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http://luthierssoundstage.com/FeaturedL ... erNbr=0003
(See video entitled "German Guitars-Archtop Anatomy)
Greg Germans UV lacquer was mentioned in a post the other day.
Wondering if you guys might have watched the above video. Greg has a unique approach to machining the neck as shown near the end of the video. It's basically cutting the two neck halves from the same piece of stock and then "bookmatching" them.
He also shows his fanned fret seven string in the video which is quite interesting.
Nelson

That reminds me of what Leo Fender was doing at G&L. If I remember correctly, they were making the neck in two pieces so they could put a truss rod in a maple neck without putting a 'skunk stripe' in it. I think they were sawing a solid blank in half rather than what GG is doing, though.

I wonder why he decided to go that way with his machining? The single setup is definitely an advantage, though the fixturing would have to be specific to that exact neck. I think I can guess a couple other things about his process, as well, considering the issues one would need to address with that setup (small amount of table contact with blank, joining the halves of the neck afterward)

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Sounds interesting Nelson, do you have the url or link?

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

He did post the link. You can't link directly to the video, you need to click on it on the page he linked to.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Thanks Bob...if only I could learn to read...

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Dave--Sure hope that's photoshop on your avatar!
I did email Greg and asked him to chime in here.
Bet he's got a lot to offer.
Nelson

great i visited your link but couldn't view as I need to download some software first? Anyway...that photo is of a typical spider bite here in Florida. A Brown Recluse Spider. The're big eh...no... actually their bite causes the flesh to rot...and the result is all too often what is shown in the picture. Nasty little suckers for sure...

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Howdy.
I've tried several methods of cutting out necks, but I settled on this one for several reasons.
-I prefer the stability of a two-piece neck. They seem to resist twisting. I can't back that up with objective tests, but I've seen plenty of twisted one-piece necks in the repair work that I do (To be fair, many of them have been just poorly chosen neck blanks on factory guitars.)
-Simplicity: I just need three dowels for registration. I tape down a half-thickness blank and route the truss rod groove along with three registration holes, then flip it and carve the outside to within 0.020"
I leave 1" x 1/8" tabs along the periphery to keep the neck attached to the excess during the cutout. After I band saw the halves free, the tabs serve as spring clamp surfaces.
The hold-down strategy for an entire neck ends up being much more elaborate, although that method has plenty of its own benefits, like putting a completed neck back on the CNC table for inlay or fret trimming.

Cheers,
-gg
http://www.germanguitars.com

The man himself showing up certainly clears things up.

So, due to the tabs, I assume you're not using any vacuum in your machining? I was wondering about the truss slot, but machining it along with the locating holes makes a lot of sense. I pre-laminate all my neck blanks as flat stock (though I cut out the laminates close to shape first to make better use of stock). I machine necks more or less the Taylor way. I've got vacuum fixtures up the wazoo here, though.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I don't use vacuum fixtures at present.
I like the idea of minimal jigging so that custom work isn't a bother.

Cheers,
-gg

Hmm, opposite approaches for the same reason

I make all my necks, fretboards, bridges, headplates, and inlays on the same four fixtures. One more fixture for the pinless bridges, and the last one I use for 'random shaped big objects' like tops, backs, electric bodies, etc. And they're all custom work. Designing non-part-specific fixturing is a whole other line, though.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Greg--Hope you don't mind me posting this jpg off your website.
It is totally awesome. What modeling package are you using?
Nelson

That was modeled and rendered with 3DS Max.
(I used to teach 3D modeling and animation)

Now I primarily use Vector CAD/CAM.

-gg

You might want to take a look at Peavey's patent on the bi-(something or other) neck. Don't know if they might find you in violation, but it's something to check into...

http://www.google.com/patents?id=P-c4AA ... 08#PPP1,M1
Rick--Is this the patent? Looks like it's expired.
Nelson

Quite expired indeed! Yes, that was the one. I think they held back from promoting it 'til the patent was at least half-way done with which made me think the patent was much more recent.

Hey, it's in the public domain now...

Although it does look similar, the very specific carving method described in the patent is different from mine in several ways. Encapsulating a truss rod seems to be the reason that they carved it that way. My reading of it is that that's the unique element which would call for a patent.
I use a U-channel truss rod from LMI, which I install after the glue-up, as per normal. I don't use the dowels, either.
My secondary reasoning for carving the two halves is to achieve as many close-to-final surfaces as possible in one go. It gives me a lot of trustworthy landmarks to work with when I'm finishing the shaping by hand.
-gg