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Learning how to build a neck has been mostly a trial and error process for me, but I've developed a method that seems to work and has yielded good results. Maybe some of these ideas will be helpful to others, so here goes. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

First, I start with a blank, made up from laminated flat-sawn boards of approximately ¾” thickness so as to create a "quarter-sawn" neck. I size my boards, glue them up, then joint two adjacent faces of the blank to assure two square sides. I then run the sides opposite to the two jointed sides through the planer, creating a blank that is perfectly square on all four corners. I then mark the nut position and body join position on the quarter sawn face and draw out my neck profile on the flat-grain side of the blank. I include the profile of the tenon I will eventually cut to join the neck (not shown in this picture, because it runs off to the left):


I go ahead and route my truss-rod channel at this point, using a home-made edge guide jig on my plunge router. Sorry, no pics of the jig or of the process, but here is the finished blank with the channel cut. Note this blank also has the tenon cut in its finished form, but I cut the channel before cutting the tenon:


Because I generally build fixed-neck guitars with angled necks, I need to fix an angle in the neck. I choose to put my angle on the tenon rather than doing a square tenon with the angle cut into the body. I cut all my angles on the table saw. This jig is indispensible for cutting accurate angles:


I use a wedge to ensure that all the angles are the same and (as you will soon see) to assure the angles transfer to another jig I use to trim the tenons and get everything right. Here is my 4 ½ degree wedge, made from three thicknesses of 1/2" plywood. I make the wedge on the above jig:

I use the wedge to cut the end of the neck tenon to the proper length and also to the proper end angle, then I cut the three angles I need to form the tenon shoulders. Note that I set up a stop-block on my fence to ensure the cuts on the tenon are at exactly the same place. This neck blank already has the tenon formed completely, so I hope you all can get the idea:

Set the blade to the proper height to form a shoulder that will allow for a tenon of the correct thickness. First shoulder cut:

Flip the wedge and the blank and make the opposite shoulder cut:


Bottom shoulder cut made with the wedge under the blank and the blade set at the proper height to ensure the tenon is cut to the proper depth:


I then “rough out” the shoulders and lower cutaway portion of the tenon on my band saw. Sorry, no pics of this process, but I think if you look at the finished tenon as it is shown in the above pics you can see what I mean. Keep in mind I don’t try to get the tenon exact on the band saw and I purposely leave it thicker and deeper than it will need to be. I will show you how I get the tenon to exact size in my next post.

Part two--my tenon jig:

Getting the tennon to the exact size is a tricky task that requires a couple of simple but effective jigs and a plunge router equipped with a flush trimming pattern bit.

Before cutting the tenon, cut the mortise (or pocket) in the body. It is much easier to “sneak up” on your correct tenon size if you fit the “pole to the hole.” Here is my body, with the pocket cut, lying beside the jig I use to route my pockets:

The jig I use for this next task is very simple, and consists of a plywood base and single side glued and otherwise affixed to the base at exactly a right angle. I also have another side of equal size to the affixed side cut and ready to go. The angle I used to cut the tenon shoulders is also part of the process. Here’s what it looks like:


I cut my tenon width first. Place the blank in the jig, sandwiched between the fixed side and the free side, clamp together to hold everything snug. First cut with one side down and then flip to cut the other side. Set the router depth carefully, just short of the depth the bit will eventually need to be to create a perfectly square and properly sized tenon. Create a flat face on each side of the tenon, and then increase the depth of the bit gradually, first one side and then the other.

Don’t go too fast or set too deeply. Remember, the idea is to “sneak up” on the exact width of the tenon. This may take several cuts, and you will need to lower the router depth of cut just a tad on each cut until you get the tenon to the exact width it needs to be to snugly fit the pocket. Here’s a couple of pics to give you all the idea:

Now cutting the other side:


Once the tenon is the correct width, I use the same jig with the wedge to get the depth to its finished dimension. Here’s how it is set up:


Sandwich the neck blank in between the fixed and unfixed faces of the jig with the wedge under the blank as shown above, then clamp tight. Use the router on top of the jig, again, to “sneak up” on the correct tenon depth. Go slowly and try the tenon in the body pocket until you get the neck set in at the correct depth.


