Neck Build Order and Carve
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:48 am
There is the start of a decent thread over on UMGF re: order of neck build and carve. Thought it might be worth seeing how order varies for builders here. My response to the UMGF thread is below, but I'd enjoy hearing how others here as to the how and why of build order for the neck. I should mention that I don't start on the fretboard and neck for cutaway guitars until I have a bound, sanded body, as most of my cutaways have fretboard flush to edge of body.
So generally, there's a bunch of possible variations for 'order of construction' because there are many variations on neck attachment and truss rod, peghead, and heel designs. Proulx butts his necks to body and uses hanger bolts to mount; there's Cumpiano-style barrel nut mounting with tenon, traditional dovetail, so-called double tenon (really a variant on bolt-on/bolt-down), Somogyi sets his neck, drills two locking dowel holes, and glues up, etc. All cause variants of the basic build order. Here's mine:
- Mill blank square
- Rough cut neck blank (usually two necks from single 24" x 3" x 4" blank)
- Trim neck blank to width (most of my peg heads are over 3-1/2" at headstock, so get trimmed to body fret width + 1/32")
- Mill truss rod channel (I use channel to align blank on jig to cut dovetail or tenon...if in dressing the top (fretboard mating surface) I take off some additional wood, I just use a round file as a scraper to refit rod))
- Mill dovetail or tenon slot on tablesaw or router table; close headstock end with plug, and mill body end of channel to fit rod to be used
- Fit adjustable truss rod
- Fit neck to body for alignment with centerline and neck angle; check truss rod access will actually work
- For dovetail, trim dovetail length as needed to provide desired space between socket and tail; for M&T, trim tenon to length, mill slots for CF reinforcement and drill barrel nut/hanger holes, etc.)
- Set nut location based on completed fretboard config
- Add peg head wings if necessary
- Plane peghead square and true to top surface of neck and nut location with correct back angle (with a sharp hand plane...I'll also correct any tenon or dovetail top surface alignment issue at this time with a few swipes of the plane as needed)
- Glue on head plate (after squaring and beveling the head plate blank as necessary, and setting the nut edge of the head plate back for nut space)
- Mill peghead to final thickness (as desired...can also be tapered at this time, or prepped for back strap and back strap added)
- Mill peghead to shape
- Pre-mill heel to shape if tapered heel used, and trim to cut line for heel cap
- Glue on heel cap and trim excess/fit to body when dry
- Glue on unfretted fretboard
- Carve neck
-- Set depth at frets 1 and 10 (pattern rasp and cabinet file)
-- Reduce profile between 1 and 10 to line (drawknife, Iwasaki medium rasp, sharp block plane)
-- Shape cross section at 1 and 10 (rasp and cabinet file)
-- Rough carve heel area and peghead transitions (carver's draw knife, rasps, file)
-- 5-side neck shaft between 1 and 10 (drawknife and Iwasaki med rasp)
-- Rough carve (mostly pattern rasp and draw knife, then cabinet file and small block plane) cross section between 1 and 10
-- Blend heel and peghead with shaft carve (rasp, cabinet file, scraper)
-- Scrape and sand to final shape (short, straight sanding blocks with 80 and 120 papers to fair)
- Final fit neck to body to verify alignment/angle and heel cap fit prior to fill and finish
- Lay out and drill tuner holes (full diameter for screw-downs and appropriate lead hole/counterbore for bushed tuners)
Pretty much it for one way to proceed.
So generally, there's a bunch of possible variations for 'order of construction' because there are many variations on neck attachment and truss rod, peghead, and heel designs. Proulx butts his necks to body and uses hanger bolts to mount; there's Cumpiano-style barrel nut mounting with tenon, traditional dovetail, so-called double tenon (really a variant on bolt-on/bolt-down), Somogyi sets his neck, drills two locking dowel holes, and glues up, etc. All cause variants of the basic build order. Here's mine:
- Mill blank square
- Rough cut neck blank (usually two necks from single 24" x 3" x 4" blank)
- Trim neck blank to width (most of my peg heads are over 3-1/2" at headstock, so get trimmed to body fret width + 1/32")
- Mill truss rod channel (I use channel to align blank on jig to cut dovetail or tenon...if in dressing the top (fretboard mating surface) I take off some additional wood, I just use a round file as a scraper to refit rod))
- Mill dovetail or tenon slot on tablesaw or router table; close headstock end with plug, and mill body end of channel to fit rod to be used
- Fit adjustable truss rod
- Fit neck to body for alignment with centerline and neck angle; check truss rod access will actually work
- For dovetail, trim dovetail length as needed to provide desired space between socket and tail; for M&T, trim tenon to length, mill slots for CF reinforcement and drill barrel nut/hanger holes, etc.)
- Set nut location based on completed fretboard config
- Add peg head wings if necessary
- Plane peghead square and true to top surface of neck and nut location with correct back angle (with a sharp hand plane...I'll also correct any tenon or dovetail top surface alignment issue at this time with a few swipes of the plane as needed)
- Glue on head plate (after squaring and beveling the head plate blank as necessary, and setting the nut edge of the head plate back for nut space)
- Mill peghead to final thickness (as desired...can also be tapered at this time, or prepped for back strap and back strap added)
- Mill peghead to shape
- Pre-mill heel to shape if tapered heel used, and trim to cut line for heel cap
- Glue on heel cap and trim excess/fit to body when dry
- Glue on unfretted fretboard
- Carve neck
-- Set depth at frets 1 and 10 (pattern rasp and cabinet file)
-- Reduce profile between 1 and 10 to line (drawknife, Iwasaki medium rasp, sharp block plane)
-- Shape cross section at 1 and 10 (rasp and cabinet file)
-- Rough carve heel area and peghead transitions (carver's draw knife, rasps, file)
-- 5-side neck shaft between 1 and 10 (drawknife and Iwasaki med rasp)
-- Rough carve (mostly pattern rasp and draw knife, then cabinet file and small block plane) cross section between 1 and 10
-- Blend heel and peghead with shaft carve (rasp, cabinet file, scraper)
-- Scrape and sand to final shape (short, straight sanding blocks with 80 and 120 papers to fair)
- Final fit neck to body to verify alignment/angle and heel cap fit prior to fill and finish
- Lay out and drill tuner holes (full diameter for screw-downs and appropriate lead hole/counterbore for bushed tuners)
Pretty much it for one way to proceed.