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POST 6
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The
neck is built at the same time as the sound box but to make
the presentation clearer I have seperated the two processes.
In this post I will start the documentation of the neck construction.
I am using South American Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) for
the neck. I am using a quarter-sawn piece of Mahogany that has
been air curing in my shop for about three years. The board
is 30” long, 3 1/4” wide and 1 “ thick. I cut three small piece
to stack for the heel (pictured below).
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The
peg head end (where the tuning machines go) is cut from the
board on a 15 degree angle and then turned over and glued back
on the board.
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The
neck is pictured below fitted in a jig that will be used to
route the truss rod channel.
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The
Fret board is a piece of Gabon Ebony that I have thicknessed
and cut the scale in. The fret board is then radiused to 16”
and the Mother-of-Pearl dots are added for fret board markers.
In the picture below the fret board has been glued to the neck.
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The
neck is rough shaped with chisels, rasps and files:
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The
roughed out neck is fit to the sound box. The fitting procedure
aligns the neck with the centerline of the sound box, adjusts
the angle that the neck contacts the sound box ( which allows
correct height for strings at the bridge) and aligns face of
heel with the sides to make a tight joint. |
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The
Mother-of-Pearl peg head logo is installed
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The
frets are installed using a press
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That
concludes the 6th Post. In the 7th Post the guitar will be prepared
for finish. Thanks for looking and a special thanks to those
of you who have commented and questioned. Keep the questions
coming; I will answer every one. Email me - mdg
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