Maher Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 I was orginally going to just buy a body, but i can get the wood quite cheap and i have access to a bandsaw to cut it, but im worried about the "neck pocket", how do i do this, how do i know how deep and wide to make it? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Neck pocket is usually routed out and as far as dimensions go, its best to have the neck you plan to use on hand or a guitar that is similar to what you are building. I guess you could also carve out a neck pocket using drill and chisels. The safest method is to make a template for your router to follow. If your neck has any angle to it, ie. you plan on installing a tune-o-matic bridge, then the template should be shimmed accordingly so the router can copy the angle you need. The most important things are to make sure you position your template squarely on the body and you have your router depth set properly. And you'd best position your bridge AFTER you've mounted your neck for proper intonation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Sounds good! A related concern, so as to not start another thread-- If I'm doing a carved top using the 'topographical map' routing method (using a router to stair-step it and then refine later), my feeling is that I'm better off (and maybe I MUST) routing the carve first. My feeling is that to get 'square' neck and pickup pockets, I'll have to do some mucking around to get the templates to sit properly on the body. Is that just something I'll have to deal with, or is there a better method or a tip you could give me/us? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanKirk Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Sounds good! A related concern, so as to not start another thread-- If I'm doing a carved top using the 'topographical map' routing method (using a router to stair-step it and then refine later), my feeling is that I'm better off (and maybe I MUST) routing the carve first. My feeling is that to get 'square' neck and pickup pockets, I'll have to do some mucking around to get the templates to sit properly on the body. Is that just something I'll have to deal with, or is there a better method or a tip you could give me/us? Greg I'm relatively inexperienced but in my readings I've found that more than a few builders like to route the neck & pickups first then do your carve. This is my plan as well. I've even seen where some route before even shaping the body. It makes sense in that you'll have a nice flat surface for your router to sit against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 Yes, you just route the cavities before carving the top. Otherwise it's a huge pain in the butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 I agree that in principle it seems obvious. The only concern I have, though, is tearout at the edges of the pockets. As I mentioned, I plan on doing the 'topographical' style, which uses a router. Should I not be worried about it? I'm not using a particularly figured wood (I only noticed for the first time today that if I had gotten a bookmatched pair, I'd have some decent flamed figure!) so there are no major irregularities to be concerned about, if that's an issue. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kings_x Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 When I did mine that way I just marked of the flat area which included the pickups and bridge and did the "topographical" thing around them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 Don't carve too close to the routes. Tear-out shouldn't be an issue unless it rips out an inch or more of wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 22, 2004 Report Share Posted April 22, 2004 I think I'll end up doing it that way... keeping the pickup cavities on a flat surface, and doing the carve around them. Cheers, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.