Here’s the blank, tenon finished, with its mating body ready to be fitted. Note that the ends of the tenon have been rounded slightly on a sander to match the radiused corners of the pocket:


Once cut, the neck blank should fit like so:

Fitting the Neck to the Body and Rough-Cutting the Profile:
Once the tenon is properly angled and then sized, I go ahead and make the angle of my body match up to the angle of the neck so that the fretboard, when glued onto the neck, will lie flat on the body. Again, a simple jig, pattern bit, and plunge router is my method of accomplishing this.

I start by running a screw into the neck tenon in order to hold it firmly in the neck pocket of the body. I then clamp a 1 ½” wide plywood guide strip down the center of the neck pocket and neck blank. Here’s the setup:


Here is a little closer look. You can see that the tenon is even with the body where the neck PUP cavity will be and then drops below the body as the tenon exits the body.


I run the router across the top of the plywood guide strip, first one side, then the other, taking slightly deeper cuts until the bit just touches the guitar body top at the end of the tenon. The base rests on the strip and the bearing of the bit rides against the side. When finished, it looks like this (note the screw in the tenon used to hold the neck in place):


Now I can rough out the rest of the neck. I use a table saw jig to cut the face of the headstock so that the angle is perfect and the face is flat. It’s a simple jig, consisting of a small piece of plywood with a runner for the miter-gauge slot. The blank is affixed to the top of the jig with two screws, run up through the back-side of the jig and placed into a part of the neck blank that will eventually be cut away.


Next, I rough out the rest of the neck on the bandsaw being careful to cut just outside the profile lines I drew on the side of the blank. I will use the router and an an oscillating spindle sander later to tidy up the backside of the neck and get it down to the final thickness profile:


Here’s the blank, inserted once again into the body. Notice, I have also carved the body by the time this picture was taken.


Here’s one more shot of the rough finished blank with the headstock profile jig I will eventually use lying beside the blank. I will need to glue on some strips to widen the headstock blank in order to make the complete profile of the finished headstock fit.

Thanks for spending the time to post this!
Nice work.

Very nice work . Love the table saw jig. You and I do several steps the same way , little diffrent set ups but same basic approach. I do my tennon work on the table saw like you do ( u have better jig ) and set my angle in the neck. Thanks for the toot.

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Nice tutorial! I prefer to put an angle in the top, and then rout the mortise, which puts the angle in the mortise, not the neck tenon. But it's really cool to see a different process. Shows other options for doing things, and I'll definitely take a lot away from this for future use.
Thanks for posting.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Alan: I appreciate the thanks. It was fun to do and actually allows me to think through my process. I will update the thread when I finish out the neck.

Wud: I used to do all my tenon work on the table saw with a dado set, but I get smoother and tighter fitting tenons by using the jig set-up and router. Plus, it was impossible to get the dado high enough to do the bottom of the tenon. My table saw jig was home-made using a few store-bought parts. It is great for cutting really accurate picture frame miters or miters for multiple sided projects too.

Mike: I think most people do it the way you do. I have seen some jigs set up for cutting the angle in the mortise and on the top, but never have I used one. Not sure if one method is better than the other. Your method surely works very well. Like I said, I just kinda figured out neck building on my own, and being a former cabinet builder, I used the tecniques I was used to using.

There are a thousand ways to skin a cat. Who's to say one person's way is best? That's one of the great things about guitar building. Each person brings his own ways of doing things into the picture. The end result is what counts most, not how you get there.
Besides, if everyone did everything alike it would be a really boring world.
I like watching other builders' approach to certain parts of building. I try to learn from everyone. I can guarantee you I'll take some of the methods you've used here, and apply it to some other part of building that will make it easier for me to do something.
That's the beauty of this forum and others like it. We can learn from each other, and take what works for us. In the end, everyone benefits, and the guitars(hopefully) get better.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Finishing the Neck's Back and Tapering
I finally got a chance to work on the guitar a little more this past weekend, so here’s another installment to my neck-building thread. I will concentrate on getting the neck and headstock properly “thicknessed” and cutting out the taper.

