Sticking your neck out - Part 2

Where to begin...

The neck that I chose for this build is about as close as you can get to a 'Les Paul' style with it still being a bolt-on.  The scale length is 24.75 inches and it has 24 frets - which are both characteristics of a Les Paul guitar.  It feels a bit thinner than a Les Paul neck but not too far off.  A purist would say 'pshaw!' but as I'm not building a replica - I see no reason to get my pantyhose in a twist.  It's close enough.  If that doesn't appeal to you - the woodpile is by the exit.

What?  Looks good to me!

As I hinted in my last post - this neck (along with all the others) will need quite a bit of work - some necessary some cosmetic - before it can be played.  I know for sure I will have to:

• Fill the existing screw holes
• Drill new holes to match the body blank and neck plate I have chosen
• Change the headstock shape to a more 'Les Paul' style
• Fix that chip in the fretboard at the 24th fret
• Final/finish sand
• Tape off the fretboard
• Stain and shellac the neck
• Finish with nitrocellulose spray
• Let dry for 3 weeks - then sand/polish
• Level/crown/polish the existing frets
• Clean/polish fret board
• Install a nut
• Install tuners

I'd also like to do the following:

• Add a lamination to the headstock that matches the body wood (the maple headstock kind of stands out)
• Inlay an Irish 20p coin on the headstock (it's my thing ...until I come up with a logo)
• Bind the headstock to match the body
• Change the fret marker inlays (the diamonds).  Nothing wrong with them.  I just have something better in mind.

I may have no choice but to:

• Re-fret the neck.  Which is a big fat pain in the butt - but it may have to happen...

What's wrong with my shape?
What do you mean I, "stand out?"

Here's where we start:

One of the synonyms for what I'm doing here is, "reaming"
I'm just going to leave you with that thought.

This neck came with screw holes already on the back.  I might have been able to reuse them but more likely I would have just been fighting them when it came time to screw the neck onto the body of my guitar.  It's best not to bump into an old hole (or make it bigger) when attaching the neck.  Better to fill them and start over.  I enlarged the existing holes so that I could glue some dowels in to seal them up for good.

Don't be fooled - nothing in my shop is level.
Even that Level has a twist in it.

I tried to level the neck as much as possible so that the holes wouldn't be angled.  I also put a foam pad under the neck so it would rock a little less.  ...at the end of the day - you're filling holes not launching rockets - so, see what works for you.

Perfect!  Don't change a thing!

Once the holes have been enlarged put a few drops of glue in there and tap in some pre-cut dowel pieces to fill the holes.  You can use wood glue or superglue (CA).  Wood glue gives you more working time but also takes longer to cure.  CA glue cures in minutes (if not sooner) so don't dally!
I used CA glue as I was in a hurry on this particular evening.

One note: I used a fret hammer to tap these in as they are like 3/16th of an inch and prone to breaking (as you can clearly see in the above picture). All this is a way of saying that a construction hammer may be a bit of an overkill for this job.  I also find it helpful to taper one end so that it fits in the hole better.

I'll cut a b--ch!
Branch!  I meant branch.

This little guy with the micro teeth is a flush cut saw.  It works great for delicate little cutting jobs just like this one.  It's not so hot for anything substantial as the blade is quite flexible but you can put it right up against a flat surface and it will cut fairly flush to that surface.

Like so...

After you are done cutting you can clean up the surface with a sharp chisel, hand plane or card scraper.  Then move on to sandpaper.  If you go right to sand paper - you may create valleys or peaks that weren't there before.  I used a card scraper and then some 100 grit sandpaper.

No one will ever see it!

How's that fit looking?

Wait a minute...

So, here's the thing.  The dowels felt pretty flush.  But the neck isn't sitting in the pocket all that evenly.  I wasn't convinced it was the change I had just made was the cause of this (hubris, much?).
So I took a straight edge to the neck.  Yep, the heel of the neck itself wasn't completely square.

For that matter - neither was my neck pocket.  I could still see little scratches from the router blade.
So, ignoring what I just said above about valleys and peaks - how does one sand something flat? There are a couple of ways...

Son of a..!

The best way to flatten the neck heel is to tape a piece of sandpaper to the top of your workbench or table saw and run the heel slowly across that with even pressure.  Just a minute or two of that (using 100 grit paper) was enough to flatten the heel so that it looked decent with a straight edge.

For the neck pocket - it's best to find something you know is square (or straight).  I used a 1 by 1 inch square dowel that I was reasonably sure wasn't warped and wrapped sand paper around it.  Press firmly and evenly while making slow passes.  

