Starting out in guitar building - There will be questions!

WezV

it's fairly normal and you don't need to do anything at all.

if you do want to correct for it, a compound radius is not needed.  you just need to leave the board slightly thicker at the body end than the nut

This is easily done if using a radius router jig as you just prop up the nut end of the board slightly when radiusing.  Its harder to do by hand with a sanding block or plane

SteveF

Just checked a couple of my guitars - it's there and I'd never noticed.  I hadn't really realised how small a difference we are talking over the length of a neck (and presumably the flatter the radius, the less difference).  I think for simplicity I will just go with it this time. 

Roland

It this a Fender style flat neck you could consider glueing the board to the neck first. Then cut fret slots, radius, and check fret-slot depth before shaping neck and fretboard together.

SteveF said:

The main thing that jumps out at me is - radiusing the board that is tapered (whether before or after trimming) will result in the board being thicker at the nut end than the body end.  Is this likely to be noticeable?  

The fretboard should end up the same thickness all the way down because you’re removing material until the router or sander reaches the top surface at the centre line all along the neck. The fretboard edge will be slightly deeper at the nut, but not noticeably. I’ll do the arithmetic when I can find my sine tables.

SteveF

Yes, apologies, I meant the edge at the nut as it's closer to the centre of the curve, rather than the total thickness of the board

SteveF

On the ones I've measured (as best I can as it is very fine margins) it seems to be between 1/2mm - 1 mmm

PeteC

I only realised this
myself after guitar no.3 but I’ve done several more and not bothered raising the nut end when radiusing the board.   All have played absolutely fine.  
I must admit the OCD in me wants to see the edge if the board at a uniform thickness all along the side if the neck - maybe on the next build ! 

SteveF

Little bit of progress this evening thicknessing the fretboard.  I decided to do it with my No 7 plane rather than letting loose the router sled as I don't have a flattening bit yet.  Also enjoying practicing with the hand tools. Came out well. 



I then stuck the board to the bag press jig ready for slotting.  Just trying to work out a couple of things - seems to be differing opinions. 

1. How deep should I initially cut the slots? 

2. @TTony is there an easy way to set the height stops on the jig to achieve the desired height that I am not thinking of or is it just a case of trial and error?

TTony

It's been a while since I've used that jig (I test drove it for Darren before he launched it).

IIRC, you have to do it by eye.  Set those height adjustable side guides so that the spine of the saw rests on the top of the guides when the blade is resting on the fretboard, then adjust them downwards by the depth you want the slot. 

Obviously, better to be a mm too deep than a mm not deep enough!

SteveF

Ah I think I saw that thread when searching Mark's forum.  I did wonder if it was the same Tony  

That makes sense.  I was just checking I wasn't being daft and missing anything. 

SteveRobinson

If you want the sides to be consistent height you need to make it slightly thicker at the body end. I put a shim under the nut end when radiusing to lift it relative to the other end.

SteveF

I think that (possibly due to my poor developing planing technique), the board has actually ended up approximately 1/2mm thicker at one end which I had decided to leave rather than attempt to correct(it's still straight/flat in all other dimensions) so hopefully that will remain when I radius it. 

TTony

SteveF said:

Ah I think I saw that thread when searching Mark's forum.  I did wonder if it was the same Tony  

It was doing Mark's course (twice) that got me started on guitar building.

Got a trip back there later this month, though that's really more to see some old and new friends, not making a guitar!

SteveF

TTony said:

SteveF said:

Ah I think I saw that thread when searching Mark's forum.  I did wonder if it was the same Tony  

It was doing Mark's course (twice) that got me started on guitar building.

Got a trip back there later this month, though that's really more to see some old and new friends, not making a guitar!

Twice? Did you have to have a re-show???  

Seriously though, did you do two of the same to make it sink in, or two different styles? 

SteveF

Slots done The jig was brilliant.  A little fiddly to get set up initially, but once I’d got the guides set to the right height and at the sweet spot between binding and allowing the saw to wobble, it was a breeze. Hard to see with the dark wood



Next up was thinning down the neck a little - it was probably a couple of mm too thick, so I tried out the router sled which worked ok and just needed a little cleaning up with a plane. Then I rough cur out the neck with a jigsaw, took it closer to the line with a spindle sander and then used the router table to trim it down to the template. Neck pocket gave a nice tight fit  



Almost looks like a guitar! : D



Next, I tapered the fretboard down roughly with the jigsaw and sander, before gluing it to the neck. 

Feel like I am rapidly approaching the hard bits now 

davros

Looks like you're rapidly approaching the most fun bit - neck carving! Well, for me anyway!

Looking really good, and props for sawing your own fret slots - I've cheated and had the supplier slot them for me.

SteveF

Thank you.  There’s a couple of slight whoopsies in there. When I secured the router plate to the table with the wing nuts I apparently compressed the shims ever so slightly and didn’t notice a very slight lip which caused me to get a slight groove in the neck. You can see it in the last pic above. It’s slight and will mostly be hidden in the neck pocket, but I don’t want to transfer it to the fingerboard when I trim it flush so thinking I maybe need to fill it? 

Secondly, pondering how to do the part of the fingerboard edge that overhangs the end of the neck. If i flush trim with the router it won’t work and will try to follow the neck curve.  I guess I could flush trim the sides up to the end of the neck and then plane down the last part with a small plane? 

davros

Yes that's the way I've done it, flush trim the sides and plane/sand the overhang.

TTony

That's some pretty impressive progress.

And I'd really not worry too much about the fretboard being 0.5mm different one end to the other.  It's the frets being level that's important ...

SteveF said:

TTony said:

It was doing Mark's course (twice) that got me started on guitar building.

Got a trip back there later this month, though that's really more to see some old and new friends, not making a guitar!

Twice? Did you have to have a re-show???  

Seriously though, did you do two of the same to make it sink in, or two different styles? 

The first one was as simple as could be - solid Ash body, ebony FB on a maple neck, couple of HBs.  That one taught me that I actually could make a guitar (my DiY/woodworking skills were completely non-existent).
The second one was SSH config, with a cap.  I did that course (6mths later) to learn a bit more about the how & why of guitar building (ie I paid a bit more attention).
The third one was a laminated thru neck, LP shape, with added GK2 pickup.  That was (IIRC) 4 years later, which I did as a treat-to-self holiday because I'd enjoyed the first two sessions so much.

SteveF

Thanks Tony.  I’m sure it is going to be far from
perfect when it’s done but I’ll be happy if it’s playable and not a wall guitar! I’m learning a tonne. 

BillDL

That is really impressive workmanship, especially with the neck pocket and the fret slots.  The neck pocket fit looks as tight as it could possibly be.  I wish mine had been as accurate.  I went to dry fit a self-made neck to a self-made Tele body and realised the pocket was just over 1mm too wide, so I've had to shim it with veneer both sides.  On the other self-made Strat body that I lacquered, I was double-checking the fit to ensure the screw holes in the neck lined up.  Really tight fit, but when I pulled the neck back out the pocket it squeaked and chipped up some of the clear coat on the front corner of the pocket that isn't covered by the scratchplate.  I've had to drop-fill it with superglue and take the tiniest shaving from the side of the neck pocket that I've ever had to shave out.  Can hardly notice the chip-out now that it's sanded and buffed, but my heart sunk.