- Split in back of neck had opened up again.
- Sanded down side of neck so that side of fret board is flush with side of neck. Started with 150 then worked down to 180 grit
- Orbital sanded the front, back and sides with 120-150-180 grit
- Glued split in back of neck and taped up with masking tape to dry
- Filled gaps at base of neck and fret board
- Sanded head with orbital sander
- Using 180 grit, sand bevel round all sharp edges on body, neck & head then make radius (1mm only)
- Started thinking about bridge block designs
Author: Iain 'Cutty' Carlin
Week 25 – More neck work
Fitting truss rod
- Block plane & chisel down truss rod cover strip so flush with neck
- Cut off fret wire using side cutters held parallel to side of fretboard
- File down edge of frets till level with side of fret board on top and bottom
- Start flat then bevel inwards to fret board front then repeat till level
- Use finer file to finish then bevel file to complete
Fitting Fretboard
- Block planed top of body till fret board level with neck and sound board. Plane VERY finely set
- Orbital sand front and sides till smooth
- Planed and used cabinet scrapers on fret board till it sat flush on sound board
- Drilled 2 x 1.5 mm holes in back of fret board and inserted two nails and cut off to act as locating pins
- Glued fret board to neck and clamped with 4 ‘G’ clamps
- Fret board moved slightly so had to use clamps sideways to relocate
Week 24 – Things get ugly
Fret Board
- Took off the clamps and wood holding down the frets on the fret board. Unfortunately they didn’t hold in place and all but the 1st fret had to be removed to start again.
- Sanded back the fret board and reglued one fret after leaving the sanding grit in the fret channel to see if it would hold. Left for 2 hours to dry.
- Came back after 2 hours and fret still hadn’t stuck
- Got an off-cut of fret board and sanded enough powder to make a ‘gap-filler’ paste and spread over the side of the fret that needed re-bedding and put on excess glue on frets and re-inserted.
Week 23 – Fret Board and Bridge
Heel Plate
- Cut redgum hell plate on band saw
- Glued to back of heel
Fret board
- Sanded fret board with 150 to flush pearl inlaysCut frets to width of fret board (decreasing size)
- Lay out the frets in order of size
- Set up the fret board clamp by clamping to bench with g-glamps
- Wipe each fret with small amount of glue and press in with fret clamp
- Wipe off excess glue as you go
- Once all fitted, clamp strips of wood across sides of fret board to hold in place
Bridge
- Bridge sequence – flatten bottom, cut width, plane depth, set depth, set length, cut slot, drill peg holes then cut to shape
Week 22 – Bringing together body and neck
Fitting neck to body:
- Chiselled down dovetail joint till fitted to body (Michael did most of it)
- Then sanded down neck and used iron & wet cloth to remove vice marks in back of neck
- Sanded too much of neck joint to Michael had to re-fit (oops)
- Glue round both sides of dovetail join, fitted and clamped
- Took off excess from heel first ready for heel cap next week
Week 21 – Neck and Fretboard
Fret Board
Started shaping fret board curve. Needs to match curve radius of sanding block (14′)
- Start by block planeing straight chamfers on either side of fretboard
- Work back to centreline, but don’t take any height off centre
- Once nearly at correct curve, sand with 80 then up to 180 to get smooth and curve
- Mark centre line and punch centre holes for pearl inlay using 6mm drill
- Glue inlays in place with super glue
Neck fitting
- Attach guitar to vacuum clamp and trace round dovetail jig with pen for the groove
- Michael drilled out the bulk of the wood using a wide drill (but slipped and took a chunk off the front!)
Week 20 – More neck work
- Continue to shave neck at neck block to get ‘s’ shape on profile
- Then do near head, careful not to shave off any from head block itself
- Use straight spoke shave to match rest of neck to head and heel
- Inspect for dips and high spots (DO NOT SAND) and shave heel straight
- Sand using 100-120-180 till smooth
Week 19 – Bindings
Took masking tape off top and bottom holding bindings in place
Gaps around bindings needed to be filled:
• Flush binding and b/w/b to sound board and back with a small block plane
• Sand spare bit of side to make pile of dust
• Mix dust with a small amount of titebond to create a past of glue and plaster into gaps!
Tuning peg holes
• Attached tuning peg template to head and clamp to bench with piece of scrap wood underneath
• Drill through peg holes with 9.5mm drill
Shaving the neck
• Attach neck jig to neck with 2 screws
• Attach bench vise piece to neck jig
• Using rounded spoke shave, plane off excess from neck block (cut majority off first with a tenon saw)
• Start on one side and shave straight chamfers .…
Week 18 – Binding Strips & Fret Board
Binding Strips
- Removed masking tape holding b/w/b decoration strips
- Use flat file to remove excess glue round the binding channel
- Remove bindings from side-bender and prepare as for decoration strips
- Work on top first, glue bindings in place and hold with lots of masking tape
- Bottom the same, but leave one strip over-length to allow cutting in situ once mostly glued down
Fret Board
- Removed excess sticky left from attaching template
- Cut off at first ‘fret’ marking point at nut using Tenon saw
- Mark centre line on back of fret board
- Align neck template to centre line and top on back of fret board and clamp in place
- Drill 2 x 1.5 mm holes in fret board through first and 12th frets into template
- Draw round template, remove and cut with bandsaw to roughly the right size (did a couple of practice runs first)
- Cut off excess frets from bottom of fret board while at bandsaw
- Re-attach template using drill bits and flush trim using fixed router