Claptonfreak Posted June 13, 2009 Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 I just got a fret slotting mitre box and fender fret scale template from stewmac in order to start making my own necks. The problem I am having, I don't know how to align the template to the routed neck blank in order to get an accurate and precise cut. I can understand using this with a fingerboard blank but I can't wrap my head around the setup for a one piece neck. I know it can be done, I've seen it before. Any help would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted June 13, 2009 Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 I just got a fret slotting mitre box and fender fret scale template from stewmac in order to start making my own necks. The problem I am having, I don't know how to align the template to the routed neck blank in order to get an accurate and precise cut. I can understand using this with a fingerboard blank but I can't wrap my head around the setup for a one piece neck. I know it can be done, I've seen it before. Any help would be appreciated. what i did was find the center or your template,mark it then from one end to the other with a sharpie or something you think stewmac would have this already done ,then do the same with your fingerboard ,now with your miter box setup and screwed to you bench put your template in ,in the first notch put your saw in place it will be your start where your like all guitars with angled headstock ,the end of your fingerboard will go rite up tight to your saw align the drawn lines on you fingerboard with the one on your template with 2way tape stick the template to you board the lines a for the taper in most fingerboards maybe you know all this ,if its a strat or tele style with a small nut your starting point will be back about 3/8" from the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted June 13, 2009 Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 I just got a fret slotting mitre box and fender fret scale template from stewmac in order to start making my own necks. The problem I am having, I don't know how to align the template to the routed neck blank in order to get an accurate and precise cut. I can understand using this with a fingerboard blank but I can't wrap my head around the setup for a one piece neck. I know it can be done, I've seen it before. Any help would be appreciated. It would be nice to know if the neck is a blank or already tapered. I would have suggested you cut the frets slots before you taper the neck as it makes it easy to position the template (no brainier). First you make sure one side of your neck blank is flat. Align the template on this edge and use this edge against the jig pin. You just find out where your nut will go as the current metal SM template has a double cut for a 25.5 " scale 1/8" nut. make sure you add any offset to where you locate the template for the nut (the difference of where the saw cuts to where the pin is).Then once you have your frets cut you have a 90 deg line to layout your neck. If you already tapered your neck you have to align the template down the center line on the back of the neck as copperhead said, again making sure the nut is where it should be. The skunk stripe is a goo indication of the centerline. If the fret slots are skewed a hair it will not matter as you can adjust this minuscule skew when you adjust the bridge intonation. You would have to be way off to screw it up. make sure you use lots of tape on this method. If you already rounded off your neck then I have no suggestion for using this jig as you eliminated the point at which you can attach the template. Pictures are always helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claptonfreak Posted June 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 It would be nice to know if the neck is a blank or already tapered. The neck is cut out to shape but it is still flat on both sides. It's not really a big deal since this was just a test neck but I still have to figure out how to get this done. I would leave it as just the slab of wood, cut the frets and then cut out the shape based on that, except a strat neck is over 3" wide and the mitre box only accepts 3" wide material or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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