Who is using Bill Scheltema's neck radius jig???

[52Tele_lover]

Originally Posted by Mojotron

Hey Jeremy - I use one of these:

http://store.qualitydist.net/bch-85242m.html

After a lot of practice on 5 lumber necks to prefect a '59 roundback puck - I just routed my first couple of Maple neck backs with Bill's jig - I'm pretty psyched to finish a few necks now. The 2 necks I did were identical down to .005" - that's awesome.

Would just a standard straight bit work?

[treadwm]

Originally Posted by Groovey Records

That's very nice, Groovey. For the color in the middle of the body, Med brown tinted lacquer? Or stain/dyed first? I love that color.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by 52Tele_lover

Would just a standard straight bit work?

Yep - that's what I use - the standard stuff from a home improvement store will work fine.

[52Tele_lover]

Thanks Mojotron. Im just working on the jig then im going to try on some pine and then try and get some maple (its not that easy to get here).

Cheers Jeremy

[Groovey Records]

Originally Posted by treadwm

That's very nice, Groovey. For the color in the middle of the body, Med brown tinted lacquer? Or stain/dyed first? I love that color.

Thanks Tredwm

It is a Rosewood Veneer over the Pine front and back.

The lacquer really popped the grain

[treadwm]

lol... Well, I guess that explains why I liked it so much! And yes that grain really did pop!

[Soapbarstrat]

A very inspirational jig, Bill. I'm on dial-up, so all these added photos of the Les paul bolt-on are a bit of an obstacle ( not so "Groovey" )

[52Tele_lover]

Is the wood thickness on the jig 3/4'? Im still planning this.

Jeremy

[Canadianbreed]

Yes, I used 3/4" birch ply.

Bill

[CptRyg]

I just plotted mine last night on 1/2" MDF. Will the thickness matter?

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by CptRyg

I just plotted mine last night on 1/2" MDF. Will the thickness matter?

There is some stress on the pucks and the joints were the pucks-guides meet the base. The 1/2 MDF might be OK for the base, but you would want to reinforce things. The pucks should be plywood - I used 3/4" ACX (the cheap stuff) for mine and it's done well.

[CptRyg]

I'm getting ready to head out to the shop and cut it out. We'll see how it works.

[joe desperado]

I use 3/4" pine for the whole jig. Works fine. I need to make more pucks. I love the original and it makes my necks very consistance. But now guys are asking for a more V or U shape. So I need to rethink a bit of this. Those asking about the U necks want them a bit thicker. So I assume I need to make the small puck a bit taller. (yes?)

Thanks again for a great jig.

BTW: The bowl or plate bit works excellent for this jig. It has rounded corners so you don't get the grooved lines like in the pics above.

Joe

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by joe desperado

I use 3/4" pine for the whole jig. Works fine. I need to make more pucks. I love the original and it makes my necks very consistance. But now guys are asking for a more V or U shape. So I need to rethink a bit of this. Those asking about the U necks want them a bit thicker. So I assume I need to make the small puck a bit taller. (yes?)

Thanks again for a great jig.

BTW: The bowl or plate bit works excellent for this jig. It has rounded corners so you don't get the grooved lines like in the pics above.

Joe

Ya - I was going to try a bowl, thanks for the confirmation on that. The grooves are not a big deal at all, but it would be awesome if there was not a 90 degree transition to have to start with when finishing up the shaping. Another plus for the bowl! I try it on the next one.

I just finished up the transitions on my first few Maple necks and I never really had to focus on sanding out the grooves - they just came out when I gave the whole back of the neck a good once-over with 80gt on a sanding block. I left myself an extra .01" on the thickness and only used a fraction of that with sanding.

When I started making pucks I found out that you can make a pretty good U just by using the original pucks and not raising the router bit the last .08-.1".

I posted above what I had ended up doing to 'tune' pucks - starting with the Warmoth picks of back contours is very doable. You just have to do the math and size the front/back pucks based on the angle of the heal and nut width as well as the thickness at the 1st/12th frets respectively.

[CptRyg]

Ok I got the jig completed and tested. I'm practicing on a 2x4. So far I've planed it down to 1.25" templated it and cut it out and did the radius which has got me fooled into thinking I can actually build a neck!!
I just need a truss jigg, fret spacing jigg, and diameter jigg. Anyone care to share plans for those on pdf if they have them.
I'm also looking for technique advice on skinnying down the head stock. My band saw didn't have the clearance to pass that little tele head through all the way. Besides the blade wonders too much. So I filed it down with a belt sander which looked pretty good but still the surface is too wavey. The more I fine toon the more it messes something else up.
I'll post pictures tomorrow. I also modified the jig a bit by adding a bar handle across the length of the jigg which is pretty comfortable from any postion along the neck.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by CptRyg

Ok I got the jig completed and tested. I'm practicing on a 2x4. So far I've planed it down to 1.25" templated it and cut it out and did the radius which has got me fooled into thinking I can actually build a neck!!
I just need a truss jigg, fret spacing jigg, and diameter jigg. Anyone care to share plans for those on pdf if they have them.
I'm also looking for technique advice on skinnying down the head stock. My band saw didn't have the clearance to pass that little tele head through all the way. Besides the blade wonders too much. So I filed it down with a belt sander which looked pretty good but still the surface is too wavey. The more I fine toon the more it messes something else up.
I'll post pictures tomorrow. I also modified the jig a bit by adding a bar handle across the length of the jigg which is pretty comfortable from any postion along the neck.

