krazyderek Posted January 15, 2004 Report Share Posted January 15, 2004 ...i turn it over on its fret board side, and run it through the planer to get to the exact thickness i need for the heel, BUT!!!!! i have to shut the planer down befor it gets to the headstock... i did this for the back of a fender style head stock on a neck thru guitar and it worked fine, i plan on doing it to my necks exactly like you described and i'm anticipating no problems cause you only need to plane 4" (the heel) then trun it off and take the blank out, then reset it a little lower and try again till you get a clean heel.. DAVEQ: what do you mean you're planer didn't "care" for it either? where you getting chatter sounds? maybe you could try, set the dept, turn it on, run the neck in, let half the neck pass thru then back off the blades and turn the power off at the same time, that might help, i tried that at first cause i was worried the blades would dig into the wood as i turned off the planer but again, i had no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 will someone please do a scarf joint tutorial? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendelcrow Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 I did it like this, and hope to be able to do it again on my new guitars. You dont waste any wood this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 @DAVE i know you were worried about the little bit of wood not being flush with the rest of the neck on the fingerboard side, what about if you try using a straight edge or 2 clamped on the fingerboard, then just clide the headstock in and glue it....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 here.... like this.. Course this is just hypothetical, i could never get the clamps to hold something at an angle like that so i just don't do scarf joints..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Luthier Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 here.... like this.. Course this is just hypothetical, i could never get the clamps to hold something at an angle like that so i just don't do scarf joints..... I found using bolts to hold it in the areas that are to be cut off worked well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Wow, back from the tomb with this topic. I have settled on a method that works for me. I wouldn't feel comfortable using the method in the picture but that doesn't mean that I don't believe it would work. As far as the clamping issue goes - I always leave the headstock material and neck material wider than finished (about 1 to 1.5" wider). I apply the glue then drill two bits into it to keep it from moving. At that point I can place two or three clamps on it and it works great. It was the part where I start planing everything flush that I was wondering if anyone did it a different way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkchirurg Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 I used the above method on my first neck i'm now making. I used an handsaw to make the cut, a little blockplane to make the sawed edges staight and a scraper to make them glue-ready. For glueing the peaces together I made a special set-up. I put the neck on edge on a flat workboard and clamp it. Then i put the headstock in its place (no glue yet) and traced around it with a pencil. I clamped stopblocks on the neck end and on the headstock end to stop it from shifting. Then i removed the headstock part, put glue on it, put it back in place using the pencil lines and clamped it. If you clamp the stopblocks real tight your set-up will not shift when you put clamps on the scarf-joint (with cauls). You can put a piece of waxed paper on your workboard to prevent glueing you neck to your workboard. When everything is glued together you can surface the top of the headstock on a sanding board. I hope that makes some sense, since i'm not English. Thats the method I use. It's hard work but you can do it with some basic tools and the result is perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted February 9, 2004 Report Share Posted February 9, 2004 Hey Dave, this is what I do to flush-cut the headstock on the fretboard side. First, as you probably know you can clean most of it away with whatever, bandsaw, beltsander, etc. Let's assume the back of your neck blank is still flat and parallel to the fretboard edge. Then use the back of the neck as your guide. I lay the neck flat on my drill press table, using the drill press like an overhead router. It's dangerous and it doesn't have quite enough speed, but plenty for this job. You're only taking off the last mm or so. Its much like your idea to set a router on rails, by the way. Anyway, put a larger bit, say 1/2-3/4" in there, making sure its sharp. Then lower and lock your bit just as it kisses the original fretboard side of the neck. I know the headstock is angled, you just rotate your table so its just hanging off the edge, so the neck is resting on its flat rear side. As you move the neck blank back and forth across the spinning bit, you should notice you aren't even scuffing the old part, but the headstock part is getting sheared off perfectly. You just want it to be ready for the jointer, not to replace jointing. But this takes the fear out of that last jointing process because you know you're straight and level. If you're not comfortable with that, then I'd say belt sand the extra headstock area down about 1/32" below the surface of the neck, so you eliminate the possibility of it throwing off the straightness of the cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goth_fiend Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 I did it like this, and hope to be able to do it again on my new guitars. You dont waste any wood this way. ← this is the method I plan on using with my neck, which if im not mistaken is the same way ibanez does there scarf joints, either way, I like the look of it and im thinking of doing a very small veneer of ebony or walnut between my maple for aesthetic reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted October 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 WOW ! That's twice now that this has been brought back from the grave. Since someone has brought it back - I just want to say that I no longer do mine the way I described. Since I have had my full size table saw (I used to have a crappy benchtop thing that scared me), things are much easier now. I made a jig for the 13 degree agle and all it takes is a quick cut and most of the work is done. If Ibanez does it that way, I think they use a slightly thicker neck blank than the 3/4" that most suppliers carry. My RG550's scarf joint seems to suggest that the blank would have been somewhere around 7/8". This may or may not be intentional but having the thicker headstock piece ends up pushing the scarf joint further back towards the heel. I'm guessing that this helps strengthen the neck/scarf joint. If anyone knows how Ibanez builds their necks, I'd be interested to know. It's obviously a scarf joint but what I'd like to know is if they use the same piece for the headstock as they do for the neck (as shown above) or if they use a different piece for the headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemm012 Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 I checked the three Ibanez necks in my house and I'm pretty sure that the '91 RG550 used the same piece of wood and the '89 RG570 used the same piece of wood. But the '90/'91 (I'm not sure which) Universe I'm very unsure. It could be the same piece, but it looks pretty different and I think it's a different piece. I really like the idea of the piece of ebony or walnut between the two neck pieces. If I ever grow a pair and build a neck I think I'm gonna do that. Galen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 daveq, you got any photos or links to the jig you use? What type of blade do you use for this? I have to say that this thread worked out pretty well. We got to read about the evolution of your guitar building skills, kinda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullmuzzler Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 On my '91 RG 550 the scarf joint if sort of moved towards the heel... This was never clear to me: how can a headstock be applied from the same blank and have the joint moved towards heel? I just cannot visualise this process of neck making... Maybe I'm missing something... mullmuzzler | OSSMT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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