This is a slide show from my two week class. The class is an intensive 12 day course in which up to two people build a guitar from scratch.
I use a “Tell, Show, Do” style that starts by me giving information on how we’ll be building, then follows with me showing them how and finally, they do the work.
The photos were taken by the student so most of them show me executing the procedure.
On to the next phase of neck making.
As the picture shows, the truss rod slot is now cut, tuning machine holes drilled and the step down on the peg head is cut. I do this using a Wagner Safety Plane. This inexpensive tool is chucked in a drill press and easily planes the wood safely as the name would imply.
After this step is done we now have to drill a 3/8″ hole long enough to accept the truss rod nut. The rod nut is usually a little smaller in diameter to allow the nut to turn. Then use a bell hangers 1/4″ bit (these bits are 12″ or longer) to connect the 3/8″ hole to the 1/4″ truss rod channel.
I then make the truss rod out of 3/16″ steel rod that I thread on both ends with a 10-32 die (Fender has used both 10-32 and 8-32). On the heel end I drill a 1/2″ hole to accept an aluminum rod drilled and tapped to accept one end of the threaded rod. Thread the truss rod into the aluminum so that the truss rod protrudes about a 1/6″ the other side. Now put the setup in a vice and peen the end over. This will prevent the rod from turning when in the guitar. Thread the rod through the peg head first and then set the heel. Now a fillet strip is cut to fit the channel so that it forces the rod into the arc mentioned in the previous post.
After this has been glued in and the glue dry you can trim the fillet flush with the fret board and glue the fret board on.
Now is the time to put the radius in the peg head to blend the fret board into it. You must be careful with this so that you don’t sand too deep.
Once this is done you can shape the back of the neck with any combination of spokeshaves, rasps, gouges, chisels, etc. A cut belt from a sander can be used to “shoe shine” the neck to make a round backed neck.
You can now put the radius on the fret board and fret it. I do not, however, dress the frets until the neck is bolted onto the body. The tension of the screws in the neck change the geometry and I’ve found it best to level them after the neck is installed.
I sometimes use threaded inserts in the neck so that bolts are used to connect the neck to the body instead of wood screws. This is an extra step but will keep the screw holes from stripping if you are a tinkerer and like to pull the neck off a lot.
Cheers from a member of the dirty trades.
Now that we have the body, we need the neck to go with it! For a Fender style neck we’ll need a piece of maple about 1″ thick surfaced. You’ll also need a fret board. It’s much easier to do the neck with a separate fret board than the single piece neck on vintage Fenders. The familiar skunk stripe down the center of the back is for installation of the truss rod from the back of the neck. Except on vintage 60’s repros, all Fender necks have the rod installed from the back. While this looks pretty cool it takes more complicated jigs and if its a single piece neck the ability to cut the slots in the neck itself.
The easiest and simplest way to do the fret board is to buy it with the radius and slots done by the supplier. They use CNC templates for the slots and the cost is slight compared to the appropriate set up for cutting them in your shop. You can cut the slot by hand with a miter box and back saw of the correct dimensions. For example, if you want a scale of 25 1/2″ you can use what is called the rule of eighteen, or more accurately 17.817. If you take the scale length (in this case 25 1/2″) and divide it by 17.817 you will get the distance from the nut to the first fret. The remaining distance is now divided again by 17.817 and that is the distance from the first to the second. This is done until you have the desired amount of frets. Now you’ll need a good set of calipers to transfer those figures to the board. This is not as easy as it sounds because you must be consistent in your use of the calipers so that you don’t grow or shorten the scale length. Most suppliers will charge less than $10.00 for this service! I use a table saw with a hollow ground blade to .023″ with a jig and templates that are made of polycarbonate, the positions of which are cut with a CNC. I can cut the slots in about 10 minutes but this requires the cash outlay and if you’re only doing a couple of boards a year it doesn’t make sense monetarily.
Most of the remarks on building the body apply to the neck as well. Use a bandsaw to cut the neck to shape and templates to route the final shape with a pattern makers bit. I use a 1/4″ round bottom bit to cut the channel for the truss rod. I make a simple jig that consists of a base longer than the slot will be plus the diameter of the router base times two and another piece glued to the base to act as a fence.
I then do a run with the router just to cut through the base (1/2″ baltic birch plywood works well).
Then I mark my maple neck for the truss rod and using double stick carpet tape, attach the jig to the neck using the slot you just cut in the jig as reference. Make sure to measure the rod’s thickness. If it’s a double action truss rod (recommended) just measure the depth of the rod and route to that. If it’s single action, you will need to go to about an 1/8″ from the bottom of the neck. The deeper the rod is in the neck the better it will work (single action only, of course). Fender rods are curved deeper in the center than at the ends, so the easiest way to do this is to cut the slot at a consistent depth and make maple filet pieces that are cut to the curve and installed so that the fatter pieces are at each end.
As a note: When I’m routing the slot I don’t take the full cut but do it in increments of about 1/8″ at a time. Maple is hard and it’s possible you could break the bit or at the very least, have a rough trough.
Next week: part 2.
Geiger School of Lutherie 