Friday, October 31, 2008

Fretboard glued, neck shaped

The last few days have seen a flurry of activity on the neck of my guitar. I took the leap Wednesday night and glued the fretboard onto the neck.

The problem is that, even though it was pinned in two spots, the nut end shifted just a bit. If you look at the below picture, you can see the center line on the fretboard is not lined up with the center of the truss rod slot.

My best measurements suggest it is off by 20-30 mils. I spoke with a friend of mine who is a luthier, he said it wasn't really that big of a deal, the neck can be shaved appropriately and the it won't affect anything.
So I then began to sculpt the neck... since it is oversized with respect to the fretboard. I used a large chisel right next to the fretboard to pare the neck down next to the fretboard. Then I used a scraper to shape the two together... this worked well.
Next, I began to shape the back of the neck. There was a lot of extra material that came with the precarved neck... especially where the headstock meets the neck. I used a large chisel to carefully remove the bulk of the material and then sand it to a smooth finish.


The rough carving is almost done. Getting it exactly symmetric is almost impossible. Probably should take a bit more off the back left side, and the front left side. I can see why Martin choose a square shape... this curvy Taylor-like shape is more difficult to perfect.

Next I will install the frets. After that, I can begin the fine sanding, pore filling and application of the oil finish.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Freboard profiled and located

I marked the width of the fretboard at the nut (1.75") and the 14" fret (2.25") with respect to the center line, and then drew a straight line all the way to the end. Then I cut just outside this line with the band saw. To smooth the edge, I first tried my plane:

This kinda worked, but I did get some tear-out. Given that it is ebony, I think the cutting angle needed to be steeper than 45ยบ. But I don't have another iron to setup for this. So I sanded a bit, but ultimately used a scraper... this worked well.
Next, I put the fretboard on the neck and located it precisely. Then I drilled two holes with a 1 gauge (0.040") drill bit through the fretboard and through about 1/4" into the neck. These locating holes will be used for further neck work and gluing. It actually works well to then use 0.8mm (0.032") drill bits as temporary nails:

The neck is slightly over-sized... about 0.025" per side, it is also a bit too thick. I will have to file it down and shape it appropriately before sanding it to the proper finish.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Starting to take shape

Hey, it kinda looks like a guitar. I fit the neck up for the first time since before the bindings were on to check the angle. It isn't perfect, but it is close. I should be able to tweak it a bit by leveling the top of the top where it meets the neck (it is slightly curved right now), and possibly by additional sanding in the neck tenon area. In the end though, I would rather the neck angle be a little much (as opposed to shallow) and then just file down the frets near the body a bit more than the main ones that are used.
I sure like the look of the maple bindings next to the herringbone purfling:)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Drilling Dots

I have put aside the body for a while to begin work on the neck. First thing is to drill the dots on the top of the fretboard:

I used a 1/4" Forstner bit, worked out great with this small drill press.

Nothing is glued in yet, probably just use CA glue.

The exact order varies from person to person, but I think this is how I will do it:
1) Drill/glue top dots.
2) Cut/profile ends
3) Install truss rod into neck.
4) Glue fretboard on neck.
5) Cut excess off sides.
6) Sand/shape sides of fretboard to neck. Check dimensions: 1.75" at nut, 2.25" at 14th fret.
7) Install side dots.
8) Install frets.
9) Attach to body.