Making a tele style headstock

[matthew bryan]

Hello all,
I have built one neck from scratch but it was a very different design than that of a normal Gibson (angled scarf joint), or Fender (one piece neck). It was a hybrid type of neck which started out like a fender neck but had a large hole in the middle...I willl try to find a picture but for visual reference see MJ Guitars headstock and you will get the idea.

Anyway to the point...I am going to make another neck that has a seperate fret board and no angled neck. The reason the title says tele style as I do not know what else to call it. It will be a 6x6 tuner style headstock but build like a fender with a curved transition from the top of the fret board to the top of the headstock.

I would like to share my procedure that I am going to use and check it against the experts here if you do not mind. I do not have a band saw but have, router (and table), table saw, drill press, jig saw. The procedure is as follows:

1. attach fret board and profile neck to correct profile.....keep everything in the square.
2. drill tuner holes
3. using a jig, take the neck and attach it to where the neck is upside down (bear with me now...no laughing)...so make a three sided jig (two sides and a top) or use some channel aluminum that is taller than the neck is thick and clamp the neck to where the flat bottom of the neck is attched to the underside of the channel iron. Run this on my router table to mill the headstock to correct thickness.....I hope I am explaining this correctly to you.
4. once milled to correct thickness...take the neck and clamp to a piece of angle aluminum or make a 90 degree jig ....make sure the center line of the neck is parallel to the drill press table and with a drum sand attachment, sand the transition area to the correct shape and we are done.

Was wondering if I drill the tuner holes prior to thicknessing if I would get any blow out at the router table. I guess I could drill small pilot holes first, mill and then finish it up after thicknessed.

I guess I can get a safety planner attachment for my drill press and do the same thing as the router table I stated above but do not want to spend the money for it.....however....if you think that is a better method than so be it.

So what do you guys think of my procedure.....sounds sane?

thanks for any info.
Matthew

[Amadhunter]

Hi Matt, that sounds like an interesting build. I'm a novice to guitar building myself, so can't be of much help. Except maybe I could loan you my safety planer. Just bought it from StewMac. I haven't started my neck build just yet.
I'm responding mainly because we are neighbours, I live in Sulphur. Maybe we could have a meet n greet to share ideas and resourses.
It's a pain finding suitable lumber around here. I do have a good source for some stuff though.

I'm also assuming you are in Lake Charles LA. :)

Good luck on the build, and I'm looking forward to watching the thread.

[the_utp]

Hi Matt: Welcome aboard! I'm relatively new myself. But I can relay what I've read.

Lots of folks use a router and then sanding drum to thickness a headstock and make the transition. However, I usually see them make a jig in which the neck lies flat on its back on a table and then a handheld router goes on top of the jig, like so (pardon the lousy drawing):



This method lets you see how much thickness you're taking off at one time. If I am understanding what you describe -- putting the headstock face down on the table to face the router bit protruding from the table -- you would be routing blind. Scary. What if that thing grabs? What if you hit the router bit with the aluminum holding jig? All of that sounds like a recipe for disaster -- a 20,000 RPM bit with two flutes will cut you 333 times in the half second it takes your brain to register that you've been sliced.

Once you've got a top routing jig made, I wouldn't take off any more than 1/4 inch at a time, and even that is pushing it...I'd stick to no more than 1/8 at a time. What's the hurry?

As for tuner holes, I'd go with 1/8 in pilot holes to prevent tearout with the router. Finally, the drum sander will do a lot for you, but you'll need to finish up by hand. If you go too far with the drum sander, you can get a nasty little dip where the drum dips below the leveled plane of the headstock face.

Hope that helps!

[matthew bryan]

Thanks for the replies. Yes I am in Lake Charles, La. amadhunter...I will send you a PM. I might just have to borrow that tool.

I have seen the jig where the router rides above the neck. Just thought one I mentioned might be easier to build is all. I understand the issues of routing blind. I was going to put stops on three sides to limit travel, to prevent the very things you mentioned.....still thinking about it.

Again thanks for the replies. I will see what I come up with.

Matthew.

[Jack Wells]

A common method to thickness the headstock is to cut off most of the wood with a bandsaw.............

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....... then use the Wagner Safety Planer to get to the final thickness.

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However, if the fretboard has not been radiused yet, I don't see why you couldn't just use the router table to get the final thickness. Sure you'd be working somewhat blind but that shouldn't be a problem. You clamp a fence in back of the bit to prevent you from going too close to the fretboard area. The key is to make very shallow passes ........ like 1/16 in.

Edit: I just re-read the original post and see that you don't have a bandsaw. If you have a good table saw, you could cut away most of the wood with the table saw and a handsaw then use the router table for the final thickness.