loidrinkaku
TDPRI Member
I butchered a broken Blazer 158 and im planing to make a Reverb Tank module, alpha testing, trying not to fry myself.
What's on your workbench today?
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Re-did my pedalboard so it'll fit in a small case, less hassle more fun. There was an Ibanez Germanium fuzz on there too but I never used it so I left it off.
Looks like you're in "that spot" that all those clippers and other storms are hitting as they move east while low pressure areas coming up our eastern US coast are keeping them north, although I have some woodworking friends in western/northwestern PA that are getting similar to you.
Freeman Keller
Poster Extraordinaire
Got the start of a neck blank made for my first time attempting to make a neck from scratch. Mahogany on the edges, alternating Wenge and Maple in the middle. I'll be building it with a scarf joint and the headstock piece will be wider than this blank, naturally.
The piece of Wenge on the right will be used for the fretboard.
Still plenty of final math double checking before I cut that scarf angle, I really don't want to mess this up and have to go buy more planks! (We just got a massive snow dump)
If it helps I have just finished building a scarf joined neck for the little archtop I'm building. I have been doing this style of neck for quite a while now and have learned a few tricks. Its all documented starting at post #192 on page 10 of this thing
Lets build something that looks like an L5 archtop
What most people do is to hold the top at what they think is a neutral spot (a "node") and tap near where the bridge will be. They listen to the note that comes off the top. Siminoff uses a microphone and runs it thru a strobe tuner to try to see what that note is. Bourgeois wants the...
I adopted 16 degree head angle early on, that is a common Gibson angle and close enough for most paddle and even slot heads. The nice think about standardizing is that you can build some jigs and use them on several necks. My little neck carving support makes carving much easier.
You will also have to decide whether to put the head on the bottom of the neck stick or the end - I've done both and there are advantages to each, it might come down to your laminations. You will get a curved join line somewhere on the back of the neck and if you stack the heel you will get some join lines there too.
I normally make mine out of one board - laminating like you are doing will make the cut super critical - when you flip the head over you will want to make sure the laminations line up perfectly. I use a 3 inch wide board - both a Gibson and a Martin head will just fit into 3 inches. If your lamination is less wide you'll need wings on the head. Glue them on later - you want to do every operation that requires square straight sides while you have square straight sides.
Last little cautionary note, when you clamp the head to the neck stick it will want to slide around - we glue is a great lubricant. I have tried different ways to jig this up but the toothpick trick shown in the thread does work pretty well. Put them where you will cut away wood and I like tooth picks instead of metal because I'll be routing and sawing there.
Good luck. Ping me if you have any questions
Thank you for the tips!
My build will be a little less straightforward than usual. I've cut a 15 degree angle down from the top but the offcut won't be used for the headstock in the normal flip-over method - the blank is too short for that. The headstock is a completely separate laminated build, not as tall as the neck blank itself, but following the same pattern for the core stripes and the mahogany will be wider wings, as you mention.
The headstock portion will be glued to the face of the angled cut and then the top face of the neck flush cut and planed level afterwards. It will definitely require some careful effort to get everything straight since I'm clearly going about this in the most difficult way possible. lol
I was intending to use very small diameter pegs/toothpicks for alignment in part of the mahogany which will ultimately be wasted off when the final shaping is done so I think I'll need to attach the wings before I glue it down to the scarf. I suppose I could drill them into the laminated core but there are very few spots where that could be done effectively without being visible and I'm not sure what the benefit would be.
Ultimately I probably should have purchased longer stock for the maple and wenge as well as some thicker mahogany for doing the sides of the neck laminate to make this an easier task but with lumber prices what they are here I decided I would be "clever" and "efficient" and sacrifice ease of building in favour of less waste wood.
The wenge stripes for the headstock portion are by design strips made from the offcut for the fretboard for example. The small angled offcut from the neck blank will be further cut down into an inlay for the body to continue the stripe pattern on the face of there. There will be very little left over material but there is also very little room for error in my design, I am my own worst enemy sometimes.
It's well known in my circles that I can over-engineer just about anything and typically make things far more complicated for myself than is necessary. Anyway, a lot of what I just described will make more sense once I have more pictures of the process.
Laren
Tele-Holic
New toy for the garage. Should help keep the dust down.
JohnnyThul
Tele-Meister
You will love it! I have it for a year in my little place and it makes a noticeable difference, definitely recommended!
Ripthorn
Friend of Leo's
I need one of those air cleaners. Especially after I get an air conditioning unit in my garage later this year (it is Texas, after all).
stefanhotrod
Tele-Holic
My Bigsby armrest is finally finished for my new project…
…and the AAAA-flamed maple Boatneck soon!
VicUA
TDPRI Member
Will be ready tomorrow. Sounds nice. All work perfect. This is a trial model before starting work on two very complex instruments, timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Jack Daniel Co. It will be in a couple of years.
Is that all inlays? Very nicely done!
RogerC
Poster Extraordinaire
Nice work! Since you're developing this for sale, I'm assuming you've gotten a release from Jack Daniels in order to use their IP?
Laren
Tele-Holic
Couldn't have planned it better. Hopefully this will help 
VicUA
TDPRI Member
Yes, mother of pearl.
VicUA
TDPRI Member
Thank you. I wrote that I am doing this for sale? We selling parts and a line of prototypes 1949-1851 usually. Time to time starting projects like this one. Perhaps the next two tools I will make for sale. I think I'll send the designs to the JD
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LeftFinger
Friend of Leo's
devrock
Tele-Meister
I have the WEN version (I think they're all made in the same factory). Good at filtering the air, but no replacement for good dust collection. Don't ask me how I know that.
devrock
Tele-Meister
I'm glad you're across the pond. I'd kill to have that log for making some sick resin tables!Playing with my new bandsaw. I’m thinking that my next build will have a Yew body cap.
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