Bit of Work in my "Shop" Yesterday

[Handfoolery]

Hi,

I suck at telling a story, but I promise I'll try to get better.

Instead I thought I'd just post a few gratuitous pictures of some recent work/progress on an instrument build.

Specifically, carving the back braces.

Instrument is Cedar top over spalted maple.

 

 

 

[lew]

Love the outdoor shop!  Natural light and fresh air- what could be better!

[Handfoolery]

Thanks, Lew!

Me, too, although I'm at the mercy of nature when it comes to exposure for photography/videography.

By the way, anyone that wants to follow the progress of this build can view it or anything else I build on my Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/@HandToolWoodGuy

 

[Grandpadave52]

I too love the outdoor shop. Reminds me of mine. Enjoy watching someone perform tedious work with lots of patience.

[Handfoolery]

3 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I too love the outdoor shop. Reminds me of mine. Enjoy watching someone perform tedious work with lots of patience.

I dearly love building guitars.

Thanks.

[Gunny]

Enjoyed the videos on YT.   Beautiful work.

[Handfoolery]

Thanks, Gunny! Much appreciated.

[Handfoolery]

Well, I thought I'd bring this thread back up. Weather is being nice, so I did some work on this instrument today. Hopefully warm weather will continue and I can keep this build up. It is now a build thread.

Goal for today was to thickness the headstock. I will be putting a spalted maple headplate on the front and probably just a plain maple one on the back, although that might change, because i have a bit more spalted maple left, just trying to decide if I want to use it for this.

So I put the neck blank in the vise and grab my trusty old friend.

 

 

 

Checking the intersection of headstock and neck blank for square.

 

[Handfoolery]

Once the headstock was thicknessed I move on to the edges, to clean them up from where the scarf joint was glued up.

 

 

Squaring them up.

 

 

 

[Handfoolery]

After thicknessing the headstock I end up with it longer than needed. I do this because it moves the line of the nut further down on the neck blank, and gives me a little bit of grace in thickness under the truss rod nut when I rout that area, which always makes me nervous.

So I cut that to proper length.

 

 

 

 

[Handfoolery]

Now it's time to mark the neck blank length.

 

 

And cut that to length.

 

[Handfoolery]

 

 

That's all for today. Next week is looking decent, so hopefully there will be more to come on this build thread.

Thanks for looking, and see ya next time.

[Grandpadave52]

Some pretty shavings Mike. Following along.

[Handfoolery]

9 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Some pretty shavings Mike. Following along.

Thanks, Gramps!

Was great to be able to work on a guitar again.

 

[DuckSoup]

Looking forward to following along with the build.

[Handfoolery]

Thank you. I'm looking forward to completion of this build.

[John Morris]

Likewise, great build topic. Keep it up and I admire anyone who can do the fine work of instrument building. Can't wait to see the final product! And how it sounds!

[Handfoolery]

Time to rout the truss rod channel. This is a one way rod that will bend with a back bow when tightened, thus straightening the neck against the pull of the strings. This allows some adjustment over time and for preferred playing styles. They make two way rods that will adjust for back bow or forward bow, but I do not like them because they require a deeper slot, and I prefer a thinner neck profile.

 

 

This is done in successive passes, taking about 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch at a time. The bit is only 3/16" diameter. It will snap if I take too big of a bite.

 

 

I test fit the rod until I get to depth. I want it to fit very snug.

 

 

The adjustment end of the rod, which I put at the nut end of the neck, requires a 1/4" width, and a slightly deeper rout because of how the truss rod is made.

[Handfoolery]

This is routed in the same way, but you can't really see it happening. Sorry.

 

 

Until it fits flush with the top of the neck blank.

 

[Handfoolery]

Now if you remember, I cut the neck blank to length, and had an "offcut".

I now place it on my bench hook, and start cutting the segments to create a stacked heel.

 

 

 

I use a stacked heel and a scarf joint for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's easier to find a long 7/8" thick piece of hardwood than it is a 3" thick beam. And secondly, when a neck blank is cut out of a larger piece there is a lot of waste left behind.

I "rinse and repeat" the process and cut enough blocks to create a 4" deep heel.