My trusty neck building jig is again called into service. I start by setting the bit to cut the thickness of the headstock. I use a block of wood in the jig that is slightly narrower that the neck blank and thick enough to raise the blank to where the bit will reach it when the router is setting on top of the sides (rails). Here’s how I set up the thickness, using a scrap of ½” set-up stock to reference the bit:


Now I put my neck blank in the jig, with the face of the headstock (which I cut previously on my table saw using the sled) down on the block of wood. I use the waste from the headstock cut as a wedge to help support the blank with the face perfectly flat on the wooden block:


I then sandwich the headstock between the two jig sides and clamp in place. The clamps hold the blank down tight between the sides (rails) and I ride the router on the top rails lowering my bit until it reaches the height I set using my set-up block. This creates a perfectly even headstock of the exact thickness needed. I have found that the tolerances on the machine heads is very small—too thick a headstock, and the threaded inserts won’t bite, too thin, and the inserts have to be shimmed. Don’t forget to add in the thickness of your overlay (if you plan on using one) when you are setting up for the thickness.


Now for the process of “thicknessing” the neck blank. My blanks are about ¾” at the 12th fret position and then taper down about 3/32” to about 21/32” total thickness at the first fret. I use a set-up block of ¾” to set the bit depth and will use a 3/32” bit to raise the nut end of the blank off the block.


The bit goes under the nut end of the blank and the other end of the blank rests on the block: (Sorry this pic is a little out of focus, but you can see the bit sticking out from under the neck blank)


I then sandwich the blank in the jig and let the router ride the rails. The drill bit inserted under the nut will make my finished thickness there the width of the bit (3/32”) less than at the end of the neck that joins the body.


I use a tapering jig to taper my neck from nut to join.


I fix the jig to the face of the neck with two screws and then use a flush trim router bit on my router table to trim each edge.


The neck blank is about ready for finishing. I still need to glue on some extra width to the headstock, cut the headstock shape, and round-over the back of the neck. Will get to that next weekend.

Very cool man - thanks for taking the time to show your process of things - I see your in Alachua - right up the road (I-75) from Tampa! Keep up the great posts this is awesome!

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I too appreciate seeing how this is done. I've not build a solidbody from scratch yet (just a couple of partscasters).

Seeing this is encouraging and inspiring.

Thanks!

_________________
Jim Hansen

Virgil: Yep, I'm from Alachua. I don't think there are many builders in Florida. I've corresponded with one other cat who lives in Tampa, but haven't noted very many other Floridiots on this and other building fourms.

Virgil and Jim: As for the posts, just think of 'em as my contribution to the community. I hope they are useful to all (rookies and pros). Like I said, I came to guitar building as an extension of my "furniture making" hobby, and I am pretty much self-taught (if you can call using books and internet forums as a form of "self-learning"). As you might deduce, I am a fan of using "jigs" for different tasks as I think they increase accuracy and certainly allow for better repeatability.

My "neck building jig" is a good example of my proclivity to use jigs. It is such a simple jig, but it allows me to perform so many tasks related to building a neck in a very accurate manner. I do want to again note that most of the pictures are taken AFTER I have finished the tasks I am demonstrating, so it takes some "imagination" to see the process (I'm not real good at stopping what I am doing to take pictures during the process, unfortunately). Everyone, please ask questions if something is unclear. Keep in mind, also, that having a good square neck blank is key to accuracy and success in using the jig.

Very cool - I have been building all sorts of jigs over the past few months to help "standardize" my building process - this morning I'm tweaking a shooting board for my fret slotting saw/template on the table saw - initial time investments should surely pay off in the long run - welcome to the wacky world of "streamlining" right?

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Sorry, Filippo. I see it seems to be a tradition here to do so. I have updated my profile and will include my first name at the bottom of the posts from now on. Thanks for pointing it out. It’s a nice tradition that should be honored.


