New guitar update, Neck build up

I think more work goes into the neck than any other aspect of the guitar. Especially on an electric.

For truss rod installation I can but follow the manufacturer's instructions. I use the Allied Luthier's Supply, stainless steel, two way adjustable, low torque rod. It is roughed up with a file.The neck is dadoed for a very snug fit. And a hardwood spline is fitted over the top.

The filler strip is epoxied in place with light pressure. The strip sinks in more at the center as the rod is compressed against the adjusting screw. During clamping I check the action of the nut to get it tight, but still free.

Once the epoxy has cured the strip is pared and scraped flush. Note the walnut plug that fills the end of the dado at the body end and acts as a stop for the truss rod end.
The fingerboard marquetry is fully cured prior to laminating the boards. The three layers of veneer are pinned to mdf cauls and clamped up. The laminations are left under pressure for about 2 days. It is very important to keep the boards flat until they are fully cured.

This process produces a very flat and stiff finger board. The edges are cleaned up on the edge sander and the nut end is checked for square.

Fret positions are then marked off on the board. This clamping arrangement of the scale allows for hands free marking. I made my fret slotting saw from an old back saw. By carefully filing and sanding the blade along just the bottom 1/2" I achieved a very stiff blade with the perfect sized kerf. I filed a dozuki style tooth and it cuts on the pull stroke. Even so, it requires great care and concentration as no mistakes can be made. Note the pine strips that act as a depth stop. When the blade just scores these carefully thicknessed strips the slot is the correct depth. The actual kerf stops just past halfway through the middle layer of veneer. This leaves a lamination below the kerfs, running the full length of the board.
Once the boards are slotted, they are tapered on the edge sander to their final dimensions. Both the finger board and the neck are left long at the body end to accommodate veneer pins. These are just #19 1/2" brads with the heads snipped off. Note the stack of three finger boards in the back. Nice and flat, no?
A carefully shaped Ash caul is used to laminate the fingerboard to the neck. Precision is of the utmost importance. The center is checked and rechecked, then checked again. But the pins prevent most movement and lots of glue can be used. Once the board is fully cured it is cut through at the 22nd fret. The waste is carefully pared away, and the pins removed.
This gives me a first hand look at the laminate bond of the fingerboard. My process results in one of great strength, I think.In the rebate that is formed by the fingerboard the neck bindings are laminated with the use of a tapered and waxed spline.The ends are mitered and the mitered end cap is glued in place with this little set up. Nice, no? The maple binding is very springy and there is clamping pressure to spare. When the glue is cured the bindings are rasped flush with the board.Headstock veneers are precut for the truss rod nut and carefully scraped smooth on the back.
The headstock wood and veneer are oversized to allow the placement of more veneer pins. A temporary waxed wood nut is used for alignment. The nut end of the veneer is also pre shaped to the correct angle. This is done by hand on the edge sander. It is offered up to the wooden nut for a perfect fit.

To make laminating the headstock easier the caul is glued together and faced with wax paper to be applied as a single unit. Using 4 veneer pins ensures a precise placement.
Binding the headstock is a bit more tricky. Once the headstock is sanded to shape, a purfling cutter is used to score for the rebate.


Great care is taken to ensure that no tearout occurs at the corners.
The waste is then chiseled out. Very carefully, as no mistakes can be made.

The rebate is made perfectly square and smooth with a paring stroke. Headstock veneers such as this cherry burl, would be shattered by a router. Note the cross grain at the corner. I think maybe this is only possible by hand.


Bindings for the headstock have to be bent. I use this little set up. The pipe has an old chore boy stuffed in the end for a difuser.


It works well though, and it dosn't take long to shape the bindings.

The bindings are glued on in stages. I use a soft nylon cordage, wrapped tight for excellent clamping pressure.
Having lived on a sailboat, I know not to ever cut a line in two. But with this clamping set up the extra length can be put to use on the end bindings.
The successive stages are trimmed back with the dozuki saw.
Then the ends are pared back and filed flush in preparation for the next set.

The side bindings go on last.
Note the awesome squeezeout. This binding is on for good. The precision is such that there will be no need for even the tiniest amount of filler.
Glue won't stick to the nylon cordage either, just unwrap it and there it is.Once things are cleaned up with the rasp and riffler, things are starting to look very good, I think. Note how I leave the neck square for most of it's length. This makes clamping in the vice for bindings very easy.
That's all for now. Next time we should see some carved necks and maybe something that even resembles a guitar.

IW

Keepin' it way green.

I doubt it’d be possible for me to build enough trinkets from salvaged wood to compensate for the carbon footprint of the burl wood paneling on the interior of Bill Gate’s jet . That my compost pile is going to somehow save the world is idealism of the most absurd variety.

So, lets get something straight. When I say my stuff is eco friendly or green, it’s simply because I’m down with all the latest slang. All of a sudden it’s cool to make stuff out of recycled materials, and there are a bunch of slick new words to go along with the rage. But, we at WCS have known about this new fad since the beginning. We just haven’t come up with a fancy name for it. We simply call it “making do.”

I’ve been a woodworker since I could hold a stick. I’ve built everything from boxes to boats. Even when I was traveling the country with just a pack, I had carving tools to whittle trinkets to trade with the folks who would help me on my way. Up until a couple of years ago, I’d never spent a dime on wood. Just couldn’t. Besides, if there is one thing I’ve learned about the US, you don’t have to look far to find copious waste. No matter where you go in this country you’ll find all kinds of perfectly wonderful materials being discarded as waste.

