I'm going to try and make a couple of necks. (PG-13 - May contain mild profanity)

[mcgeorgerl]

Good progress.

What radius did you use?

Are you going to have to sweeten up the fret slots after radiusing?

Did you have to fiddle with that Stanley Spokeshave to get it to work? Mine took a while....maybe I got a lemon.

And I love the repurposed cast iron sewing machine cabinet legs as a work table frame!

[Ironwolf]

The radius is 7 1/4 inches.

The fret slots will have to be "sweetened up when I start the freting process but for now they'll do while I start the finishing.

The spoke shave didn't give me any problems; it was just a matter of finding the proper cutting depth and angle on the blade.

I've spent the last couple of hours fine sanding up through 320 grit. Tomorrow I'll mix up some amber dye and give it a little color.

[Mojotron]

Looks great - really inspiring!

[Ironwolf]

Thanks for the complements. I've put off dyeing the neck until tomorrow night, it seems I'm out of alcohol, and will have to buy a can tomorrow.

Just for general accounting purposes, for people put off by making necks, I figure that the actual time I've spent on this, not counting the time to make templates, jigs and fixtures or waiting for glue to dry (skunk stripe, marker dots), is no more than 6 to 8 hrs from cutting the wood out of the big blank to the ready to finish state it's in now. So grab some tools and go to it gents!

[Ironwolf]

I have the decals on and a couple of coats of wipe on Oil and Urethane. A couple of more coats on the head stock and I'll be ready to try my hand at fretting it.



Today I picked up a nice piece of birdseye maple for the telecaster neck. Here's a close up of one end of the board. The photograph only picks up about half of the birdseyeing that's there. I haven't tried laying a pattern on it yet, but it might be possible to get two neck blanks out of it.

[Ironwolf]

I put another coat of poly on the Strat neck's headstock, and decided to start the process of making a neck for my "Super Tele" design. That's what the birdseye maple is for. The question will be, "What kind of wood to us for a fret board?". If I can find some that is straight enough at the local WoodCraft, I may use some Honduran or Bolivian rose wood. There are a lot of choices there, so we will see.

I cut a piece of MDF and using a couple of rulers, a StewMac neck pocket template and a tracing of a Tele headstock from a set of plans I have, I drew the outline for the Tele neck template.



Tomorrow, I should be able to cut and ready the template, and maybe the neck blank as well.

[Ironwolf]

I took the template blank out to the garage and set up the bandsaw.



Rough cut the head stock:



Cut the sides and heel to finish.



Tomorrow morning I'll route the sides and sand the heel and headstock.

[Ironwolf]

This morning I finished the template using the router table with a straight edge to do the sides, and the oscillating spindle sander and a hand block on the heel and headstock.

[Ironwolf]

I then used the template to trace the neck on the birdseye maple blank.



Lots of birdseyes.



The bandsaw was used to cut the blank close to the line, and the oscillating spindle sander smoothed it out esentialy to the line.



The template was attached with double sided tape, all that was required for the router to take off was about the width of a pencil line, maybe 1/32nd of an inch all the way around.

[hackworth1]

Is that one of the Chinese $100 oscillating spindle sanders? How do you like it?

[Ironwolf]

Next, I set up the drill press and using StewMac's tuner jig,



I drilled the headstock for the tuners.



That will probably be all on this neck untill next weekend; I'll have to get a truss rod and finger board before I can continue, and there isn't enough light to work by, when I get home in the evening.

[Ironwolf]

Originally Posted by hackworth1

Is that one of the Chinese $100 oscillating spindle sanders? How do you like it?

I don't know. It's probably Chinese, seeing as how we don't make anything but hamburgers here anymore. I got it when I started my first guitar build, about a year and a half ago, at HarborFrieght. It only cost $89 then, and it's done what I asked it to.

[tdowns]

You are doing some awesome work. Work to a level I would never attempt. Thanks for sharing.

[Ironwolf]

The weather here is quite frigid today, in the low 30's. In fact, it was still in the 20's when I started this morning.

I set up the slide jig and cut the truss rod channel in the Tele neck.



Then, I thinned the headstock down to 9/16" to fit a set of Fender locking tuners.

[Ironwolf]

I picked up a piece of Blood wood for the finger board. I think it will look very nice.



I cut the board almost to size, and glued it up with Tightbond.



This neck has a quarter inch overhang for 22 frets.

[tdowns]

I guess it would push your limits for PG-13 if I told you the Wylie Texas area weather today was 77°F high and 63°F low.

Don't you think you could have got a few more clamps on the fretboard??

Again, nice work. I can't wait to see it finished.

[Ironwolf]

Originally Posted by tdowns

I guess it would push your limits for PG-13 if I told you the Wylie Texas area weather today was 77°F high and 63°F low.

Those are the kind of temperatures we were having here 3 or 4 weeks ago. Idaho only has two seasons Summer and winter. Think Sahara and Antarctica.

I started fretting the Strat neck using StewMac's fret press mounted in my drill press.





I tapped the ends into the slots with a hammer, then, using the press, squeezed the bejeez out of them.

[Ironwolf]

Once I had them all in place,



I used the nippers to flush cut the ends.



I have a bit more finish work to do on it, and a couple of more tools to aquire, then I'll dress the fret ends and attempt to level and crown them.

[barkley]

Hey iron wolf, looking good!!

maybe you mentioned this earlier, but are these your first neck builds?
If so, holy cow thats some careful work!!

Also, any glue or anything in the fret slots? Or just lots of pressure pushing them in?

[Ricky D.]

Very impressive work!

[Ironwolf]

Thanks for the compliments, and yes these are the first necks I've made.

[Mark-00255]

Nice work, man! The blood wood fingerboard ought to look really cool!

[Ironwolf]

I flush trimmed the fret board with the router table. I had a chip out near the nut, but fortunately, once the fret board is thinned to a quarter inch (it's currently 3/8'') and radiused, it will be completely gone.

[Ironwolf]

I rebored the tuner holes on the Strat neck to fit a set of vintage style tuners.

That will probably be it till next weekend.

[gsoutherland]

Ironwolf, I like that jig you built. what are the dimensions on it?

[Ironwolf]

Originally Posted by gsoutherland

Ironwolf, I like that jig you built. what are the dimensions on it?

It is made of 3/4 ply (voidless birch) It's about 30 inches long. and about 6'' wide (inside dimensions; width to accommodate a Strat style headstock). The sides are 1 1/2 inches high as currently configured. There is a removable 3/4 thick bed in the bottom that can be removed for working on a set neck.

[Ironwolf]

Today I built a radiusing router slide for the jig box. Tomorrow morning I'll try thinning and then radiusing the fret board of the Tele neck. Stay tuned.

[thinline4fatty]

Impressive.

[gsoutherland]

It is made of 3/4 ply (voidless birch) It's about 30 inches long. and about 6'' wide (inside dimensions; width to accommodate a Strat style headstock). The sides are 1 1/2 inches high as currently configured. There is a removable 3/4 thick bed in the bottom that can be removed for working on a set neck.

Thanks, Ironwolf, I got my pieces cut today! Hopefully I'll get to assemble it tomorrow.