Building an Electric Guitar Neck, Easiest Way to Start?

Simon_M

Hi. 

Ive been thinking about building my first electric guitar and want to make a start in the next few weeks (few other projects to finish first).

So, I’m not worried about the body at all: I earn my money as an electrician but was a general builder and handyman type for a while before that. I know my way around drills, saws and routers and comfortable with the hardware and electrics etc no problem.

The neck concerns me a little more. A neck is more a piece of art than the body on an electric guitar and, considering I don’t have a personal preference for neck sizes and shapes (I play all sorts) I’m not sure where to start. To make it simple, I was going to essentially reproduce the sizing and shape of a Les Paul Junior neck as that will match the type of body I intend to build. 

My my question is this:

Should I buy a ready made neck (or partially constructed) and do the finishing myself to simplify the process and make the build more enjoyable (I can always make another one day when I’m more experienced)?

If so, who should I talk to about this? I’m after quality but willing to do the finishing myself.

Would anyone recommend doing parts of the neck build myself? Getting the curve of the neck right and the fingerboard radius concerns me more than shaping a headstock, drilling tuner holes, cutting and fitting a nut, filing fret edges etc...

Please feel free to recommend other things I may not have though of too and ask other questions as I haven’t any firm plans yet and haven’t committed to one method.

Thank you!!”

AustrianJohn

As a hobby builder I've built a few necks, and also built a few guitars with pre-built necks. Every time I build a neck myself I wonder why I'm doing it. If you really want to be able to say that you've built the guitar yourself - have a go, but for your first guitar buying one might work better.

With the right tools it's not that difficult. Getting the fingerboard radius right is easy with a radius block.

I haven't had the pleasure myself, but necks from @GSPBASSES are highly regarded on here.

WezV

Buying a pre-slotted and radiused board will save a lot of the tool costs and difficult processes.  

The rest is fairly straight forward, and carving a neck can be very rewarding. 

Simon_M

Thanks for the replies so far! I was thinking a pre made fretboard even if I did carve the neck myself. I’m still not sure how easy carving the neck would be - seems quite challenging to get right and plenty of opportunity to mess it up!

OilCityPickups

WezV said:

Buying a pre-slotted and radiused board will save a lot of the tool costs and difficult processes.  

The rest is fairly straight forward, and carving a neck can be very rewarding. 

This is the way I'd go.
30+ years ago I stupidly started out by building a 'totally from scratch' Les Paul neck ... bound, with an ebony board. Getting the fret slots/radius right nearly caused me to loose interest and give up. I got it done in the end, but it was more torture than pleasure.
But a pre slotted/radiused board, a nice Fender style neck blank, a drop in truss rod, and have fun rather than purgatory!
You can always go a bit further on your next project ... and there will be a next, as it's addictive.
Carving a neck isn't too difficult if you use templates to check the neck profile at every stage. I used to do mine by eye and spokeshave ... using a Surform rasp and sandpaper to get the final way. 

A very well known and respected luthier I know carves all his necks by hand and eye ... largely in his kitchen on an old Black and Decker Workmate bench!

WezV

yes, choosing a drop in truss rod makes life much simpler.   You just need to be able to route a straight channel, easily done using the side of a neck blank and a parallel guide, as long as you do it before cutting the neck taper.

my first neck went very well.   I think it was the 3rd when i got cocky that had issues (i carved through to the rod).

If you get all your tapers and thicknessing done first then carving the neck is a really simple process and as much as we talk about it, its easier just to do it..

 I do sometimes start with facets as a guide when copying a neck profile... otherwise i just carve from feel

The ones i do by feel are always a bit bigger because that's my preference.


thiese show the facet approach
http://routenguitars.com/2011/07/final-shaping-of-the-neck/
http://offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=91307

you start with a  pair of cross section drawing like this, one for the nut end and one for the body end.  By the time you have done 6 facets you are most of the way there.    


In that example, the facets are all at midway points.  It gives a nice round profile. 

