I've been planning on a neck building thread for some time now. As you may know Telex has recently started a neck building thread in Tele-Tech. However it appears we are using different woods, tools and techniques. My construction pretty much follows that found in Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock.
I've chosen to use single action truss rods since they are fairly simple to make yourself. However they do require you to rout a channel that varies in depth. For the curve of the channel I used the neck blueprint found on page 49 of the Duchossoir Strat book. In building my channel routing jig I first drew the curve onto poster board then transfered it to 2x lumber. I then cut close to the line using the bandsaw followed by sanding to the line with the Ridgid oscilating belt sander. I then ripped this piece in two and put it together glueing equal width spacers at each end. Here's the completed jig. The step pieces at each end are stops for my plunge router base.
Making a neck in a home workshop is all about centerlines. You need centerlines on your template, jigs and on your neck blank. Here's the centerline mark on the jig
Before starting, I used my neck template to draw the outline, nut line and centerline on my neck blank. I'm using 5/4 hard maple from a local supplier here in Albuquerque. Here's the jig mounted on the neck blank. I routed the channel in several passes. I started at the jig high point with the 1/4 in. straight bit just touching the blank. I have the Porter-Cable micro-adjustable edge guide mounted on the Ridgid plunge router.
For adjusting the edge guide I made this bit from a 1/4 in. bolt by cutting off the head, chucking it into the drill press and using a file to form a point.
