Official Luthiers Forum!

Have any of you ever tried setting up a router table for shaping the neck between the heel and head? We have some large round over bits at work and they've got me wondering.

Dave,
I've absolutely heard of someone doing this and stop and drool everytime I get to the woodworking supplies store and see that big $50 3/4" round over bit.

If you have an extra bit, I'd be happy to do some test runs for you and let you know how things turn out.

Check the archives. There might even be something in the tutorials about it.

I know I saw a detailed set up of someone doing exactly what you are thinking of.

Good luck.

Dave

A normal round-over bit in a router table would require the neck to be placed fretboard side up, which would not give clearance for an angled headstock and the heel. You would need a special bit (I have seen them in catalogs) that has sort of an upside down configuration. They are massive bits and remove a lot of wood so I would consider this a fairly risky method.

I have used a bearing guided flush cut trimmer to make the side of necks flush to the fretboard. And this worked well, leaving a very smooth surface. But I leave it to hand tools for the actual neck shaping.

You can check out the "shelix" thread in tutorials for one guy who does it....I know there are others. (Actually Barry, Chas orients them on their side, same as for profileing. But I agree with you... scary!!. Not for the faint of heart!)

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Dave
Milton, ON

I've been working this subject around in my head pretty hard today. I determined thru a scale layout that a round over bit of 7/8" would work. It seems to me some sort of jig to mount the neck in and hold the router in your hands would be the way to go. I'm trying to figure a way I can do this for a neck-thru design with an angled head.The neck's taper is a small challenge. Looks like a case for a number of poplar sacrifice blanks.
I have had to complete some seemingly impossible tasks over the years working in custom cabinetry. I'm not going to shy away from this challenge. I am going to pursue this and I will share what I can work out with the forum.

I use a router mounted into a duplicarver-type setup with the stylus pinned - you could do the same thing on a pin router. 7/8" radius roundover the neck blank is thicknessed first, then attached to a neck taper template. This photo shows me roughing out the back contour and routing to the template edge at the same time - these days, I rout to the template first before roughing the back contour.

After this step, I still shape the shoulders of the neck's back contour by hand - but the roundover bit gets me started.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Hey, Erik, thanks for the photo. I am now formulating a simple jig design for use with a hand held router. It will consist mainly of a stable platform for the router to slide on and a tapered base for the neck to rest on for the gradual change in the neck's thickness, and the base will be tapered for neck width and be used as the roller bearing guide. Make sense?