It is upon this waste stream that my skills as a woodworker have been honed. I’ve stripped mahogany boards off the wheelhouse of a wreck in the marshes of Charleston, SC. I built a small skiff entirely from shipping crates. I’ve built with wood from salvaged stairs, sheds, flooring, you name it. For a time I carved pipes from beech armrests pulled off aluminum lawn furniture in oppressively hot FL. Since I learned how to make larger boards out of small strips, I’ve made countless pieces from furniture factory trimmings.

Don’t for a second think I haven’t eyed the boards in the mill yards with envy. There’s no lofty purpose here. But, come on, be real. Woodworking was a hobby, at least at first, and by the time I was any good, I had a real job with taxes to pay. You know what that means if you aren’t from landed gentry in the US, broke. We still needed a baby changing table though, so I made one out of pallets. Had some of that mahogany from the marsh left over, it became a bread box. Next thing I know I’m building kitchen cabinets out of salvaged two by fours and old window sash and calling it home restoration. And that’s how we made ends meet.

Since I started trying to live on woodworking alone, things haven’t gotten any easier. And wouldn’t you know it, just about the time I start getting really good, they go and have a war. Next, everyone decided that the world was ending, for real this time. Since then, things haven’t gotten any easier. But at least folks aren’t making such a fuss about stuff being made out of salvaged wood. No, these days it’s all the rage. Let me tell you, that hasn’t always been the case. Not too long ago you had to keep that kind of thing to yourself. I wonder how many jewelry boxes I’d have sold from that gallery in Wellesley Hills if they’d known all the mahogany came from a dumpster? (picture me chuckling)

To this day my wood supply is as cheap (insert more favorable marketing term here) as ever. Has to be. Seen the cost of groceries? My wood comes from the forests around me and the scrap bins from the local factory. And, every now and then I get a board or two from a local mill. But even then, I have to look for the deals. Warped boards that I can re-saw, flip and join. Thin deal that might only get two sheets of veneer but will mean AAA flame maple at $3.50 bdft. And always picking through the short boards.

Now that recycling is so hip, everybody and their mother has an eco-friendly this and a green that. Brad Pitt would have you believe that in his spare time he is an architect designing an “eco friendly luxury resort in Dubai.” I’ve got news for you, there is no such thing as an eco friendly luxury resort. Show me the compost pile.

I’ll show you mine. In fact, I’ll show you my whole operation. Stay tuned. I’ll show you the hand tools and the hand made tools. I’ll show you a shop evolved not around time saving gadgets and power tools jigs, but a love of wood and the pursuit of excellence. And I’ll show you a finished piece that’s as green or eco friendly as it gets. Not because it’s the rage, or because it’s hip. Because its real. Way real. As real as it gets. And oh so original. (imagine heavy gangsta base line here.)
IW

Off to a great start

So, like I said, I have started 4 more electric guitars. I'll bring you up to date:

The bodies are each laminated, with a total of 5 layers. A core with a hand made veneer top and bottom. The core consists of 3 layers. A central panel of 3/4" thickness and a top and bottom panel of about 3/8"+. These individual layers, or leaves, are assembled from strips of clear cherry and maple. The jointing is done with great precision. Note how the boards stay together prior to glue up with no glue or clamping pressure. It's all in the hand work.

The strips of maple and cherry are carefully recovered from salvaged wood. Cutoff and trim pieces gleaned from the scrap bins behind a furniture factory. Here I have all the leaves for 4 bodies. The thicker centers are sanded and trimmed to size in the front.

The cores are then laminated in this press of my own design. Only the bottom two leaves are being glued in this photo with the rest of the stack used to keep things flat, and for lack of room elsewhere to store the stack. The center is laminated first to just the bottom, recieving it's top leaf after the cavities are routed.

The 4th and fifth layers, top and bottom, consist of 3/32" hand sawn veneer and will go on later.

Some folks would say that the hand sawn veneer is what makes my work so special. To this I would reply, "You ain't seen nothing yet!" Here is a sneak peak at what is in store. The Eat Your Heart Out top on the left is in some spectacular flame maple. Curly cherry and heavily figured walunut make the ground for my first Gates of Hell axe on the right.

These get laminated to the top with a compensatory veneer panel laminated to the bottom or back of the guitar. This all makes for one incredibly strong an stable guitar.

I have also started the necks. I'm making 6 of all colors to keep my design options open.

These are two and 3 piece neck blanks gluing up.

Gluing on the headstock can be tricky.

So I will show you how a country woodworker makes it easy. With angled cauls, faced with 120 grit paper. Waxed paper keeps squeeze out from fouling cauls for many uses. My cauls are of white cedar, I recommend a softwood for no marring of head stock.
All by hand, but as you can see, my process is very precise. All of my necks come within about a half a degree of the 14 degree angle I shoot for. Note heavy squeeze out at joint indicating plenty of titebond 3 water proof wood glue. This is a very strong joint and can take all of my weight when clamped to the bench and tested. Even prior to reinforcement with headstock veneer.
Incidently, I am making these necks with a slightly thicker headstock. The Grover locking tuners I have been using are sublime, and require just one wrap, so I want their string holes slightly lower. Building by hand allows for great flexiblity this way, and I am always looking to make things even better.

All in all, I'm off to a great start. Mick at Manlius Guitar is working on my new pickups as we speak. Two more sets of Goats Growl p-90's, a set of Fat Dianes, and his very own Chicago Blues humbuckers for a taste of something new. Still not sure what is going where, though for that matter I don't even know what the finger boards are going to look like yet. To many cool ideas for just four guitars...