Questions about building my first neck

[Bizman62]

6 hours ago, RVA said:

I am not really sure why I kept it around, but I hate wasting wood.

As your pictorial shows you obviously kept it for testing purposes. Less perfect pieces also work well as clamping supports and guiding fences.

4 hours ago, curtisa said:

Lower your blade guides too. You'll get better results if the upper blade guide is only just tall enough to allow the workpiece to pass underneath.

That caught my eye as well. That was the very first thing we were taught about using the band saw.

[RVA]

8 hours ago, curtisa said:

Lower your blade guides too. You'll get better results if the upper blade guide is only just tall enough to allow the workpiece to pass underneath. You only need to expose as much the blade teeth as is necessary to complete the cut. The more the length of the blade is unsupported the more chance there is for the blade to flex and deflect as the cut is made.

Thank you.  Yes, I certainly forgot to do lower the guard on the first try, as I sometimes do. 

[RVA]

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

As your pictorial shows you obviously kept it for testing purposes. Less perfect pieces also work well as clamping supports and guiding fences.

Those are some good uses for substandard wood.  Thanks.

Edited July 4, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

So I went at it with a 1/2 3 tpi resaw blade. I got a ledge and saw marks, but I am no longer a scarf cut virgin

 

 

 

A few passes on the jointer got rid of the ledge, but there is still a bit of an angle at the joint line.

 

In the end, for my first attempt, it seems like a fair starting point

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

Question: Should I have cut some width off before the scarf cut?

I didn't because I wanted to leave as much room for error as possible in the steps to follow.  However, if I had, I could have done this on the table saw, or made a smoother cut on the bandsaw.

[curtisa]

If you leave the width wide you can utilise the excess either side of the neck for useful things like locating pins if you need to.

For example, gluing up the scarf can be a bit tricky as the two surfaces want to slide apart once clamping pressure and wet glue is applied. If you drill a pair of small holes through the two pieces at the outermost edges before gluing up, you can then push some nails through the holes after you apply glue and prevent the two pieces from slipping all over the place.

[RVA]

10 minutes ago, curtisa said:

If you leave the width wide you can utilise the excess either side of the neck for useful things like locating pins if you need to.

For example, gluing up the scarf can be a bit tricky as the two surfaces want to slide apart once clamping pressure and wet glue is applied. If you drill a pair of small holes through the two pieces at the outermost edges before gluing up, you can then push some nails through the holes after you apply glue and prevent the two pieces from slipping all over the place.

Thank you. I will do that and now feel much better about the extra effort!

[RVA]

Mates,

I have sanded thse wedges nice and smooth. However,  i have an uneven ledge and board ends identified at the pencil line. Do I need to keep going until this is gone? I do not have the forsight to figure this out.

Thanks for any advice 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by RVA

[curtisa]

Is it a ledge or a gouge? If it's a ledge you need to get the two surfaces as flat as you can, otherwise you'll struggle to get the two pieces to glue together properly.

A gouge probably won't affect anything structurally, but will present itself as a thick glue line in the scarf once the neck is cut and shaped.

Either way you're better off getting it out.

[RVA]

7 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Is it a ledge or a gouge? If it's a ledge you need to get the two surfaces as flat as you can, otherwise you'll struggle to get the two pieces to glue together properly.

A gouge probably won't affect anything structurally, but will present itself as a thick glue line in the scarf once the neck is cut and shaped.

Either way you're better off getting it out.

Thank you. It is the uneven line from my uneven cut. The bandsaw entered at an uneven angle. I will keep on sanding!

[RVA]

Pardon my enthusiasm for something so basic, but it is my first scarf joint, all glued up. Not perfect, but I think it will do the job. It would have been wide enough to make  3 necks had I not put in the reference screws for glue-up , but that would have required a winged headstock for each. I will save efficiency for next time

 

A slight lip still apparent at the end of the join line due to the angled cut. I will run the top over the planer to even that out

 

 

 

 

I still can't figure out exactly how this uneven line happened,  I ran the bottom of the blank through the planer. I used a 1/2" resaw blade. The sides were not parallel, but I do not think that is the reason. Maybe the 10 degree entry point is a bit shallow. Maybe just technique!