I saw another idea on the Fender website that I will try in the future: tape the sand paper to two sides of the square block but leave the other sides without sandpaper - that way you can sand up to a finished (or already squared) edge without taking any more wood off on that surface.  Simple but smart.

Looks ugly.  Feels real nice!

Don't be put off by how it looks.  Those rings around the dowels are dried glue and the pen mark is just so I know where the cut away starts.  That sucker is flat and smooth.  You can't feel the dowels at all.

That'll do pig.  That'll do.

Those two processes seem to have squared things up quite nicely.  The neck fits pretty snug in the pocket both on the sides and now on the bottom.  I need to see if there is anything that needs to be done to the 'back wall" of the pocket (closest to the neck pickup) as that was the sloppiest part of my template.

Lacey!

For now, things look good.  I should probably screw this sucker into the body.

(for those playing the home game, that was the ninth double entendre in this post.)

I'm kidding.  I don't keep count...

What does it have in its pocketses, Precious?

Pictured: Time to put my Router where my mouth is.
(Okay, for real kids, don't do that.  Like, ever.)

To me - this is the most nerve wracking part of any guitar build.  There comes a time when all fun and games are over - and you have to route a neck pocket.  I've talked about this in other blog posts - but this really is the most crucial cut you will make building a guitar.  In my mind - everything else is ergonomics and aesthetics.  

So what if your pickup cavities are too deep or slightly off-center? 

There are pickup rings and springs to compensate for it.  

So what if your volume/tone knobs are a little to the left or right of where they should be? 

Stretch your fingers a little 'cupcake!'

I'm gonna get you, sucka!

This part of the build determines whether or not the guitar is going to be playable.  Period.  Mess this up and you have a pretty looking piece of art vs. a smooth playing instrument. The only other act of wood-working that is as crucial as this one is when you install the bridge.  

...and we'll get to that in due course.  So, as you can tell, I take this part pretty seriously.

Now is the time to repeat the wood-worker's mantra, "Measure twice, cut once."

Measure twice, cut once.  Measure twice, cut once.  Measure twice, cut once.

Since I'm still fairly new to this - I measured about six or seven times.  No, seriously, I had three different straight edges, a couple of rulers, and at least one level out while I was setting up this cut.

I am also lucky - in that I have a bolt-on Les Paul to use as a reference.  I was able to run between my garage and my music room a couple of times to take measurements.  If you do not have an Epiphone Les Paul kicking around - I recommend going to a guitar store and asking if you can take some measurements.  Most of the small shops will be cool with it - if you are polite and gentle with their merchandise (I am speaking from experience).

Because I have a bolt-on Epiphone Les Paul at my disposal - I was able to determine that the neck pocket is closer to 3/4th of an inch deep vs. the 5/8th of an inch that most Fender neck pockets have. In my research I wasn't able to determine if Epiphones have a standard neck pocket depth (like Fender does) so I split the difference on this build.  Currently the neck pocket on my build is just shy of 3/4ths of an inch.  But - by the time I am finished sanding the top the pocket will be closer to 11/16th of an inch deep.

...or at least that is my current plan...

All this is just a way of saying - I'm working it out.  Stay tuned as to how it goes...

Small but fierce!

If you have been following along - you know what's next.  I routed, and routed, and routed some more using the template and template bit above.  The reason for all this routing is because I didn't take more than 1/4 of an inch off on any one pass.  It is also the reason you want to make sure your template is accurate and securely fastened to the body.  If your template shifts during the second or third pass - you are going to have all the feels.
(See? Isn't that an awkward phrase?  Why don't we stop using it...?)

One note - I waited until this point to route the neck pocket because if I did it prior to this the pocket wouldn't be angled.  Since the top has a 4 degree angle in it (and I put the template on top of that) the pocket has a 4 degree angle to it.  It's hard to see in the below picture - but trust me - it's there.  This is going to help when I install the bridge.

Success?

I was so focused on getting this right - I didn't take any photos of the process.  Once the neck pocket was done, however, I took some shots of how it all turned out.  If you look closely in the above picture you can see that the Lacewood will be rather prominent at the cutaway.  Once it is sanded and finished it's going to look pretty sexy.  That's a wood-working term.

"You have learned much my young Padawan.  But you are not a Jedi yet."

The end product looks good - so far.

The neck joint isn't as tight as purists say it should be (I can't currently carry the guitar around by the neck.  