OK, let me see if I can expound on this a bit (if I am reading the comment correctly). Like I said, I have always made a habit of cutting my mortise (neck pocket) first. I want my tenon to be “roughed out” so that it is thicker than will be needed when finished. I call it “sneaking up” on the final size, but what it amounts to is gradually lowering the bit, a tiny (sometimes only thousands of an inch) amount each time, until the tenon fits the pocket snugly. Two things that may not be obvious but worth considering: 1) To keep the tenon exactly centered in the pocket, one must remove material from both sides every time the bit is lowered. (That is, cut one side, flip and cut the other before checking fit.) 2) Because the cuts are made on each face of the tenon, the amount one lowers the bit on each cut is doubled in its effect on eventual tenon width. Cut carefully. If you take off too much you will have to shim the tenon.



I think I understand what you are saying, and, I guess, you are correct. That is, the entire “mating surface” of the tenon shoulders need not be in contact with the body—only the outer edge of the shoulders, which could be (new luthier term for me) “flossed” so that the joint appears tight. The way I do it, however, assures that the entire shoulder end-grain of the tenon rests on the flat part end-grain of the body at the neck join. While end-grain to end-grain glue surfaces do not give a great deal of strength, I do think this method assures a stronger join in the end and seems to me to offer a very sturdy neck join. The tight fit is obtained by using the wedge and stop block on my sled. The angle is kept the same on all three shoulders and the shoulders are all kept at the same point by butting the end of the tenon to the stop-block before cutting the shoulder. I still sometimes have to “floss” a little bit, but most of my joins are nearly air-tight, if I am careful.


Well, I do end up carving the rest of the body, so the top is not “flat.” But you are correct. I am using a 4 ½ degree angle on this build to accommodate installation of a tune-o-matic bridge, although I have done no-angle, set-in necks where I simply raise the neck in the pocket to achieve correct string alignment with the saddles and manageable action. When there is no angle, I do not “route down” the body at the neck join and usually I will need to “shim” the underside of the fingerboard, where it passes over the body, to eliminate the gap which would otherwise be evident because of the narrower tenon.


Yes, you probably could accomplish it this way; although you would have to (if I understand you correctly and you use a wedge to set your angle) flip your stop-block 180 degrees on each cut to maintain contact with the square headstock. To me, that might introduce some error in the process once you move your stop block to flip it. Also, you will have to cut the bottom shoulder of the tenon, and I can’t quite picture how to do that if the stop block was on the headstock end.

I developed the method shown in my posts because it allows me to set up my sled, block, etc. just once to make all three shoulder cuts. My first cut, actually, is to cut the butt-end of the tenon to (in this case) 4 ½ degrees. This cut ensures that the stop block on my saw fence remains squarely in contact with the tenon butt for setting the shoulder depth on all three cuts. The wedge assures the exact same angle on each cut (no errors in setting angles) and allows the same angle used on the table saw to be transferred to the jig. The only “set-up” I have to change is the height of my blade when I move from cutting the two side shoulders to cutting the bottom shoulder.



Never used a Myka jig, although I am familiar with this fixture and how it is used, and I think you are correct in that using it in the manner you describe would allow the tenon to be cut almost exactly to fit the pocket in one step. I would agree, however, that we often find out that our assumptions are not always correct, and a tiny error on cutting a tenon leads to a very loose fit and the necessity to shim.

As I said before, for “flush neck” constructions, I cut the tenon using my described method, but I do not put any angle on the tenon bottom or shoulders. In all instances, I have actually gotten pretty quick at using the jig and “sneak up” method to get my tenon fitted pretty quickly and accurately, and, as you say, you do not have the disadvantage of removing the body from the jig to test the fit. Removing the neck blank from my jig setup does not affect the setup tolerances. As long as nothing (sawdust, for instance) is allowed to get under the blank when it is removed for testing the fit, everything remains the same until you lower the bit a tad for the next cut.

Thanks again for the comments and complements. I enjoy the exercise of thinking about the process and helping others who may benefit from the process.

