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I don't have one of those spiffy Rigid belt sanders or any kind of belt sander which seems to me would be the best way of putting the 1.5 degree angle on the end of a neck. What methods do you use to get this angle on?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Rich, I just use a simple holding jig & my disc sander while everything is still square. (My disc sander is actually part of the bandsaw)

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Dave
Milton, ON

Table saw and miter gauge (before profiling the neck of course)

I usually route the neck heel profile and the tenon on a router jig - my jig is set for 1 1/2 degrees - so the table saw only needs to be close

Before I made the router jigs, I drew the lines out with a bevel gauge and cut it with a Japanese hand saw

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John Ressler

Thanks JOhn and Dave! Dave did you add something to your bandsaw or did it come that way? Looks like the top pulley door to my 14" Jet.

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Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Todd that Woolson jig is pretty expensive. If there is a plan for it somewhere I probably could build it.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

PM Lance for plans for the Woolson Neck Jig Ricardo

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i do a butt joint, and use a miter saw (chop saw) to cut it.
i glue up my neck blank with almost an inch of waist at the heel so that i have room to make a test cut or two before cutting on the 14th fret line.
i don't care as much about the theoretical number (such as 1.5 degrees) as i do about the geometry of the guitar in hand. so after i've made a test cut i clamp the fingerboard onto the neck blank, put the bridge in it's place, hold the neck against the body with a straightedge across the fingerboard to the bridge, and this way i can confirm that the geometry of the neck is right for the guitar body.
no reason you couldn't use the same miter saw method to get the right angle in the "rough face" of the heel before routing a dovetail or mortise.
phil

Rich buddy PM me your addy and I will drop my extra set of Paul's jig plans in the mail to you tomorrow.

Rich, it's basically a disc attached to the end of the (lower) wheel shaft of a typical 14" bandsaw, with a shopmade table then attached to the frame. I built it from an article I saw (FWW I think) a couple of eons ago. It's perfect for my small shop.

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Dave
Milton, ON

As mentioned, each guitar differs a little in what the optimal neck angle will be. The best method for me is to angle the upper bout appropriately by sanding the angle into the rimset and fine tuning after the top is on with some variation of the Fox paddle.
Lay the fretboard on the top and position the bridge and make sure the clearance is what you want.
Transfer that angle to your Fox/Woolson tenon routing jig and the cheeks will be right on and require very little fine tuning. This method is pretty foolproof. The jig is not difficult to build and is worth the effort. I use the StewMac routing templates.
Terry

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When I cut out the neck blank, I cut that angle too. Bandsaw appears to work fine as long as you are doing a dovetail or Mortise/tenon setup. Just cut it nice and close to the line. Run the truss rod slot next. Then using the truss rod slot as center, place it in your tenon jig and route the tenon and heel cheeks at the same time. If your doing a but joint or a classical guitar neck, of course this method may not be the best. I made my neck joint jig based one something I saw at JResslers shop. All his neck jigs use the truss rod slot to center it. Once I did that to my set up, all the work became very consistant.



PS: Here is one other method I use for Mortise and tenon...usually for longer neck joints like a les paul. This wil work with any mortise/tenon setup too, but worked well for the long tenon a solid body. Simple and effective. These were done before the truss rod was cut which worked ok for these because the jig fit tight to the raw neck blanks with no slot. If the neck widths would have varied, I would have used the truss rod to center them too.

I cut two identical boards on the miter box with the angle I need to set the neck. This one was 3.5 degrees. I then attach a bottom to them so the neck fits tight between them. Here is the jig.



THen place the neck between the two uprights and let the tenon stick out. Slide the neck up to the line where the neck cheeks will be cut. Run the router down one side and then the other.



These were necks I made for a "re-neck" project I did for a customer. In this case the tenon was originally offset to one side, so I had to mimic it to fit the body.

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Joe

Thanks for all the help guys.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Nice workbench Joe! Where can I get one like that?

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John Ressler

Anyone have a picture of the woolson jig in action? I did a google and there are no good closeups. I can't really tell whats going on in the pictures.

Thanks,
Joe

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Joe

Ha ha John, Its portable too! I can bring it over to your shop anytime buddy! Since then, my wife bought me a entire back wall of cabinets and work benches. Heck she even got me one of them fancy hanging vacuums to clean up with!!

As you see in the first pictures the old workbench had about 1 square foot of clean space.

JD

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Joe

Table saw, and a sliding bevel to measure the angle of the guitar top to side for me.

I cut the angle slightly off such that the neck pitches forward. If you have a neck joint area on the guitars side that is slightly rounded (think Gibson J-45 vs flat D-28), and you use a tapered (french) heel on your necks, then any straight cut will only get you close as the joint will be a compound curve. You will need to then floss the joint to get the fit tight, and check for pitch and centre. Having the neck pitch forward means that as you floss from FB to heel, it draws the neck back as it tightens the fit along the heel.

Just did one this afternoon. Took me about a half hour or so (fitting the heel - I cut the angle and glued the FB on last night)

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Here is my home made Woolson neck jig.

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There's a little thing on how I've been doing it here:

http://kennedyguitars.com/_Kennedy_Guit ... t_Jig.html

I copied the Fox jig and built it before Paul Woolson described his modifications. I just set a sliding bevel off the top /side angle at the headblock after I get it where i want it and line the bevel up with the bar sticking out of the top of the jig. A little crude compared with Paul's method but it has worked just fine.
I have a rounded upper bout as well where the neck cheeks meet the body and as Tony mentioned that has to be flossed for a good joint. Still have to adjust the centerline a little too.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Wayne very nice looking jig! Do you cut the angle on the neck, but leave the guitar body square where the neck block is? Wondering how the dovetail would fit if only one end is cut on an angle.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Dovetail saw, square, metal angle thing, hand-eye coordination.

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I find this method works very well, (for me) and is rather quick.
After my neck stock has been planed flat and the heel blocks glued on and squared up, I set the fret board side against the fence on my mitre saw and approximate an angle cut of between 1 to 1.75 degree. The neck stock is still full square dimension at this point, so the cut is easily made and is cut fairly close to my terminal line.Once this is cut I can set the neck on the body and using a 36" straight edge , determine the exact angle needed by measuring the height at the bridge location After the angle cut is made I set the table saw to required height/bevel to cut in the dove-tail or tenon, depending on the neck joint i'm using.
The table saw can easily be set to angle cut the cheeks of the neck heel if being used on a slope shouldered instrument. Using a mitre gauge with the table saw, i can reverse it in the slot and cut both sides precisely, standing the neck straight up on the saw bed provides the precise cut for the tenon or dove-tail.
I am going to need some more coffee....

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

Rich,

I use a double mortise and tenon (in the John Mayes style). The angle is cut entirely on the neck heel and is referenced from the guitar body. I haven't attempted a dovetail joint with this jig, but I think it would still work.

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http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/