Greetings folks,
I thought I'd post up some photos of this weekends' efforts in my garage/workshop. Having scarf jointed the headstocks, it was time to attack the fretboard, neck taper and neck pockets.
Never having installed a Tune-O-Matic before, I thought I'd spare myself the ease of a flat-mount bridge and go for 2 of them on the same body. This might not sound too tricky, but with each neck being offset by about 2cm, it meant the geometry of the neck angles was difficult for me to arrive at. In principle (and following Crimson guitars plane-away-using-a-wooden-block-at-the-bridge-location method), it should be straightforward. But I hadn't banked on the limited space to be able to plane in-line with the neck axis. Also, when it came to routing the neck pocket, the method I use (following Koch's book, using straight-edged bits of wood to make a 'jig' separately each time a guitar is made) left very little clamping area to ensure no movement in the jig once set up.
Essentially, the neck is placed in position on the body (join @ 16 1/2 fret this time), and a tapered pocket is cut using the neck edge as a template. Hopefully the photo's will make this clearer - I have plenty more if requested.
There was one 'Oh f&%k, sh^t, cr£p, bllx' moment when one piece of the jig moved as a pushed against it with the router running.... Fortunately it will be covered by the pickup ring.
So, the photo's.
Checking truss-rod before routing channel, before neck is tapered
https://i.imgur.com/xCpANa8.jpgTrimming the neck after template-routing away the waste
https://i.imgur.com/ED7Z5Au.jpgSome necks, tapered, roughly trimmed and truss-rods in place. White tape is teflon tape.
https://i.imgur.com/TDHEDSk.jpgCutting fret slots with mitre jig. Anjan is a hard wood. Each board took a little over an hour to cut by hand.
https://i.imgur.com/ewIylVf.jpg3 'boards slotted and markers installed. After doing a couple of markers with a hand drill, I get *much* cleaner holes with a pillar drill, and it's quicker
https://i.imgur.com/lUwOyDH.jpg3rd fretboard glued and clamped. Now spot the mistake.
https://i.imgur.com/GPQgg3D.jpgFretboard trimmed to taper of neck using neck as the template with bottom-bearing cutter.
https://i.imgur.com/LicnGZx.jpgPutting my lovely Wenzloff saw to good use.
https://i.imgur.com/OJLeBSG.jpgPlaning the neck angle into the body. Note the wooden block at the bridge position.
https://i.imgur.com/336K93v.jpgThe following photo's show the jig in place, and the routing progressing. I do hoover up after each pass, and have a full face shield with interchangeable filters.
https://i.imgur.com/B3PYiWu.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/Kbs3kis.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/Pa7xpy3.jpgAnd the end result so far
https://i.imgur.com/XME6OzK.jpgDespite the issues, both fretboards are *very* nearly co-planar along their length.
Comments, questions, criticisms all welcome
![:) :)](/plugins/EmojiExtender/emoji/fb/1.gif)
Adam