...but it's close.

Once I put a finish/varnish on the neck - this is going to be one tight joint.  Oh, and there will be four frickin' screws holding it in too!  Silly purists.  But seriously, I subscribe to the idea that wood will expand and contract with the weather/seasons.  It's probably a good idea to allow a little tolerance for that.  Having said that - I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't aiming for a super tight fit.  I'm still working on the whole 'precision' thing.

Thank goodness for the Fret Board Hangover.

I still have to do a decent amount of work on this neck:
I will definitely be putting some kind of veneer on the headstock.  What kind? I don't know yet. Possibly something to match the body.

Looking at the rest of the neck I keep wondering if I want to keep the existing fret markers (the diamonds).
...or do I want to try my hand at some inlay work...?

If I had completely bollocksed this up - you would see a much bigger gap right here.

I am also intrigued by the idea of binding the fretboard.  Which is a butt-load of work and should be completed before the frets are installed but I'll hold off judgement until after I bind the top.
Oh yeah, I also have to flatten and polish the frets, don't I...?
Hmmm...  Still lots to do...

Wow.  That almost looks right.
Sweet!

So!

Here we are...

It LOOKS pretty good but looks have no bearing on playability.  

For now,  I am cautiously optimistic.  And for the purists - there is nothing holding the neck in that neck pocket in this picture except the tightness of that joint.  So, there may be hope for me as a wood worker yet.

"Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp square joint."

Making the thing that helps me make the thing - Part 2

That's a funny looking comb.

I ended my last post with two body blanks shaped and ready for what's next.

So, what's next?

There are many different answers to this question.  I've seen people carve the arch into the guitar tops next, or route the channel for installing the binding, or attach the neck to the body.  My thought process (if we are going to call it that) is that digging holes is probably what should be next.  And there's a good reason for that - the body blanks are currently flat - so the router will sit nice and level on them.

You try routing a square hole on a rounded surface - tears will be shed, vulgarities shouted, tools cast down, and alcoholic beverages consumed.

What kind of holes are we talking?

Exhibit A: holes

The biggie is the neck pocket.  Then comes the holes for the pickups, control cavities, bridge posts control knobs, and on and on.  There are, in fact, a massive number of holes in a 'solid' body guitar.
It only gets worse if you build a guitar with a tremolo system like a Stratocaster.

The smaller holes (like for the bridge posts and control knobs) can be made with a drill bit but the bigger holes need to be dug with a router - especially the neck pocket.  And if we're talking routers - then we're also talking templates.

So, it's a comb template?

I have three guitar necks - so that's why this template has three holes.  Just like underwear - one size does not fit all.   Each neck is just different enough that I can't use one generic neck-pocket template.  They have to be unique.

The thing about the neck pocket is that it has to be so many things: the neck needs to fit snug but not too snug, it has to have the correct angle (this will be a whole post in itself), it has to be the correct depth, and it needs to be perfectly in-line with the bridge or the strings will hang off of the fret board.  The neck pocket is pretty crucial to get right.  But, why?  In short, if the neck doesn't sit in the pocket correctly the guitar will never play correctly.

Add to this one other crucial element: wood shrinks and swells with humidity changes.
If you have to force the neck into the neck pocket when you are assembling the guitar - what's going to happen five years from now when we have a month of 95% humidity?  Yo guitar is gonna do the banana splits!

So, that was the long explanation for why I built the above template.  As for how I built this template...

Not pictured: power tools 

I started out the same way as all the other templates: tracing the necks and cutting the rough shape with a jig saw.  Then I just went very slowly with sandpaper wrapped around a stick (or a sharpie for the corners).  It took about 20 - 30 minutes per neck but now the templates fit those necks almost perfectly.

Not pictured: excitement

Not pictured: adventure

You literally make 20 passes at a time on one side of the template and then 20 passes on the other with the sandpaper.  Then you stop and check the fit.  It is just the kind of precision work that I was not made for.  But it is what it is.  This is one step that wood glue and sawdust won't cover up. This is my fourth (and fifth) time doing this - and I'm just now learning this lesson.

Not pictured: my forte 

Pictured: almost perfect.

So the templates are ready to be used.  Now I just have to figure out how deep to dig and at what angle.  Those will be the subjects of my next post.

You may have noticed I glossed over a couple of things:

1)  I only worked on two of the neck pockets on this template.
No sense working on neck #3 until there is a body #3!

2) How is it I just happen to have three necks kicking around?
Um... I'll cover that in another post.