Time for a Les Paul Junior

[Dasher]

OK time to rout for the truss rod. I'm using one of the StewMac double action rods with the hex nut. I have decided not to rout right the way through the neck to the headstock. I want to leave some wood under the nut. I set up this very basic guide using some cheap pine and some clamps. Made sure the levels were right (I'm sure there's a better way). Then routed on top in two passes the first channel. So far so good.

[Dasher]

Now the moment of truth. I used the router to open up a short channel on the headstock. Then took a long drill bit (same size as the channel) and carefully drilled through for the Allen adjusting nut. Worked extremely well! I'm delighted with this. Finally a neck that doesn't adjust at the heel!! I took a bit of a punt here with this approach. I was going to use the router table and rout a channel all the way from the headstock to the heel. I'm glad I didn't. This worked very well.

[Dasher]

I put the neck down briefly and looked closely at the body. It wasn't flat! I carefully trued the body up using the belt sander. Isn't that a great tool! Now she looks great. You will notice the two knots in these photos. One will be under the bridge, and the other will be covered by the Tone knob. I'd like to take credit for that but truth is, I got lucky! I better clean up out here before the misses gets home!!

[Dasher]

OK, here is the pup I'm going to use. It's a Stewmac p90. I've been very happy with the Tele pups and the Parson street humbuckers I've got from there. Good value for money. So i thought I'd give this one a go.

And glued on the biggest set of ears you've ever seen. The Tassie Oak scrap was lying around. Not the greatest colour match but I'm going to paint anyway.

[Dasher]

Time to give the neck it's shape. I rough cut towards the line with the bandsaw and then used double sided tape to stick the templates on. Now it's out to my very expensive, state of the art, heavy duty, bonza, plywood routing table (actually not really a table, just propped up plywood)

All jokes aside, if you are still routing on top of your work, don't! This was a revelation for me when I first set this up. It is much cleaner, easier, faster and safer for you and your work. Note the kids foam surf board used to get the plywood level between the two tables. Nothing but the best tools here!

I use a template bit thats long enough to cut the whole thickness of the neck. Carefully taking little bits at a time to avoid tear-out and she came out looking good.

[Toriginal]

That's looking real good!!!

[Dasher]

Last post today. I cut the little flash bit at the top of the headstock (does this thing have a name?) Anyway, I actually used my band saw and carefully cut the curve using the front of the blade if you get what I mean?? Then used a 'v' shaped file to get it looking pretty.

Then off to the pillar drill to sink some holes in this puppie. I used a template to mark these out from the back. Little tip is to use some masking tape on the bottom to avoid tear-out. Works a treat!

And of course I had to take a look at the tuners in their rightful place. Yeah yeah, not what you'd have seen on a real 59!

What do you think? Not too bad for a beginner.

I'm really enjoying this build. So far so good. Next challenge is to get the neck angle right on the heel. I'm still not sure how to finish the tenon off?

Tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel.

Have a great week guys!

[adirondak5]

Good work Dasher , the headstock and truss rod access came out great

[ModerneGuy]

A productive day's work - so unlike my own Yup that looks great. I understand your liking working with the Tasmanian Oak - it's seems easy to work ...and it's ubiquitous here isn't it? Cheers

[Fatcat211]

Keep it comin'!

[Dasher]

Originally Posted by ModerneGuy

A productive day's work - so unlike my own Yup that looks great. I understand your liking working with the Tasmanian Oak - it's seems easy to work ...and it's ubiquitous here isn't it? Cheers

Hey ModerneGuy - Yes I think Tassie Oak is a great timber for necks. I know there will be someone out there that has a reason not to use it. But it seems very stable and it rasps and sands really well. I've made 4 Fender style necks out of it and had no trouble at all. It can be heavy but you just need to choose wisely. It's also cheap and easy to get here.

I've been following your recent build. Looks great!