Everett

Is there a trick to viewing the pictures on this thread? They don't show up on my computer even when logged in. It seems like a very informative one and I'd love to follow along with the pictures. What gives?

David

Not sure why you can't see 'em David. They are linked to the site from Photobucket. Do you have somthing (firewall) set to block Photobucket? Also, might want to check your User Control Panel settings (access on upper right of the page), Make sure you are set to display images. Beyond that, might need to contact a site admin.

Thanks,
Everett

Well, I don’t cut, flip, adjust, cut. Here is the order: I cut one side, cut the other, check fit, THEN adjust if necessary. Cutting BOTH sides with the SAME adjustment assures the tenon remains centered on the neck blank.

I have a micro adjust on my PC router, but I rarely use it. I usually get everything close using the adjustable stop bar to set depth of cut. Then, I use a set of feeler gauges to ease the bit down. After each cutting/fitting series (cut, cut, check fit), I leave the router bottomed out on the stop bar, loosen the set-knob on the bar, stick one of my trusty feeler gauges under the bar, then retighten the stop-knob. This leaves a gap between the adjustable stop-bar and the stop and allows me to lower the router the thickness of the feeler guage. I then make another cut and test the fit. As I get close to getting the tenon to fit into the pocket, I use thinner gauges.

Here is an article that describes exactly my method of setting depth of cut:
http://www.newwoodworker.com/stplngrtr.html


Yes, thanks for the tip. I don’t always get it perfect and sometimes have to, as you say, “floss.” I’ve been trying to floss the whole face, so I am sure your method is easier and, as you say, probably doesn’t weaken the joint a bit.


Hmmm, maybe I am missing what you were saying in your original statement. My point is that if the stop block is placed on the headstock end (which is cut square), the headstock end of the blank will be (when the wedge is inserted) pulled back from 90 degrees of the jig fence for one shoulder cut and pushed forward on the other cut. You might see what I mean on these two pics (although the headstock end is not shown as it is off the left side of the picture):



If the stop-block was placed on the headstock end, it would be tilted 94 ½ degrees right of the sled fence on one cut and then 94 ½ degrees left on the second cut in order to maintain square contact with the headstock end. Hope I am not being confusing here.

Thanks again for the comments,
Everett

I see it loud and clear from my home computer. I was checking from work earlier(on a break of course...) and it just showed nothing. Usually if the filters at work are catching something it will show a frame wear the blocked item is with the words blocked content in it. This just showed up as paragraphs and nothing else. Weird.

Great thread btw. Lots of good info!

David

The [img] tags won't display the error message unless it's an actual image file. That's why you don't see anything when the image is blocked.

_________________
Jim Hansen

More Progress:Got a little shop time in this past weekend. I made a little more progress on the neck, although I am at a point where I’m also working on the body, so I only have a few installments to add to this thread on neck building.

Here is the blank with two added pieced glued either side of the head stock. My headstock design is wider than the blank, so I needed some more width. Only trick to this is I try to match the grain and grain orientation to the blank so that the glued-on “ears” blend in:


Once the “ears” are glued on and set up (at least 24 hours later) I sand the face and back of the “ears” flat with the rest of the headstock. Then I draw on the shape of the headstock template, rough out the headstock shape on the bandsaw, and then attach the headstock template being careful to center it on the headstock. I screw the template onto the face of the headstock using screws placed in the spots where the tuning machines will be mounted.


A little work on the router table with the pattern bit tidies things up.


Here it is all cleaned up with the template removed:


At this point I also begin work on the fretboard. Being a “weekend builder” I have always used pre-slotted boards. They cost a few bucks more, but I get peace of mind knowing that the frets are accurately placed. I use a jig to hold my board steady and to create a level platform for my Dremmel.


I’m cutting diamonds in this case, and I start by marking my outline with a razor knife. I then use a chisel to deepen the cut around each border. Then, I use my Dremmel with my home-made base and a downcut bit to do the inlay cavities.


OK. That’s it for this week. I’ll try to finish the fretboard next week and get it glued on and fretted.