 

[RVA]

Mates, I am gonna build this jig for the truss rod channel. I may have some questions about the process once it is dome

 

 

[Bizman62]

That's a fancy looking jig and most likely it's also very good especially if you're going to build a bunch of guitars.

That said, you will get equally good results by screwing two pieces of 2x2 on a board and clamping/wedging your neck blank between them.

[RVA]

4 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

That said, you will get equally good results by screwing two pieces of 2x2 on a board and clamping/wedging your neck blank between them.

Thank you. I will consider that option as this does seem like a lot of work!

[Bizman62]

3 hours ago, RVA said:

this does seem like a lot of work!

Indeed! 41 minutes for telling how to build a jig you can make in five minutes.

There's some good explanations about how to measure, mark and route the channel, though.

[RVA]

I am thinking I can use the extra blank material I have here to make a matching FB.  Does this seem viable and is there anything I should know in doing so?

Thanks for any guidance.

 

[Bizman62]

If you have extra material that is long enough for a fingerboard but not for other uses like a laminate in a neck, then make a fingerboard! The only other use I can think of for a thin two foot slab is to resaw and bookmatch for a headstock veneer or cavity cover.

When I bought a bunch of planks from a parquet factory, there was one piece of merbau that was perfectly quarter sawn, about 5" wide and thicknessed to 7 mm. Most likely it was abandoned because of a couple worm holes in the middle of the 4 metre blank. So I cut it into fingerboard size pieces and let our Master cut the fret slots for various scale lengths. 

[RVA]

They say there are always failures on your road to success. Count this blank as a part of the pounded roadway. I will try to use it as a fingerboard for the next attempt, which will start after I my frustration and disappointment subside. Onward!

[RVA]

Swung a leg back over the horse today. The plan is rosewood neck with a flame maple FB made from the failed first attempt.

I calibrated my planer and jointer, and tested my scarf cutting jig to see if I could get consistent straight cuts. The blank is square and flat.  Hopefully a better start will make for a smoother ride

 

 

 

[RVA]

Mates, 

Can I glue this up wit this small lip/dip and sand it after, or is there a better way to deal with it beforehand? The differential arises because the cut across was not perfectly even and the thickness of the edge of the headstock piece

Thanks for any advice

 

 

 

 

 

[curtisa]

Not sure what the issue is - hard to see? How does the gap look from either side?

You could always just overhang the headstock piece a fraction higher up the 'slope' of the neck piece to ensure you have complete coverage of the two faces where they meet, and then just plane/sand the slight overhang back down to match the neck surface,

In all likelihood, most builders would fine tune this kind of joint after gluing anyway to ensure the full length of the neck, including the headstock scarf section, was perfectly flat and level before adding the fretboard. At the very least you'll probably have some glue squeeze-out along the join that would still need cleaning up before proceeding any further.

[RVA]

1 hour ago, curtisa said:

Not sure what the issue is - hard to see? How does the gap look from either side?

You could always just overhang the headstock piece a fraction higher up the 'slope' of the neck piece to ensure you have complete coverage of the two faces where they meet, and then just plane/sand the slight overhang back down to match the neck surface,

In all likelihood, most builders would fine tune this kind of joint after gluing anyway to ensure the full length of the neck, including the headstock scarf section, was perfectly flat and level before adding the fretboard. At the very least you'll probably have some glue squeeze-out along the join that would still need cleaning up before proceeding any further.

Thank you. That is very helpful.  It will be slight, I was going to go with a slight dip, but an overhang would be less work. Much appreciated!

Edited August 12, 2022 by RVA

[RVA]

All scarfed up again. Time to take another shot at the TR channel 

 

 

 

[RVA]

I made it too long, but I made it. I used the jig I made from the video above 

 

 

[RVA]

Almost forgot the TR but cavity enlargement