[Dasher]

This weekend i worked on the Ebony fingerboard. Here is the StewMac Gibson fret template. 24 3/4 scale length. Marked the centre line and cut the fret slots with the StewMac mitre and Japanese saw.

[Dasher]

I used 7mm perloid fret markers (I could not import pearl or abalone into Australia ). After the fret slots were cut I marked the locations at 3,5,7,9 etc with white pencil. Drilled by hand using masking tape as a depth stop. Super glued the dots in. I then glued and clamped the fretboard to the neck. I used TiteBond and lots of clamps

[Dasher]

After the glue had dried, it was back out to the router table to trim the excess. I used a template bit with the bearing on top. Then I used a radius block and set a 12" using 120 paper and elbow grease. I sanded down from 120, to 220, to 320 and finished off with 0000 steel wool. The board looks and feels great!

[Dasher]

Time to fret this neck. I used medium gauge StewMac wire I had bought in bulk. The perloid dots came up a treat after the 0000 steel wool. I glue my frets in using some superglue. I use a 12" pillar drill caul to press the frets in. nice and clean. I'll have to level and dress these of course. Im happy with the progress on this neck. The Ebony looks and feels great. The perloid dots were easy to install. I still need to work out how to complete the tenon so any tips are welcome. Slow going this weekend but there's no need to rush. I hope you guys are getting something out of thie build. I'm really enjoying it!

[guitarbuilder]

You have a couple of choices if you are using a stop tail/bridge combo. You need to put a 2 degree angle on the bottom of the tenon, or rout the 2 degree angle into the neck cavity. A belt sander will get you started and then you can fine tune it with a hard block with abrasives attached. A third option is to build a router planer sled and clamp the neck blank at a two degree angle while you are planing the tenon.

Locate the neck on a piece of plywood and clamp it down. Place 3 pieces of wood tight up against the tenon on the sides and one on the back. I have used a combo of double sided tape and clamps. Remove the neck and rout inside the 3 blocks. That should result in a neck cavity template you can clamp down to your body and rout to depth. practice on scrap first.

[Fatcat211]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

You have a couple of choices if you are using a stop tail/bridge combo. You need to put a 2 degree angle on the bottom of the tenon, or rout the 2 degree angle into the neck cavity. A belt sander will get you started and then you can fine tune it with a hard block with abrasives attached. A third option is to build a router planer sled and clamp the neck blank at a two degree angle while you are planing the tenon.

Locate the neck on a piece of plywood and clamp it down. Place 3 pieces of wood tight up against the tenon on the sides and one on the back. I have used a combo of double sided tape and clamps. Remove the neck and rout inside the 3 blocks. That should result in a neck cavity template you can clamp down to your body and rout to depth. practice on scrap first.

Can you then take that template and shim it to have a 2deg angle when clamped to the body for routing? I have been thinking about this step for my own build and feel that it would get more consistent results than angling the tenon.

[guitarbuilder]

Originally Posted by Fatcat211

Can you then take that template and shim it to have a 2deg angle when clamped to the body for routing? I have been thinking about this step for my own build and feel that it would get more consistent results than angling the tenon.

Yes. In the past I have added layers of veneer to do that . You could also sand the angle into the template. If you use an online trig calculator, you could make a couple thin triangles with the 2 degree angle and glue that to the bottom of the template. ( make one and then cut it down the center into 2 pieces) There are many ways to do the same thing.

[Fatcat211]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

Yes. In the past I have added layers of veneer to do that . You could also sand the angle into the template. If you use an online trig calculator, you could make a couple thin triangles with the 2 degree angle and glue that to the bottom of the template. ( make one and then cut it down the center into 2 pieces) There are many ways to do the same thing.

Great thanks for the suggestions. Im gathering info for my lp jr build and im not too clear on the neck pocket/body fretboard interface area. I appreciate your input p greatly. You turn some great instruments! Back to this guys build, updates??

[Fatcat211]

Dasher, that neck looks fantastic, love your approach with the rod slot.