Simon_M

Fantastic advice so far. Thank you very much.

So next question: where might I buy a ready cut and radiused fretboard and a quality neck blank?

Sporky

David Dyke. 

Simon_M

Sporky said:

David Duke. 

I'm assuming this isn't the well known white supremacist I find when I google that name?

WezV

David Dyke

Simon_M

WezV said:

David Dyke

That works a lot better. Thanks!

Sporky

Oops.

Sorry chief!

vale

WezV said:

Buying a pre-slotted and radiused board will save a lot of the tool costs and difficult processes.  

The rest is fairly straight forward, and carving a neck can be very rewarding.

 @WezV ;; are there any places that do these off the peg that you would recommend?

WezV said:

yes, choosing a drop in truss rod makes life much simpler. You just need to be able to route a straight channel, easily done using the side of a neck blank and a parallel guide, as long as you do it before cutting the neck taper.
(edited)

these show the facet approach
http://routenguitars.com/2011/07/final-shaping-of-the-neck/
http://offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=91307

the truss rod in the offsetguitars link you give (great link btw) looks strange to me. it seems to be covered-enclosed by a kind of metal channel, whereas all other truss rod diy demos i have seen so far show a wooden fillet banged in over the bare rod.
is this metal channel thing a standard thing?

http://s3.vandahm.com/forums/jaguar/truss-rod-channel-02.jpg

@Simon_M i hope you don't mind my asking questions in this thread, but maybe these things of interest to you.
it's a neat thread and the neck seems by far the most daunting and mysterious bit of building to me too.

WezV

The U channel rod is fairly standard, but I wouldn’t recommend them as they are quite wide and deep.  They are easy though as you just need a 1/2” straight router bit to cut the channel 

I prefer to go with a 1/4” wide dual rod.  Which just need a 1/4” channel and a bit of extra space for the adjuster

 neither of those need a filler.  The Amy noun channel one can be glued in, but doesn’t need to be.  The dual rods just sit in the channel

a single curved or angled  rod with a wooden fillet is traditional... but not the easiest place to start

vale

thanks @WezV ;;; i've only seen videos of the traditional way, which makes it seem (shows it to be) a pretty complex process not for the feint-hearted. but these dual rod and channel rods are totally new to me. will give them some investigation time over weekend.

would you say one was better than the other if you are thinking about as shallow as possible neck? maybe the channel one is a bit bulkier. or maybe the metal channel would strengthen a slim neck, so work better.

i found another thread here http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/136884/where-to-buy-slotted-fretboards
and visited this site recommended there https://guitarmaking.co.uk/product/fretboard-premade-electric-guitar/
for a standard 25.5 x 12 radius in rosewood it's £30 plus p&p. is that a bargain or expensive? i have no idea.

fretting still seems super scary (eg easy to seriously f up) but it's good to discover that you can cheat the fretboard a bit, to get around all that complicated measuring and hard sanding.

i still generally feel a long way off attempting this (so will watch this thread and Simon_M's progress carefully), but knowing that fretboard truss rod stuff has definitely chipped away at my reistance barrier a bit more, which is something. it's a shawshank thing.

WezV

I don’t like the aluminium channel ones. I used them on my first 3 guitars and carved through to the rod in the 3rd one one I got cocky.  

Much prefer the dual rod design, although I tend to look for the shallower ones.  Stew Mac hot rods are high quality, but too deep.

£30 slotted and radiused isn’t bad.  Rosewood prices are all over the place at the mo.  You save s lot doing the work yourself, but need to fork out for the tools to do it.

Sham61

I made my first ever neck this year following Mark Bailey's course. I bought  a pre-slotted rosewood board off him and a aluminium channel truss rod. So far it has gone ok. Made a few mistakes along the way but the guitar is nearly finished.I used the facet method to carve the neck which was not too difficult if you take your time. I took it down to thickness then did the profile by feel as I dont have a favourite. I used various wood rasps, sureform, cabinet scraper and sandpaper.