I'm working on building necks myself - I just got the transition shaping done and I'm really happy with the result. I got the Stu Mac fret slotting setup with the template - I just got tired of having to plan and build jigs for everything - the Stu Mac stuff works and works well. For the headstock, I got a Wagner Safety Planer and made a jig that holds the neck precisely even in 360 degrees - no plans - but if you follow the Safety Planer instructions and build a really flat surface for a working area you would be good to go on that. I built the same truss rod slotting jig as most people are showing in their builds - I think the key on that is to route the slot, then take your template (put 2 1/4" holes at the ends of the slot) and then use a 1/4" pin to lock in the position and then trace, bandsaw and route the outside of the neck... That way the slot is right in the middle of the neck. I also got the Stu Mac nut files and aluminum sanding bar.

You know the jig that got me - and I don't really have a great solution except to use A LOT of clamps is the truss rod access hole from the headstock - that one really takes some practice. The way I look at it is in all these build threads where things go well, you do see a lot of Stu Mac stuff, so I now know that everyone else must have figured out the balance between the wallet and frustration - I'm going to follow their lead.

I'm as careful as can be and things are going well. I've been working on making a good neck for about 4 months (generally one day on the weekends...). I cut out a few necks using lumber, then I cut out 2 maple neck blanks and got them slotted, made a truss rod out of 3/16" bar, and got that all glued up with a skunk stripe. Then I build Bill's jig and I think 6-8 more practice necks out of lumber - I finally got the pucks right after 6 or 7 tries. I just finished the transitions and I'm really excited about the result - this pair of necks could potentially be as good as my Warmoth necks - it all comes down to the fretting.

So far, I have also made a neck out of every 2x4 I had in my garage - and I started on the 2x6's as well - I must have made 10 of those lumber necks all together, but they help a lot. Every time I don't feel confident in what I'm doing I do it on one of those practice necks and figure it out. I made some really hideous mistakes too... It's a lot of practice and patience (and money) but I love what I've learned so far - when I get it all right and finish these first necks I'll be so psyched for the next set.

[joe desperado]

Originally Posted by CptRyg

Ok I got the jig completed and tested. I'm practicing on a 2x4. So far I've planed it down to 1.25" templated it and cut it out and did the radius which has got me fooled into thinking I can actually build a neck!!
I just need a truss jigg, fret spacing jigg, and diameter jigg. Anyone care to share plans for those on pdf if they have them.
I'm also looking for technique advice on skinnying down the head stock. My band saw didn't have the clearance to pass that little tele head through all the way. Besides the blade wonders too much. So I filed it down with a belt sander which looked pretty good but still the surface is too wavey. The more I fine toon the more it messes something else up.
I'll post pictures tomorrow. I also modified the jig a bit by adding a bar handle across the length of the jigg which is pretty comfortable from any postion along the neck.

If you do a search on my name, I am pretty sure I have a thread with pics of how I do tr slots. I make about 5-6 necks a week.
JD

[CptRyg]

First picture I'm just showing off what I got under the tree. It's always nice to learn with the proper tools!

2nd picture shows my completed neck radius jig. Worked like a charm. Held the neck on with double sided tape for the test but now I've got Ubolts. The double sided tape did work really well though. Notice the cross bar handle across the top.

3rd picture shows the rough result after the jig test. Not bad for a Home Depot 2x4!

4th picture shows the butt end with a fret board 7.25" radius. and sanded down with 100grit. I used the rocking jig that we've seen in several posts. That worked well with some lessons learned. I need a better way to secure my work. 2 really bad router strokes that would make a good neck intonfirewood. I've got an idea I will work on next time to solve that.

[CptRyg]

And finally, some more shots of the half sanded neck with transitions. The transitions are pretty half-a$$ but I don't plan on wasting anymore time on this scrap. Besides I took too much off of each end when I did the radius to do it properly.

Next time I will build a truss jig and put some thought into how I can get a consistant 5/8" headstock. Still need a good template for fret slots too.

Unless I'm missing something that should be all I need to make an actual attempt.

[52Tele_lover]

awesome mate. glad to see someone giving it a go!