument plans and templates' section of the library.  You need to be registered to get into the library, but registering is free.

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!!!

[xlr8]

So, on to the fingerboard. If you remember when I thinned the neck blank on the bandsaw I kept the offcut for the fingerboard. The first job was to send it through the planer a couple of times until I had 6mm (1/4") blank. I slot mine on the table saw using stewmacs blade, I use a very simple jig which consists of a 2x4 cedar offcut the saws mitre guide and an offcut of hard maple cut and planed to fit in the other miter slot.

When I built this temporary jig (I will get around to making a better one ) I ran the blade through the cedar at full height which gave me a cut line which would show above the fingerboard. I then use a stewmac fret rule (not the template which locates on a pin) which I tape onto the top of the fingerboard with masking tape. It's then just a matter of lining up the fret graduations with the cut line.

To trim the fingerboard taper I use the jig below, it's a fairly common woodworking jig adapted for this purpose.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/cdedea1d.jpg

Again I'm using a piece of hard maple to run in the mitre slot, to this I attach a piece of birch ply which is just wider than the gap to the blade, when you run it through the first time it trims the plywood. This is now of course your cutline and all you have to do is line up your desired taper with the edge of the plywood, clamp it in place and cut your fingerboard - very quick and very accurate.

Next job was start the inlay work before radiusing the fingerboard. This was my first go at doing any sort of inlay work so I did a fair bit of research, both here and by reading James. E. Pattersons Pearl Inlay book.

The inlays themselves came pre-cut from stewmac so all I had to do was make a reasonable job of getting them into the fingerboard. I started by lightly rubbing a white watercolour pencil over the wood in the areas to be inlaid. Then carefully marked a longitudinal centreline plus a centreline across area to be inlaid, I should be able to get them on straight after all that - phew.

Each inlay was place in the appropriate position and checked for square, when that looked good I scribed around them using a sharp metal point. This showed up really well against the white pencil. I routed the bulk of the inlay and used a very sharp chisel to clean up the edges.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/1c52b279.jpg

[jay5]

Awesome pics! thanks a lot!!

[xlr8]

For a first attempt I'm quite pleased with the way they came out;

Obviously this is after some sanding and adding the binding. So flushed with success I set about my headstock logo. I still had some vinyl stickers from the Teles so I cut out the individual letters and stuck them on to a mother of pearl blank. Having purchased a jewellers saw, lots of blades and having made my birdsmouth cutting platform I set about cutting out the letters - an hour later I was done blimey that's fiddly work.

So now I had my letters I rubbed the white pencil on the headstock once again and scribed around my letters. Time for another go with the mini router ;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/695e85bb.jpg

I already had the foredom motor and handpiece from my motorsport days so fortunately all I had to buy was the base. Anyway here you can see the routing finished which was pretty quick compared to cutting the shell. As with the fingerboard I used a black slow drying epoxy to set the letters, however i wished I taken the time to dye some epoxy brown for an invisible finish.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v65/xlr8...in/6f74dbb6.jpg

I plan on fretting the board before attaching it to the neck, like wise I'll glue in the neck once the body has been finished rather than mask around the rosewood.

Neil

[mledbetter]

I then use a stewmac fret rule (not the template which locates on a pin) which I tape onto the top of the fingerboard with masking tape. It's then just a matter of lining up the fret graduations with the cut line.

Yeah which would be great except that stew has discontinued both fret scale rulers

[xlr8]

Yeah which would be great except that stew has discontinued both fret scale rulers 

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Still showing on their website no. 3411. I find it so useful - having Fender, Gibson and PRS graduations on one rule.